13pt
[Jonathan Corum]

Graphics editor for Science at the New York Times. 13pt is the New York-based design and type studio founded by Jonathan Corum. In the early part f his career, he created typefaces such as FB Agency, Eagle (1994, after initial design by David Berlow in 1989, which in turn was based on M.F. Benton's [or Lucian Bernhard's?] 1933 face, Eagle Bold; a strong font!), Law Italic (1997, for Sam Antupit and Harry N. Abrams---a digitization from a specimen of ATF's Law Italic No. 520), Mesa (1994, a Font Bureau handprinting face), the 5-unit handwriting family Victoria's Secret (1997, from hand-drawn originals provided by Sisman Design), the Bodoni-esque font Winterthur Display (1997, drawn for Harry N. Abrams), Law Italic. Custom typefaces include 2x4 (as part of logos), Columbia University, Liz Claiborne, Miesdings (dingbats for the new student center of the Illinois Institute of Technology), Readers Digest Fleurons (1997), WCS Wildlife (2001, the corporate typeface of the Bronx Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society).

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

A Survey of Free Math Fonts for TeX and LaTeX
[Stephen G. Hartke]

Article by Stephen Hartke from Urbana, IL, written in 2006. He surveys free math fonts for TeX and LaTeX, with examples, instructions for using LaTeX packages for changing fonts, and links to sources for the fonts and packages. PDF version of the paper. Hartke is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He finished a font family called Aurulent Sans and Aurulent Sans Mono (2007), and released the free monospaced font Verily Serif Mono (2006, based on Vera Serif, with same dimensions as Vera Sans Mono). Fontsy link. Alternate URL. Yet another URL. Twentyfour examples of text face/math typeface are showcased. Some are quite disappointing. Here are the better ones (with some text quoted from Hartke's article):

• Computer Modern (by Don Knuth), still my favorite. Type 1 versions of Computer Modern from Blue Sky Research and Y&Y, Inc. have been made freely available by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Basil K. Malyshev has also released a free Type 1 version of Computer Modern, the BaKoMa fonts. Computer Modern has been extended to include more characters, particularly for non-English European languages. These fonts include European Computer Modern by Jörg Knappen and Norbert Schwarz (METAFONT only), Tt2001 by Peter Szabó (converted into Type 1 format from METAFONT sources using textrace), CM-Super by Vladimir Volovich (also converted using textrace); and Latin Modern by Bogusaw Jackowski and Janusz M. Nowacki (extended from the Blue Sky AMS fonts using MetaType1).
• Concrete text with Euler math, or Concrete text with Concrete math. The Concrete font was created by Knuth for his book Concrete Mathematics. Hermann Zapf was commissioned by the AMS to create the math font Euler for use in Concrete Mathematics. Type 1 versions of Concrete in T1 encoding are available in the CM-Super collection, and Type 1 versions of Euler are available in the Blue Sky collection from the AMS and in the BaKoMa collection. The eulervm package by Walter Schmidt implements virtual fonts for Euler that are more efficient to use with LaTeX. Ulrik Vieth created the Concrete Math fonts to match the Concrete text fonts; the only early free versions are implemented in METAFONT. The ccfonts package by Walter Schmidt changes the text font to Concrete and changes the math font to the Concrete Math fonts if eulervm is not loaded. Note that Concrete Text has no bold, but the Computer Modern Bold does just fine for that. However, in 2022, Daniel Flipo developed a free OpenType font based on Vieth's Metafont, also called Concrete Math.
• Antykwa Poltawskiego text and Computer Modern Math. J. M. Nowacki created the font Antykwa Poltawskiego using the MetaType1 system based on a typeface by Polish typographer Adam Poltawski.
• Antykwa Toruńska text and math. Antykwa Toruńska was created by J. M. Nowacki using the MetaType1 system based on a typeface by the Polish typographer Zygfryd Gardzielewski. The package anttor has complete math support in both TeX and LaTeX.
• Kerkis text and math. Kerkis was created by Antonis Tsolomitis by extending URW Bookman L to include Greek and additional Latin characters. The resulting fonts are stand-alone and can be used by applications outside of TeX. A font of math symbols is included, but not used by the LaTeX package. The package kmath uses txfonts for math symbols and uppercase Greek letters.
• New Century Schoolbook with Millennial math. New Century Schoolbook with Fourier math. The Millennial math font by Stephen Hartke contains Greek letters and other letter-like mathematical symbols. A set of virtual fonts is provided that uses New Century Schoolbook for Latin letters in math, Millennial for Greek and other letter-like symbols, and txfonts and Computer Modern for all other symbols, including binary operators, relations, and large symbols. This font is still in development, but will hopefully be released in 2006. The fouriernc package of Michael Zedler uses New Century Schoolbook for text and Latin letters in mathematics, and the Greek and symbol fonts from the Fourier-GUTenberg package for the remaining mathematical symbols.
• Palatino and pxfonts, Pazo, or mathpple for math symbols. Young Ryu created the pxfonts collection, which contains Greek and other letter-like symbols, as well as a complete set of geometric symbols, including the AMS symbols. Diego Puga created the Pazo math fonts, which include the Greek letters and other letter-like symbols in a style that matches Palatino. The LaTeX package mathpazo (now part of PSNFSS) uses Palatino for Latin letters, Pazo for Greek and other letter-like symbols, and Computer Modern for geometric symbols. The LaTeX package mathpple (also part of PSNFSS) uses Palatino for Latin letters and slanted Euler for Greek and other symbols. Since Hermann Zapf designed both Palatino and Euler, the designs mesh well. An alternate use of Euler is using the eulervm package. Ralf Stubner added small caps and old-style figures to URW Palladio L in the FPL package, and Walter Schmidt extended these fonts in the FPL Neu package.
• Utopia and Fourier or Math Design. Utopia was donated by Adobe for use with X Windows. Michel Bovani created Fourier-GUTenberg as an accompaniment to Utopia and is very complete, containing both Greek letters and standard and AMS symbols. The Math Design fonts for Utopia of Paul Pichaureau are also very complete, including Greek letters and AMS symbols.
• Charter and Math Design. Or URW Garamond and Math Design. Charter was donated by Bitstream for use with X Windows. The Math Design fonts for Charter created by Paul Pichaureau are very complete, including Greek letters, symbols from Computer Modern, and the AMS symbols. Charis SIL might be an alternate source for Greek letters that match Charter more closely. Another possibility for a math font is to use the Euler fonts with the charter and eulervm packages. URW Garamond No. 8 is available under the Aladdin Free Public License as part of the GhostPCL project. The Math Design fonts for URW Garamond created by Paul Pichaureau are very complete, including Greek letters, symbols from Computer Modern, and the AMS symbols.
• Times or Omega Serif, and txfonts, Belleek, mathptmx, or mbtimes. Young Ryu created the txfonts collection, which contains Greek and other letter-like symbols, as well as a complete set of geometric symbols, including the AMS symbols. The txfonts package also includes a very nice typewriter font, txtt. Belleek was created by Richard Kinch and is a drop-in replacement for the commercial fonts required by the mathtime package (now part of PSNFSS). The LaTeX package mathptmx (also part of PSNFSS) uses Times for Latin letters and Symbol for Greek and other symbols. Michel Bovani created the mbtimes package by using Omega Serif for text and Latin and Greek letters in mathematics. mbtimes also includes symbol fonts and a set of calligraphic letters. Omega Serif is the primary font for Omega, a 16-bit extension of TeX by John Plaice and Yannis Haralambous. The STIX fonts project is a collaboration of several academic publishers to create a set of Times-compatible fonts containing every possible glyph needed for mathematical and technical publishing. These fonts are still in development, with a scheduled release in the middle of 2006. Note: When Adobe introduced Postscript in 1984, they defined 35 core fonts (in 10 typefaces) that must be present in all Postscript interpreters. In 1996, URW++ released a replacement set for the core fonts under the GNU General Public License. The URW++ fonts were primarily released for use with Ghostscript, a free Postscript interpreter. For example, Times is Nimbus Roman No. 9 L, Palatino is URW Palladio L, New Century Schoolbook is Century Schoolbook L and Symbol is Standard Symbols L.

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

A. Zeese & Co

Chicago-based electrotypers and photo-process engravers. They published Specimens of Electrotypes Comprising Cuts, Borders, Initials, Ornaments, Etc. (1891, Chicago: A. Zeese&Co).

Very Victorian in style, this 200 plus page publication showcases traditional ornaments and has about fifteen pages worth of ornamental capital alphabets. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Abby Wilhelm

Creator of Treeline (2013, an alchemic typeface), which was designed during her studies at the University of Georgia in 2013. In 2017, at FontStruct, she published the free techno typeface Pooling duting her studies at Southern Illinois Unversity in Carbondale, IL. FontStruct link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Abby Wynne

Chicago-based creator of the ornamental typeface Patricia (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Advance Type Foundry

Short-lived foundry run by Robert Wiebking and Henry Hardinge in Chicago. In 1894 Robert Wiebking and Henry H. Hardinge (also from Chicago) built the first successful machine for engraving type matrices. In 1896, they became partners and set up Wiebking, Hardinge & Co in 1901, manufacturing matrices for type foundries. This led them to set up the Advance Type Foundry in Chicago. Typefaces by them include the ArtCraft Series, Caslon Antique, and Modern Text (blackletter). [Google] [More]  ⦿

AIGA Annual Design Competition 2003

The typography awards in the AIGA competition [which are mostly but not exclusively for the creative use of type] in 2003 were: Archer (Hoefler), Retina (Frere-Jones at HTF), Interiors 3D type (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL), Bjork Cocoon (Radical Media, NY), Copy magazine (Sagmeister, NY), AIGA "Voice" animation (Chermayeff&Geismar Inc, NY). [Google] [More]  ⦿

A.J. Troxell

Designer from Illinois, b. 1985, who made Futura Hand (2010). Home page. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Akufen

Montreal-based designer of the geometric typeface Les Enfants de la Bolduc (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alex Diaz

Alex Diaz (Chicago, IL) got a Bachelors degree in graphic design from Columbia Collrge Chicago in 2011. He created the candy-stripe typeface Three (2011). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alex Sheyn
[Avondale Type Co]

[More]  ⦿

Alex Southern

During his studies at Columbia College Chicago, Alex Southern (Carol Stream, IL) designed the ball terminal-laden typeface Postmodern (2015), which is based on Modern No. 20. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alexa Heinrich

Graphic designer in Chicago, IL, who created Modular Alphabet in 2012.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alexandria Hall

Chicago-based art director, who used just a few design elements in her modular typeface Plug (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alexis Cole

During her studies, Alexis Cole (Northfield, IL) designed the textured typeface Bauhaus Bold (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alexis James

Springfield, OH-based designer of the colorful Chicago Latino Film Festival Poster in 2016. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alexis Stellato

Crest Hill, IL-based creator of the student project typeface Branching Out. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alf R. Becker

Alf Becker (b. St. Louis, IL, d. 1959, St. Petersburg, FL) was a sign artist in the 1930's and 40's. Beginning in January 1932, at the request of editor E. Thomas Kelly, Becker supplied the Signs of the Times (The National Journal of Display Advertising) magazine's new Art and Design section with an alphabet a month, a project initially predicted to last only two years. Misjudging the popularity of the series, it instead ran for 27 years, ending finally two months before Becker's death in 1959, for a total of 320 alphabets. In late 1941, just ten years after the first alphabet was published, 100 of those alphabets were compiled and published in book form under the title 100 Alphabets, by Alf R. Becker.

The American Sign Museum shows the following death notice, taken from the April 1959 issue of Signs of the Times: A chapter of almost 27 years of extensive influence upon the development of sign and outdoor advertising lettering came to a close March 10 in the passing of Alf R. Becker, whose alphabets had been presented consistently in Signs of the Times since January, 1932. Death came in St. Petersburg, FL, where he had been hospitalized since last November. The funeral services were in St. Louis, March 16. Mr. Becker had operated a commercial sign business in East St. Louis, IL., and was widely known for his lettering ability when requested 27 years ago by the late E. Thomas Kelley, then editor of Signs of the Times, to do a series of alphabets for the magazine. They had estimated that 24 alphabets which would be presented in a period of two years would serve the purpose. The series was so enthusiastically received and so many readers urged continuation that it was projected indefinitely to eventually each a total of 320 before failing health of Mr. Becker forced him to give up that creative work. His last alphabet for ST appeared in the January issue this year. Countless are the signmen and women who broadened the horizons of their lettering ability by thorough study of Mr. Becker's alphabet. In 1941, his book, "100 Alphabets" was published by Signs of the Times, and all 3,000 copies that were printed were sold out long ago. Numerous requests have been received for a reprinting, but in view of the changes of time in lettering styles, it has not been considered advisable. Mr. Becker's failing health in 1957 influenced him and Mrs. Becker moving to St. Petersburg, where they bought a home, and where he went into semi-retirement. His love of the sign business was such that he continued his alphabets in spite of the problems of his illness.

Many of his typefaces have art deco influences. LHF Monogram at Letterhead is a digital version of one of his fonts. Other digitizations include Whomp (2006) and Buffet Script (2006) by Alejandro Paul (Sudtipos) and Daffadowndilly (2007) and Stony Island NF (after Becker's art deco typeface Chicago Modern), Quaint Notions (2003), and Shaq Attack NF (2011, a wood plank font) by Nick Curtis.

The Fontry (James Stirling and/or Adkins) is undertaking a grand digitization project, and releases free and pay fonts with names that start with ARB, followed by the font number, the font name, and the month and year of issue. In The Fontry's ARB series, we find ARB-187 Moderne Caps AUG-47 (2013, didone), ARB-85 Poster Script (2011, after a 1939 typeface by Becker), ARB 70 Modern Poster, ARB 93 Steel Moderne, ARB 44 Chicago Modern, ARB 66 Neon (2010, after a 1937 font, +Block, +Line), ARB 85 Modern Poster JAN-39 (2011, after Modern Poster Script, 1939), and ARB 67 Modern Roman, and ARB08ExtremeRomanAUG-32CASNormal (2009; the original is from 1932).

Jeff Levine created a number of typefaces based on Becker's work as well: Show Card Casual JNL (2018: based on a single stroke brush alphabet by Alf Becker), Casual Signage JNL (2018), Modern English JNL (2018), Kanona JNL (2010), Karaoke JNL (2010), Mocombo JNL (2010). John Davis created LHF Pipeline (2012) based on Becker's designs. Kaitlin Sims designed LHF Becker No. 45 (2015).

FontShop link.

Catalog of some of his digitized typefaces. View the digital typefaces that are based on Becker's work. Showcase of Alf R. Becker's fonts. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ali Borowsky

Graphic design student at The Illinois Institute of Art Schaumburg, IL. Creator of the slab serif typeface Coris Catholic (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alicia Lullo

Chicago, IL-based graphic design student. Creator of a hand-printed typeface in 2012. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Alphabets Inc (or: Fontsonline.com)
[Peter Fraterdeus]

Alphabets Inc was founded by type designer Peter Fraterdeus, who made AI Marlowe, AI Prospera, AI Wood (1992, interpreted from examples shown in Rob Roy Kelly's American Wood Types) and AI Quanta (1994, a multiple master face). Check here. This foundry has some of the nicest typefaces anywhere, including many gorgeous typefaces by Philip Bouwsma (example: Alexia, Juliana, BouwsmaScript, Weissenau). Other designers include Bonnie Barrett (Arbor), Brian Sooy (multiple master fonts AIVeritas and AIVeritasItalic), Ejaz Syed, Inna Gertsberg, John Pugh, Karen Ackoff (check out the Russell handwriting), Kurt Roscoe, Lester Dore, Manfred Klein, Mike Brooks, Peter Fraterdeus (Oberon, Prospera and Quanta (multiple master) families), Randall Jones (the multiple master font AIKochAntiqua), Robert McCamant, Martha Chiplis, Serge Pichii, and Steve Meek. In 2007, Peter Fraterdeus started Exquisite Letterpress for top quality printing. In 2010, he promised to release Quanta Uncial.

Dafont link [where one finds the free experimental typeface AI Fragment]. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Aly Kelly

During her studies at the Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg, Aly Kelly (AK Designs, Algonquin, IL) designed Steampunk Speech Typeface (2013) and Vine Lnes (2013, a curly script). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Amber Phillips

Amber Phillips (b. 1983, Hanoverpark, IL) is a young graphic designer/typographer about to graduate from Columbia College in Chicago. Her foundry, Amber Phillips, is located in Cary, IL. She made the scratchy handwriting font Ambie Skratch (2006). [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

American Wood Type Mfg Co.

Wood type manufacturing company located in New York and Chicago in the first half of the 20th century. Images below are from their Catalog No. 36. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Amsterdam Continental Types and Graphic Equipment Co.

Typeface importer and vendor and foundry located on Fourth Avenue and Park Avenue South in New York City, with offices in Burbank, CA, and Chicago, IL. Their typefaces included Annonce Grotesque. Amsterdam Continental ceased operations.

A Handbook of Types (PDF catalog). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Amy Dosen

Chicago-based creator of the custom sans all caps typefaces Risograph (2012) and Candy Cheeto Steamboat (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anchit Chhabra

As an Art Foundations student at UIUC in Champaign, IL, Anchit Chhabra created the octagonal Box Typeface (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anchor Fonts
[Eric Mueller]

Eric Mueller (Anchor Fonts, Aurora, IL) designed the free hand-printed typefaces Shabby Ball Point (2011) and Strong Hand Caps (2011) and of Ornamental (2011, Christmas tree ball alphading face). Progress (2011) is a pixel face. Hungry Ghosts (2011) and Anchorless Echo (2012, old typewriter face) are grunge typefaces.

Dafont link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Andi A. Mallarangeng

Andi A. Mallarangeng from DeKalb, IL, and Jim Henry from Northern Illinois University designed BugisA, a free font for Buginese. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Andrea Bruce

Graduate of Clarke University, class of 2014. Roselle, IL-based designer who created the triangulated typeface Shattered (2016). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

André Kuzniarek
[Mathematica Fonts]

[More]  ⦿

André Kuzniarek
[Studio Daedalus]

[More]  ⦿

Andrew Byrom

Andrew Byrom was born in Liverpool, England in 1971. After Graduating from the University of East London in 1996 he opened his own design studio and worked for various clients including Penguin Books, The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, The Industrial Design Centre, Time Out Online and The Guardian Newspaper. Around this time he also began teaching graphic design at The University of Luton and Central Saint. Martins. Byrom moved to the USA in 2000 to teach at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. He has recently been commissioned to design typefaces and type treatments for Elle Decoration, The New York Times Magazine, McGraw-Hill, and Turner Classic Movies. In 2006 he moved to Long Beach to take up an Associate Professor position at California State University, where he is currently the Area Head of the Graphic Design Department. He created the experimental typeface Interiors (2002), about which AIGA writes: Interiors (3D type) is a collaboration between type designer Andrew Byrom and designer Joel Wolter. It was originally conceived as a digital font (Interiors) and was inspired by an old wooden chair in Byrom's office that, when looked at from a certain angle, resembled the letter h. Using the three-dimensional principles of this simple form, and closely adhering to type design conventions, 26 letters of the alphabet were drawn and generated as a font. The characters were then constructed in three dimensions using tubular steel into full-scale furniture frames. Because the underlying design concept is typographical, the end result becomes almost freestyle furniture design. Letters like m, n, o, b and h can be viewed as simple tables and chairs, but other letters, like e, g, a, s, t, v, x and z, become beautifully abstract pieces of furniture. He also made the distressed font Bloodclot, the stencil family Byro Stencil (free), Byro Sans, 1byrosquare (2000), 2byroround (2000), ByroBlock Stencil (2000, stencil), Concussion (dot matrix with various size dots), Easy Vie, Venetian (2009, like Venetian blinds), Fresh (1995, scratchy type), Ply, Rage, St. Auden, Bandaid (2006), 3D Dot Matrix. He divides his time between teaching, designing for various clients and playing with his sons, Auden and Louis. He has recently been commissioned to design typefaces and type treatments for Elle Decoration, The New York Times Magazine, McGraw-Hill, and Turner Classic Movies. In 2006 he moved to Long Beach to take up an Associate Professor position at California State University, where he is currently the Area Head of the Graphic Design Department. Speaker at ATypI 2009 in Mexico City. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Andrew Fortnum

Chicago-based type designer who was born in Canada. Andrew studied graphic design at Columbia College in Chicago. He created the typeface Goonatic 72 Plus (2012). [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Andrew Markle
[Andrews&Halsted Typeworks (or: Halsted Typeworks)]

[More]  ⦿

Andrews&Halsted Typeworks (or: Halsted Typeworks)
[Andrew Markle]

Indianapolis, IN-based Andrew Markle (Andrews&Halsted Typeworks) designed the sans typeface A&H Hadley (2010). Other commercial typefaces include A&H Bern Sans CT (2010), A&H Hadley Inconsolata MT (2010), A&H Hadley ExtraBold (2010), A&H Hadley Bold (2010), A&H Stella (sans), A&H Kerrigan Light, and A&H Kerrigan Book.

