26 Symbols
[Josh Scruggs]

Type blog by Josh Scruggs, a graduate from Kansas University, who teaches type design there starting in January 2009. Creator of this brush script in 2007. Josh is heavily into calligraphy as well. [Google] [More]  ⦿

A Comparison of Popular Online Fonts: Which is Best and When?

A study in 2007 at Wichita State University (Kansas) by Michael Bernard, Melissa Mills, Michelle Peterson and Kelsey Storrer. These font types were compared: Agency FB (Agency), Arial, Comic Sans, Tahoma, Verdana, Courier New (Courier), Georgia, Goudy Old Style (Goudy), Century Schoolbook (Schoolbook), Times New Roman (Times), Bradley Hand ITC (Bradley), Monotype Corsiva (Corsiva). Conclusion: First, no significant difference in actual legibility between the font types were detected. There were, however, significant differences in reading time, but these differences may not be that meaningful for most online text because these differences were not substantial. It may, on the other hand, be helpful to consider using font types that are perceived as being legible. In this study, the font types that were perceived as being most legible were Courier, Comic, Verdana, Georgia, and Times. Courier and Times were perceived as being the most business-like, whereas Comic was perceived as being the most fun and youthful. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Aida Hall

Aida Hall (Basehor, KS) designed an unnamed display typeface in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alex Anderson

During his studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Alex Anderson designed the squarish all caps typeface Nomadic (2012) and the straight-edged heavy metal band face Robotz Death Metal (2012).

In 2013, Alex published Sideshow Slab. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alex Grecian
[Elemeno]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Alex Milbourn

Lawrence, KS-based graphic design student. She created the poster typeface Noted (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ali Fisher

Design student in Lawrence, KS. She created the angular typeface Cornered in 2012.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alice Lewis

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She created the curly typeface Sprightly (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Allie Fields

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas, who lives in Lawrence, KS. She created the curvy typeface Novo (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Amanda Caracci

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Amanda Caracci created the circle-based typeface Candy Cane (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Andrea Morris

Graphic designer who works typography into some of her work, such as this Baskerville poster (2010). Behance link. She lives in Kansas City. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Andrew Schoneweis

Originally from Lawrence, KS, Andrew designed an unnamed lachrymal typeface in 2012 with Paul Gonzalez during his studies at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anie Buckmelter

Lawrence, KS-based typographer and graphic designer. Creator of Chehuly (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anthony Schmiedeler

During his graphic design studies at the University of Kansas, Anthony Schmiedeler created Mr. Wright (2012), a font with architectural elements drawn from Frank Lloyd Wright's work.

Behance link. Cargo collectivbe link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Audrie Jane Lathrop

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She created the Closer typeface (2012) during her studies. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Bailey Wells

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Bailey Wells created the art nouveau caps face Lancet (2012).

Behance link. Cargo collective link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Baseline Fonts
[Nathan Williams]

Foundry in Wichita, KS, founded in 2002 by Nathan Williams (b. Concordia, KS, 1973), formerly from the University of Kansas Art Museum Library. Its motto: The goal of the foundry is to provide uninterpreted revivals of type samples generated through disappearing printing methods, and create new fonts for dissemination in the type community. Order through MyFonts.Com or Union Fonts or ITC fonts. FontShop link. Klingspor link.

Fonts:

