A Beautiful Book

I have a confession to make. 

Any former English professors of mine can turn away their eyes for the next line or two. Even with my chronic reading habit and English background in school, I have never read Moby Dick. And even worse, (in some eyes) I have never even wanted to. Not even a little bit. I know what it is about, and I just haven't been motivated to pick it up. Ever. Well, until one day. . .

A few months ago I was perusing the website Fonts In Use, and came across an article about a small (short run) edition of Moby Dick. The article discusses the beautiful use of fonts and space in the layout of this edition of the book. The original Arion Press edition uses hand-set metal type and hand-made paper. It also includes many woodcut engravings, and the initial caps and titling was done in a font specifically created for this edition, named rather appropriately Leviathan. The article tells us that not surprisingly, this book won an award for being one of the "100 Most Beautiful Books of the Twentieth Century."

Well, needless to say, I suddenly wanted to read Moby Dick (well, not just the book, but this exact edition of the book). To whet your appetite, here's the first page image that Fonts In Use used with their article.

 Doesn't it just draw you in? I highly recommend you go over to the original article to see the other mouthwatering images of this beautiful book, so you can ooh and ah over them, too. Plus, Fonts In Use is just a fun website to visit. I particularly liked the article on the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

Now I have high expectations, and I will only read Moby Dick if I get my hands on a copy of this edition. Luckily for us little people, the University of California Press has reprinted this edition in a paperback format. While not using handmade paper or metal, hand-set type, they did keep the layout intact, and the price is a lot more affordable. So maybe some day I will eventually read Moby Dick.

And I thought I loved fonts . . .

A few nights ago, I saw the movie trailer to Sucker Punch.

My husband said, "Wow, that looks like it could be kinda creepy or really cool, or both." At the same time, I said, "I love that font! Where do you think I could find one like it?" He just looked at me. I wasn't sure exactly what he was thinking right then, but in amongst his thoughts was probably, "Weird."

That wasn't the first time we both were looking at the same sign, movie poster, or anything with type on it, and he read the message and I saw the font. He really should be used to my rhapsodies over fonts by now.

However, before today, I thought I really liked fonts, knew a lot of stuff about them, liked trolling for new ones online, and that this made me a little odd to the rest of the world. But no. Today I found out I was functionally normal, a mere dabbler in the world of typography. Not at all consumed by the topic.

That's because I discovered the ilovetypography blog by John Boardley. And when I resurfaced two hours later, I knew I was just an unlearned novice in the world of fonts and typography. 

If you have any interest at all in the subject, visit this blog. It is a fantastic resource for all things type. Just looking at his font picks alone, you could be drooling for hours. I know that I fell in love with several fonts immediately. Plus, he has links to numerous helpful resources that will further submerge you in the world of typography. The blog will lead you to numerous type foundry sites, beautiful books about type (even a couple of kids books!), histories on typefaces, font news, and helpful hints.

So the next time someone looks at you funny for going on and on about a particularly unusual or beautiful use of typography, just know that you have company. There's lots of us out there, some more knowledgeable than others, but all of us with an appreciative eye for interesting typography.

Economical fonts

Searching for a way to cut costs next year? How about switching the default font for your company? By choosing an "economical" font, a company could end up saving money on the amount of ink or toner used by business printing needs or by those business associates who just have to print out their emails.

Which fonts are economical? Glad you asked.

Printer.com has compared fonts with ink or toner use. By switching only the font, Printer.com asserts you could save money. The standard font measured against was the ubiquitous Arial, and it was compared to nine other fonts. Century Gothic came in as the winner with a 31% savings of ink. Here is Printer.com's results chart:

The private cost is based on 25 printed pages a week, and business cost is based on 250 printed pages per week on specific printers. For more information on the study, go to Printer.com's blog post.

For a more visual approach on how much ink a font uses, check out Matthew Robinson's Measuring Type project. Here are the results of his measurements with Garamond using the least amount of ink:

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay switched its default email font from Arial to Century Gothic as part of their plan to go "green." According to the university spokesperson, ink accounts for about 60% of the cost of a printed page, and the university can accumulate savings each time an email is printed. News story source

However, if Century Gothic doesn't appeal to your aesthetic sensibilities, another approach is available. Ecofont has created software that can put holes in any font's letters at 11 point or below. By doing this, less ink is used when printing. Ecofont claims a 25% savings overall, no matter what font you choose. There is even a free sample font, Eco Vera Sans. (Click here for the free download of the sample Ecofont.) Here is an 11 point sample scanned in and enlarged to show texture:

Whichever fonts you end up using in your project, just remember to include them with your file or embed them in your pdf when submitting the project to a print shop! Doing these two things correctly will definitely help save money and time.