Graphicriver link, where we learn that Halsted Typeworks is located in Evanston, IL. There we also find the 2011 typefaces Indianapolis Slab Serif, Madeleine, Payton, Addison, Gabriel Script, A&H Bjorn, A&H Teagan Script, A&H Taidghin Sans, A&H Alexander (+Sans, +Sans Light, +Serif, +SerifBold, +SerifLight), A&H Stella, AH Ansleigh, AH Greyson, A&H Parker (+Light), and &A&H Celeste. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ann Libner

"Paralegal" person at Agfa/Monotype who sends threatening emails to website owners. One such owner had posted a font derived from Times Roman, but it was far from the text font we are used to. Still, reason enough to apply the pressure. On another occasion, in February 2000, she threatened Graham Meade with a lawsuit just because his use of the name ArialicHollow was an infringement of Monotype's trademark. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Annette Brown

Chicago, IL-based designer of the all caps brush font Confused (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Annie Godzicki

Aurora, IL-based designer of the free font Salty Air (2019) and the free handcrafted typeface Lemonade (2019). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anniliese Ahrens

Chicago-based designer of a dingbat font called Hairstyles (2012). In 2019, she published a decorative caps typeface. [Google] [More]  ⦿

AnnMarie Weidenbenner

Creative director in Carbondale, IL, who created the constellation typeface Stella (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anson Nguyen

Aurora, IL-based designer of the stencil typeface Alligator (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anthonie Zapata

Creator (aka tiggWorkz) of the graffiti font ChicagoHoodZZ (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Anton Novik

Anton Novik lives in Chicago, IL. He created the shattered glass grunge typeface X Story (2008). The grunge typeface XStoryDesignersFont (2008) can be bought at Graphic River. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ari Rafaeli
[ARTypes]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Arkka Enterprises

Located in Warrenville, IL, this company developed Mup: Mup takes a text file as input and produces PostScript output for printed music. It can handle both regular notation and tablature notation. It can also produce MIDI output. Free trial, but 29$ if you keep it. Windows and UNIX/Linux. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Arlo
[Ryan Halvorsen]

Ryan Halvorsen (Arlo) created the sans family Halvo (TypeTrust). His graphic design work includes the poster for the Las Vegas Marathon in 2005. Arlo is a graphic design firm based in Chicago. We look for design solutions that are memorable, timeless, and communicate with high-speed efficiency. Maximum heart; minimal fluff we like to say. While small in size, we design for big names; Nike, American Eagle Outfitters,&Effen Vodka just to name a few. The firm was established in 2004 by Ryan Halvorsen and Patrick Filler. Ryan Halvorsen cut his graphic design teeth in Rome, Italy, and returned to Chicago to work at Segura, Inc. Silas Dilworth also works at Arlo. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Armin Vit

Born and raised in Mexico City, Armin Vit is a graphic designer and writer now living in Austin, Texas. He is co-founder of UnderConsideration and its myriad sites. His last employment position was at Pentagram. He now runs UnderConsideration's Department of Design. With his partner, Bryony, he has co-authored the books Women of Design and Graphic Design Referenced. Designer of the futuristic fonts Modular (2001) and Tirkovet, and of Stress (letters obtained without lifting the pen). He attended the School of Graphic Design at Anahuac University in Mexico City and taught typeface design at the Portfolio Center, marchFIRST, Atlanta, GA. Home page. After Atlanta, he moved on to Chicago, and later to Austin. At TypeCon 2003, he told this dream about Hrant Papazian, I quote: I dreamt that Hrant came to my house, the weird thing is that it was his typophile picture only (since that is as far as I know what Hrant looks like). So he came in, and went "Number Two" in my bathroom without flushing, after that, he headed out to the kitchen to hang out and stuff. So I go into my bathroom and see these unflushed turds in my toilet. I go up to Hrant and say "Excuse me, Hrant, you left your turds in my toilet." His response involved handing me a plunger and adding "This should fix it." And that was it. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Art and Fonts by Sean (aka The BlackBox)
[Sean Moldenhauer]

Free fonts by Sean Moldenhauer of Michigan City, Indiana, a graduate of the Art institute of Chicago who apprenticed with Donna Karen. Sean has beautiful Japanese calligraphic prints (shodo style) as well as fonts based on carefully researched historical typefaces. Examples: JapaneseZenSampler1 (2001), TheTombwinterandspring1 (1997, "heavily inspired by the incised letters from the tomb of Henry III, Westminster Abbey, about 1272"), Thorns (1997), VampyresGarden (1997, initial caps inspired by a copy of the Romant de la Rose from the beginning of the 16th century), HoursintheRain (1997), SevenWavessighsSalome (1997, caps). Very nice gothic and medieval style creations. He showcases great Arab, Japanese and Chinese calligraphy. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Arthur M. Barnhart

Type designer who co-founded Barnhart Brothers and Spindler in Chicago. Creator of a squarish typeface in 1887. [Google] [More]  ⦿

ARTypes
[Ari Rafaeli]

ARTypes is based in Chicago, and is run by Ari Rafaeli. List of their typefaces categorized by revival type:

• Hermann Eidenbenz: Graphique (1946) now called Graphique AR, a shadow face.
• Jan van Krimpen (Enschedé) revivals: Romulus Kapitalen (1931), Romulus Open (1936), Curwen Initials (Van Krimpen did these in 1925 for The Curwen Press at Plaistow, London), and Open Kapitalen (1928).
• Jacques-François Rosart: Rosart811, a decorative initial typeface that is a digital version of the 2-line great primer letters cut by J. F. Rosart for Izaak&Johannes Enschedé in 1759 (Enschedé no. 811).
• Stephenson Blake revivals: Borders, Parisian Ronde.
• Rudolf Koch (Klingspor) revivals: Holla, Koch-Antiqua-Kursiv Zierbuchstaben, Maximilian-Antiqua, Neuland 24pt.
• Bernard Naudin (Deberny&Peignot) revival: Le Champlevé.
• W. F. Kemper (Ludwig&Mayer) revival: Colonia. P.H. Raedisch: Lutetia Open (2007) is based on the 48-pt Lutetia capitals engraved by P. H. Raedisch under the direction of Jan van Krimpen for Enschedé in 1928.
• Richard Austin: Fry's Ornamented (2007) is a revival of Ornamented No. 2 which was cut by Richard Austin for Dr. Edmund Fry in 1796. Stephenson, Blake&Co. acquired the type in 1905, and in 1948 they issued fonts in 30-pt (the size of the original design), 36-, 48- and 60-pt.
• Max Caflisch (Bauer) revival: Columna.
• Elisabeth Friedlaender (Bauer) revivals: Elisabeth-Antiqua, Elisabeth-Kursiv (and swash letters). Linotype Friedlaender borders.
• Herbert Thannhaeuser (Typoart) revival: Erler-Versalien.
• O. Menhart (Grafotechna) revivals: Manuscript Grazhdanka (cyrillic), Figural, Figural Italic (and swash letters). Also, Grafotechna ornaments (maybe not by Menhart).
• Hiero Rhode (Johannes Wagner) revival: Hiero-Rhode-Antiqua (2007).
• F. H. E. Schneidler (Bauer) revival: Legende.
• Herbert Post revival: Post-Antiqua swash letters.
• Georg Trump (Weber) revivals: Trump swash letters, Trump-Gravur (called Gravur AR now). The outline caps typeface Forum I-AR is derived from the Forum I type designed by Georg Trump (1948, C. E. Weber). Signum AR-A and Signum AR-B (2011) are based on Trump's Signum (1955, C.E. Weber). Palomba AR (2011) is based on Trump's angular calligraphic typeface Palomba (1954-1955, C.E. Weber). Amati AR (2011) is based on a Georg Trump design from 1953.
• Hermann Zapf revival: Stempel astrological signs.
• F.H. Ernst Schneidler: Zentenar Initialen is based on the initials designed by Prof. F. H. E. Schneidler, ca. 1937, for his Zentenar-Fraktur types.
• Isaac Moore: Old Face Open (Fry's Shaded) is a decorative Baskerville which was probably cut by Isaac Moore for Fry ca. 1788. A revival was issued in eight sizes by Stephenson Blake in 1928.
• Border units and ornaments: Amsterdam Apollo borders, Gracia dashes, Primula ornaments, Bauer Bernhard Curves, Weiß-Schmuck, Curwen Press Flowers, Klingspor Cocktail-Schmuck, Nebiolo fregi di contorno, Attika borders, English (swelled) rules, Künstler-Linien, an-Schmuck, Primavera-Schmuck.
• Freie Initialen are derived from initials made for the Stempel Garamond series. The type was issued in 1928 in three sizes (36, 48, and 60 pt); the AR version follows the 60-pt design.
• Initiales Grecques, based on Firmin Didot's design, ca. 1800.
• Emil A. Neukomm revivals: Bravo AR (2007; originally 1945).
• Ernst Bentele revivals: Bentele-Unziale (2007).
• Joseph Gillé: Initiales ombrées (2007) is based on Gillé's original all caps typeface from 1828.
• Maria-Ballé-Initials (2007), after an original font from Bauersche Giesserei.
• Raffia Initials (1952, Henk Krijger): revived by ARTypes in 2008 as Raffia.
• Ornaments 1 AR (2010): from designs from 18th and 19th century typefounders that were ancestors of the Stephenson Blake foundry.
• Ornaments 2 AR (2010): Ornaments 2 contains designs for the Fanfare Press by Berthold Wolpe (1939) and for the Kynoch Press by Tirzah Garwood (ca. 1927).
• Ornaments 3 AR (2010): based on designs by Bernard Naudin for Deberny et Peignot, c. 1924; and ornaments based on designs by Oldrich Menhart, Karel Svolinsky and Jaroslav Slab for the state printing office of Czechoslovakia and Grafotechna.
• Ornaments 4 AR (2010): based on the Amsterdam Apollo and Gracia ornaments and the Amsterdam Crous-Vidal dashes (designed by Crous-Vidal).
• Ornaments 5 AR (2010): based on the Amsterdam Primula ornaments designed by Imre Reiner, 1949.
• Ornaments 6 AR (2010): based on designs for the Curwen Press by Edward Bawden and Percy Smith.
• Yü Bing-nan revival: Freundschafts-Antiqua AR (2010). Freundschafts-Antiqua (which was also called Chinesische Antiqua) was designed in 1962 by the Chinese calligrapher Yü Bing-nan when he was a student at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst at Leipzig in 1960.
• Sans Serif Inline (2011). Based on the 36-point design of the Amsterdam Nobel Inline capitals (1931).
• Hildegard Korger revivals: Typoskript AR (2010) is based on a metal type which was produced in 1968 by VEB Typoart, Dresden, from a design of the German calligrapher and lettering artist Hildegard Korger.
• Hans Kühne revival: Kuehne-Antiqua AR (2010) revives a Basque typeface by Hans Kühne.
• The Troyer AR ornaments (2010) are based on the first series of ornaments designed for American Type Founders by Johannes Troyer in 1953.
• The Happy Christmas font (2011) is a snowflake font that is based on designs by Amsterdam and Haas, c. 1950. December Ornaments (2011) contains the 36 Amsterdam designs which were originally issued in 24 and 36 point.
• Walter Diethelm: Diethelm AR (2011) revives Walter Diethelm's Diethelm Antiqua (1948-1951, Haas).
• Walter Brudi revivals: Pan AR (2010, based on a 1957 font by Brudi).
• Hermecito (2013) is a 46-style type system based on an angular serif. It covers Cyrillic, Latin, Greek and several other scripts. Besides being eminently readable, it also has extensive coverage of mathematical and phonetic symbols. Renzo (2013) is along the same lines but with sharpened serifs.
• Spiral (2014) is a revival of a typeface called Spiral designed by Joseph Blumenthal and cut bu Louis Hoell in 1930. In 1936, Monotype reissued that type as Emerson 320.
• Custom typefaces include Fabrizio (2016), a classical serif typeface family for Hebrew, Latin, Cyrillic and Greek, with hints of Garamond and Caslon. Ari writes that Fabrizio made its first appearance in Saggi di Letteratura Italiana: Da Dante per Pirandello a Orazio Costa, by Lucilla Bonavita, printed at Pisa in March 2016 by Fabrizio Serra Editore for whom the type was specially designed.

View the typefaces made by Ari Rafaeli / ARTypes. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ascender Corporation

Elk Grove Village, IL-based company established in 2004, which specializes in font development, licensing and IP protection. It rose from the ashes of a major fire at Agfa/Monotype at the end of 2003. Its founders are Steve Matteson (type designer, formerly with Agfa/Monotype), Thomas Rickner (of Microsoft fame, where he hinted many Microsoft families), Ira Mirochnick (founder and President of Monotype Typography Inc in 1989 (where he was until 2000) and a Senior Vice President and director of Agfa Monotype Corporation (2000-2003), a self-proclaimed expert in font licensing issues and IP protection), and Bill Davis (most recently the Vice President of Marketing for Agfa Monotype). Also included in this group are Josh Hadley, Brian Kraimer, Jim Ford (since 2005), and Jeff Finger (as Chief Research Scientist, since 2006). On December 8, 2010, Ascender was acquired by Monotype for 10.2 million dollars.

Their typefaces include Endurance (2004, Steve Matteson, an "industrial strength" Grotesk designed to compete with Helvetica and Arial; it supports Greek, Cyrillic and East European languages).

In April 2005, Ascender announced that it would start selling the Microsoft font collection, which is possibly their most popular collection to date. They also started selling and licensing IBM's Heisei family of Japanese fonts in April 2005: Heisei Kaku Gothic, Heisei Maru Gothic and Heisei Mincho. Ascender's version of the CJK font Heiti is called ASC Heiti. Also in 2005, they started distributing Y&Y's Lucida family.

In October 2005, Ascender announced the development of Convection, a font used for Xbox 360 video games. Their South Asian fonts cover Bengali, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, and include Ascender Uni, Ascender UniDuo and Arial Unicode for general use across all Indic languages, and, in particular, the Microsoft fonts Vrinda (Bengali), Mangal (Devanagari), Shruti (Gujarati), Raavi (Gurmukhi), Tunga (Kannada), Kartika (Malayalam), Latha (Tamil) and Gautami (Telugu). Khmer SBBIC (2011) is a Khmer font at Open Font Library.

It does more type trading and licensing than type creation, although Steve Matteson has contributed fairly well to their new typefaces. Their brand value took a hit when they started selling scrapbook, handwriting and wedding fonts under the name FontMarketplace.com.

Recent contributions: Crestwood (2006, a house face, possibly by Steve Matteson) is an updated version of an elegant semi-formal script typeface originally released by the Ludlow Type Foundry in 1937.

In 2009, they started a subpage called GoudyFonts.Com to sell their Goudy revivals.

In 2010, they announced a new collection of OpenType fonts created specifically for use in Microsoft Office 2010: Comic Sans 2010 (including new italic and bold italic fonts), Trebuchet 2010 (including new black&black italic fonts), Impact 2010, Pokerface 2010, Rebekah 2010 and Rebus Script 2010. Ligatures in Comic Sans?

New releases.

View Ascender's typefaces. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ashlee Stevens

As a student, Joliet, IL-based Ashlee Stevens designed a great ironwork-inspired illuminated letter N in 2017. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ashley S. Kim

Chicago, IL-based designer of the thin display typeface Dream (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Atavistic
[Edward Blake]

Edward Blake's foundry located in Chicago. Blake was born in 1978 in Chicago. He created the hand-printed typeface Ten Till (2011). [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

ATF 1923 Catalog: Artcraft Series
[Robert Wiebking]

Showcasing the best pages from the Artcraft Series in the ATF 1923 Catalog. Artcraft&Bold&Italic are display typefaces originally designed for Barnhart Bros&Spindler by Robert Wiebking (1911-1913). Jaspert lists Artcraft as a 1930 publication at Ludlow, and Klingspor as Western Type Foundry typefaces from 1911 until 1913. Mac McGrew: Artcraft was designed in 1912 by Robert Wiebking and featured under the name of Craftsman in the first ad for his short-lived Advance Type Foundry, operated by Wiebking, Hardinge&Company, in Chicago. A short time later, the typeface was advertised as Art-Craft, and later as one word---Artcraft. Advance was soon taken over by Western Type Foundry, for whom Wiebking designed Artcraft Italic and Artcraft Bold a year or two later. Western in turn was taken over by Barnhart Brothers&Spindler in 1918. BB&S was already owned by ATF but operated separately until 1929; in the meantime, though, Artcraft and a number of other typefaces were shown in ATF specimens as well as those of BB&S. Artcraft has an unusual roundness in some of its serifs and line endings and a line of it produces a rolling feeling; some characters have curlicues, such as the long curl at the top of the a and and the exaggerated ear on the g. A number of auxiliary characters were made for roman and italic fonts; as these were sold separately, they were overlooked by many printers and typographers. The boldface has fewer eccentricities. Artcraft was a popular typeface for a number of years; the roman was copied by Monotype in 1929 without the fancy characters, and all three typefaces were copied by Ludlow. Adaptation in 1924 of Artcraft Italic to the standard 17-degree slant of Ludlow italic matrices was the second assignment of Robert H. Middleton (after Eusebius, q.v.) at that company. Hansen called it Graphic Arts. One source attributes the Artcraft family to Edmund C. Fischer, otherwise unidentified, but the details stated here are more generally accepted and seem to fit known facts better.

Digital versions:

• Artcraft (2001, URW).
• Federlyn NF (2011, Nick Curtis).
• Artcraft Pro (Jim Ford at Ascender).
• OPTI Artcraft (Castcraft).
• APT New Artcraft (1996, Alan Jay Prescott).

Austin Andrews

Chicago, IL-based designer of Beer Glasses (2015) and Material Design Icons (2015: free). Creative Market link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Austin Kelley

Illinois-based designer of the hand-printed typeface Kelley Calligraphy (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Avondale Type Co
[Alex Sheyn]

Avondale Type Co is a type foundry established in 2013 and located in the Avondale area of Chicago. It is a type coop that groups several designers. It is a subsidiary of the design studio Bright Bright Great. Its typefaces:

• By Alex Sheyn of Bright Bright Great: ATC Krueger (2013, an ultra-thin compressed straight-edged sans serif typeface), ATC Rosemary (2013, a didone with heavy contrast and shiny exaggerated ball terminals).
• Finki Pro (2013). A layered and beveled type family by Quinn Keaveney.
• Codex (2014). A spurred wrought iron and black death typeface by Justin Siddons.
• ATC Nasty (2015).
• ATC Overlook (2014) is a great grotesque sans family by Alex Sheyn. Almost monolined and genetically geometric, it is characterized by a lower case "e" that has a very short tail. Samantha Dion Baker made a free patterned version called ATC Overlook Baker in 2014.
• ATC Timberline. A wide open sans in 14 styles.
• The connected script typeface ATC Ripley (2014).
• The grotesque typeface ATC Duel (2015): Bold and bolder, ATC Duel is an extended grotesque sans-serif font family comprised of over 500 glyphs in 5 weights and 10 styles. Duel is an ultra wide display font whose rounded shapes and sharp edges are inspired by the letterforms and lines of 1960s cars, the Golden Age of automotive design.
• ATC Fritz (2015): ATC Fritz is a numerals specific display face comprised of over 60 glyphs in 8 layerable fonts. Fritz's numerals are chunky, bold, and soak up color. Inspired by modern sign painting techniques, Fritz works best where numbers need to stand out.
• ATC Saturn. A rounded octagonal techno typeface.
• ATC Yara (2016).
• ATC Arquette (2017). A geometric sans.
• The free handcrafted typefaces ATC John Doe, ATC Jane Doe and ATC Jay Doe (2017).
• ATC Abernathy (2019). Described as a soft humanist serif by ATC.
• ATC Merrin (2019).
• ATC Hal (2019).
• ATC Oneshot (2019). A sign painter's font inspired by bodega signage.
• ATC Doubletap (2019).
• ATC Vera (2020). A unicase sans.
• ATC Monarch (2021). A rhombic medieval display typeface by Christian Dexter.

Behance link for Alex Sheyn. Alex Sheyn's home page.

Behance link. Other people at Avondale or Bright Bright Great include Drew Rios and Jason Schwartz. We also find typefaces by Quinn Keaveney and Justin Siddons. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Backwords Design
[Tanner Puzio]

Graphic designer in Chicago, IL (was: Oak Ridge, TN). Creator of the free retro compass-and-ruler typeface Soda Fountain (2015). Creative Market link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Bar Code Graphics, Inc.

Chicago-based barcoding company offering a 10USD online service for EPS-format barcode creation. Contact: Andy Verb. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Barco Type

Metal type foundry in Northlake, IL and/or Bensenville, IL, still operational in 2007. Also called F&S Type Founders Inc., it was located at 237 S. Evergreen, Bensenville, IL 60106. Some of its types are listed here, but none appear to be original designs. Barco Type Founders [Specimen Book].

Images of some metal typefaces in the Barco collection: AmericanGaramondNo648, AshleyCrawford.png, Binney No. 21, Bon Aire, BulmerRomanNo462, Cameo, CheltenhamWideNo164, CloisterBlackNo95, Comique, ComstockNo202, EleganteNoS106, FigaroNo536, Glamour Medium, Greco Bold, Hauser Script, Hess Neo Bold No. 363, Homewood, Lydian Roman, Matura Scriptorial Caps, Modernistic No. 297, Orplid, Prisma, Punch, Sans Serif Light No. 329, Samson, Scotch Roman No. 36, Spire No. 377, Stymie Medium No. 290, Tangoe, Thello Inline No. 2481, Thello No. 246, TwentiethCenturyUltraboldExtend, Typewriter Type No. 17L. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Barnhart Bros. Spindler Type Founders: Book of Type Specimens, 1907

Trying to fit this 1000-page book into one web page, with discussion of many types. It's impossible, but I tried it. Download link for Book of type specimens: Comprising a large variety of superior copper-mixed types, rules, borders, galleys, printing presses, electric-welded chases, paper and card cutters, wood goods, book binding machinery etc., together with valuable information to the craft. Specimen book no.9. Another download link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Barnhart Brothers&Spindler (or: BB&S)

Chicago-based foundry, which grew out of The Great Western Type Foundry in 1868 when the Barnhart brothers (newspaper publishers in Iowa who came to Chicago as advertising agents) bought out the Toepfer family in 1868. They retained Herman Spindler as the foreman, since he was the only typefounder in the group. Aggressive in business, BB&S became the largest foundry in Chicago. Book of type specimens. Comprising a large variety of superior copper-mixed types, rules, borders, galleys, printing presses, electric-welded chases, paper and card cutters, wood goods, book binding machinery etc., together with valuable information to the craft. Specimen book no.9 (1907) is a 1048-page monster catalog (see also here and here and here). Some pictures from Type Barnhart Type Foundry Co. New York City: Superior Copper-Mixed Type (1908). In 1913, they published Preferred Type Faces.