• The Rodeo family of wood type fonts: 66 Rodeo, 57 Rodeo, 58 Rodeo (2003), Rodeo Rope, Rodeo Rope Superchunk.
• The Tuscan family: Tuscan (2003, a wild west face). To this group we can add the Tuscan face Circus KS (2006).
• Egyptians: Grit Egyptienne (2005, grunge Egyptian family), Rough Egyptienne (2005).
• Grunge faces: Antimony (2005, grunge), Dryden (distressed handwritten face).
• Old typewriter fonts: Slab American Regular (old typewriter), Slab American Titling, Slab American Titling Heavy (2002). Slab American has 55 styles.
• Art nouveau faces: Old Paris Nouveau (2003).
• Pixelish faces: Base PXL7, 80s PXL Bold.
• Display Sans: Maxime (2004, having support for most European languages; Maxime Shadow is available at FontShop), Woodgrit Thin (based on 19th century American letterpress fonts), Woodgrit Medium, Woodgrit Heavy., Pippen (squarish).
• Calligraphic: Roundhand Regular.
• Victorian: Boback.
• The Grit family: Grit History (2003-2004), Grit Primer (2003), Grit Egyptienne, Grit Typesorts (2006, free).
• The Old Times American family (+Italic, +Titling).
• Pia Regular.
• Kandt: the handwriting of legendary designer and art director James Kandt; 4 styles.
• Chitchy.
• AVI Sans.
• Country Fang (2003, with Brian Miller).
• Craft Roman
• Licious Script.
• Luxe (2003, casual).
• Momentum (2002).
• George Gibson (handwriting from mid 1800s).
• Dingbats: Megaflakes 2010 (2010) and Megaflakes 2011 (2011).
• Sketchwriter (2011).
• Dusty Circus (2011) is a five-layer stacking display face designed to be infinitely morphed. It is a prototypical member of that old western circus font genre.

Bill Walker

FontStructor in Fort Riley, KS, b. 1974, who made several heavy and severe-looking octagonal faces in 2010 and 2011, including Brakemen CLE, Bullhorn, Commando 2011, Wild Bull, Rudius, Battalion, Goth Spike, Brakeman New, Universitario, Tuff Commando, Saber, Vengeance2, Valley Forge, Griff (loosely based on the NHL 2011 All Star Game font), Assault Vertical, Bullhorn Spike, Universitario Trace, Vengeance, Rails, Assault Hockey, Emerald City, Brigade, Amateur Pacifist (2011, athletic lettering), Paradise, Vengeance 2011, Assault, Brakemen CLE. Some fonts are in the techno / futuristic style, and others are tattoo fonts.

Typefaces made in 2013: 2nd Brigade, Emerald City (octagonal).

Abstract Fonts link. Dafont link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Blake Fry

Blake Fry studied law at the University of Kansas (BA, 2001) and at Lewis&Clark Law School (JD, 2009). He wrote Why typefaces proliferate without copyright protection. This is a thoroughly interesting paper. The text below are the author's conclusions.

This paper has demonstrated how several mechanisms collaborate to create an environment in which an abundance of typefaces are designed, even though typefaces in the United States cannot now, or maybe ever, be copyrighted. Typefaces are functional objects, necessary for literate societies who print words on paper or display them on screens. As such, some typefaces must exist. And as long as some exist, the type design industry will be subject to the mechanisms that allow it to be innovative. Technology is one of those mechanisms. Because different technologies have limitations that affect typefaces, new designs, compensating for the limitations, have to be made when a technology is introduced. New technologies also allow typefaces to have features or benefits that were not previously possible. The market demands, and is willing to pay for, access to these features and benefits. Technology has also lead to the digitization of the type design process. This has caused an explosion in the number of type designers, and typeface designs. Though digitization of the industry has decreased the quality of designs in some cases, it has just as often increased quality.

Because the type design industry is relatively small and close-knit, norms within the industry are effective at mitigating plagiarism within it. This phenomenon comports both with general theories of norms, and with observations from other industries in intellectual property law’s open areas that also effectively employ norms to reduce copying. Even when norms fail, typefaces, especially those that require the most time and investment to design, are resistant to plagiarism. Typefaces are also subject to the vagaries of artistic movements and fashion-like cycles. As tastes change, which they do rather quickly, new typefaces have to be made to comport with the new aesthetic. Advertising and the advertising industry is an important cog in this process helping, among other things, to speed the fashion-cycle.

Typefaces are also non-rivalrous, almost always existing as digitized computer fonts. They are therefore subject to file-sharing, like any other digital media. However, file-sharing probably has not damaged the type design industry. Among the most likely culprits for the reduction in the price of computer fonts is the practice of bundling computer fonts with operating systems and other software. This is especially true among software geared to graphic design professionals. Adobe, among the largest foundries in the world, primarily creates new typefaces to make its software, which is a much more lucrative business for it, more attractive.

