TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Dec 13 00:41:51 EST 2024

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Howard Allen Trafton

Trafton (b. New York, 1897, d. 1964 or 1946) spent most of his life in New York as an artist, teacher and designer. At the Bauersche Giesserei, he created typefaces such as:

• Cartoon (1936, freehand font). Mac McGrew writes: Cartoon is an informal letter, preserving the freedom of handlettering, with its name apparently suggested by the lettering in comic strips. Its two weights were drawn by Howard Allen Trafton, New York designer, in 1936. It is one of the few typefaces by American designers that was not cut and cast in this country; this was hand-cut (probably in one size, with other sizes derived from it) and cast by Bauer Type Foundry in Germany. Compare Balloon. For an accurate digital revival and extension, see Harold Lohner's Traftoon typeface family (2017).
• Fresko (1936, freehand font).
• Quick (1933, Bauer). This script, which is called Etoile (1935, Deberny & Peignot) in France and Quick in Germany, was digitally revived in 2013 by Ralph M. Unger as Parfum and by Dan X. Solo as Trafton Script.
• Trafton Script (Bauer, 1933, a script font with long ascenders and descenders). Mac McGrew writes: Trafton Script was designed by Howard Allen Trafton, New York artist and designer, in 1933, and cut by Bauer Type Foundry in Germany. It is a delicate script with letters not quite connected, having large, flourished capitals and small lowercase with long ascenders and descenders. It has a crisp, precise appearance, but is not rigidly formal. Early advertising paired it with light monotone romans, but it is more at home with modern or transitional typefaces, and is one of the more popular contemporary scripts. Compare Coronet.

Anton Scholtz's Pacific Script (2011) is also inspired by one of Trafton's alphabets.

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