BB&S was purchased by ATF about 1911 and it operated independently until about 1930. Typophile page on them. Text file with a list of the typefaces in their Catalog 25 (1925). Discussion of some of their typefaces and digitizations:

• Engravers Upright Script, a ronde style alphabet, was revived in 2006 by Nick Curtis as Bon Mot NF.
• Hazel Script, a primary school didactic connected script, digitized in 2006 by Paul Hunt as P22 Allyson (discussed here).
• They made the (sloppy) old-look garalde typeface Fifteenth Century in 1897, which turned into Caslon Antique (American Type Founders). A digital version can be had at MyFonts, but who made it? MyFonts also offers Caslon Open Face (originally, 1915).
• One of their best known designers was Oswald B. Cooper who made Cooper Black (1921) and Cooper Old Style (1919-1924), with characteristically blurred rounded serifs. He also made Cooper Hilite (shaded), Cooper 570 (fat), Cooper 579 (outline), Cooper Tooled Italic (shaded) and Cooper Black Italic 571.
• Delysian NF (2004, Nick Curtis) revives their Greeting Card typeface from the BBS catalog of 1923.
• Lining Gothic No. 71 (1907) is a grotesque typeface with panache. It was digitized by Nick Curtis as Cerulean NF (2007).
• Mazurka NF (2004, Nick Curtis) is a combination of two typefaces from the same catalog, Swagger Capitals, designed by Carl S. Junge, for the uppercase and Gothic Novelty Title for the lowercase.
• Racine (1903) was revived by Nick Curtis as Kenosha Antique (2004).
• Archer (1905) was revived by Nick Curtis as Grand Rapids (2005).
• Umbra (1907) was revived by Nick Curtis as Shady Lady NF (2005). Monotype's Umbra is based on a later metal version by Ludlow though.
• One of their blackletter typefaces is Waldorf Text (1914).
• Steelplate, a monocase engraved US dollar bill-style face, ca. 1900 at BBS, was revived by Nick Curtis as Smackeroo NF (2005).
• Ernst Lauschke designed the oriental look typeface Dormer in 1888 at the Great Western Foundry. BB&S renamed it Pekin. HiH digitized it in 2005. Pekin also is the name of Dan Solo's revival.
• Freak (1889, The Great Western Type Foundry) was renamed Bamboo by BB&S. A digital version by Tom Wallace is also called Freak (2005).
• Parsons (1918, Will Ransom) was digitized by Jess Latham.
• Wedge Gothic ML (1893). An oriental simulation font. It was not in the 1907 catalog but reappeared in 1925 as Japanette. According to McGrew, Wedge Gothic was originally created for the Chicago Herald newspaper. Digital versions: Japanette (Infinitype), OPTI Japanette 5 (CastCraft), Wedge Gothic (2010, Tom Wallace), Japanette (2012, SoftMaker).
• Clearcut Shaded Capitals (1920s, Will Ransom). Extended to a full font by Nick Curtis in 2005 as Ransom Clearcut NF).
• Dotted Roman (1897, a Victorian typeface) was revived as Miss Dottie NF by Nick Curtis in 2014.
• The decorative wood type typeface French Antique, featured in the 1905 catalog, and originally due to William H. Page. Digital versions by Woodentype (Jordan Davies) and Nick Curtis (whose version of French Antique Extended is called Fran Tique NF (2008)).
• The wedge-serifed typeface Vulcan (1884) was revived by Nick Curtis in 2014 as Vulkan NF.
• Jeff Levine's Millinery JNL (2022) is based on the art nouveau font Sterling showcased in the 1907 Barnhart Brothers & Spindler specimen book.

Digital typefaces that descend from Barnhart / BBS. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Barry Deck

Born in Mount Pleasant, IA, in 1962, Barry Deck is a freelance graphic designer in LA, Chicago and NYC.

He designed Arbitrary (1990, a sharp-serifed sans) and Template Gothic (1990, grunge; see here for the Cyrillic version by Igor Polovodov and the Greek version by Panos Haratzopoulos) at Emigre in 1992 and 1994 [MyFonts says 1990...].

Rudy van der Lans recalls the Template Gothic story: It was designed by Barry Deck while he was a student at Cal Arts in the early 90s. Under the auspices of Ed Fella and Jeffery Keedy there was a lot of exciting type design experimentation going on at CalArts in those days. I remember that particular graduate class came to visit our studio in '92 or so. That's when we first saw Template Gothic. We liked the font and asked Barry if he would let us release it commercially. Hrant Papazian says that a lot of the credit for Template Gothic should go to Ed Fella.

Besides these two Emigre fonts, Barry designed many other typefaces. He sells Barry Sans Serif (1989), Washout, Traitor, Truth, Fontoid, Canicopulus Script (1989, named in honor of Eric Gill's extracurricular activities), Cyberotica (1994), Caustic Biomorph (1992, part of FUSE 4), Cyberfriendly, Moderne Sans Serif, Mutant Industry Roman (1989), and Orgasm Heavy.

More recently, Barry Deck designed Eunuverse specifically for RayGun and it was used in a few issues before this mag was bought-out.

Fonts at Thirstype: Cyberotica, Eunuverse, Traitor, Truth, FauxCRA (2002), Caustic Biomorph, Repressed, Orgasm, and Canicopulis. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Beasts of England
[Simon Walker]

Aka SuperFurry. Home page. Simon is a freelance designer and custom-typographer working in Chicago, IL (and before that, Austin, Texas). Born in Bournemouth, UK, his family moved to San Antonio, TX in 1988. Some of his clients, past and present, include Nickelodeon, American Eagle, Ed Helms, Vanity Fair, Pepsi, ESPN, Brené Brown, Nike and Target. In 2016, he designed the rounded slabby display typeface Matchbook (Lost Type).

In 2017, he created the script typeface Blackbike and the sans typeface Carnaby Street.

In 2018, he released Rough Cut (with flared edges) and in 2019 he designed Jack's Maggot (a vintage label typeface), Room 205 (a wrought display typeface released by Typeverything) and Mrs. Carter (a back-slanted cursive).

Typefaces from 2020: New Forest (a display type).

Typefaces from 2021: Sisteron (a flashy serif with many ball terminals featuring elephant feet; published by Typeverything), Lovechild (a bold decorative serif).

Typefaces from 2022: Alder Road (a condensed fashion mag serif). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Beiruo He

Chicago, IL-based designer of the tape font Bei (2017) and a set of family icons (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Benjamin Smith
[IFB Design]

[More]  ⦿

Beomyoung Sohn

Located in Chicago, Beomyoung Sohn designed the modular grid-based typeface BEOM Cube (2012) and the geometric textured typeface BEOM Capsule (2012). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Bert Zhang

Lecturer at Siebel Center for Design at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Graduate of Type West in San Francisco, class of 2020. He also holds a Master's degree from the University of Washington, class of 2017, and a BA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, class of 2016.

At TypeWest, he designed the comic book typeface Marbles (2020). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Berthold Direct Corp
[Harvey Hunt]

Once called Berthold Types and now Berthold Direct Inc, this companay is located in Chicago, IL, and was/is run by Harvey Hunt (1949-2022) and his wife Melissa Hunt, an attorney. The font collection is aristocratic, unpolluted by grunge and cheap thrills, featuring many well-known text type families. On the other hand, typophiles all over the world are aghast at the marketing strategies of Berthold. The fonts, all having "BE" or "BQ" in the font names, originated from Berthold AG in Germany, a company that went bankrupt. Some people argue that the Chicago-based Berthold has no rights to the old Berthold AG collection---a fact documented by Uli Stiehl. But most importantly, the Hunts became famous because of the numerous lawsuits typically related to the selection of font names too close to names in their collection.

A few months after Hunt's death, Monotype acquired the Berthold collection.

For many years, on and off between about 1970 and his death in 2009, Günter Gerhard Lange was the typographic director [of Berthold Direct Corp, and its German "predecessor" Berthold]. Lange, along with Bernd Möllenstadt and Dieter Hofrichter, formed the core of Berthold's Type Atelier located in München to continue the development of the Berthold Exklusiv typefaces. The classics in the collection include Akzidenz-Grotesk, Block, City, AG Book, Delta, Formata, Imago and Laudatio. Frequent contributors in the 1970s and 1980s were Friedrich Poppl and Gustav Jaeger.

There are also many less frequently used older typefaces like Normande (1860), Augustea (1905-1926), and Michelangelo (1950, by Hermann Zapf).

MyFonts link.

Cover of their sans catalog. Cover of their modern typeface catalog. [Image: Karim Ahmed uses Normande BT in a beautiful poster]

The main Berthold typefaces at MyFonts. Large catalog of Berthold's typefaces, given in alphabetical order. See also here. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Berthold Types Limited
[Harvey Hunt]

The link recalls the history of this new company owned by the Hunts in Chicago. They bought the trademarks and some outlines from the bankrupt Berthold Types GmbH, but are not the successors of that famous German company. Since its creation, Berthold Types Limited has been sending (frivolous) legal letters usually related to alleged trademark violations. The typophiles discuss the situation, which turns a lot around the issue of Berthold not paying the original designers, such as Albert Boton. Erik Spiekermann is particularly (and rightfully) upset about the situation. A partial list of the "victims":

• Adobe (2001): This page explains: Berthold had given Adobe a non-exclusive right to include many of Berthold's typefaces in the Adobe Type Library, and to use Berthold's trademarks in connection with the Library, from 1990 through 2015. Adobe had proudly included the Berthold Library in its Adobe Type Library since 1991, only to remove them in 1999/2000. Berthold claimed that this violated the contract and sued. The judge dismissed the suit, stating that Adobe was not forced to include the Berthold typefaces.
• On Nick Curtis' site, we found this cryptic message, June 2003: "Berthold Types threatens legal action, claiming trademark infringement and dilution of our ... marks, counterfeiting, and unfair competition with Berthold Types under applicable law" because of the similarity of the names Boulevard and Boogaloo Boulevard [the latter is a font by Curtis], and City and City Slicker [the latter is a font by Curtis]. More news as things develop." Not only is this frivolous and ridiculous, but I can't understand how a reputed typographer like G. G. Lange could keep his name associated with the Berthold syndicate. More details.
• Jamie Nazaroff from Zang-o-fonts has been marketing a typeface called Omicron Delta, created by him in 2001. He was contacted by Melissa Hunt (Vice President&General Counsel, Berthold Types Limited, 47 W. Polk St. #100-340, Chicago, Illinois 60605). She claims that Delta, designed by Gustav Jaeger, has been in the Berthold library since 1983, and asked him to remove the font, which Jamie did. The reaction by various type designers is documented in this page.
• The (now extinct) German foundry PrimaFont. Press release by Berthold: "Chicago, Illinois (January 25, 2000) - As a result of legal action taken by Berthold Types Limited, PrimaFont International of Germany agreed to immediately cease the unauthorized sales of more than 300 Berthold typefaces from the PrimaFont CD-ROM, which also includes typefaces from other type foundries including Adobe, Agfa, Bauer Types, Bitstream, ITC, Letraset, Linotype and Monotype. PrimaFont infringed upon the trademark rights of Berthold Types by employing a "compatibility list" to identify the true names of the typefaces that PrimaFont sold using false names. Berthold Types actively seeks to prevent the use of compatibility lists as such use has gone unchecked in the type industry," stated Melissa Hunt, Vice President&General Counsel for Berthold Types. Adding: "The use of compatibility lists causes as much damage in the type industry as any other form of font piracy." This most recent success in Berthold Types' continued aggressive anti-piracy efforts means that PrimaFont must remove the Berthold typefaces from the PrimaFont CD-ROM. In addition, PrimaFont agreed never to sell or deal in any products that contain Berthold's typefaces and to pay Berthold an undisclosed sum."
• This page discusses the case of Cape Arcona's fonts CA Cosmo-Pluto and CA Cosmo-Saturn, which Berthold did not like (they have a typeface called Cosmos). To avoid legal costs, Cape Arcona renamed its fonts CA-Cosmolab.

Things unraveled in 2008: Berthold fonts were possibly going to be sold by Linotype, which turned out not be the case. The news of Melissa's possible departure from the font scene in 2008 prompted this response from Erik Spiekermann: As quite a few people here could testify, Melissa Hunt was very much a part of this business. I certainly have been at the receiving end of many documents written on behalf of her husband. I certainly hope she has quit the type business for good, as that may put an end to a lot of arbitrary legal actions that have cost a lot of us time, money and sleep.

Harvey Hunt was born in 1949 in Lincoln, UK. He died in Jacksonville, FL, in 2022. His wife Melissa, an attorney, is still involved in type. Ironically, Hunt's obituary mentions that Harvey will be remembered in the type industry as a maverick who fought to build a market for independent digital type, despite stiff competition and rampant online piracy. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Beth Voigt

Chicago, IL-based designer of the stencil typeface Noncompliant (2017). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Blank is The New Black
[Thomas Johnson Quinn]

Graphic design studio located in Chicago, IL, which was founded in 2011 by graphic designer Thomas Johnson Quinn (b. 1980, Two Rivers, WI), a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (2003).

In 2009, he created the 4-style pixel/dot matrix family Versteeg. Along the same theme, he made Niemi (2010), Toews (2010) and Huet (2010).

In 2012, he created the extreme contrast didone typeface Volterra.

In 2016, he made Pocketknife (sharp-edged and influenced by constructivism).

Klingspor link. Behance link. Newer Behance link. Creative Market link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Bob Behounek

Designer at SignDNA who made the comic and signpainting typefaces ChicagoStyle, NewCity, SantaFe, KedzieLite, Heading Script, Pravda Casual, Pulaski Script, Archer, Harlem. Behounek's bio states: Bob Behounek is a journeyman sign artist from Chicago, Illinois, plying his trade for 35 years. He has been a contributing editor for SignCraft Magazine since 1982. "I created these alphabets basically as a foundation to intermix, stretch, enlarge or do just about anything a signpainter would use to handletter the most fun-action words with readability as a priority! Do not limit yourself to what you see... but what you can create."

Sign DNA link. Klingspor link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Boris Brumnjak

Boris Brumnjak (b. Berlin, 1977, d. 2017) was a graphic designer who studied at LetteVerein Berlin until 1999. He designed the monospace retrotech pixel font Facsimile at T-26 in 2001. Since 2000, he ran brumnjak.com / grappa blotto in Berlin, which was involved in corporate design. He practiced design in Berlin, Wuppertal and Chicago.

Obituary by Juergen Siebert. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Brandon Harken

Graphic design student at DMACC. FontStructor who made the comndensed typeface Local Butcher (2012).

FontStruct link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Brandon Tone

Brandon Tone (Chicago, IL) created the decorative typeface Lightcycle in 2013 as a student---it has only three basic components. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Briahna Esquivel

During her studies, Aurora, IL-based Briahna Esquivel created the geometric typeface Framework (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Brian

Chicago-based designer of the informal handwriting typeface Rebirth (2004). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Brian Davies

His beautiful font Kashmir (an arts and crafts style font) was created in 1992 as a tribute to Led Zeppelin. Brian was a software designer at Northwestern's Institute of Learning Sciences. His address is listed in the text file as Box 46 CT, Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME 04011. Download link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Brian Kraimer

Kraimer worked at Ascender Corporation since 2004 until it was sold to Monotype. He has worked at the Chicago Tribune, and at Monotype Typography and Agfa Monotype, where until 2004, he was Vice President, responsible for managing the Worldwide Font Development Team. Today, he works at the Accounts Office of Monotype from Elk Grove Village, IL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Brittney Givens

Graphic designer in Chicago. She created a corporate typeface family called Forgotten Futurist (2012) for Chicago Lighthouse. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Britton Walters
[Nerfect Type Laboratories]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Bruce Alcock

New Foundland-born type designer of the hand-printed typeface Soupbone (+dingbats), who directed commercials at Tricky Pictures, Chicago. He returned to Canada in 2000 to form Global Mechanic with filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming.

Home page. FontShop link. Klingspor link. FontFont link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Bryony Gomez-Palacio

Bryony Gomez-Palacio is a graphic designer at Bagby and Company, Inc, in Chicago. She is married to Armin Vit, and designed Rama, a kid's building block font (2002). No downloads. Web page. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Carl Stephen Junge

Illustrator and poster designer in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s, who lived from 1880 (b. Stockton, CA)-1972 (d. Des Plaines, IA). Many of the ornamental typefaces in the Barnhart Brothers&Spindler catalog of 1931, Typefaces: border designs, typecast ornaments, brass rule: selective specimens of preferred matter, are due to Junge. His typefaces:

• Caslon Italic Specials (1924).
• Swagger Capitals, which already appeared in the 1922 catalog of BBS. Swagger Capitals was reworked by Nick Curtis in 2004 as Mazurka NF [the lower case of Mazurka NF is based on Gothic Novelty Title, perhaps not a Junge type]. Swagger Capitals also inspired Pencraft (2010, Intellecta Design).

  Mac McGrew: Swagger Capitals or Swagger Initials were designed by Carl S. Junge for BB&S in 1925. They are virtually monotone, with an elongated flourish on each of the letters, most of which are cursive in character. There are only twenty-four letters, without X or Z. The foundry promoted them as being usable as initials with various typefaces.

• Many ornaments were collected and digitized by Nick Curtis in Junge Holiday Cuts NF (2004).

Carlos Santiago

Interactive designer in Chicago who created a beautiful Didot poster in 2012. He also created a custom icon set for a hotel in midtown Chicago in 2012.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Carlos Segura

Born in 1956 in Santiago, Cuba, Segura founded the design firm Segura Inc in 1991 and the type foundry [T-26] in 1994 in Chicago.

He made Square 40 and Square 45 (2006, athletic lettering, octagonal), 26FacesA, Peepod (2000, great ornaments), Boxspring (1995, dadaist), Dingura, FaxfontFine (1997), FaxfontStandard (1997), FaxfontTone, FlacoSolid, FreeBeCaps, FreeDom-Normal, Mattress, Neo-Bold, Pintor (2006, wallpainting face), RPM (decals and logos), Sport IT (dingbats), Time In Hell (deconstructed Times).

Interview at typographer.com. Emodigi site. Interview. Another interview. CV. Klingspor link.

Catalog of Carlos Segura's typefaces. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Carlos Segura
[T-26]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Caroline Scanlon

Student at Loyola University Chicago, who created a lovely display typeface in 2012. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Castcraft Software Inc (or: OptiFont)

Castcraft [3649 W Chase Ave Skokie, IL 60026], showed off a comprehensive library of fonts, all with extended character sets for multi-language typography. OptiFont is a trademark filed in 1990 by Fredric J. Kreiter of Castcraft. Castcraft sold a CD-ROM Type Library Volume 1 at 200 USD. Its entire font collection was sold for 1000 USD. It also made some custom fonts. Most post-1990 fonts have the prefix OPTI. For example, OPTI-Peking is an oriental simulation font. OPTI-Favrile is a copy of Tom Carnase's Favrile (WTC).

A visitor warned me that there is absolutely zero security when you order from this outfit, so you are warned--this is a dangerous site! It seems that Manny Kreiter (d. 2005) was the last President&CEO, and that his family (Abe, Harry and Ned Kreiter) have been at it since the days of metal type (1936) starting as Type Founders of Chicago. I found this on their pages: Castcraft has licensing [sic] the entire 20,000 TypeFaces from "Type Films of Chicago" and the entire "Solotype Alphabets" collection. Mike Yanega claims that most of their fonts are clearly not original any more than most of Bitstream's are original, and like them they re-name many of their fonts to avoid copyright issues. Their fonts all appear to be a "dead collection" of copies of relatively old designs that have already appeared in many other collections from the likes of WSI and SSi.

In 2010, John Brandt reports: Castcraft, aka Type Founders of Chicago, moved decades ago from Hubbard St in Chicago to a close-in suburb (Skokie? Niles?) and was still operating within the past few years when I happened to drive by. I failed to find any current incarnation, but they used several names even years ago as a prominent pirate. Besides pirated fonts (Typositor to later, generally poor digital), they were a big metal vendor (I have a partial metal set of Helvetica gifted as they left downtown in the 1970s), and also had a guy (whose name escapes me) who did fabulous high-end signage, from sand-blasted glass to the created-on-building inscribed metal logo for a well-known Michigan Ave mall. Longtime owner Manny Kreiter died in 2005, but whether Boomie or any of the others who may still be around kept it going is unknown. Aside from simply having ANY version of their many offerings, most would consider their collection worthless. Anyone who has a digital "OPTIfont" and a font editor can readily view the problems, including usually several times too many Bezier points within any character. I counted 78 control points on a minimal character, for instance, that should have had less than a dozen.

Mark Simonson: Castcraft was notorious in the sixties and seventies for pirating film fonts for headline setting machines, such as the Typositor. They would acquire a film fonts from franchisees of VGC (who also made the Typositor) or Filmotype or Alphabet Innovations, and then make duplicates and sell them to typesetting houses, usually changing the font names. Companies like Alphabet Innovations even put deliberate mistakes into individual fonts sent to franchisees just to try to see where Castcraft was getting them.