Other analyses of industries operating in the open areas of intellectual property law have shown how they, too, can be innovative, creating significant new expressive works. The more interesting question is not how any one industry operates in intellectual property law's open areas, but whether any industry now protected by intellectual property laws would be sufficiently innovative if protection were taken away. The small number of industries that have been examined so far are probably not a large enough sample set from which an answer can be derived. More observations are therefore needed. What might become apparent upon such a cataloging is a general principle. This paper has shown how many mechanisms work together to encourage innovation in the typeface industry. This suggests that other industries could also have several mechanisms that work together, often in unexpected ways that could never be predicted by mere theory, to produce innovation in expressive works without protection from copyright or other intellectual property laws. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Bradbury Thompson

Born in Topeka, KS, 1911-1995. Head of Mademoiselle magazine, and a general master of design. He served on the faculty of the Yale School of Art for over thirty years. Typographically, he is best known for his proposal, published in Westvaco Inspirations 180 in 1950, to have a unicase alphabet, tentatively called Alphabet 26. We cite from that page: Alphabet 26 is Bradbury Thompson's radical proposal for the redesign of the alphabet. We present excerpts from an essay that he wrote to accompany a printed piece that he planned to have published at the beginning of 1996. Brad Thompson died before its completion. Much of the material here first appeared in Thompson's The Art of Graphic Design (Yale, 1988). The text has been edited for presentation here. Paul Baker, with feedback from Thompson, has produced the new digital version of Alphabet 26 which is used in this presentation. Note: Paul Baker's version uses Baskerville for the mix. Paul Baker's grandmother and Thompson's mother were sisters. Here is a quote from the inside flap of The Art of Graphic Design, slightly repetitive: The art director of Mademoiselle and design director of Art News and Art News Annual in the decades after World War II, he also designed the formats for some three dozen other magazines, including Smithsonian. Thompson is in addition a distinguished designer of limited edition books, postage stamps, rationalized alphabets, corporate identification programs, trademarks, and sacred works (most notable, the Washburn College Bible, in which the words are set in the cadence of speech). His hallmark has ever been the adaptation of classic typography to the modern world. Thompson is perhaps most well known as the designer of more than sixty issues of Westvaco Inspirations, a magazine published by the Westvaco Corporation.... Bradbury Thompson has served on the faculty of the Yale School of Art for over thirty years.... His profession has honored him with all of its highest awards, including those of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the National Society of Art Directors, the Art Directors Club, the Type Directors Club, [now the American Center for Design], and the Society of Publication Designers. Digital versions based on his ideas have been made by Manfred Klein (see his KLBradbury family, 2007). Biography. Picture. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Brian Miller

Codesigner with Nathan Williams at Baseline Fonts in Wichita, KS, of Country Fang (2003). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Caitlin Workman

Caitlin Workman grew up in Saint Charles, Missouri, close to Saint Louis. She is a visual communication student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. She designed the ultra-fat round typeface Glee (2011) and the display typeface Sir Quincy (2013).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Caleb Newberg

During his studies at the University of Kansas, Caleb Newberg designed the monospaced sans serif typeface Astro in 2012. Still at UK, he created the tweetware constructivist typeface family Headcase (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Cambria, Constantia, Times New Roman

A legibility study in 2006 at Wichita State University (Kansas) by Barbara S. Chaparro, A. Dawn Shaikh and Alex Chaparro shows that Cambria is more legible than Constantia, and both are far more legible than Times New Roman. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Carolyn Applebaum

As a student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Carolyn Applebaum designed a lively display typeface family, Gherkin (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Cat Coquillette

Senior at The University of Kansas who will graduate in May 2011 with a BFA in Visual Communications, concentrating in Graphic Design and Illustration. She created Luxembourg (2011). I especially like her Coterie Theatre poster. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Claire Pedersen

Lawrence, KS-based designer of Homeward (2013, an alchemic typeface), which was created during her studies there. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Colleen Ireland

Kansas-based designer of Sleek (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Courtney Johnson

Lawrence, KS-based creator of a ghoulish typeface in 2012. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dana De Cicco
[River City Rubber Works]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Danielle Self