Typeface Identification 101

We in the Prepress department have a love/hate relationship with fonts, but we tend to love them more than hate them. We've been known to clamor rather excitedly over a newly discovered font. And we can't help sharing our excitement with others.

But there are millions of fonts out there. (by the way, do not load them all onto your computer at once, you will be sad!) And it's impossible to identify even a small portion of them at a glance. Have you ever had someone ask you to make them a business card with type that looks exactly like their favorite movie title, or hand you a sample of something and ask you to make their letterhead look like that sample? And they have no idea what that font is called. What can you do?

When a customer asks us to match a font, one of the first resources we turn to is the website Identifont.

This website has come up with the correct font for us time and time again. It's not perfect, but it makes our lives much easier. All you need is just a portion of the font, although the more letters you have for an example, the easier it is for Identifont to help you find the correct font.

Just enter in the letters you have, capital and lowercase, and Identifont will then ask you questions about how those letters look. They ask about serifs, strokes, slants, and curves, and how the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. And after you answer, they give you a list of fonts they think match your sample the best. It's that easy.

Identifont is not the only resource out there, but it has proven to be the most reliable in our experience, plus it's free, you don't have to log in and remember a password, and you get an immediate response.

For those of you who need more tools to try out and play with, you can also try the website What The Font?!, which seems to be pretty popular, the message board Typophile, a website similar to Identifont Type Navigator, or try just browsing through lists of fonts on any of the font websites that come up with a web search of "fonts." (But that sounds like the slow way of getting an answer. We'd rather have the answer handed to us on a silver platter!)

There may be millions of fonts and only one of you, but don't worry! There are myriad tools out there to help you identify the exact one you are looking for. If you need any help getting started in the search for that elusive font, email us at info@lorrainepress.com, and we'll try our hand at helping you identify your font.

Printing Tip of the Week - Font Color and Size

Election day is tomorrow, and there doesn't seem to be a fence post or curb empty of campaign signs. When I pass any new signs, I like to evaluate them based on their design more than for their actual message. Anyone else out there do that, too?

Some campaign signs are clear and legible from yards away, while certain others can only be read if you are within 20 feet and are at a complete stop. I've decided that the main difference comes down to the fonts used: the choice of font, the font color, and the font size.

We see a lot of design work come through Lorraine Press. Some projects are simpler than others, but all benefit from a sensible use of font sizes and colors. When choosing what font to use and at what size, first determine where your project is going to be viewed. Will it be outside, by passing cars, or held in a hand indoors? Knowing this will help you choose which fonts at what size to use. (And then before the design is finalized, view it in that environment, you might be surprised.)

Something else to take into consideration is the color of the type and the color of the background the type is on. Black type on a white background is easiest to read on paper with the highest possible contrast, and it is easy to print. We see this combination used everywhere.

However, if you are printing on a black background with white, reversed-out type, there are a few more considerations. If you are using a serif font, or thin sans serif font reversed out of a black background, we at Lorraine Press advise that they be set at 9 points or larger, especially if you are using a supported black. This is purely for legibility reasons. What looks readable on your laser printer, may not turn out the same on a printing press. Small white type makes the job more difficult for your printer to produce and your serifs or thin strokes of letters may not appear due to trapping and ink considerations. If your black background is supported (using all four colors to make a richer looking black), consider using a thicker font, or a point size of 11 or larger.

Black type that is 4 points or below is hard enough to read already for some people, but add in the lower contrast of colors other than black and you will have an even harder time getting your message across. As for the printing aspects of tiny colored type, you may see misregistration between the ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), or a pattern of dots may become visible with conventional screening techniques (One of the problems solved by Lorraine Press using stochastic screening!). This can leave your tiny type looking unfocused or shadowed.

Also, this is common sense but we want to say it anyway: use fonts designed for superior legibility for your body of text, and leave the display and fancy fonts for titles and attention grabbing headlines. The font that makes words in English look like Klingon from Star Trek can be fun for you, but your reader will give up long before reading your entire message if your type is set entirely in a crazy, hard-to-read font.

Looking to design large signs or billboards? Take a look around you as you drive. Instead of noticing the advertising message, notice which signs are visible and legible from farthest away, and figure out why. Then incorporate that knowledge into your design.

This is pretty basic advice, nothing earth-shatteringly new. But sometimes a little reminder of the basics can be helpful. There's just one more thing. Unless you are giving your printer a pdf with embedded fonts or an eps with outlined fonts (and you have double checked that they are all outlined), please include your fonts in the files you give to your printer. Your printer will be grateful, we promise.