Florian Hardwig: OPTI is a label used by Castcraft (also/previously known as Typefounders of Chicago and Type Films of Chicago) for digital fonts they produced around the early 1990s. My understanding is that virtually all of them are based on designs by others, made and distributed without authorization and without compensating the original designers or IP holders. Technically, many were likely based on the copies Castcraft previously made for phototype. They typically have names different from the original to avoid trademark issues. The company is long defunct and, ethical issues aside, the fonts are of subpar quality.

Listing of Castcraft fonts (compiled by myself). The 802 fonts listed here are all dated between 1990 and 1994. I know there are at least 1,000 digital fonts made by them, so my list is incomplete.

This link maintained by alt.binaries.fonts regulars contains most OPTI fonts for free download. It contains in particular some scans of one-line listings (i, ii, iii), and lists of name equivalences (i, ii).

Mediafire link.

Picture of Ned, Abe, Harry and Manny Kreiter.

Defunct Castcraft Software link. Typophile discussion.

Font name equivalences (by Philippededa, 2012). List of equivalences of Castcraft names. List of Castcraft typefaces as of July 2014. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Central Type (was: Lamesville)
[Mark Butchko]

Mark Butchko (Chicago, IL) is Central Type (and before that, Lamesville). He created a layering typefamily that includes possibilities for inline and bevel designs called Idler (2011), which was extended to Idler Pro in 2017. In 2016, he set up Central Type, and designed a 5-style plump rounded sans typeface family called Rodger, which was published by Type Department in 2020.

Typefaces from 2017 other than Idler Pro: Halsted (a layered blackboard bold typeface family inspired by art deco and the 1970s), Cadet (a Bauhaus-inspired sans typeface family).

Typefaces from 2018: Dirk (Clarendon slab serif).

Klingspor link. Behance link. You Work For Them link. Personal home page. Type Department link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Centric Studios
[Keith Whetstone]

Graphic design studio in Belleville, IL. Dafont link, where one can download the free handprinting outline font Father Nelson (2007) made by Keith Whetstone, as well as the dingbat typeface Textbook Math (2007), based on illustrations found in First Year in Number, a children's math book from 1912, and Wet Plate (2007). Wilderness (2007) and Maudlin Sketch (2008) are grunge typefaces. Anonymous Clippings (2008) is a ransom note font. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chad Savage
[Sinister Visions]

[More]  ⦿

Charles E. Hughes

Graphic artist, b. 1930, Chicago, IL, d. 2017, Edina, MN. Hughes moved to Minnesota in 2002, but he spent most of his career as a lettering artist in Chicago and Milwaukee. He worked briefly for ATF in 1948. Hughes designed ads for the yellow pages in Milwaukee and worked for ten years as a letter designer at the Milwaukee Journal. At age 30 he became a freelancer, drawing letters for international ad agencies and design studios such as J. Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett. Hughes gained a reputation for his versatility as a lettering artist. He designed fonts for several food products, including Raisin Bran, DiGiorno Pizza and Quaker Oat Bran, and developed an entire alphabet for Marlboro. He once was given the job of designing the catchphrase for Tony the Tiger, the cartoon mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.

His retail typefaces include Indy Italic (1990, Letraset), an informal script, and Century Nova (American Typefounders, 1966, one of the last metal typefaces), the latter as a variation on Century Expanded.

FontShop link. Obituary. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Charles E. Tiede

Codesigner at BBS in 1889 with Henry W. DeWitt of an early art nouveau typeface. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Charles Emil Heyer

Chicago-based punch-cutter, 1841 (Berlin, b. Carl Emil Heyer)-1897 (Chicago). His typefaces have late Victorian and early art nouveau elements:

• At BBS: Armenian (+Extended) (1879), Calumet (1887), Castle (1888, a clean basic sans), Challenge Lightface (1888), Fair (1893), Fair Open (1891), Grant No. 2 (1892), Heyer, Jewel Script (1888), La Salle (1889), Lakeside Script (1883), Lyric (+Lightface Lyric, 1882; in 1925 renamed to Greeting Card (+Light)), Maltese (+Open) (1878), Mayo, Myrtle Script (1885), Occident (+Shaded) (1881), Opaque, Plate Script, Princess Script (1887), Princeton, Solar (1888), Sylvan Text.
• At Boston Type Foundry: Bank Note Italic Ornamented (1874 or 1875), Compressed Black (1875), Copperplate Italic (1875), Harlem (+Open, +Shade) (1875), Karnac (1874 [note: not sure this was done at Boston Type Foundry]), Mayence (1875), Nubian (1876), Rococo (1876), Vienna (1875).
• At Western Type Foundry: Circular Gothic No. 44 (1879). For a revival, see Foundation Sans Number 44 (Henrik Kubel, 2018).

Charles J. Strong

Charles J. Strong (b. 1866, Hunstville, IL) was very influential in the sign and lettering world following the turn of the century. His text Strong's Book of Design (1910, 1917, 1982) has been reprinted several times. The early editions had wonderful color plates. Strong founded the Detroit School of Lettering along with a mail order supply department. He also wrote Strong's Art of Show Card Writing (1919) and Detroit School of Lettering 1-10 (1905). The latter text consists of ten thin booklets. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Charles T. Luthy

Author of Luthy's Scientific Handwriting: Being an Analysis of Roman Script Form and Execution (1918, C.T. Luthy). See also here. C.T. Luthy was based in Peoria, IL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chester Jenkins

With just one name (the other one was lost in an accident!), Chester, the type designer, was born in Montreal in 1971. In 1995 Chester moved to Chicago to work with Rick Valicenti and eventually become a partner in his digital type foundry, Thirstype. In 2004, he started up the type coop Village in New York together with his wife and partner, tracy Jenkins. Chester's published designs have been used for branding programs including AT&T, Starwood Hotels, CBS Television, Nike, the San Francisco Ballet, Columbia University Business School, and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He has created bespoke typefaces for Blackberry, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and the National Football League.

His fonts include Syzygy, Schmelvetica (at FontShop), Psyche (unreleased), Orbit (2003, with Rob Irrgang), Rheostat (1996, a grunge dot matrix font family), HateNote, Panderella (2000-2001, ultra geometric), Eclogues (1999, an absolutely stunning romantic high-ascender-descender family), LoveHateCollection, JohnHadANightmareLastNight (2001), Alexey (2003, a stencil family, with Rick Valicenti), Apex Serif (2003, with Rick Valicenti), Exchange (dot matrix), Pizzelle Italic, Phatso (2003), Satchel Paige (2003, a wood type typeface made with Tracy Jenkins), Pixella (2003, pixel font), Nillennium (2000, an octagonal family), Freedumb (2004), Galaxie Polaris (2004, a sans) and Virgil, the last twelve fonts at Thirstype. At Village, he published Mavis (2005), Apex Sans (2004, with Rick Valicenti), and then Apex New (2006), which has a hairline weight, Apex Thin, and Apex Rounded (2010). In 2009, he co-designed the large x-height text family Galaxie Copernicus with Kris Sowersby at Village. In 2010, he and Jeremy Mickel made the poster type family Aero, which took inspiration from Roger Excoffon's Antique Olive. It won an award at TDC2 2011.

His custom-made typefaces from 2006-2007 include these: Rewards (with Kris Sowersby), Always Radio (with Markus Rakeng), 2Wice Egyptian, Apex Compact, Apex New Condensed, Baro Heavy, Baro Light, Baro Medium, Baro Super, DPA Gothic, Endzone, Galaxie Ariane, Galaxie Copernicus, LMVDR, Modernismo, Snickers. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Chicago O'Hare
[Matt Soar]

Matt Soar points out a good one: the O'Hare airport sign is set in the typeface Chicago: There's a scene early on in the movie Meet the Fockers where Ben Stiller and his bride-to-be fly off to see her parents. The establishing shot (above) cleverly reminds us exactly which city they're leaving. Which brings us to the big, helpful sign: first, it was clearly comped in during post-production; and, second, it's typeset in, wait for it, Chicago. Now there's inspired design for you. Chicago - the font, not the city - was designed in 1983 as a system font for the Apple Macintosh by Susan Kare. Its design has absolutely nothing to do with the city of the same name. In fact, according to Kare herself, the set of fonts she designed for Apple "were named after Philadelphia suburbs", until management decided otherwise. The moral, as ever, is: don't select type based on its name. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chicago Type

An ongoing project documenting interesting typography in Chicago. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chinese Online Reading Assistant

Chin-Chuan Cheng's Mac and Windows fonts for Pinyin. Cheng is at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Fonts: Chinese-Pinyin, Chinese-Pinyin-Cap (1996). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chris Vile
[Font Monger]

[More]  ⦿

Christian Dexter

Wilmington, DE-based designer in 2019 at Avondale Type Co of ATC Anais (a headline didone) and ATC Nasty (gooey). Other typefaces include ATC Bramford (2019) and AG Mercury Sans (2019).

In 2021, he released ATC Monarch (a rhombic medieval display typeface0 at Avondale. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christina Zouras

Chicago-based graphic designer, photographer and illustrator. Creator of the hipster typeface Born of the Wild (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christine ADM

German designer who is now located in Chicago, IL. For a club night in Frankfurt, she created the straight-edged techno typeface Sexpol (2014). For KISD Gala 2012, she designed an experimental geometric solid typeface. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christine Auf der Mauer

Chicago-based designer of Potato Print Font (2013) and of a geometric typeface done for KISD (Köln International School of Design) Gala 2012. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christine Ha

Buffalo Grove, IL-based designer of the FontStruct typeface Structured Gradient (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christine Nelson

During her studies at The Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg, IL, Christine Nelson designed the Ink Blots typeface (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christopher Sperandio

New York-based designer of fonts at Garagefonts, including Train Wreck (1997, with Simon Grennan). He designed Rant in 1996 at [T-26].

Homepage. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Chronology of Typeface Designs

A time line for type design, until about 1992. By Chicago's Larry Wiklund. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chuck Lewis

Chicago-based designer of the Victorian family Je m'ennuie (2011). He specializes in rint design and motion graphics. [Google] [More]  ⦿

C.J. Leonard

Chicago-based creator of the pictorial Nun Alphabet (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

C.J. Zilligen
[Varsity Type Foundry (was: Zilligen Design Studio)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Clare Rosean

Illustrator in Chicago, IL, who created the hand-drawn decorative caps typeface Keeks (2014). Dafont link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Clarence C. Marder

Typefounder. Designer of Copperplate Gothic (5 styles now exist at Bitstream). He ran the Chicago-based foundry Marder, Luse and Company, which existed from 1863-1892, and which was also called Scofield, Marder, Toepfer&Co., Scofield, Marder&Co., and the Chicago Type Foundry. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Clayton Duffy

During his studies in Chicago, Clayton Duffy designed the display typeface Gravity Slave (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Colleen Hancuch

During her studies in Chicago, Colleen Hancusch created a Geometrypography (2013), a typeface built up from simple geometric solids. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Colleen Kane

Graphic designer in Chicago, who created a hipster typeface in 2014. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Continental Typefounders Association
[Melbert Cary]

Continental Type Founders Association was founded by Melbert Brinckerhoff Cary Jr. (1892-1941) in 1925 to distribute foundry type imported from European foundries. Beginning in 1927 Continental also distributed typefaces cast by Frederic Goudy, and two typefaces for Doug McMurtrie. Doug McMurtie and Frederic Goudy were the vice-presidents in 1925 and 1927, respectively. At first Goudy's type was cast at his own Village Letter Foundry, but after 1929 these were cast by the New England Foundry. Despite imports being virtually cut-off during the war years, Continental was still issuing Goudy's types as late as 1944 and may have continued functioning even later. Located at 216 E. 45th street, New York around 1930. They published Specimen Book of Continental Types in 1929. Cary collected 2300 books about printing. After his death, the Cary Collection was presented to the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1969 by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust as a memorial to Melbert Cary. Its collection of 20,000 volumes is described as one of America's premier libraries on the history and practice of printing.

Their typeface Nova Bold was revived by Nick Curtis as Maple Leaf Rag NF (2005).

The European foundries represented by them:

• W.H. Caslon, Ltd., England
  • Caslon Old Face + Italic
• Deberny & Peignot, France
  • Astrée + Italic (1921, Robert Girard)
  • Sphinx + Italic + Inline (1925, M. Deberny)
  • Sylvan (1924, Bernard Naudin), known in France as Champlevé.
  • Bifur (1929, A.M. Cassandre)
• Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, Holland
  • Lutetia + Italic (1925, Jan van Krimpen)
• Fundiciòn Richard Gans, Spain
  • Gloria
  • Greco Bold + Italic + Adornado (1925)
• Gebr. Klingspor, Germany
  • Kabel + Light Italic + Bold (1927-29, Rudolf Koch)
  • Zeppelin (1927-29, Koch)
  • Neuland + Inline (1923, Koch)
  • Eve + Italic + Heavy + Heavy Italic (1922, Koch), also known as Koch Antiqua and Locarno
  • Narcissus (1921, W. Tiemann)
• Ludwig & Mayer, Germany
  • Nicolas Cochin + Bold
  • La Mercure (an inline version of Cochin)
  • Erbar (Jakob Erbar)
• R.H. Stevens & Co., England
• D. Stempel A.G., Germany
  • Girder (1929, Rudolf Wolf), known in Germany as Memphis.
  • Metropolis + Bold (1929, Willy Schwerdtner)
• H. Berthold AG, Germany
  • City (1930, George Trump), not sold in US until 1936.
• Genzsch & Heyse, A.G., Germany
• J.G. Schelter & Giesecke, Germany
• Società Nebiolo, Italy
• Stephenson Blake & Co., England

Corey Toyama

Corey Toyama (Chicago, IL) created the typewriter-inspired typeface Barsut in 2013 during his graphic design studies. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Corinne Mock

Chicago, IL-based designer of the tooth emulation typeface Teefs (2017). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Cottonwood312

Chicago, IL-based designer of the handcrafted typefaces Juno (2017), Forever Love (2017), Jackson Harbor (2017) and Awakening (2017). Creative Market link. Graphicriver link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Coudal partners

Type news from this group located in Chicago. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Crescent Type Foundry

Typefoundry based at 349-351 dearborn street in Chicago in the late 19th century. Typefaces by shown in the 1895 Inland Printer include Shepard (a script), Crescent Old Style, Iroquois (+Condensed), Crescent Art Borders, Yost Typewriter, Alfereta. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Cromo Prasios
[Cromo Types]

[More]  ⦿

Cromo Types
[Cromo Prasios]

Chicago, IL-based designer of the free octagonal logotype Maquina Free (2013), of the fat octagonal slab typeface Mercader (2013), and of the curly display typeface Caifanes (2013, custom made for a Mexican rock band). Behance link. Another Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

CrossFont 4.1

Commercial 45 USD shareware Windows utility by Acute Systems: CrossFont is a Windows 95/98/NT utility for moving PostScript Type1 and TrueType fonts between Macintosh and PC platforms. Some features: Convert PostScript Type 1 fonts to OpenType fonts for Windows PC and Macintosh - Convert PostScript Type 1 fonts between PC and Mac. - Convert TrueType between PC and Mac. - Character outlines, metrics and hinting are not touched. - Drag and drop interface. - Registered version can batch convert to many file types at once. - Automatic sensing of file type. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Custom Headings International

Chicago-based film type supplier active in the 1970s. One of its types, the curly art nouveau typeface Fantan, was revived and updated as Fantini in 2006 by Patrick Griffin (Canada Type). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dan Franklin
[Village Typographers Inc]

[More]  ⦿

Dan Herbst

Chicago, IL-based designer of the outlined typeface Bergatron (2016). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Daniel Denk

Wauconda, IL-based jack of all graphical trades. He developed a functional typeface that is based on Wim Crouwel's lettering. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Daniel Escamilla

Elgin, IL-based designer of the display typeface Pinch (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Daniel Mellis

Daniel Mellis (Chicago) printed a small book in 2010 based on 19th century ornamented metal typefaces from the collection at Wells College. These include Tinted, Tasso, Banquet, Antique Extra Condensed, Aquatint, Dandy, Modoc, Columbus, Art Gothic, Rubens, Yukon Pointed, Tuscan Stellar, Halftone, Obelisk, Alpine, Gothic Shade, Ruskin, Condensed Roman, Ray Shade, Tuscan Floral, Souvenir and Aurora Uncial (Victor Hammer, ATF---never produced, but rediscovered by Theo Rehak). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Darren McPherson

Designer from Chicago, IL, who is now in New York City. Home page. Creator of the Western typeface in the Italian style, called Umidità 1832 (2009), about which Darren writes: This re-interpretation of an 1832 wood cut by Caslon was created for the Spring 2009 edition of the literary-arts journal Ninth Letter.

With Will Miller, he created the structural experimental typeface Skky (2011).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

David Cuesta

Graphic designer in Chicago, who made a nice typographic poster called Moog Glove (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

David Stone Martin

David Stone Martin (born David Livingstone Martin in 1913 in Chicago; died 1992 in New London, CT) was an influential American artist known for his illustrations on jazz album covers. Pinterest page.

Typefaces based on his covers include Granz (2015, Pintassilgo Prints), which is based on Martin's Oscar Peterson's Porgy & Bess beatnik style album cover. [Google] [More]  ⦿

David Vernier

During his studies in Chicago, David Vernier designed a great poster for the Deaul AIGA (2016). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

David Weik

Chicago-based [T-26] designer of the Basix family (1999).

Profile. He operates as Vik Design. Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Davka Corporation

Alan Rosenbaum's Chicago-based company offering commercial Hebrew fonts. 25 fonts for 50 USD. Hebrew Font Gallery CD. Catskills (15 USD) is a Latin font that simulates Hebrew. The Hebrew Font Gallery contains Altona, Aram Tsova, Ateret, Bodel (free), Dugi, Frank, Gader, Gefanim, Gil, Golem, Kavim, Kehuna, Livorno, Paz, Peer and Ravid. Other Hebrew fonts sold by them include Ada Light, Aharoni Bold, Aharoni Light, Avital, Chayim Bold, Chayim Narrow, Drogulin, Elisheva Light, Frankruhl Bold, Frankruhl Light, Frankruhl Text, Gonen, Hadassah Light, Hadassah Bold, Kastel, Katamon Bold, Katamon, Miriam Bold, Miriam Light, Miriam Medium, Nachlaaot, Nachlaaot Right, Rachel, Rashi, and Stam. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Deepayan Bose

Chicago, IL-based designer of Papercut (2015). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Depression Press
[K. James]

K. James is an aficionado of old lettering and type. Based in Chicago, he posts many useful photographs on Flickr. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dian Feng

Dian Feng (Chicago, IL, then New York City, and then Hong Kong) designed the delicate oriental simulation typeface Hybrid and the shadow typeface Space in 2013 during his studies at UIUC in Chicago. Before that, he worked as an architectural assistant at the Beijing Institute Of Architecture Design, 1A3 Studio, Beijing, China. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Diana Ahn

Evanston, IL-based creator of Chicago Type Redesigned (2014). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dillon Sinasky

Belleville, IL-based designer of Unchained (2014), a display typeface with glyphs that are related to bike chains. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dilworth Typographics Inc
[Silas Dilworth]

Type designer (b. New York, 1975) who used to be on the staff at T-26 in Chicago from 2001-2004. His bio at MyFonts: Silas Dilworth focused his typographic vision as font technician and resident type designer at [T-26] from 2001 through 2004, producing various custom typefaces and overseeing the production of hundreds of new releases. In 2005 he started laying the groundwork for TypeTrust LLC, a font distribution partnership co-founded with fellow type designer, Neil Summerour. Silas has produced custom type for such clients as The Food Network, Converse, Cartoon Network, Caterpillar, Aon Corporation, Time Out Chicago, and Columbia College Chicago. In 2007 he joined VSA Partners in Chicago, producing exclusive type for the acclaimed design firm's private use. One such project, an expansive sans-serif text family, was chosen to anchor IBM's refreshed identity system in the iconic corporation's award-winning 2006 Annual Report. He co-designed Adriane Text with Marconi Lima in 2007.

He co-designed Iskola (2002, T-26) with Amondó Szegi. In 2005, he set up Dilworth Typographics Inc, where his own creations include Bridge (his version of Bank Gothic), Cooter, Dilworth (a sans family), Everafter, Lump, Midinote (futuristic), Oberon (heavy Bank Gothic-style typeface with great body), Soren, Trauen, Vandermark and Yesterday. His collaborative typefaces are Diego, Fatty (stencil/headline family, designed together with Chris May), Rickety (outline face, done with Chris May), Alphaben (comic book style), Elidel, Majestos Wide, and Sansarah (commissioned handwriting for Columbia College Chicago, based on the hand of Sarah Faust). At The Type Trust, which he helped set up in 2005 with Neil Summerour, we find Diego, Fatty, Cooter, Cooter Deuce (stylish art deco pair of typefaces, Regular and Plugged), Cooter Slim (like the other Cooters, this makes me think of Pacman), Facebuster (2008, fat slab serif, typeTrust), Vandermark, Everafter, Reservation Wide (2006), Lump, and Rickety. In 2007, he added Breuer Text, Condensed and Breuer Headline (corporate geometric sans families) to The Type Trust. This was followed in 2008 by the 16-weight sans family Heroic Condensed.

MyFonts catalog. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Dino Sanchez

Chicago-based industrial designer who cofounded Orange Italic in 2000 with Christian Schwartz. Together, they have collaborated on logos, illustrations, and typefaces. The six-weight Luxury family (2006, House Industries; but as early as 2002 at Orange Italic) contains three serif text weights called Luxury Text, as well as three display typefaces, called Platinum (art deco), Gold, and Diamond (all caps with triangular serifs). They were designed by Christian Schwartz and Dino Sanchez.