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She created the thin hand-printed caps typeface Delta (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dawn Shaikh

Dawn Shaikh received her PhD in human factors psychology in 2007 from Wichita State University. Throughout graduate school, she worked on a grant from Microsoft's Advanced Reading Technologies group. Her master's thesis focused on line length in news&narrative articles. She worked on the legibility of ClearType fonts, and on that of onscreen fonts. Her dissertation focused on the perception of typeface personality. After graduation, ironically---despite Microsoft scholarships throughout her life---, she joined arch enemy Google, where she worked on Google Web Fonts, Docs, Ebooks, Android, and Internationalization. Speaker at ATypI 2011 in Reykjavik on the topic of typefaces for Android OS (with Steve Matteson). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dawn Shaikh
[The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Email]

[More]  ⦿

Dawn Shaikh
[The Effect of Website Typeface Appropriateness on the Perception of a Company's Ethos]

[More]  ⦿

Design by Luke
[Luke Englert]

Luke Englert studies visual communication at the University of Kansas. During his studies, in 2012, he created a typeface that was inspired by gothic arches. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dillon James Sherman

Dillon James Sherman is a web and graphic designer in Wichita, KS, who graduated from Kansas State University. Fontsquirrel link.

Creator of the free steam-powered Western typeface Sedgwick Co (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Drue Davis

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Drue Davis created the ball terminal typeface Perennial (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elemeno
[Alex Grecian]

Elemeno is a foundry in Topeka, Kansas, where one can buy fonts made by graphic designer Alex Grecian (b. Hospital, 1969), who markets his fonts through MyFonts.

Partial list of typefaces: Aldersgate, Betabet (2002, a scratchy sketched typeface), Bindle, Black Bull (2005), Boller, Borealis, Bungalow, Cadence, Camryn, Cerulean, Dragon Drop, Plummet (2006), Handwriting fonts Boller, Benchley (2004), Chalk, Parmesan Serif, Trade Dress, Chockablock (comic book face), Broadway, Classical Drop Caps (2002), Classical Engraved (2002), Chocolate Shop (2005, display face), Christy Marie (curly face), Circus Peanut, Zero Tolerance Block, Zero Tolerance College, Zero Tolerance Serif, Kryptonite, Zap Bats, Extreme Junction, Grecian Empire, Helvetian Times, Platypus (2002), Saint Vitus, Saturday Night, Vibraphone, Xanthippe, Christy Marie (2002, crazy curly font), Zero Tolerance, Kings in Disguise, Peaches, Betabet (2004), Minuitia, Natural Dark, Wittgenstein, Drop Down, Erector Dysfunction, Flaster Platypus, Gorey, High Water, Hypewriter, Iteration Grap, Jejune Bebug, La Brea Typist, Macon Tracks, Merkin, Nicodemus, Orbiculate, Parker<.a> (2004), Parmesan Serif, Pillow talk, Reading Railroad, Rejoinder, Rock Bottom, Ross (2004: an avant-garde geometric monoline regualr face), Ross Round (2004), Rubric Cuped, Salutation, Saturday Night, Trade Dress, Structure, Salutatorian, Spiroglyph, Tattersall, Tenpenny Dreadful, Times Kangaroo Down, Trivet, Wendigo, Whiffle (2004), Woodcutter (2005), Woollcott, Wordplay, Writers Block, Zap Bats.

View Alex Gecian's typefaces.

Klingspor link.

View Alex Grecian's typefaces at Elemeno. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Emily Grigone

During her studies at the University of Kansas, Emily Grigone designed Extant (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Eric D. Carver

Eric Carver (Kansas City, KS) designed the condensed squarish caps face Fong (2011, a typeface inspired by the artwork of Barry McGee) and the scratchy face Ghetto Palm (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Flow14
[Kyle Johnston]

Kyle Johnston (Flow14) is the Overland Park, KS-based designer of the graffiti font Milk (2002), Bodolive (2003, a mix of Bodoni and Antique Olive), Sporty (college lettering font, free in the Rumpus sub-page), Meteors (free download, click on Rumpus), Midwest (click on Work, then Type; based on Senator Ultra, on commission for Midwest Graphics), and Jellyphant Round (free on the Rumpus page). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Frances Macleod

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Frances MacLeod is completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising Art Direction and Graphic Design at Columbia College Chicago.

