Representatives of Letterforms

ITC

EST. 1970 (New York, New York, USA)

The International Typeface Corporation (ITC) is important because after years of metal typesetting it pushed phototypesetting to become the prevailing method of developing, distributing, and reproducing typefaces in the 1970s. ITC was founded by a group of designers including Herb Lubalin, Aaron Burns, and Ed Rondathaler. This ground breaking group changed the way typefaces were distributed and how designers were remunerated. They provided the source material to reproduce their typefaces on any phototypesetting machine and paid designers a royalty based on the amount of orders of their designs. This increased the risk of piracy, but they were able to build a significantly large library of typefaces. As a means of selling and spreading their typeface business, ITC created a magazine entitled U&lc (Upper and Lowercase). This publication showcased the library while providing unique and engaging content to the growing list of subscribers. Later this magazine was replaced with an e-commerce site, which was more direct for the users. Two of their typefaces include ITC Goudy Sans, Luna, Seven Treasures Silvermoon, Skid Row, Scarborough, vineryard, Magnifico, Woodland, and Japanese Garden.. ITC closed in 1999 and sold their library and name to Agfa Monotype Imaging. The page from the U&lc magazine featured in the book caught my eye because of the "Jewels from Japan" tagline. The work of artist Akira Kobayshi is featured on this page and I particularly like ITC Luna because of its smooth, sophisticated curves. Also the names of the fonts on this page are very creative and exciting to discover. Skid Row is a great name as well as Seven Treasures.

Adobe Fonts

EST. 1984 (Mountain View, California, USA)

Adobe fonts are important because they are one of the strongest systems that handles and processes computer-based typography. They began with the revolutionary PostScript language, which allowed for more smooth, curvaceous printing. This was later enhanced by Adobe Type Manager (ATM) in 1989. Adobe also introduced OpenType in response to Microsoft allowing for endless possibilities and flexibility. With every Adobe application, Adobe typefaces are included putting hundreds of fonts in the hands of designers over the years. Adobe began created original typefaces in 1989 under the leadership of Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly. A few typefaces associated with Adobe include Garamond, Caslon, Trajan, Lithos, Chaparral, Minion, Utopia, Poetica, and Myriad. Adobe fonts have gained popularity through the years through the entwining of programs such as Creative Suit and integration of many languages. They have become associated with the general design and application of typography. I was attracted to this page because of the well imprinted Adobe typeface that I associate with a clean, crisp, and simple image. The Adobe typfaces are very traditional, legible, and convenient. They seem to be easily accessible and widely used.

Poetica

Zuzana Licko

b. 1961 (Bratislava, Czechoslovakia)

Currently Berkeley, California, USA

Zuzana Licko began her career at the University of Californai Berkeley with a degree in graphic communications. She has no formal training in typeface design, but was able to break ground with her creation of fresh, uniquely designed coarse bitmap. She is a native of Czechoslovakian, which is where my family origins tie back to, making Zuzana Licko my new idol. Licko was able to come up with remarkable innovative design despite printing and screen resolution limitations. Some of her earlier typeface designs include Emigre, Emperor, Oakland, Universal. Later she developed smoother and more traditional designs due to technological advances, these include Citizen, Tiplex, Matrix, and Senator, which are all interpretations and descendants of her previous designs. Lick even ventured into revitalizing and modernizing such classic fonts as Baskerville and Bodnoi. Her most commerically successful typeface, though, was Filsofia. Licko is the mother of nearly 30 type families, which represent a daring and diverse output. I was attracted to these fonts because they were different, more bold, and more diverse. After reading about Zuzana and her Czech background I felt a connection to her and to her type designs. I found a site that included a few essays written by Lucko that I found interesting.