In 2014, Christian Schwartz and Dino Sanchez co-designed the roman inscriptional typeface Gravitas. The name was already in use by Riccardo de Franceschi (since 2011), Laura Eames (since 2013) and Keith Tricker (since earlier in 2014), so there may be some emails flowing between these type designers. They write: The primary inspiration for Gravitas was Augustea Nova, Aldo Novarese's quirky and spiky Latin interpretation of the Roman inscriptional caps for the Nebiolo Type Foundry, released in a single weight in the 1950s. It's fairly common to see Augustea Open these days, but his lowercase apparently didn't survive the transition to phototype. Many designers have tackled the problem of matching a lowercase to the classical Roman capitals, with decidedly mixed results. The Bold Italic was drawn by Jesse Vega.

Future web site. Typedia link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Diti Katona

Founding partner and creative director of Toronto-based Concrete Design Communications Inc. She has lectured at the Ontario College of Art and Design and the design department of York University. [Google] [More]  ⦿

D.M. Campana

Author of many art books, based in Chicago, IL, where he ran D.M. Campana Art Co. His books include Book of Monograms and Fancy Letters (1900) and The Artist and Decorator (1924, 1925). The latter is an art nouveau text influenced by Alphonse Mucha. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Edgar Eliud
[Edgar Rios]

Edgar Eliud (Edgar Rios, Chicago, IL, b. 1994) created the Kafkaesque black-on white poster typeface Pimper (2008) and the handwriting typefaces riosedgxrNo (2009), Edgar Da Cool (2008) and Cursive Edgar (2008). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Edgar Flores Diaz

Art director in Chicago, who created the avant-garde typeface Caracas Sans Serif in 2013. He studied in 2012 at University of the Sacred Heart, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has a BFA from Florida International University, Miami, FL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Edgar Rios
[Edgar Eliud]

[More]  ⦿

Edward Blake
[Atavistic]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Edward Blankenship

Chicago, IL-based designer of Vulturous (techno typeface), Vutura Line, TTD 209 (sans), Steadfast (Treefrog-style ink spill script), Dil (hand-drawn poster typeface), and Hellhound (spurred vintage typeface). These typefaces were made in or just before 2014. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Edward C. Mills

Master of business writing and business penmanship, b. 1872, Illinois, d. 1962. He worked mostly in Rochester, NY first for The Williams & Rogers Company and later as an independent penman. Author of Modern Business Penmanship (1903, American book Company). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Edy Type
[Ricardo Victor Rousselot Schmitt]

Ricardo Victor Rousselot is a calligrapher and type designer born in Argentina in 1936. He was trained in the sixties in Chicago in the studio Ficho&Corley Inc., which was led by a disciple of Frederic Goudy and Oswald Cooper, Carl Corley. After that, he returned to Buenos Aires, and in 1975, he settled permanently in Barcelona, where he teaches at the University of Barcelona.

His typefaces include Carlomagno (1997-2000) and Uncial Romana (1996), released by Neufville.

He sells his fonts nowadays through his foundry, Edy Type. For example, in 2010, Edy Type launched the lively connected handwriting font Despeinada, which, Ricardo says, tries to find the middle between Mistral and Zapfino. Chevronne (2010, not my favorite) is based on mediaeval / gothic forms but tries to be contemporary. Drumbeat (2011) is a calligraphic script face, and Bambola (2011) is a curly signage script.

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

Elaine Fong

Elaine Fong (Illinois) made illustrated drop caps for Scott Thomas's book Designing Obama. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elan Max Shohet Zabin

Chicago, IL-based designer (b. 2000) of the display typeface Sequential (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elfring Soft Fonts
[Gary Elfring]

Gary Elfring's company in Wasco, IL, which was founded in 1979, sold many fonts in the early 1990s, often adaptations of well-known fonts. It is presently based in St. Charle, IL. Some subcategories of fonts:

• Art Deco fonts: Baha (1992), Broad Avenue, Hafnium, Haman Bold, Narcosis Oblique, Neaten, Orange Oblique, Ramose Oblique, Totem, Zyme Oblique.
• Bar Code fonts (Code 128, Code 39, UPC, 2/5 Inter, PostNet, EAN 8/13).
• Script fonts: Aristocrat, Blush, ESF Elite Light, Grandam, Hotpress, Jessica, Old English, Saffron, Tech Bold, Zap Charles
• MICR or check printing fonts, including Mic-EarthNormal (1992).
• Display typefaces: AdrianneNormal, ApexCondensed-Oblique, BlackChanceryNormal, CoronetNormal, Dalith, ESFEliteNormal, Emir, Expiry-Oblique, Expiry, GrangeCaps-Oblique, GrangeCaps, Hafnium-Oblique, Hafnium, Harbor-Oblique, Hartebeest, Hasp, Hesitate, Jayhawk, JayhawkExpand-Oblique, JayhawkExpand, Jetty-Oblique, Jetty, Jevons-Oblique, Jevons, Jocund-Oblique, Jocund, Josephine-Oblique, Josephine, Josiah-Oblique, Josiah, Kansas-Oblique, Kansas, Kaufman, Kermis-Oblique, Kilung-Oblique, Lackey-Oblique, Lackey, Lactam-Oblique, Lactam, Langur, Lazar-Oblique, Lazar, Ligand, Liquid-Crystal, Liquid-CrystalOblique, Lunatic-Oblique, Narcosis, Nonage, OldEnglishNormal, Orange-Oblique, Orange, Pavis-Oblique, Pavis, Quintly, Rankle-Oblique, Rankle, Saccule-Oblique, Saccule, Tarunda, Totem, ZapChanceNormal, Zwieback-Oblique, Zwieback, Zyme-Oblique, Zyme. An oriental simulation face, EchoCaps (1995), is here.
• A partial list: 226-CAI978, Aacho, Aapex, Aaron Heavy, Adrianne, Advance, Advertiser, Agency, Alien-Tongue, Alonse, Amber, Antiquarian, Antique, Antique Olive, Aristocrat, Avante, BC93Circle, Baha, Bahase, Bar Code 25, Bar Code 25 Interleaved, Bar Code 39, Bar, Bearer 25i, Big City, Black Chance, Black Chancery, Blippo, Bodoni, Broad Avenue, Broad Street, Brush, Bullet, Cal Zap Chance, Carefree, Cas Open Face, Century, Century School, Chicago, Circled Letters, CircledNumbers, Coach, Codabar, Code 128, Code 93, College, Commercial Script, Computer, Cookies, Cooper Italic, CooperBlack, CopperPlate, Coronet, Cursive Elegant, Dalith, Danley, DateLine, Deloise, Devotion, Dodge, DomCasual, Dot Matrix, EAN, ESF Deco, ESF Dingbats, ESF Elite, ESF Rounded, ESF-Elite, Earth, EchoCaps, Elegant Script, Elfring Elite, Elite, Emir, Engrave, Engraved, Expert Dingbats, Expert Elite, Expert Rounded, Expiry, Fashion, Flourish, Franzquo, Frit Qat, Fritz Quad, Friz Kat, Futena, Futura Black, Future, Garamond, Geometric Medium, Gillies, Gin and Tonic, Goudy Old Style, Grandam, GrangeCaps, Greece, Hafnium, Haman Bold, Hand Brush, Handel, Handsome, Hartebeest, Hasp, Heidelstein, Hellenic, Helv, Hesitate, Hobo, Hotpress, Illusion, Impact, Initial, Jayhawk, Jessica, Jetty, Jevons, Jocund, Josephine, Josiah, Jurassic, Kansas, Kaufman, Keys, Klefmon, LCD, Lackey, Lactam, Laguna, Langur, Lazar, Lenswith, Letter, Ligand, Liquid Crystal, Listium, MICR, Madison, MarriageScript, Micro, Microstile, Montana, Mossman, Mossy, Narcosis, Neaten, Next Trek, Nonage, OCR A, OCR B, Old English, Orange, Park Place, Park Street, Pavis, Pelicent, Penoir, PlanetEarth, Playful Print, Postal, Precidio, Prestige Elite, Query, Quintly, Ramose, Ranch, Rankle, Ransom, Revenue, Revue, Risky, Rockford, Roman, Saccule, Saffron, Salamander, Sans, Sci Fi, Script-Roundhand, Secure, Shaundow, Stensil, Tarunda, Technical, TiffBlack, Titanic, Totem, Toto, Trumpet, UPC, Umbles, Umpa, Un Gard, University, Vantrel, Vingy, Wolton, Yarnell, Zanders, Zap Chancery, Zap Dingbats, Zodiac, Zwieback, Zyme.

Dafont carries some of their free fonts, including the futuristic typeface Earth (1992). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elizabeth B. Oshinowo

Chicago-based designer of the connect-the-dots typeface Bionic Tech (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ellie Henderson

Australian designer (b. Perth) based in Chicago.She designed Akimbo, a text typeface with serifs, suitable for use in branding and design layouts. It is part of a self-directed project conceived whilst undertaking the Principles in Typeface design course at Cooper Union in June-July 2020. In 2021, she developed the creamy organic typeface Nutter at Type Cooper. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elliott Montes

Grayslake, IL-based designer of a display typeface in 2017. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elmer H. Antonsen

Professor Elmer H. Antonsen, Head Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois, has developed a runic font for the Mac called Vimose (this font is not on his site though). [Google] [More]  ⦿

EmDash
[Marshall Bohlin]

EmDash is Marshall Bohlin's foundry in Northfield, IL. Fonts: ArchiText, Arrow Dynamic, BulletsNStuff, GendarmeHeavy, Perky, Story, Upstart, Briar, Konway, Palomar, Caspian. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Emmaleia Kardaras

Comunication design student at Judson University in Illinois. Elgin, IL-based creator of the thin geometric typeface Emmafont (2010). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Emmi Laakso

Emmi Laakso (Chicago, IL) designed Manifesto, which is a friendly, but authoritative open-source stencil typeface intended to be used by non-profit organizations and individuals to propagate sociopolitical messages in public environments. There are Manifesto Rounded and Manifesto Geometric.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Eric Donelan

Eric Donelan is an illustrator and painter based in Wheaton, Illinois. With Bob Aufuldish, Eric is the only designer at Emigre with a sense of humour, as he proves in his funny dingats fonts Zeitguys One and Two (1994) and Big Cheese (1992). At GarageFonts, he designed Mantra (dingbats, 1996) and the Vision Thing dingbats. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Eric Klinger

DeKalb, IL-based designer of Bobank (2016), a hybrid of Bodoni and Bank Gothic. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Eric Lee

Northbrook, IL-based designer of the handcrafted typeface Sweet Cutie (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Eric Mueller
[Anchor Fonts]

[More]  ⦿

Eric Schiller
[Tilburg Laserfonts]

[More]  ⦿

Erik Vorhes
[Typedia: Type News]

[More]  ⦿

Ernst Frederic Detterer

Born in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, 1888, Ernst Frederic Detterer worked as a designer, instructor and calligrapher, and in particulat at the Ludlow Typograph Company in Chicago. He died in Chicago in 1947. The main typeface he designed was Nicolas Jenson (1923). The type was renamed Eusebius in 1941. Nicolas Jenson was based on the original work of fifteenth century designer Nicolas Jenson.

Jim Spiece's Nicolas Jenson SG is based on Eusebius and on extensions of Eusebius by Detterer's student, Robert Hunter Middleton.

McGrew writes about Eusebius: Eusebius is Ludlow's distinctive adaptation of the types of Nicolas Jenson, which were first used about 1470 and have served as inspiration for many of the best roman typefaces ever since. This typeface was designed by Ernst Detterer in 1923, and issued as the Nicolas Jenson series. Robert H. Middleton, who had been an art school student of Detterer's, was first hired by Ludlow for the temporary assignment of seeing this typeface through production. By 1929 he had designed matching bold, italics, and open. Slight modifications were later made to the Nicolas Jenson series by Middleton (who remained at Ludlow for a distinguished career, designing scores of typefaces over forty-seven years), and it was reintroduced in 1941 under the series name of Eusebius. This name comes from the 1470 book in which Jenson's original type was first used. In the specimen of Eusebius, the J and f shown separately at the end are the original Detterer design of the letters most obviously redesigned; other changes were minor. In addition to the characters shown in the specimens here, with the usual ligatures for all fonts, oldstyle figures were available for Eusebius and Italic and Open, while QU and Qu combinations with long tails and f combinations with overhangs were made for regular, Bold, and Open. Compare Centaur, Cloister, Italian Old Style.

He created the Newberry Library Bindery Type ca. 1935. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ernst Johnston (Edward) Lauschke

Nineteenth century engraver (b. Germany, 1872, d. 1944) in Chicago. He designed these typefaces:

• Pekin (1888). This is an oriental simulation typeface first published in 1888 at the Great Western Foundry under the name Dormer. It was very novel at the time, and shows the mannerism of art nouveau. The name Pekin was given to it by BB&S after Great Western morphed into BB&S. The name Pekin was probably first given in 1923, but surely before 1925. McGrew says this: Pekin is one of many typefaces renamed by BB&S for their 1925 specimen book. Its original name was Dormer, patented by the Great Western foundry in 1888 and credited to Ernst Lauschke. It is a very novel face, basically a fine-line letter with most characters having a heavier accented portion in an unconventional place. Vertical strokes on some of the capitals extend downward like descenders. It was made only in two sizes, one of which was later plated by Type Founders of Phoenix, after ATF had recast it in 1954. For a digital revival of Pekin, see Pekin by Solotype.
• Handcraft Title and Handcraft Wide Title. Mac McGrew: Handcraft is renamed by BB&S for its 1925 specimen book. Handcraft Title was designed by Ernst Lauschke in 1887 as Spenser; this was followed by Wide Spenser which became Handcraft Wide Title. With lowercase added a few years later, Spenser became Southey, and later Handcraft.
• Brevet Normal (1887). A Victorian typeface revived in digital form by Dan Solo.
• Additional typefaces at BBS: In 1891, Julius Schmohl and Ernst Lauschke designed an art nouveau and a Victorian face for BBS. Unnamed BBS typeface from 1887.

Faith

Chicago, IL-based designer of the hipster school project font Qhord (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Faith Ringor

For a school project, Faith Ringor (Streamwood, IL) designed the decorative typeface Chords (2015) and Orbit Type (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Fascination Workshop
[Jason Warriner]

Jason Warriner's foundry located in Oakland, CA. Their dingbat fonts include Moon Phases (2008) and On The Ground (2008). Jason was born in 1974 in Woodland, CA and has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Feeling C. Foster
[The Union Type Foundry]

[More]  ⦿

Filmotype Sales Company

Filmotype Sales Company was located at 4 West 40th Street in New York City. In 1955, they published a catalog entitled Lettering Styles Display Types, from which some samples are shown in the link. The catalog has no full alphabet specimen and is thus of limited value for type historians and type revival experts. Frank J. Romano writes here: In 1952, Al and Beatrice Friedman [the founders of Filmotype] introduced the Filmotype, a simple manual phototypesetter that was not much bigger than a shoebox and used 2-inch filmstrips with all glyphs in linear order, with marks below them so that the operator could position the letter and expose it to the photo paper. The process was blind in that you could not see the letters as they were exposed. The Friedmans would go on to introduce the Alphatype phototypesetter. The Sybold Report mentions: Filmotype has a 35-year history as a supplier of filmstrip headline setters. Its founders later moved on to start Alphatype Corporation, keeping Filmotype as a subsidiary. In 1987, Harry and Seta Brodjian, who were Alphatype employees, acquired Filmotype with the intention of rejuvenating the company. In 1989, the firm began development of a digital headliner. A year later, it began digitizing its fonts. The company was renamed Filmotype Corporation. The fonts were at one point sold in packages such as a 30 dollar TrueType Font Package of 100 designer typefaces and an EZ Effects Windows program. Typefaces were renamed: Clarendon becomes Clarion, and so forth. At that point, Filmotype had offices in Glenview, IL, and was run by Gary Bunsell. About the renaming practices, the typophiles mention that Filmotype fonts were given letters&numbers by VGC when they pirated a substantial number of them. Their original names were attached by someone going through a dictionary and just picking arbitrary words for Filmotype fonts that were initially just letters and numbers also.

In 2006, the Filmotype collection was bought by Font Diner. In 2007, Font Diner started publishing digitizations of the collection: Glenlake (condensed Bank Gothic, by Mark Simonson), MacBeth (script), Alice (casual script), Zanzibar (calligraphic), La Salle (brush writing originally by Ray Baker in the 1950s, named after Chicago's LaSalle Street), Quiet, Ginger (Mark Simonson; masculine headline typeface genetically linked to Futura), Austin (paintbrush), Brooklyn (hand-printed), Honey (handlettered script), Jessy (handwriting), Modern (i), Vanity.

In 2010, Stuart Sandler published a book entitled Filmotype by the Letter, in which he details the company's history. He also set up Filmotype as a foundry in Eau Claire, WI. Additions to the Filmotype collection in that year include the signage typefaces Filmotype Kentucky, Filmotype Kingston, Filmotype Harmony and Filmotype Hamlet, and the geometric sans Filmotype Fashion (orig. 1953). The signage typefaces were originally made by Ray Baker for Filmotype in the 1950s, and were digitized by Patrick Griffin and Rebecca Alaccari.

Activity in 2011. Patrick Griffin and Rebecca Alaccari revived the condensed sans typeface Filmotype Giant (2011) and its italic counterpart, Filmotype Escort (2011), as well as Filmotype Prima (a sho-card face from 1955). Neil Summerour contributed Filmotype Horizon after an original signage typeface from 1954. Mark Simonson created Filmotype Gay, a tall monoline sans originally from 1953. Filmotype Ford (2011) and Filmotype Jamboree (2012, an informal script based on a 1965 original) are due to Stuart Sandler. Filmotype Quartz is an inline face.

Activity in 2012. Alejandro Paul contributed two scripts, Filmotype Yukon (based on Palmer style penmanship) and Filmotype Zephyr (formal italic roman). Later in 2012-2014, the production took off, with many contributions by Patrick Griffin and Charles Gibbons (who created Filmotype Zeal in 2013 for example).

Typefaces from 2021: Filmotype Kinzie (by Lily Feinberg), Filmotype Andrew (by Patrick Griffin; a bold and wide extension of the retro casual script font Filmotype Athens). [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Firebelly Design

In 2016, Firebelly Design, Will Miller and Ross Burwell, all located in Chicago, co-designed the corporate identity font Flor Mono. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Font Mesa
[Michael Hagemann]

Michael Hagemann's creations have a 1850-1920 style or at evoke the Wild West. Font Mesa was located in Naperville, IL, but is now based in Las Vegas, NV.

Free fonts include Cactus Sandwich (Mexican simulation face), Timepiece (originally called Tax Cut), Timepiece 3D, Magic School One and Two (2004, two Harry Potter typefaces), Wild Ride, Corleone (2001: see also here), Corleone Due (2001), MightyRapids (2001: discontinued) and the Ferrari logo font FerroRosso (2002).