She created Abraham Lincoln (2012, Lost Type). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Handbell Notation Font
[Paul A. McKlveen]

Fonts for handbell notatioon developed by Paul A. McKlveen (Overland Park, KS): Hbell, Hbellfin, 7USD. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jared Bergeron

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Creator of the display face Carneval (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jay Vidheecharoen
[RedEyeType]

[More]  ⦿

Jeff Bortniker
[Vitatype Digital Fonts]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jim Dore

Jim is a designer from Kansas City. Creator of the inline and solid pair of faces called Bender (2012, free at Lost Type). [Google] [More]  ⦿

John Reynolds

During his studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, John Reynolds created the sci-fi typeface Cape (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jon Marzette

As a student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Jon Marzette designed the wavy display face Cameron (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jonathan Perez

Kansas-based creator of the Mexican-themed typeface Porton (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jordan Jacobson

Graphic design graduate from the University of Kansas (2011). His Alejandro Blackletter (2010) is a carefully crafted face done at Fachhochschule Trier (Germany) in 2010 under the guidance of Andreas Hogan. Unlike the name suggests, this face is not a blackletter at all, but is rather round. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Josh Scruggs
[26 Symbols]

[More]  ⦿

Josh Scruggs

Graphic designer from Lawrence, KS, whose first font is MJ (2003), a fresh curly modern font. His second font is here (2004). He also made Halloween Haiku (2004), a calligraphic font. His blog. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julianne Gross

KS-based graphic designer. She created some logotypes such as BBQ (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Justin Bell

Justin Bell is a graphic design student at the University of Kansas, 2008-2012. Behance link. In 2010, he created a modified version of Helvetica by using horizontal stripes and filling in the counters. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kacie Eberhart

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Kacie Eberhart created the Ringmaster typeface in 2012.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kalen Kubik

Student at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. He created the mysterious Monastery font in 2010, and the logo font Mason in 2011. Also in 2011, he added Valence and Technik (technical fat stencil). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

KU Geological Symbol Set

Fonts produced by the University of Kansas, Structure and Tectonics GIS Laboratory, 1998. Only useful with the ESRI Arcview software (Arc/Info). Page maintained by Ross Black. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kyle Johnston
[Flow14]

[More]  ⦿

License Plate Fonts of the United States, Canada, and Mexico
[Ward Nicholson]

Ward Nicholson of Leeward Productions in Wichita, KS, explains many license plate fonts. He also gives a quick rundown of available license plate fonts, as of 2008:

• First USA (Mid-1990s): Brand Design Co./House Industries, discontinued, included for historical interest.
• Garage Gothic (1992): Tobias Frere-Jones, commercial. Three weights. Based on parking garage ticket lettering but very reminiscent of license plate characters.
• Keystone State (1999): Anuthin Wongsunkakon, commercial. One of two fonts in this list based on Pennsylvania's license plate font (see also “Pennsylvania” a littler further below). Keystone State “Relative” (shown immediately below) is a cleaned-up version of the typeface, while the original “Native” style is rougher and more idiosyncratic to realistically replicate the actual plate lettering.
• License Plate (2005): Dave Hansen, free. Replica of Washington state's font, and also similar to font designs of other U.S. states and Canadian provinces that exhibit more “boxy” curves as opposed to oval-shaped ones.
• Misproject (2001): Eduardo Recife, free. Grunge font made from scans of an assortment of license plate characters.
• Motorway (2004): Vic Fieger, free. Semi-grunge font with built-in relief shadow to simulate embossing.
• Penitentiary Gothic (2003): Andrew Leman and Richard Lucas, commercial. Replica of California's font. Five styles including three-dimensional embossing effects. Plain “Fill” weight shown here (embossing effects reproduce well only at larger sizes).
• Pennsylvania (2000): Christian Schwartz, commercial. Based on Pennsylvania's license plate font. Four weights including lowercase plus corresponding small-caps styles, and suitable for use in both text and display. Regular weight shown.
• Plate.fsh (1999): John Arnstrom (aka Zacadeb), free. For use with the Need for Speed: High Stakes auto racing video game for Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Windows.
• SAA Series “A” (1980): designer unknown, digitized by URW staff, commercial. Very similar in design to the various fonts based on oval-shaped curves used by many U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Seven weights, “Series A” shown.
• SNV Extra Condensed (1972): designed by Verein Schweizer Straßenfachmänner foundry, distributed by URW, commercial. Similar to fonts of U.S. states that use straight strokes for the left and right sides of characters that would otherwise be curved, as used by various U.S. and Canadian states. Three weights, Extra Condensed shown.
• Zurich Extra Condensed (1990): Bitstream staff, commercial. A slightly modified clone of Adrian Frutiger's well-known Univers from 1956, utilized by 3M corporation as the basis for the default fonts for its digital license plate system sold to U.S. prisons. Two weights as used by 3M, Extra Condensed shown here.

