Oddsorts
[Charles Gibbons]
Charles Gibbons (b. 1967, Lynn, MA) received an MFA in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Gibbons spent much of the nineties as a designer for the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and later as assistant professor of Graphic Design at the University of Wisconsin / Stout where he taught typography and publication design. In 2001, he joined the Library of Congress as the chief designer for the United States Copyright Office. Chuck has partnered with various typefoundries such as Bitstream, Filmotype, Sideshow, Tart Workshop, Device, and Cultivated Mind. The Ciao Bella ornaments he designed with Cultivated Mind's Cindy Kinash represent the first commercially available auto-chromatic fonts: each font can be set in two colors. Working with Stuart Sandler and Crystal Kluge at Tart Workshop, he developed the method by which their Aya Script delivers its characteristic curlicue ribbons. His types grace book covers, greeting cards, film titles, museum façades, and the seal of the United States Copyright Office. At present, he teaches typography and type design at Tufts University in Boston. In 2015, he set up Oddsorts. His typefaces, in more or less chronological order: - Aphasia BT (2000, Bitstream). He writes: A meeting of Byzantine and Art Deco forms, Aphasia began as a series of handwritten captions to accompany drawings in the early 1990s.
- At Oddsorts, he published Bradley Wayside and Bradley Chicopee in 2015: Begun in 2000 as a wedding gift for the designer's wife and used privately for years, they're finally available to the public. The fonts were inspired by the masterful art nouveau lettering of Will H. Bradley, whose posters for Ault & Wiborg printing inks and Victor Bicycles continue to draw collectors after more than a century. Wayside and Chicopee expand the twenty-odd characters Bradley drew into a comprehensive multiscript system that includes modern Greek and extended Cyrillic alphabets, ordinals, automatic fractions, and ornaments.
- In 2014, Charles Gibbons and Cindy Kinash co-designed Ciao Bella (first published at Cultivated Mind, and in 2016 at Oddsorts). It features a handcrafted copperplate script style, and several flower ornaments about which they write: The Ciao Bella ornaments he designed with Cultivated Mind's Cindy Kinash represent the first commercially available auto-chromatic fonts: each font can be set in two colors. What's truly innovative about Ciao Bella's ornaments is that most of the characters come in pairs that can be set in multiple colors without any stacking, layering, or aligning. They work in any application that supports kerning---even most word processors.
- Full Moon Suite (2001, Bitstream). Co-designed with Mary Trafton. Includes FM Black Cherry Moon, Alternate, Ligature, and Doubles. FullMoon BT won an award at the TDC2 2003 competition.
- Fleischmann BT Pro (2002). A family heralded by the typophiles as outperforming the DTL Fleischmann.
- Various Filmotype fonts for Stuart Sandler's Filmotype project. In 201, he designed the identical lively freestyle typefaces Filmotype Nemo (original from 1953), Filmotype Niro, and Filmotype Nero. The renaming was done under various scenarios of pressure. In 2011, he also made the signage typeface Filmotype Atlas. In 2012, he created the art deco fat didone typeface Filmotype Rose, and the fine brush letter signage typeface Filmotype Havana. Filmotype Adonis (2012) is a clean hand-drawn typeface. Filmotype Royal (2012) is a transitional typeface family. Typefaces from 2013: Filmotype Orlando (cartoonish), Filmotype Parade (cartoonish), Filmotype Zeal (a formal almost-copperplate script). In 2014, he added Filmotype Western (an italian, or reversed stress, typeface based on a Filmotype design from 1955), and in 2015 Filmotype Wand. Filmotype Maxwell (2019) is a revival of an interlocking Filmotype font from the 1960s.
- Greenleaf (2019).
- Local Market (2014). With Cindy Kinash. A hand-drawn collection of typefaces.
- True North (+Extras, +Textures: a vintage letterpress emulation set of fonts designed for posters and banners), 2014-2015. Done together with Cindy Kinash.
- Winooski (2015) is a fun cartoon typeface.
FontShop link. Oddsorts link.
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