Michael Hagemann's commercial fonts by year of production:

• 2001: La Mesa (2001), Maverick's Luck (2001), Desperado (2001), Rio Mesa, Maverick's Luck (based on a bank document from 1876), La Macchina (2001, Lamborghini car lettering)
• 2002: Brewmaster Modern (lettering of Budweiser Racing), Saddlery and Saddlery Post (Western-style caps: a revival of Minaret by Ihlenberg in 1868; Solo calls it Trocadero), FerroRosso (lettering as in the Ferrari logo), Stampede (a family based on lettering used in document from the Chicago, Indiana&Eastern Railway Co. in 1902), Main Event (a Tuscan font, based on Tuscan Ornate, or Bracelet, fonts that date from before 1860; originally called Main Strike in 2003), Red Dog Saloon, Rough Riders (great Western-style caps), Draft Beer.
• 2003: OK Corral (revival of Caslon and Catherwood's Italian from 1821), OK Corral Lined (same as OK Corral with layers; called Italianate Barnum by Dan Solo), Gold Standard (a Tuscan font based on a few letters found on an old Gold Certificate from 1882), Rodeo Clown (based on Carnival), Taqueria, Cove.
• 2004: Bronc Stomper, Open Range, Saloon Girl (a spurred version, Tex Mex, appeared in 2021), Gillé Classic an exquisitily detailed family based on work by Joseph Gillé, 1820's, and implemented elsewhere under the names Circus, Roma and Madame; this was originally called Home Style; some say that the original goes back to Silvestre and not to Gillé; because of this, finally renamed Maison Luxe in 2017; the condensed versions, released in 2021, are Mi Casa and Mariachi), Miss Scarlett (Gone with the Wind poster lettering), Open Range, High Noon, Draft Beer Classic (2002-2005, connected 50s script), High Country, American West, West Wind, AmericanPop (Coca-Cola font).
• 2005: Buckhorn (a Tuscan style Western or circus font; renamed Circus Wagon in 2020), Rodeo Roundup (rope font; Solo called it Rope Initials), Algerian Mesa (32 fonts; extended to the gigantic font family Tavern in 2017, with further development in 2020 in Bay Tavern and Bayside Tavern; the original Algerian goes back to Stephenson and Blake), Conestoga (circus font), Rough Riders (a nice Western font based on the logo of the Beach Creek Railroad Company in the 1860s), Rough Riders Redux, Mesa Pointe (pointing hands, from 19th century sources), Black Pearl (an ornamental blackletter typeface based on an original from ca. 1860; it has two beautiful manicules; some say it is based on an 1860 font called Rimmed Black by West, published by Farmer&Little), Saloonkeeper (inspired by the Leinenkugels brewing label), Wanderer (inspired by the title logo of the TV show The Wild West), Lynchburg (inspired by the Jack Daniels Green Label Whiskey logo).
• 2006: Flatrock (a revival of Inverted Shaded by Julius Herriet, done at Conner in 1886; Solo calls it Big Cat; in 2020, Flat Rock was renamed Big Cat by Hagemann), Livery Stable (revival of GlypticShaded by Ihlenburg at MS&J, 1878. See also Glyptic and Glyptic No.2, 1878), Happy Holly Day, Main Street (a Tuscan typeface that revives Soutache by Julius Herriet and Bruce, 1873).
• 2007: Birdcage (2007, after a lettering sample in Rob Roy Kelly's American Wood Type book), Lonestar, Lonestar Western, Railhead (2007: 4 styles, a revival of an 1870s type style that was originally available from both Bruce's New York and James Conner's&Sons type foundries called English Two-Line Ornamented No.4; an earlier version was English, done in 1853 by Caslon, Austin, Woods and Sharwoods; and before that, the typeface was created by a German designer in 1849), Flying Dutchman (2007, a revival of a MacKellar, Smiths&Jordan Co Kanzlei-style font from 1876), and Western Sky (2007, a revival of a late 1800s Italian font known as Italian Slab Fancy or Dodge City: it is Italic Ornate from Smith, 1874, MS&J). Country Western (2007, 11 styles; plus versions called Country Western Script and Country Western Swing) is a revival of the classic William Page font known as Clarendon Ornamented originally designed in 1859 and again in 1877 by Vanderburgh&Wells. Abbiente (2007) is his first foray into the world of Bodoni and Didot. Buffalo Bill (2007) is a beautiful Western style font that revives a classic from James Conner's foundry from 1888 [Solo also calls it Buffalo Bill].
• 2008: Gold Rush and Gold Spur (2008) are further Wild West style families, based on typos from the Bruce Foundry, 1865. Silverland (2008, 8 styles; a revival of Ornamented No. 1490 by Ihlenberg, 1874, Bruce) and Belgian (2008, 5 styles; a revival of Ornamented No. 1515 by Julius Herriet, 1861, Bruce) are further revivals of typefaces from the Bruce Foundry.
• 2009: Spanish Main (revival of an old MacKellar Smiths&Jordan blackletter font named Sloping Black, 1896; others mention Witham and MS&J and give the date 1869), Spanish Rose, Black Rose (spiky blackletter based on BlackOrnamented No. 532, Ihlenberg, 1873, Bruce), Bella Rose (2009, blackletter), Broadgauge Ornate (revival of an 1869 Western poster typeface by Ihlenberg at MacKellar Smiths&Jordan). Apple Pie (2009) is some sort of Bodoni Ornate---it revives and extends a William Hagar Type Foundry face, ca. 1850 [MS&J added a lowercase in 1869]. This was followed immediately by Bodoni Ornamental. Hickory (2009) is an ornamental Western face, a revival of an old unnamed font dating back to 1852 and was sold through a few different type foundries including Bruce, MacKellar Smiths&Jordan and James Conner's Sons.
• 2010: Gunsmoke is a Far West font, a revival of a James Conner's Sons font that has been around the block under different names such as Extended Clarendon Shaded, Original Ornamented and Galena [Solo called it Galena]. Night Train is another Far West font.
• 2011: Gold is a multi-style slab serif font family based on the classic Gold Rush (1865, Bruce), with the shadows removed. Images: Gold Black, Gold Thin.
• Undated: Cowboy Serenade (based on Phidian by Ihlenberg, 1870, MS&J; Solo's names: Eureka, Shaded Phidian), Gold Fever (based on Caxtonian, 1878, MS&J), Old Thunder (based on a Tuscan typeface from the 1800s).
• 2013: Great Western, Cowboy Western, Cowboy Rodeo.
• 2014: Magnum Sans.
• 2015: Grillmaster (a basic sans family consisting of 128 fonts).
• 2016: Pitmaster.
• 2017: Ribfest (a Tuscan circus font), Texicali, Alta Mesa (Wild West wood type).
• 2019: Marlin Geo, a large sans typeface family---a modern geometric take on Helvetica. Michael writes on Creative Market: You may have noticed a new FontMesa font released on June 17th called Geovetica, Monotype has asked me to rename the font because it's too close to their best selling product. Marlin is the new name choice for our new font with the geometric version [Marlin Geo] being released first. Marlin Geo has many opentype features and comes with italics (at a 12 degree angle) and a slanted version (at a 6 degree angle). See also Marlin Soft (2019).
• Fried Chicken (2020). A 32-style slab serif family intended for supermarket or food product advertizing.
• Philadelphian (2020). A Western or billboard font family based on a MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan font from 1867 by the same name.
• Taco (2020). A multistyle Mexican party font.
• Tortilla (2021). A 24-style Tuscan typeface, a flat-sided version of Fontmesa's Saloon Girl and Tex Mex font families.
• Marzano (2021-2022). A 30-style blend of Futura, Helvetica and his own Marlin.

Klingspor link. Fontspace link. Dafont link. Creative Market link. MyFonts page. View Michael Hagemann's typefaces. Abstract Fonts link, [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Font Monger
[Chris Vile]

Chris Vile (Fontmonger, Austin, TX) is a type and graphic designer and web developer, who was briefly located in Chicago. He specializes in horror, graffiti, grunge and brush fonts.

Creator of Cannibal (2012, scratchy hand), Die Already (grungy caps), The Dead Saloon (2012, Western caps face), the scratchy scary typeface Dead Bitch (2012), the athletic lettering typeface No Honor Roll (2012), the grungy Redux (2012), Konquer (2012), Sandy Ravage (2012), and Digital Anarchy (2012), the blood drip typefaces Spiked (2012) and XSpiked (2012), and the brushed typeface GwizsK (2012).

In 2013, he designed The Five One Two (graffiti font), Skidmarked (graffiti font), There Be Monsters, Digital Disorder (a textured typeface), We Are Depraved, The Dead Are Coming (grunge), Barbaric, Welcome To Texas (graffiti font), Chopper City (a spurred constructivist typeface), Maya Rose (a script face), Chaos and Pain (a tattoo font), Abandon (grungy poster face), Virtual Bliss, and Pale Horse (a dagger font), Malevolentz (grungy caps), Shrapnel (grungy caps).

In 2014, he created Turnt Up (graffiti font), Grind Mafia, No Hard Evidence (glass scratch typeface), Techno Wanker, Abduco (grunge), Blackhead, Summon The Executioner (grunge), The Grinder (eerie font), Normal Sometimes (rounded sans), November Mornings, One More Day, Waukegan Hustle, Thoughts of Her, All Cracked Out, Redux, Cook County Jailhouse, Ol Skool (graffiti font), Why So Serious (grunge), Never Speak Of, Taco Truck Militia, Reason to see evil, Reaching for heaven, Digital Firebomb, Gas Mask Warriors, Necrotype, The Deadliest Saloon, The Decompozed, Necro Monger, Self Righteousness (grunge face), Rasterized (brush face), Some Devil Faces, Flowers For You, Dirtgrub Graffiti, M Ponderosa (letterpress typeface), Dr. Toboggan, Midnite Hour.

Typefaces from 2015: Thoughts of Her, Any Takers, Men of Nihilist, Rise Inside, Ugly Kids, Mya Papaya, The Unknown, Shun Set, Chops Chops, My Funeral, Blood Lust (dripping blood font), Middle Schooler, Hood Rich, Tequila Sunset, Hire a Cowboy, Tequila Sunrise, Cynical Hills (spurred eroded vintage typeface), Make them suffer (grungy letters), Gristled, Dark Waters, Poison Hope, Code Predators (grungy and squarish), Oak Lawn, Sovereign (grungy blackletter), Crucifixion, Sinner Script, Travis County (graffiti font), No Reverence (grunge), Barter With A Gypsy, Vance Jackson (graffiti script), Vary Sharky (brush face by Chris Vile and Roland Huse), Sons of Noah, Knife Fight Ballet, Dingle Huckleberry (grungy blackletter), The Grim Raiders, Tha Kool Kidz, Genesee St, Quaaludes, Quaalude Hulk, Kings Butcher, Gunfighter Academy (grungy and spurred), Buffalo Grove, Children Among Lions, Dedecus Putro, Dedecus.

Typefaces from 2016: El Sancho Rancho, Hells Rider Decay (spurred style), Eternity Tomorrow, The Last Call, Our Retaliation (grungy), Zero Athletics, Filth of Icarus (grungy), Texas Slaughter, Black Dahlia, Real Horror, Means of Malice, Mechanization, Valley of Elah, Hells Rider (Tuscan), Black Jacket Boys, Outerspace Militia, Fort Death, The Lost Canyon, The Defiler, Solace for Sadist, Mind Antiks, Tattle and Tales, In Collection, Skinny Jeans (all caps sans), Born Addict, Born a Sinner, Pistol Grip Pump (spurred Western style), Under Authority (grungy), Thrash It, They Perished, Sinthetic, Epitaph (spiky tattoo font), Eternity Now (hipster style), Sniffin Paint, Poker Kings, Virtual Rot, Apex Flunkee.

Typefaces from 2017: Urbane Cuisine (sketched), Boots And Spurs, San Antono Charros (spurred), Faxine Sky (hairline), Hooligan (graffiti face), Pack of Wolves (dry brush), Tweaky, Eatn Cake, Who Asks Satan (brush style), The Devil Net, Hallow Grave, Death To Metal, Brake Fluid (tattoo style), Boiled Denim, El Sancho.

Typefaces from 2018: Reposed, A Glimpse, The Waiting Room (scratchy typeface), Philophobia, Medium Rare (a Western font; and its grunge version, Soiled Doves), Chased Through The Woods, Blood Thirst, Voices in my Head, The Quick Marker, Watch People Die, Blue Waffle (erasure font), Under Your Bed (all caps grunge), Eater of Children, Burn The Witch (dripping blood blackletter)Side Effects.

Typefaces from 2019: Taken (textured), Krazy Hazy, Jackknife, Cowboy Cadaver (Western, spurred), Commanders, Mortem Throne, Among Dead Priest (brush), Smile and Wave, Impact Brutas, Rustic Man.

Typefaces from 2020: Covid Contagion, Family Annihilator, Font to a Chainsaw, Paper Planets (squarish), Sad Szn, Bless The Galling, Marshal The Dead, Golfclub Homicide, Malignant (a Halloween font), Mustafar Reloaded, Pathogens (a rough brush font), Space Mavericks, Milwaukee Cannibal, Fit for Murder (a dripping blood font), Horror Type, Happy Face Killer.

Typefaces from 2021: LCt50, Bandero, Nerve Agent, Disembowel, Heretic, The Riven, The Rivened, One more Day, Silly Games, Ode To Murder.

Home page. Personal home page for Designs By Chris.

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

FontBank
[Jerry Saperstein]

FontBank was Jerry Saperstein's outfit in Evanston, IL. A sub-project was called Alphabets&Images Inc. At first sight, this company seems to have created a collection by extrapolation and adjustment around 1992-1994, but that appears not to be the case (read on). The collection was posted on abf in January 2001, and used to be be downloadable from the Font Bank Lounge. It seems to have survived as part of Xara. List of FontBank fonts.

Jerry Saperstein's reply to my original description: Your conclusion with regard to the original 325 fonts published by FontBank is incorrect. The fonts were not "created a collection by extrapolation and adjustment." For better or worse, all those fonts were hand-rendered in a totally legal manner from photographic enlargements of analog type specimens. In fact, after the Adobe ruling, FontBank received settlements from other "publishers" who had appropriated our code. (Confidentiality agreements prohibit me from naming those parties.) Obviously, if FontBank were unable to establish the original nature of its code, no one would have settled infringement claims with us. (...) The genesis of Alphabets&Images, Inc. also bears some explanation. It was not an "alias" for FontBank, Inc. Rather, it was the name of a joint venture between FontBank, Inc. and Photo-Lettering, Inc. Photo-Lettering, as may you may know, was the king of display film fonts, hosting such luminaries as Ed Benguiat. FontBank was their chosen vendor for digitizing their film fonts. The venture failed when Photo-Lettering went bankrupt. I believe UTC licensed the Photo-Lettering, Inc. collection thereafter. You would, in fact, be quite surprised to learn who FontBank did rendering for, but alas, confidentiality agreements prevent me from disclosing that information as well. Big, big companies seem to insist on clauses like that. Voilà.

Homework for my readers: can you recognize Bastion, Borealis, Brandish, Colbert, Coolsville, and Dayton? [Google] [More]  ⦿

Forest Techologies

Stanley Ng (Cary, IL) offers fonts for beginners, with dashed lines and directions of writing. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Fox Valley Type

This foundry is possibly located in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, or Fox Valley, IL. Designer of the inline display typeface Rhidian (2020). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Frances MacLeod

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Frances MacLeod completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising Art Direction and Graphic Design at Columbia College Chicago. She also studied at Type@Cooper and has worked with teams in Chicago and New York, most notably the Department of Design at Leo Burnett. She is currently based in Brooklyn.

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

Frank H. Atkinson

Sign painter from the art nouveau era, who lived in Chicago and worked mostly for Cadillac. His books Sign Painting (1908) and Artkinson's Sign Painting (1915) influenced hand lettering and signpainting for many years afterwards. The following digital fonts are based on his designs:

• FHA Sign DeVinne (2015, Michael Gene Adkins, James L Stirling).
• FHA Tuscan Roman (2014, Michael Gene Adkins, James L Stirling).
• FHA Nicholson French (2012). An art nouveau typeface digitized by The Fontry.
• FHA Condensed French (2012, by Michael Gene Adkins and James L. Stirling) is based on Frank H. Atkinson's examples.
• FHA French Eccentric (2009), by Frank Smith and Michael Gene Adkins. FHA Eccentric French Normal (2008) is free at Dafont.
• FHA Modernized Ideal Classic (2011) by Michael Gene Adkins and James L. Stirling.
• Bulletin Stub (The Fontry).
• Book Poster (2010). A series of fonts at The Fontry.
• Beauvoir (1993, David Nalle).
• French Plug (2007, HiH).
• Payzant Pen NF (Nick Curtis) is based on an Atkinson design shown in A Show at Sho-Cards: Comprehensive, Complete, Concise (1918).
• Atkinson Eccenteric, Atkinson Boomtown and Atkinson Egyptian, all made by David Nalle at Scriptorium.
• Still by The Fontry: the Broken Poster family (2010). In 2013, Michael Gene Adkins and James Stirling followed this up with the layered system Broken Gothic, which is based on Book Poster as well.
• Dick Pape created these revival fonts in 2009: ArtNouveauSigns, FHA1908ClassicPlug, FHAAdvertisersThickThinPl, FHAAntiqueBlock, FHAAntiqueRoman, FHAArtNouveau, FHAArtNouveauSigns, FHABradley, FHABulletinPlug, FHABulletinRoman, FHAChicagoTuscan, FHAClassicBlock, FHACondensedFrench, FHAEccentricFrench, FHAEccentricRoman, FHAEngrossingText, FHAExtremeFrenchBold, FHAFrenchRoman, FHAFrenchRomanLight, FHAFullClassicRoman, FHAGunningSingleStroke, FHAHalfClassicRoman, FHAModernizedIdealClassic, FHAModifiedAntiqueTuscanRom, FHAModifiedPlug, FHANewYorkRoman, FHANicholsonFrench, FHAPosterBlock, FHARoundBlockThickThin, FHARoundFullBlock, FHAShowCardFrench, FHASignPaintersPlymouth, FHASingleStrokeBlock, FHASingleStrokeTuscan, FHASpikeSpurFrench, FHAStonehouseEgyptian, FHAWesternLightTuscan, FHAWesternRoman, FHAWesternSingleStroke. Download page. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Frank H. Riley

Advertising artist (b. 1894, Joseph, Missouri) influenced by Oswald Cooper and Frederic Goudy, with whom he collaborated. He worked first as a lettering artist in New York and then as a free-lancer in Chicago. Designer at American Typefounders of the condensed and stocky slab serif typeface Contact (1944: see the TS Colonel family by TypeShop for a digital version) and the calligraphic script font Grayda (1939, ATF; +Initials). Grayda was digitized, expanded and modernized by Rebecca Alaccari as Genesis (2007). McGrew writes:

• Contact Bold Condensed and Italic were designed by Frank H. Riley for ATF about 1942, but not released until 1948 because of war-time conditions. They are narrow and vigorous, with a large x-height and short ascenders and descenders, intended for newspaper and general advertising display. Other widths and weights were projected, but there is no evidence that they were completed. Compare John Hancock Condensed, Bold Antique Condensed.
• Grayda is an unusual and striking script designed by Frank H. Riley and introduced in 1939 by ATF. Lowercase letters are weighted at top and bottom. giving a strong horizontal emphasis; they are close fitting but not connected. Two sets of capital letters are available, designated Narrow and Swash. The IS-point size is cast on a 24-point body, the smallest size for which angle-body molds are used.

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

Frank Lloyd Wright

American architect, artist and designer, b. Richland Center, WI, 1867, d. Phoenix, AZ, 1959. He was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. His lettering inspired many to create typefaces based on them. The Frank Lloyd Wright museum is near the University of Chicago. He lived in Oak Park, IL, two blocks away from Luc Devroye's daughter. A partial list of fonts related to FLW:

• David Siegel made Eaglefeather (1994-1999) for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which owns various manuscripts with his beautiful lettering. P22 made a few typefaces based on his hand.
• Christina Torre (P22) created P22 FLW Exhibition and P22 FLW Terracotta in 2000 (revival in 2018), based on alphabets by Frank Lloyd Wright published in 1931 and in 1896-1897 (in his book The House Beautiful), respectively.
• Paul Hunt made the FLW Midway font family (2006-2018), comprising Midway One, Two and Ornaments. This set is based on the lettering found on the Midway Gardens working drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright---tall-legged and casual.
• There are several free fonts. For example, swiftw5 created the typeface Hendrikus Wijdeveld (2010), based on a Hendrikus Wijdeveld poster entitled Architecture Exhibition / Frank Lloyd Wright from 1931.
• Funky Lloyd Wright (2002) by Kristian Walker (Eurekaville) is an experimental font based on Frank Lloyd Wright's ideas.

View Frank Lloyd Wright fonts. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Frederic William Goudy

One of the great type designers of the twentieth century, 1865-1947. Born in Bloomington, IL, he made over 125 typefaces. He founded the Village Press with Will H. Ransom at Park Ridge, IL, in 1903. From 1904 until 1906, it was in Hingham, MA, and from 1906-1913 at 225 Fourth Avenue, New York City, where a fire destroyed everything except the matrices on January 10, 1908. From 1913 until 1923, it was located in Forest Hill Gardens, Long Island, and from 1923 until his death in 1947 at Deepdene, in Marlborough-on-Hudson, NY. He was an art consultant for Lanston Monotype from 1920-1940.

His life's work and his ideas on typography can be found in his great book, Typologia, Studies in Type Design \& Type Making (1940, University of California Press, Berkeley), but his views are already present in Elements of Lettering (1922, The Village Press, Forest Hill Gardens, New York). His own work is summarized, shown and explained in his last book, A Half-Century of Type Design and Typography 1895-1945, Volume One (1946, The Typophiles, New York). See also Frederic Goudy by D.J.R. Bruckner for Harry N. Abrams Publishers, New York.

In 1936, Frederic Goudy received a certificate of excellence that was handlettered in blackletter and immediately stated, Anyone who would letterspace blackletter would steal sheep. He also wrote: All the old fellows stole our best ideas, and Someday I'll design a typeface without a K in it, and then let's see the bastards misspell my name.