Lori Novak

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Lori Novak created the geometric typeface Native (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Luke Englert
[Design by Luke]

[More]  ⦿

Madison Twombly

Teekanne (2012) is a geometric typeface inspired by Marianne Brandt's 1924 "Teapot", created at the Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany. It is a typeface designed by Madison Twombly during her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Maggie Hirschi

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas, who lives in Lawrence, KS. Creator of Angst (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mallory Wiegers

Lawrence, KS-based creator of Fernie (2012): Fernie is a typeface inspired by the works of Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932). He was a German photographer, sculptor, teacher & artist who is best known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things, published in 1929 as Urformen der Kunst. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mars Denton

Graphic design student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She created the Piper typeface (2012) during her studies. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Matthew Cook

Illustrator who studied design at Kansas University in 2008. His work there involved the development of a futuristic architectural typeface, Astrobase (2008). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Melissa Kim Huynh

During her studies at the Kansas City Art Institute, Melissa Huynh designed the octagonal typeface Aeron (2012, FontStruct).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Melissa Meyers

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Melissa Meyers created Groovy Chopsticks (2012), a typeface that is based on the shape of the Volkswagon bus.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Jumper

During his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute in 2011, michael Jumper designer Sour Mash Whiskey (2011).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael R. Sull

Author of Spencerian Script and Ornamental Penmanship, Volume I (1989). He lived in Prairie Village, KS. That book has nice chapters on Austin Norman Palmer, Platt Rogers Spencer, Styles of penmanship, Penmanship Hall of Fame, and Penmanship in a New Land. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael T. Henderson

Creator in 1997 of the KuldIPA phonetic font at Kansas University. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nathan Williams
[Baseline Fonts]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Neo Font
[Yi Min]

NeoFont is a Korean typefoundry. Among its designs, we find Neo (2013, avant-garde Latin face) by Yi Min (Hays, KS). There are, of course, tens of Hangul (Korean) fonts as well. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Paul A. McKlveen

Paul A. McKlveen (Overland Park, KS) made and sells the Handbell Notation Font, in all formats. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Paul A. McKlveen
[Handbell Notation Font]

[More]  ⦿

PhotoshopIsland (or: Ridpath Creative Partners)
[Roger Ridpath]

Roger Ridpath (b. 1964, Wichita, KS, and located in Kansas City, Missouri) is a photography expert who designed the handprinted Designer Notes (2009). At MyFonts, one can buy Iron Grunge (2010), PSI Leaves (2010, dingbats), Angie Lou (2010, grunge), and Designer Notes Pro (2012, handprinted).

Home page. Klingspor link. Dafont link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Rebekah Lewis

Lawrence, KS-based creator of the techno face Propel (2011). Rebekah is a student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. [Google] [More]  ⦿

RedEyeType
[Jay Vidheecharoen]

RedEyeType offers these fonts by Jay Vidheecharoen (Chicago, IL): AngelaSans (1999: based on Neville Brody's Industria, so Jay says), Imitari (1999: for Imitari magazine), Atmosphere (1999, octagonal: free at Dafont), Memento Mori (1999: wow!), and Van Hooser (1997: a curly font for Hallmark cards based on the lettering style of Hallmark illustrator Donna Van Hooser).

