TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Dec 13 00:42:30 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Thinstroke [Antonio (Tony) DiSpigna]

Italian type designer, b. 1943, Forio d'Ischia, Italy, who emigrated to the USA. Di Spigna graduated from from New York City Community College in 1964 and then from Pratt Institute in 1967. His first design job was at Bonder&Carnase. In 1969, he joined Lubalin Smith Carnase Inc. He founded his own studio, Tony DiSpigna Inc in 1973. DiSpigna taught typography at the Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts and the New York Institute of Technology. In 2009, Tony Di Spigna and Bill Hilson (a colleague at Pratt) founded Thinstroke, which joined Type Network in 2021.

DiSpigna's typefaces:

• ITC Serif Gothic. Designed in 1972 by Herb Lubalin and Tony DeSpigna for the International Typeface Corporation, it is a "cold" almost copperplate typeface. Serif Gothic started as a scribble sketch for a French shirt company, Hechter Chemise, a client of Herb Lubalin. The sketch made it into a presentation by Tom Carnase, but was rejected by the client. Type Network writes: During a rare slow day at the office, Di Spigna decided to develop and sketch the remaining capitals, adding a lower case and some alternate characters. In his free time, he decided to finish the design with ink and white paint. Despite it being Di Spigna's first full typeface, Serif Gothic went on to become quite popular. Serif Gothic was used for the original Star Wars films's posters.
• Playgirl.
• ITC Lubalin Graph (with Herb Lubalin).
• Fattoni (1968).
• DiSpigna Roman (1969). One of his arly typefaces at Lubalin Smith Carnase Inc. He writes: When I got out of school at Pratt in 1967, I fell in love with Herb Lubalin's posters of his new typefaces, especially Pistilli Roman. (See page 34 of the Herb Lubalin book by Alan Peckolick.) I vowed that someday I would do one even better and heavier in weight. So, in 1969, I designed DiSpigna Roman in pencil on tracing paper, and executed it on heavy stock bond paper with the traditional ink and white clean up paint-the way we did all executions of letterform and typefaces back then. It became one of the first faces we digitized when we created Thinstroke. This typeface harkens directly back to 1969. I still love Pistilli, but I do think my DiSpigna Ultra is heavier with more luscious curves. DiSpigna Ultra (2022) can be found at Type Network.
• ITC Korinna (1974). Designed together with Ed Benguiat).
• WNET.
• Spignarian Script (2021). A creamy formal calligraphic script published by Thinstroke.
• DiSpence Script (2021). A Spencerian script published by Thinstroke.

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EXTERNAL LINKS
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INTERNAL LINKS
Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type design in Italy ⦿ Type scene in New York ⦿ Photo and film type era ⦿ Calligraphic typefaces ⦿ Penmanship ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