His 116 fonts include

• Camelot (1896, Dickinson Type Foundry). He sold another design in 1897 to that foundry, but it was never published. McGrew writes: Camelot or Camelot Oldstyle was the first typeface designed by Frederic W. Goudy. He offered it to Dickinson Type Foundry (part of ATF) in Boston, which accepted it and sent him $10, twice what he had modestly asked for it. This was in 1896; it was apparently cut and released the following year as drawn, without lowercase. In February 1900 a design patent was issued in the names of Goudy and Joseph W. Phinney, and assigned to ATF. Phinney was a well-known designer for Dickinson-ATF, and apparently it was he who added the lowercase alphabet. Its success encouraged Goudy to make a distinguished career of type designing, and this typeface was included in ATF specimen books as late as 1941. Compare Canterbury.
• De Vinne Roman (1898)
• Copperplate (1901): See Copperplate Gothic Hand (2009, Gerd Wiescher), Copperplate URW, or Copperplate EF (Elsner&Flake).
• Pabst Roman (1902)
• Village (1902). Some say 1903. Village was originally designed by Frederic Goudy in 1903 for Kuppenheimer & Company for advertising use, but it was decided it would be too expensive to cast. It was later adopted as the house face for Goudy's and Will Ransom's Village Press. The matrices were cut and the type cast by Wiebking. The design was influenced by William Morris's Golden Type. This Venetian typeface was digitized by David Berlow (1994, FontBureau), by Paul D. Hunt (2005), and by Steve Matteson (2018), who simply called his revival Village. Hunt's version was eventually released in 2016 by P22 as LTC Village. Ivan Louette (Belgium) is working on a fine version of Village as well.
• Bertham (1936), his 100th typeface, named for his wife, Bertha.
• Copperplate Gothic (ATF, 1905): The Bitstream version was done by Clarence Marder.
• Goudy Old Style (ATF, 1914-1915): A 15% heavier weight was made by Morris Fuller Benton in 1919. Bitstream and URW++ sell that as Goudy Catalogue. See also Goudy Catalogue EF (Elsner&Flake), Bitstream's Goudy Old Style, Scangraphic's Goudy Old Style SB (2004), Infinitype's Goudy Old Style, Bitstream's Venetian 522, and Softmaker's G790.
• ATF Cloister Initials (1917-1918). This was revived digitally by several foundries: Alter Littera did Initials ATF Cloister (2012). Group Type created Cloister Initials (2006).
• Goudy Handtooled (1916): A decorative font. Elsner&Flake and Bitstream have a digital version. The Bitstream version used to be called Venetian 523.
• Goudy Modern (Lanston, 1918): Goudy Modern MT is the Agfa-Monotype version. Adobe's version is confusingly called Monotype Goudy Modern.
• Hadriano (1918): Agfa-Monotype has a digital version, as does Adobe.
• Goudy Heavyface (ATF, 1925-1932): Created as a possible competitor of Cooper Black. Bitstream has a digital version.
• Goudy Newstyle (1921): additional letterforms are provided to distinguish different pronunciations. This legible semi-Venetian typeface was cut by Wiebking and recut in 1935. It was sold to Monotype in 1942. Revival by Steve Matteson in 2018 as Newstyle.
• Italian Oldtyle (+Italic) (ca. 1925): made after Dove, Monotype's president, prompted Goudy to make a Venetian typeface to compete with ATF's Cloister Old Style.
• Venezia Italic (1925), to accompany Venezia. George W. Jones of the English Linotype company had it made by Linotype.
• Aries (1925-1926): a kind of blackletter typeface in the style of Subiaco done for Spencer Kellogg for his new private press (he never used it).
• Goudy Dutch: based on handwriting on an envelope from Holland. Goudy lost the drawings.
• Companion Old Style and Italic
• Deepdene (1927). See D690 Roman on the SoftMaker MegaFont XXL CD, 2002. Deepdene became a Berthold font, and at Berthold it was digitized and refreshed by G.G. Lange from 1982-1983. URW also has a Deepdene family. But above all, one could pick up a free two-style revival by Barry Schwartz, Linden Hill (2010, OFL). View various Deepdene implementations.
• Goudy Text (1928). Based on the textura blackletter types of by Johann Gutenberg in the fifteenth century, Goudy Text has a narrow, ordinary lowercase. It can be used in display advertising and on certificates and invitations. Goudy Text is a "blackletter" type first used in 1928 by Goudy in a Christmas card from type cast at his own foundry. Among the digital versions, see LTC Goudy Text (P22 and Lanston; by Paul D. Hunt; this family includes LTC Goudy Text Lombardic Caps) and Goudy Text CT (Jason Castle).
• Kaatskill (1929, Lanston Monotype): a beautiful old style figures font originally done for an edition of Rip van Winkle. Mac McGrew: Kaatskill is a private typeface designed and cut by Frederic W. Goudy for use in an edition of Rip Van Winkle which he made for The Limited Editions Club, in 1929. Goudy says that what he had in mind was merely to design a type "as simple, legible, vigorous, clear, and effective in detail as could, and which would at the same time show no note of strangeness in the mass. ...I feel that Kaatskill owes nothing in its design to any existing face. and the type therefore is as truly an American type as anything so hidebound by tradition as type can be." It is named for the Catskill mountains, which were the locale of Goudy's home and workshop as well as of the story. See Trajan Title.
• Remington Typewriter (1929)
• Kennerley (1930) (see his book A Novel Type Foundery for specimens). The Berthold foundry, where the types can now be bought in digital form, mentions the dates 1911-1924.
• Ornate Titling (1931). See LTC Goudy Ornate (Lanston) and Goudy Ornate (2002, Ascender).
• Kennerley Bold and Bold Italic, and Kennerley Open Caps, to accompany Kennerley Old Style.
• Goudy Heavy Face (+Italic), made to please Harvey Best, the successor of Dove at Lanston Monotype.
• Marlborough (1930s): a typeface whose design was sold in 1942 to Monotype, but nothing came of it.
• Tory Text (1935). A blackletter typeface inspired by the lettre batarde used by Geoffroy Tory in his Champs Fleury.
• University (of California) Old Style (1938). Also called Californian (1938). A commercial version of this is ITC Berkeley Oldstyle by Tony Stan (1983). Font Bureau published FB Californian (1994, Carol Twombly, David Berlow, Jane Patterson).
• Bulmer (1939)
• Goudy Sans: ITC Goudy Sans (1986), LTC Goudy Sans (2006, Colin Kahn), Goudy Elegant (SoftMaker), Moon Cresta (Ray and Chikako Larabie, 2010) and Goudy Sans EF (now gone?) are digital revivals of Goudy's Goudy Sans family from 1929. GoudySorts MT, an Agfa Monotype font consisting of beautiful ornaments.
• Goudy Thirty. Mac McGrew: When Monotype suggested that Goudy design a type that that company might bring out after his death, to be called Goudy Thirty (from the newspaper term for the end of a story), he thought of a design he had started for a western college. That commission had fallen through, so the design was unfinished. Then, as Goudy relates, "This design struck me as particularly adapted to the purpose. As I worked on it I had determined to make it, as far as I was able, my last word in type design, a type in which would give my imagination full rein, and a type by which as a designer would be willing to stand or fall." Completed in 1942, it was kept under cover by Monotype and not released until 1953-long after his death in 1947. But he designed several types after this one, so it was not the last one from his hands. Goudy Thirty is a fine recreation of a fifteenth-century round gothic, excellent for period pieces. For digital versions, see LTC Goudy Thirty (Lanston, now P22 Lanston) and Goudy Thirty (a free font by Dieter Steffmann).
• Nabisco (1921).
• Garamont (1921).
• Goudy Initials. These are floriated caps.
• New Village Text (1938). A hybrid consisting of the capitals of Tory Text and the lower case of Deepdene.

Several foundries specialize in Goudy's types. These include P22/Lanston, which has an almost complete digital collection, Ascender Monotype, and Castle Type, which offers Goudy Trajan (2003), Goudy Text, Goudy Stout and Goudy Lombardy. WTC Goudy was digitized ca. 1986 by WTC.

Links: Bio by Nicolas Fabian. Alternate URL. Andrew R. Boone's article on Goudy in Popular Science, 1942. Goudy's typefaces listed by Paulo W. Obituary, May 13, 1947, New York Times, Time Magazine, November 6. 1933, Amy Duncan's thesis at BSU entitled "Howdy Goudy: Frederic W. Goudy and the Private Press in the Midwest", A 2009 lecture on Goudy by Steve Matteson (TypeCon 2009, Atlanta), Melbert B. Cary Jr. collection of Goudyana. Wikipedia: List of typefaces designed by Frederic Goudy. Linotype link. FontShop link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Frederick Eschrich

Illinois-based artist who created the stenciled typeface Horatio (2013), the angular geometric typeface Fois (2012) and the hairline fashion mag typeface Maquila (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

G.A. Gaskell

Author of Gaskell's Compendium of Forms (1883, G.W. Borland&Co, Chicago). Number 1. Number 2. Image from the 1883 book. A drawing of Platt Rogers Spencer, also found in the 1883 book. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Gabrielle Holness

Bloomington, IL-based designer of the modular typeface Lorde (2017, made with FontStruct). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Gary Elfring
[Elfring Soft Fonts]

[More]  ⦿

Gene M. Grubb

Designer of the free font DoodleArt (1999) and Doodle. Gene Grubb is from Danville, IL. Fontspace link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

George B. Walsh
[GreekKeys]

[More]  ⦿

George Everet Thompson
[No Bodoni Typography]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

George Gabriel

Chicago, IL-based designer of the decorative typeface Blender (2015) and the experimental typefaces Flesh (2015) and Flesh Extreme (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Gerald Moscato
[Zipatone]

[More]  ⦿

Gina Sipka

During her studies at Carthage College, Chicago, IL-based Gina Sipka designed Sundae Serif (2016). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Gina Valdez

Graphic designer in Chicago. During her studies at Columbia College Chicago, she created a minimalist stencil typeface (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Glenn Goluska

Glenn Goluska (b. 1947, Chicago; d. 2011, Montreal) was a Canadian book designer and typographer. He came to Canada as a student at the University of Toronto. After graduating he worked for some time in the United States before returning to Canada to work at Coach House Press. He left Coach House Press to focus on letterpress printing first in Toronto and later in the Saint Henri neighborhood of Montreal under the labels Imprimerie Dromadaire and Nightshade Press. Goluska was awarded the Robert R. Reid Award for lifetime achievement or extraordinary contributions to the book arts in Canada by the Alcuin Society in 2011.

Goluska had a book typeface designed in his honour by Nova Scotia-based type designer Rod MacDonald. The typeface, simply called Goluska, was published in 2021 at Canada Type, where Patrick Griffin oversaw the production and the addition of some variable fonts. Goluska admired Dwiggins, so Goluska, the typeface, was influenced by the puppeteer's work, especially the Scotch roman typeface Caledonia.

Obituary by Brigitte Schuster. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Grace Hamilton

At Loyola University in the suburbs of Chicago, Grace Hamilton designed the blocky black experimental typeface Hamburger Type (2016). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Graham Type Foundry
[John Graham]

John Graham (b. 1851) worked for MacKellar, Smiths&Jordan on specimen books. At night he studied drawing and letter design, bought engraving tools and taught himself type cutting. In 1882 he joined the Marder Luse Foundry in Chicago where he cut Spinner Script and Spinner Script No. 2, and some sizes of Inclined Program. He cut a minion size map font for the Illinois Type Foundry, and finally founded the Graham Type Foundry, primarily cutting borders and ornaments. Graham Type Foundry was located at 451 Belden Avenue in Chicago. [Google] [More]  ⦿

GreekKeys
[George B. Walsh]

Greek font information from the American Philological Association. It used to carry the unicode font Athena Roman. GreekKeys for Macintosh is a product providing easy keyboard input and specialized fonts for scholars of ancient (polytonic) Greek. First produced in 1984, GreekKeys has long provided a widely-used custom encoding for polytonic Greek, but now also supports and advocates Unicode as the proper standard for polytonic Greek in the future. GreekKeys is owned and distributed by the American Philological Association, a non-profit professional organization of North American classical scholars. GreekKeys is currently maintained and revised by Donald Mastronarde, Professor of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley. The original GreekKeys for Macintosh dates back to 1984, and was designed and distributed by George Walsh of the Department of Classics of the University of Chicago. He died in 1989, and the next year his wife, Susan M. Kastendiek (the eponym for the original name "SMK") donated the program to the American Philological Association. Since then it has been largely the responsibility of Jeffrey Rusten to update and answer questions about GreekKeys. The site was at Cornell University, but at some point it moved to Berkeley. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Greg Berry
[Symmetry Specialty Type Foundry]

[More]  ⦿

Greg Hartl

Greg Hartl (Swansea, IL) designed the typeface Stache (2012) starting from fake moustaches. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Greg Thompson

Born in Nebraska, 1958, and resident of Mount Dora, FL. He graduated in 1985 from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. In 1989 he began using Fontographer to make PostScript versions of existing typefaces for Chicago area design firms. At the invitation of Roger Black and David Berlow he became the first independent designer to contribute to the Font Bureau library. After Font Bureau, he joined Type Network.

Greg Thompson designed these typefaces:

• Bodega Sans and Bodega Serif (1990-1992), originally released at Font Bureau. These are formal families, wearing a tuxedo for an art deco reception. Allan Haley's review of Bodega. Seee also Castcraft's OPTI Jake.
• Agenda (1993-2000, Font Bureau). A 54-style humanist sans family influenced by Edward Johnston's Underground (1916). Bluty (2000) seems to be a copy of Agenda. Agenda was remastered in 2022 as Agenda One at Type Network.
• Broadcare (2020). A 25-style expandsion and exploration of Morris Fuller Benton's art deco classic, Broadway.
• FB Century Bold Condensed (1992). After the 1906 design at ATF by Morris Fuller Benton.
• Clicker (1992-2005, Font Bureau). This soft octagonal typeface was drawn in 1992 for TV Guide and has since been used by CSI, Pepsi One, and Quicksilver. In 2005, Thompson has expanded the design, initially inspired by machine-readable type, to 44 new styles including italics and small caps. Type Network offers 30 styles of this soft techno design.
• Commerce (1991-1992, Font Bureau). With Rick Valicenti.
• Ooga Booga (1994). With Rick Valicenti at Thirst Type.

FontShop link. View Greg Thompson's typefaces. Article about Greg Thompson at Type Network. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Gregory Bry

Graphic design student at Columbia College in Chicago. He created a circle-based experimental typeface in 2011. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Günter Gerhard Lange

Known to his peers as GGL. German type designer, born in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder in 1921, d. 2008. He fought in World War II and lost his leg in a battle in France. Starting in 1941, Lange studied as apprentice of Georg Belwe at the Academy of Graphic and Book Arts in Leipzig. After graduation in 1945, until 1949, he was assistant of Professor Walter Tiemann, while also practicing painting and graphic design independently. In 1949, he continued his studies with Professors Hans Ullmann and Paul Strecker at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in West Berlin. From 1950 onwards, he worked at Berthold AG in Berlin, where he designed his first type, Arena in 1951. In 1955, he became Reader in Typography at the Meisterschule für Graphik, Druck und Werbung in West Berlin. One of his many students was Manfred Klein. He also was Advisor in Visual Communications and Reader at the U5 Academy of Graphic Design and Art Direction Munich, and Instructor at the School of Applied Art in Vienna. H. Berthold AG's artistic director from 1961 to 1990, Lange was responsible for the creation and meticulous production of many of Berthold's typefaces. According to Dieter Hofrichter, his motto was 8 point is the moment of truth (when proofing typefaces). In 1989 he received the Frederic W. Goudy Award from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Recipient of the year 2000 TDC medal. After ten years of retirement from his position as Berthold AG's artistic director, Lange resumed his design activities in 2000 at Bertholdtypes (now Berthold Direct Inc) in Chicago. Bio at ATypI.

Lange's own designs include his revivals of many classical typefaces. Here is a list, all Berthold typefaces:

• Akzidenz Grotesk AG Book (1969-1972; see Atkins on the SoftMaker MegaFont XXL CD, 2002), AG Book Stencil Pro, AG Old Face (1984), AG Schoolbook.
• Arena (1951-1959): a condensed stocky roman. Now called Arena New.
• Berthold Baskerville (1961). Berthold Baskerville Book appeared in 1980.
• Berthold Bodoni Old Face (1983; see Giambattista on the SoftMaker MegaFont XXL CD, 2002).
• Bodoni Antiqua (1935).
• Boulevard (Berthold, 1955). Imitated by Opticast (Brandenburg), Greenstreet (Koepenick), Lanston (Francis No.982) and in Regency. Boulevard was revived digitally by P22 as LTC Francis in 2018.
• Caslon Buch (1977).
• Champion (1957, a paint brush typeface revived in 2010 by Ray Larabie as Gloss).
• Concorde (1969; see C791 Roman on the SoftMaker MegaFont XXL CD, 2002, CJ by Itek, Chinchilla by Scangraphic, Transport by Varityper, Contus by URW, Dutch 809 by Bitstream, and Concept by SoftMaker), Concorde Nova.
• Deepdene (1982-1983), a revival of Frederick Goudy's Deepdene of 1927-1934.
• Derby (1952-1953). This script typeface was digitally revived by Gerhard Helzel, and in 2019 by Ralph M. Unger as Turnier.
• El Greco (1964).
• Franklin Antiqua (1976; see F820 Roman on the SoftMaker MegaFont XXL CD, 2002).
• Berthold Garamond (1972).
• Imago (1982).
• Publica. This Peignotian sans typeface was the source of inspiration for Ralph M. Unger's Bravura Pro (2013).
• Berthold Script (1977; see B690 Script on the SoftMaker MegaFont XXL CD, 2002).
• Solemnis (1952-1953, refreshed in 2003; a hybrid uncial remade by Harold Lohner in 2000).
• Walbaum Buch (1975) and Walbaum Standard (1976).
• Whittingham (with Dieter Hofrichter, 2000).

Yvonne Schwemer-Scheddin writes a day after his death: Dear type friends, yesterday morning, the 2nd of December 2008, Günter Gerhard Lange died, 87 years old. We lost an upright, steadfast fighter for quality in type design. Not only Berthold's artistic director, but a friend and objective adviser to many who needed personal help or an evaluation in type design. GGL was Berthold. For Berthold GGL "enhanced" many type designs of other well known type designers. His valued critizism was a great help, because it came from a positively tuned man. GGL transferred the lead heritage and its classical type typefaces into photocomposition and into the digital format on a high aesthetic and historically authentic level - as for instance Garamond or Van Dijk. Akzidenz-Grotesk is not thinkable without GGL. Bodoni Old Face one of the best contemporary text typefaces. With his sans serif Imago you can be different and yet classical. And the Americans should be pleased with the revival of Deepdene, which he also turned into a well working textface with a distinct character. But perhaps most important of all, he relentlessly encouraged the young, teaching and talking up to almost the end. Thus opening fences, eyes and hearts to art, architecture, literature and for the values of studies and love for the correct details without which the whole would not function. He was a rare communicator, because he lived his convictions and values. He became an example, a light of orientation. We lost a passionate type lover and expert---an authentic man. An era has come irreversible to its end.

Credit for some images below: Danielle West. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

H. Berthold AG

H. Berthold Systeme AG was founded in 1858 in Berlin by Hermann Berthold. Also known as H. Berthold Messinglinienfabrik und Schriftgiesserei, the type foundry was the largest in the world by 1918, with offices in Stuttgart, St. Petersburg, Leipzig, Riga, Budapest and Vienna. It grew by acquisitions of many other foundries, see., e.g., here. A partial list:

• 1897 Bauer&Co, Stuttgart, 100%, Germany
• 1898-1900 Branch St. Petersburg, 100%, Russia
• 1901 Georg Ross&Co. St. Petersburg + new Branch in Moscow, 100% Russia
• 1905 J. H. Rust&Co. Vienna, 100%, Austria
• 1907 A. Haase, Prague, 100%
• 1908 Ferdinand Theinhardt GmbH Berlin, 100%, Germany
• 1912 St. Petersbrug Branch of Flinsch (later Bauer), 100%, Russia
• 1917 Emil Gursch Berlin, 100%, Germany
• 1918 Gottfried Böttger, Leipzig, 100%, Germany
• 1918 A. Kahle, Weimar, 100%, Germany
• 1920 Julius Klinkhardt, Leipzig, 100%, Germany
• 1922 C. Kloberg, Leipzig, 100%, Germany
• 1926 Poppelbaum, Vienna, 50% - 50% to D. Stempel A.G., Austria
• 1926 First Hungarian Type Foundry, Budapest, 50% - 50% D. Stempel A.G, Hungary
• 1929 Genzsch&Heyse, Hamburg 33% - 33% Bauersische Gießerei (Bauer) - 33% D. Stempel A.G., Germany

Typesetting MPEG4 movie, ca. 1935.

To complement its typesetting equipment business activities, Berthold developed the Berthold Exklusiv Collection, a collection of typefaces created solely for Berthold by distinguished designers. Günter Gerhard Lange began his association with Berthold in 1952, and was artistic director from 1961-1990. In March 1991, Adobe Systems and H. Berthold AG announced that Adobe was to produce PostScript versions of numerous Berthold Exklusiv ("BE") typefaces - these typefaces were later to be known as Adobe Berthold BE fonts. Until 1999, Adobe marketed its versions of 365 Berthold Exklusivs under agreements with H. Berthold AG, and later Berthold Types Limited. H. Berthold AG also produced its own digital versions of their entire library using the Ikarus system - some of these fonts are later to be known as Berthold BQ. In 1993 the company reported insolvency. A follow-up company, H. Berthold Systeme GmbH was formed, but it finally was dissolved in 1995. Shortly before dissolution, the Berlin-based H. Berthold company signed license agreements with and transferred certain rights and trademarks to a Chicago-based US company that later took the name Berthold Types Limited, now called Berthold Direct Inc. This company now offers digital versions of the "Exklusiv" Berthold typefaces.

Some of its history is explained in this letter.

Old blackletter typefaces from the metal era: Ballade (ca. 1927, Paul Renner), Berthold-Fraktur (1909), Bismarck-Fraktur (1860), Breda-Gotisch (1928, house font), Englische Schreibschrift (1972, version One, version Two; for digital versions elsewhere, see English 157 by Bitstream, or Elegant Script by SoftMaker), Deutschland (ca. 1934), Hansa Kursiv (ca. 1895: art nouveau style, the light version of Regina Kursiv), Schraffierte Gotisch (before 1900; aka Stella), Mainzer Fraktur (1901, Carl Albert Fahrenwaldt for Bauer and Berthold), Morris-Gotisch (before 1905, for Bauer and Berthold), Post Fraktur (1935, Herbert Post), Prinzeß Kupferstichschrift (1905, digitized by Ralph M. Unger as Prinzess Gravur in 2010), Regina Cursiv (ca. 1895: revivals include Carlsbad (2018, Ralph M. Unger), Regina Cursiv (2007, HiH), Toffee Script (2010, Tomi Haaparanta)), Sebaldus-Gotisch (1926: revival by Ralph M. Unger in 2019 as Sebaldus; see also the earlier revivals by Ingo Preuss and Dieter Steffmann, both called Sebaldus), Straßburg (1926, a blackletter face; the digital version by Delbanco is called DS Strassburg; see also Strasburg by Gerhard Helzel), Trump-Deutsch (1936, Georg Trump). House typefaces include Isolde (1912, script face), Augustea Kursiv (1906) and Augustea Fett.

Hebrew fonts in their collection include Meruba, Stam, Mirjam and Frank Ruehl.