Jay worked in the lettering department at Hallmark in 1997. In earlier days, Jay ran Invisible Studio Fonts, but that link is now dead. He also worked at the University of Kansas and for PC Gamer Magazine.

Dafont link. Klingspor link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rick Cusick

Calligrapher, b. Stockton, CA. Art director of Letter Arts Review magazine since 1992. Designer of Nyx (1997-2002, Linotype, Adobe). Presently, Rick is Manager of Font Development at Hallmark Cards near Kansas City, MO. Nyx won an award at Bukvaraz 2001. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

River City Rubber Works
[Dana De Cicco]

River City Rubber Works (Haysville, KS) is a company that designs and manufactures art rubber stamps and images. The business began in 1994 as a greeting card company called Spirit Works Greetings. River City Rubber Works was created as a division of that company in 1997. MyFonts sells its fonts, such as River City Sandwriting (2009). The designer is Dana De Cicco (b. Oklahoma). She got interested in fonts as a student at Oklahoma State University, where she graduated with a BFA with an emphasis in drawing and painting. In 1994 she and her partners founded Spirit Works Greetings.

Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Rob Abram

Graphic designer from Kansas who made several experimental fonts in 2011. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Robert Jamal Gamby

Visual communication student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. During his studies, he created a nice Eurostile poster (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Roger Ridpath
[PhotoshopIsland (or: Ridpath Creative Partners)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ryan Sowers

Illustration student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Creator of the ornamental caps face Sanswich (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sally Carmichael

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Sally Carmichael designed Nova (2012), a modular outlined typeface.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sam Small

Sam Small (Kansas City, MO) designed the ultra-contrasted minimalist squarish typeface >Minutia (2012) during his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Samantha Fine

Visual communication student at the University of Kansas. Creator of a hexagonal typeface called Steipe (2012) that was inspired y the architecture in Trier, Germany.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Samuel Willger

Student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Creator of the display face Strike (2012), which was designed on the basis of DIN. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Scott Ford Aneloski

Born&raised in Grand Junction Colorado, educated in art&graphic design at Western State College of Colorado, Scott now works as a freelance designer in Wichita, KS.

Dafont link. Creator of the handwriting font Scotosaurus (2011) and the blackletter face Cartographer (2011). Ellephont (2011) is handprinted. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Shannon McGill

Lawrence, KS-based graphic design student. She shows a lot of promise in her display face Nautic (2012) and in her hand-drawn tall alphabet Classics (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Software Usability Research Laboratory

At the Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, various (mostly Microsoft) fonts were compared for speed of reading, and legibility. Conclusions: "o significant differences in reading efficiency were detected between the font types at any size. There were, however, significant differences in reading time. Generally, Times and Arial were read faster than Courier, Schoolbook, and Georgia. Fonts at the 12-point size were read faster than fonts at the 10-point size. In addition, a font type x size interaction was found for the perception of font legibility. In general, however, Arial, Courier, and Georgia were perceived as the most legible. For font attractiveness, Georgia was perceived as being more attractive than Arial, Courier, and Comic, while Times was perceived as more attractive than Courier. This contrasts with participants' general preference for a particular font type. Overall, Verdana was the most preferred font, while Times was the least preferred. Thus it seems that the Georgia and Times serif fonts are considered more attractive, but they are generally less preferred. Of the fonts studied, Verdana appears to be the best overall font choice. Besides being the most preferred, it was read fairly quickly and was perceived as being legible.". For font legibility, Tahoma 10pt, Courier 12pt and Georgia 10pt came out the winners. Research by Michael Bernard, Bonnie Lida, Shannon Riley, Telia Hackler, and Karen Janzen. Alternate URL [Google] [More]  ⦿

Stephanie Roche

During her studies in Lawrence, KS, Stephanie Roche (b. 1991) designed the beautiful sans display typeface Globe (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Stephanie Schulz

Student from McPherson, KS, who is studying graphic design a the University of Kansas. She created a colorful poster to announce an AIGA event in 2012. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Stephen McBride

Stephen is based in Kansas City, MO, formerly of Edwardsville, KS and Earle, AR. He was the man behind the SWMCA catalogs, an ex-signpainter who is now turning his typefaces into digital fonts.

Creator of the free hand-printed font Tribal (2012). The explanation is interesting: Tribal was first drawn in 1979 as Indian. For many years it was one of the most popular SWMCA fonts. Shortly there after there was a heavy movement among Native American tribes about being called "Indians". They'd constantly complain that they weren't from India or an Arabic nation. In response, SWMCA changed the name to Typeface (later Typefont) of Native American Honor. It was redrawn in 2012 and sent to Font Panda to be digitalized and came back more "liquidity" and much more playful than the original. Tribal was followed by Tribal Schoolhouse (2012).

In 2013, he designed the hand-printed typeface family 12 Steps.

Dafont link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Taylor Goad

Born in southeastern Oklahoma, Talor Goad now works as a designer for Gardner Design in Wichita, KS. His typeface Alexis (2011, free at Lost Type) is a take on the Italian woodstyle. It was fontified by Nathan Williams. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Taylor Hillestad

Originally from Minneapolis, MN, Taylor Hillestad studied at the Kansas City Art Institute, where she created the display chic typeface Highcraze (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Email
[Dawn Shaikh]

A study in 2007 at Wichita State University (Kansas) by A. Dawn Shaikh, Doug Fox and Barbara S. Chaparro showed test subjects emails in Calibri, Comic Sans and Gigi. The selection of the three fonts used for the neutral email was based on previous work by Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox (2006) that examined user perception of how appropriate 20 fonts were for 25 uses (i.e., business documents, web pages, email). The ranking of those 20 fonts: Calibri, Corbel, Candara, Cambria, Verdana, Arial, Times New Roman, Constantia, Georgia, Century Gothic, Comic Sans, Courier New, Consolas, Monotype Corsiva, Kristen ITC, Agency FB, Rage Italic, Gigi, Rockwell Extra Bold, Impact. Interestingly, in questions of ethos, Comic Sans and Colibri are almost equal, well ahead of Gigi. [Google] [More]  ⦿

The Effect of Website Typeface Appropriateness on the Perception of a Company's Ethos
[Dawn Shaikh]

A study in 2007 at Wichita State University (Kansas) by A. Dawn Shaikh reveals that among a handful of typefaces, readers of company web sites order them as follows: Calibri, Cambria, Arial, Calisto, Georgia, Courier New (way down), and at the bottom, Monotype Corsiva, Lucida Hand, Informal Roman, Viner Hand and Curlz. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tracey Lee

Creator of the ornamental display typeface Vintage Salt in 2012, during her studies at KU in Overland Park, KS.

Behance link. Cargo Collective link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Typographeee

This web site is dedicated to an e-book on typography and type designers written in 2011 by Lance Schmittling, Jennifer Higerd (from Union, MO), and Dominic Flask (from Wichita, KS). It is more biased towards graphic design, and has few sections on type design. [Google] [More]  ⦿

University of Kansas Linguistics Department

A free Truetype IPA font. Mac and PC. [Google] [More]  ⦿

virj

Kansas-based creator of the handwriting font Feindseligkeit (2000). Alternate URL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Vitatype Digital Fonts
[Jeff Bortniker]

Jeff Bortniker from Overland Park, KS, designed Psychedelic Fillmore East, Psychedelic Fillmore West and Psychedelic Avalon at T-26 in 1995. The irregular hand The Walls (1994, T-26) is also due to him. He set up Vitatype to make retail and custom typefaces in the 1990s. Other typefaces from the 1990s at Vitatype included Bodhisattva, Woolly Bully, and Lost Dog Good Dog.

Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Voranouth Supadulya

During her graphic design studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Voranouth Supadulya created the outlined typeface Vaulted (2012), which was inspired by the arches of gothic vaults in European cathedrals.

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Ward Nicholson
[License Plate Fonts of the United States, Canada, and Mexico]

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Yi Min
[Neo Font]

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