Some of the Berthold collection can nowe be bought through Monotype Imaging and Linotype. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Han Na Jung

Designer in Chicago. Behance link. In 2011, she created a beautiful poster entitled Avenir, using Frutiger's 1988 typeface Avenir. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hannah Carnes

Normal, IL-based designer of the dessert-themed decorative typeface Scrumdiddlyumptious (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hannah Morency

Chicago IL-based designer who graduated in 2016 from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. In 2016, she designed the eyeliner-themed typeface Lithe. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hannah Smith

Chicago, IL-based designer of Shaggy (2014), a decorative caps typeface based on Futura. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hannah White

During her studies in Carbondale, IL, Hannah White created the squarish video game typeface Robots In Retrospect (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Harish Subu

Harish Subu (Subramanian) is a Mumbai-based graphic designer and illustrator who is currently finishing his BFA degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL. He created a virtual branding campaign and typeface for the city of Mumbai in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Harvey Hunt
[Berthold Direct Corp]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Harvey Hunt
[Berthold Types Limited]

[More]  ⦿

Heather Hartmann

Brookfield, IL-based designer of the handcrafted typeface Sketchy (2016). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Heather Shaw

Designer and illustrator in Lisle, IL. She created the contrasted sans typeface Corbel Slim (2012, based on Corbel), and the artsy display typeface Artist's Block (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hector Banuelos

During his studies in Chicago, Hector Banuelos created the hipster typeface Korse (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Henry P. Behrensmeyer

Respected American penman, b. 1868, Quincy, IL, d. 1948, Quincy, IL. Author of Lessons in Practical Penmanship (publ. D.L. Musselman, Quincy, IL). He taught penmanship his entire life in Quincy, IL, at the Gem City Business College. He is remembered for his exceptionally graceful flourished birds and swans. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Henry W. DeWitt

Codesigner at BBS in 1889 with Charles E. Tiede of an early art nouveau typeface. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hobo
[Peter Zelchenko]

Peter Zelchenko, a master trade typographer in Chicago in the 1980s and 1990s, gave me permission to tell his story about the origins of Hobo---both the name and the typeface. He contradicts Mac McGrew, but his explanation is more likely than all others that have been proposed. So here we go (all text below by Peter).

(Thanks to Boston’s Bill Ricker and Dick Miller for coaxing me to cough this story up finally. I originally mentioned it in comp.fonts about 20 years ago, but the “O” situation, recently discovered, offers incontrovertible proof of the theory.)

As a master trade typographer in Chicago in the 1980’s and 1990’s, I was the last of the breed here before desktop publishing finally made our race extinct. I imagine there were only two or three of us in that generation. Among the very few others in Chicago were Adam Kallish and Jason Pickleman, who both were working for the irascible Harvey Hunt, a Berthold guy, when he closed down his Typographic Resource and moved to Mac. (Harvey and his wife inherited ownership of the Berthold font collection. For decades Berthold was a top-quality typesetting platform.) I was working upstairs from them during the storied heyday of InfoComm, a pioneering PostScript service bureau, at 213 W. Institute Pl., site of the early Schwinn bicycle factory. You can still see thousands of bicycle screws embedded in the wood floors of that building.

We were young and, with proficiency in computers, were able to bridge old and new technologies easily. We were also font whores. Most kids in those days used to save their money up for model airplanes or blow it all on Twinkies. When we were children, my brother Greg and I used to haunt Chicago art stores, scraping up money for Zipatone dry-transfer, or “rub-down,” lettering. Our favorites were things like Calypso, Mistral, and others by Roger Excoffon, Herb Lubalin, Ed Benguiat, Rosmarie Tissi, and the many other designers of that prolific period. I also did a lot of calligraphy. I still do work with flat and pointed pen as well as flat and pointed brush (a devotee of Father Catich to the end). In later life I was briefly president of the Chicago Calligraphy Collective.

Despite my skills and interest, I was never admitted into the higher church:

East Coast: Ephram “Ed” Benguiat had me out for a tongue-lashing. The famous Jewish cigar-chomping dean of New York letters walked me around the labyrinth of Photo-Lettering, Inc., his huge Manhattan shop. Stopping at various stations to introduce me to his team, he would pointedly ask each guy how long they’d been working for him. “I’ve been on this very Staromat in this very darkroom for 25 years,” I remember one of them saying. (I was a VGC Typositor guy myself, thanks in part to the support of my beloved mentor, Al Blitz of Photofont.)

Then he introduced me to the sub-basement, where I met Marco, an art student almost ten years younger than I. “You still wanna to work here?” Ed challenged me. “Marco’s my new right-hand.” And he stubbed out his cigar in one of the shop’s numerous overflowing ashtrays.

Apparently this trip was just for him to show me that if I wanted to move to Manhattan to be his apprentice, I’d have to work in the basement for years, getting behind even young Marco, who after three years was still making $6 an hour touching up the edges of Ed’s drawings.

West Coast: David Lemon of Adobe flew me out for a lavish two-day interview session with the type staff. I remember getting to know Linnea Lindquist, Bob Slimbach, Carol Twombly, and this really nice guy who had worked for the inimitable Dan X. Solo. I knew he and I would be best friends when I moved out there, but I never got the call. I think I was too crude for them, not an artist like most of them, just some schmuck without much flair, trained in the many nameless shops.

Back home: The market was getting too tight. Dean of Chicago of lettering Charlie Hughes (designer of Indy and, coincidentally, of the Benton variant Century Nova) chose calligrapher Eliza Schulte over me as his apprentice. Holly Dickens, for her part, though I know she loves me dearly, was never the type to take on help. George Lee before he died told me that I already had too much experience to be anyone’s apprentice, but I knew I was also far too unsophisticated and too inept at business to forge out without first getting a leg up.

It didn’t help that I was stranded in the Windy City (a bygone typographic center, former home of much that we can be proud of), circumstantially unable to move to one of the coasts, where the action really was. The best we had here by then was Castcraft, widely felt by respectable industry to be the worst font plagiarists in history. Anyone who is friendly with the Kreiter family would still never consider their shady world a place for a skilled young designer to hang one’s hat for a career. It would have been even more pathetic for me to take Boomie Kreiter up on his frequent offers than to wait for young Marco to free up his naugahyde seat in Benguiat’s dusty office. I would never get a job at Adobe or Font Bureau with that on my resume.

Despite heading toward that dead end, I did become the guy in Chicago who knew fonts. I probably can’t tell Helvetica from Helios these days; it’s been 30 years since I’ve had to compare them. But wherever I worked, my reputation followed me. Every few days, at one or another type shop, someone would yell out: “Pete. Someone just called, wants you to identify a font.” Soon I’d see coming in on the fax machine a request from some designer, or from another mope at another harried River North type shop, asking me to identify some obscure font sample. For about 10 years, everyone in town apparently knew that if anyone could figure out which foundry and font they were trying to match, I could. There were times when I would do no more than glance at the sample, and then call them back:

“It’s Stempel Garamond; you can tell by the cipher.”

“Gosh, Pete. We really appreciate it. What do you want for this?”

“Just send me a check with lots of Stempel Garamond zeroes. Better yet, buy me a drink at the Redhead Friday night. We’ve got a massive annual report to finish, but we may get off before midnight.”

Other times I’d pore over a stack of thick books from VGC, Photo-Lettering Inc., and Castcraft before I finally found the match. But I could not easily be stumped. I could quickly tell a Benguiat brush script from knock-offs, and I knew when I’d have to pull out VGC’s or Castcraft’s massive tomes and start flipping pages for 15 or 20 minutes. And then there was the ponderous TypEncyclopedia, whose sheer weight could kill a grown man.

This was the heyday of the proliferation of advertising design and numerous competing typographic platforms, each with a knock-off and variants of a popular font. This was the high-water mark in American typographic activity. There were dozens of foundries and tens of thousands of fonts. And it all came crashing down as quickly, and today I have no memory, and everything is all washed away, and I wonder how I could have wasted so much of my life on so profitless a pursuit. Nobody remembers me, and no one cares. Even in Chicago I was just a fax number to most famous designers, just someone somewhere who could help them make a quicker profit a few minutes sooner. And I always did it gratis. But in that day font substitution was done only as a last resort, so I had to do it.

* * *

In those days, to pass the time lovers of letters would walk up and down the streets of their cities and simply name fonts they saw in windows, sometimes self-righteously adding the designer’s name and perhaps the approximate year of the design. “You’re wrong, that’s not Helvetica Bold, it’s Vladimir Andrich’s Claro Bold.” In those days as ever, Hobo was everywhere. It is one of the two or three best-known and most-used display fonts in history, and it has long enjoyed a kind of cult following. But while one of the easiest of fonts to identify, no typophile will dispute that the mystery of its name is easily one of the most rampantly speculated typographic questions over the last century. A few years ago, my pal Kibo and I came up with the answer to this century-old mystery, as well as an insight into the design of this odd Art Deco font.

Morris Fuller Benton was the contented son of Linn Boyd Benton, the latter one of the most influential figures of all time in the graphic arts, arguably ranking somewhere near the pantheon among Gutenberg and Bi Sheng. Through the 19th century, the Wyeths did painting, the Brontës did writing---and the Bentons did type. Every industry in every age has its salon powerhouses, those titans whose magic could rub off on you if you could only get near enough. But of course unless you actually were family, often nothing was bound to happen. Grandpa Benton, as it happens, owned the Milwaukee Daily News and also became a congressmen, and his father in turn was a prominent East Coast physician. In fact, Grandpa was under consideration as a presidential candidate but lost out to Stephen Douglas. Patricia Cost wrote a wonderful history about the Benton family that tells even more. But, nepotism aside, Morris Fuller became quite a prolific and celebrated type designer in his own right, surpassed by only a few others in the number of iconic font designs to his name.

The two main stories behind the naming of Hobo are both probably apocryphal. The first is that the bow-legged shape of the letters suggested the legs of a hobo. The second is more creative, but it too lacks much support. According to one writer, Emil Klumpp of ATF gave a talk at the APA Wayzgoose conference in 1977 and mentioned the origin of the name. In his 1993 book American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, historian Mac McGrew apparently summarizes Klumpp’s report:

“One story is that it was drawn in the early 1900s [when Art Nouveau was still in fashion] and sent to the foundry without a name…but further work on it was continually pushed aside, until it became known as ‘that old hobo’ because it hung around so long without results.”

* * *

McGrew died a few years ago, as did Emil Klumpp, but I wish they were still alive so that we could debate these facts. Both were born long after the font. There is absolutely no evidence that the font’s design was begun earlier than 1910; that speculation may well owe itself only to its convenience to the story itself. Something just doesn’t seem to add up. We have, however, harder facts.

The quintessential nerd, James “Kibo” Parry worked on the Atari 2600 design team. He became a household name on the early Internet by haunting Usenet newsgroups and contriving numerous online larks to amuse the digital populace, which at the time did not yet number 50,000 or so worldwide. Kibo once had a two-page feature all to himself in Wired magazine. He had a religion called Kibology named after himself, with a bizarrely popular online discussion group of thousands of subscribers.

Kibo was even immortalized in the Geek Code, an early Internet fad that one would put in the signature of one’s e-mails and online posts to indicate level of geekiness and hence high-tech social status. There were several indicators, such as how well you knew the C language, or whether you were Unix (good) or MS-DOS (bad). The number of pluses after a letter code indicates the level of accomplishment. C is, predictably, C, and the Unix/Windows letter codes are U and w.

There is even a flag for how close one is to Kibo. At the top end, it included: “K++++ I’ve met Kibo,” “K+++++ I’ve had sex with Kibo,” and “K++++++ I am Kibo.” At the bottom are several negative indicators, such as “K–” I dislike Kibo. I have the dubious distinction of being somewhere close to the K+++++ category, because technically I’ve, uh, slept with Kibo---well, at least I’ve shared his bedroom. Here is Kibo’s own e-mail signature which, although over 1,000 lines long, does not include a Geek Code. But it does give you an idea of the strange humor that is Kibo.

Apart from all of this, Kibo is also a lover of type, and very knowledgeable about it. He and I were wandering around downtown Boston sometime around 1992, the morning after a rather snooty ATypI wine-tasting event hosted by David Berlow’s Font Bureau, celebrating Matthew Carter. Seeing the well-dressed and well-paid scions chatting and sipping red wine, it was impossible to picture us really fitting in there. And, of course, nobody paid the least attention to us.

Another time, in 1994 in San Francisco, ATypI met, and the pushy, competitive nature of the nascent PostScript font industry took a more direct form. The Dutch youth, Erik van Blokland, Luc de Groot, and brothers Just and Guido van Rossum, had crossed the pond. There was a kind of technical mosh pit established as a playground for us 15 or so “youngsters” in which to create the show daily.

This playground was billed as a social collaborative activity. But I recall the four Dutchmen muscling over this and other activities with equal, shall we say, zeal. A couple of less pushy participants raised a stink to the elders and yet the rebellion was discreetly put down. As is the case in such societies, most of us budding young craftsmen were hoping for some attention, but we were not nearly as forward about it as these tough Europeans. To be sure, they had talent. But we, at least, were aware that our eyes and minds and skills were as ready as theirs. I recall Luc de Groot simply drawing the nameplate for the publication, without any discussion from anyone else. An arguably enviable post that he had simply arrogated to himself. My recollection is that his skills were not much up to the task that day and I was pretty certain that I could have done better. Again, that year, nobody paid any attention to us.

[The shot of Kibo used for the Wired article – he’s not quite as exciting as all this, no red aura in real life.]

Kibo and I were bored out of our skulls that morning after the Font Bureau affair in Boston, and probably a bit hung over and cynical. Presumably, we were already heading toward failure in the type world. Kibo lived right across from the Commons, in a cockroach-infested flat dotted with empty carry-out containers. I had slept on the floor. Walking somberly through the streets of old Boston, Kibo showed me how to pick locks with the metal bristle from a street-cleaning truck’s brushes, which bristles, to my amazement, can be found near the curb of almost any street in the world. We shared work horror stories. We sneered at the cult of personality that was the typographic design world in those high-flying days. Frankly, we were probably a bit jealous. And of course we showed off by pointing at signs and identifying many fonts. We also stopped in at several bookshops.

At one particularly cozy little shop, I was flipping through a Russian poster art book, surveying a nice Art Nouveau poster for Duchess Tobacco. Kibo, looking over my shoulder, asked me what the poster said. I said it was for the “new and wonderful” Duchess Tobacco, 1/4 pound for 40 kopecks, from tobacconists Kolobova and Bobrova of St. Petersburg.

I think Kibo said something like, “Huh. Why does it say ‘Hobo’ at the top? Those guys don’t look like hobos.” Indeed, the two characters pictured helping themselves to a box of the Eastern-style cigarettes known as papirosi were young Russian gentlemen. But I explained to Kibo that HOBO was the Cyrillic spelling of the word novo (“New!”). It was then that we both noticed that the poster was drawn in something very like the font Hobo. Of course, this was hand-lettered, but it was certainly in that Art Nouveau splayed style. That led to speculation that Benton could have seen this poster or one like it in a Russian neighborhood. Certainly the four-by-five–foot poster in a window of a Russian tobacco shop or grocer would have been amusing to non-Russians seeing the word “HOBO!” at the top, and it could very well have inspired any talented type designer to throw together a font in its honor.

The Russian word “Chudno” (above) means “wondrous.” What’s really wondrous is the unique similarity of Benton’s majuscule O and the one drawn at the poster’s extreme right. The shape of the letters in the word “HOBO!” don’t hurt the argument, and of course the name buttresses it. To me, the striking coincidence of this single “O” letterform crowns the argument and should lay to rest the mystery of Hobo. This evidence shows that Morris Fuller Benton must have seen this poster somewhere. Perhaps he was somehow reluctant to admit that the source of his inspiration came from outside his famously insecure mind?

In fact, the “O” in the word “Чудно!” at the far right side of the poster looks as if it could have been traced by Benton as the model for his Hobo majuscule O. In fact, it is so close that it would arguably be more of a coincidence if this were not the case.

The characters “HOBO” at the top of the poster, their general design formula, and the identical shape of that O, I feel, lay to rest the hundred-year mystery of the source of both the font’s name and design formula. There was also motive, method, and opportunity. This is far better substantiation than what we have from the two chief theories that have circulated all these decades.

Moreover, what this suggests is that the original inspiration for Hobo probably was not Benton’s own mind, but the pen of an unknown graphic artist at the world-renowned Wefers lithographic press in St. Petersburg. It is not some great scandal that Benton failed to mention this, but it is true that Benton was famously insecure. Admitting that the source of the design of this font was something so pedestrian was not, and is still not, a common part of the ethical standard of the creative industry. It’s one thing for Carol Twombly (who once admitted to me that she didn’t know one end of a flat brush from the other) to acknowledge, even revere, the origins of Trajan. This is another thing entirely. In this case, you would think with such a cute origin, Benton would have been sharing the anecdotal pun with his pals at ATF. Perhaps he did and that history has been lost. Finally, if we believe the connection of the Hobo font to this Russian poster, then Benton’s naming of the font was very deliberately tied to Benton’s use of the poster as his exemplar.

I bought the book and gave it to my uncle Boris and aunt Tanya in Boston, and they probably still have it. The poster included details on the date, but I recall it was around 1903 or 1905, and that agrees with the design style.

As David Berlow has remarked, Morris Benton and his father often lived together and over the years would commute between home and the various locations of the ATF foundry in New York, later in Jersey City, and still later in Elizabeth. In fact, the northeastern New Jersey area where the Bentons lived, worked, and presumably played at the time had over 300,000 Russian Jews. We also know that at that time corner stores literally were at almost every street corner.

I don’t know for certain whether the Bentons’ travels went through any of the Russian neighborhoods. It seems that for the period in question they were probably living in Plainfield and commuting more than 20 miles, probably by car, to Jersey City. They may well have seen this poster at some point. Possibly they saw it in another place. Or perhaps Morris Fuller might have taken a trip to Russia around that time. That part is speculation. Perhaps Benton historian Patricia Cost could illuminate a bit.

In any event, while the type snobs were sipping fine wine, slapping one another on the back, and tooling around Boston in their nice cars, all paid by typography, a couple of bums momentarily came from out of nowhere, and went nowhere in particular. While there, they quietly and unceremoniously found a plausible solution to a celebrated typographic mystery, that of the origin of the Hobo font.

* * *

I know it’s speculated that Morris Fuller Benton was controlled by his father. No one can actually say if he was truly contented or not, and it seems he may have been one poor sap. But clearly his family had a good deal to do with his success. My own father would have been 100 today, March 21, 2014. I recently turned half that. It would have been nice to have gotten a leg up. My father could do nothing for me; in general, he could do little for himself. Actually, he and I worked together in a small print shop once, one of the many odd jobs he had. He was rather skilled on the offset press. But he couldn’t even manage to get me through high school. My brother and I had to take care of both of our parents in our father’s last few years, and that put a big dent in our own midlife plans; we fought so bitterly over how to do it that we spent over a year in court on it.

I am past my prime and am doing other things, having no further time for typography. I don’t even care that much about letterforms anymore. That work is chiefly for the quality children of quality people; over the years I have long been elbowed aside by such creatures. Whether employing ambition, birthright, or actual talent, the competition has been fiercer than one would expect for what was once a very humble craft. I will note that David Berlow’s son Sam, who really had nothing to do with type in his youth, is now in the stable at Font Bureau. Just sayin’.

I suppose I may be one of Fred Warde’s typographically shipwrecked mariners. I have to hustle in the meantime on other business. Right now, I’m working 60 hours a week designing a 3D printer for mass production, for two young and impetuous entrepreneurs of some wealth. I really didn’t have time for this story. I do not know if I got much of it right, but in any event each of us should hope to make little contributions to our little worlds, and this is one of mine.

Holly Zajac

Chicago-based photographer. Creator of the fun display typefaces Oyster Bar (2009) and Candy Buzz (2009). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Huma Nizamuddin

Glenview, IL-based designer of the bilined typeface Huma Has It (2014) and the minimalist sans typeface Oh Dayum (2014), which is based on Karbon. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ian Sienicki

Chicago, IL-based designer of an untitled hairline typeface in 2014. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ian Steele

I guess, but am not sure, that Timepiece is a font made in 2010 by Ian Steele from Carbondale, IL. The description at Behance is unclear about this. [Google] [More]  ⦿

IFB Design
[Benjamin Smith]

Rockford, IL-based designer of the retro display typeface Coin Operated (2022), which was inspired by an old 50's jukebox. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Imre Reiner

Typographer, architect, designer and type designer, b. Versec, Hungary, 1900, d. Lugano, Switzerland, 1987. He emigrated from Hungary, and studied at the Staatliche Bildhauerschule Zalatua, the Kunstgewerbeschule Frankfurt, and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Stuttgart, where Prof. F. H. Ernst Schneidler was his teacher. After a brief stint (1923-1925) as a graphic designer in London, Paris, New York and Chicago, he returned to study with Schneidler, and from 1931 onwards, he worked in Ruvigliana near Lugano as painter, graphic designer and illustrator. His list of fonts includes:

• Bazaar or Bazar (1956, D. Stempel; this brush typeface was revived in 2005 by Patrick Griffin, Canada Type, as Boondock).
• The brush script Contact (Deberny&Peignot, 1952; Ludwig&Mayer, 1968 (according to Jaspert), and 1963 according to others).
• Corvinus (Bauersche Giesserei, 1934; Swisstypedesign mentions 1932-1935). See also here. Corvinus Skyline (1934). Digital typefaces derived from this include Corvinus Skyline (1991, Group Type), Skyline (1992, Jane Patterson, Font Bureau).
• Figaro (1940).
• Floride or Florides Initiales (Deberny&Peignot, 1938): 3d horizontally shaded caps.
• The Gotika fraktur font (Bauersche Giesserei, 1933), revived as Gotika by Petra Heidorn (2005, no downloads) and as Leather by Canada Type (2005). Manfred Klein created Gotika Buttons (2005) based on Petra Heidorn's Gotika. Gotika discussion on Typophile. Eric West intends to do a digitization as well, and Neufville is not cooperating.
• London Script (1957). This was digitized twice at Canada Type, once by Phil Rutter in 2004 as Almanac, and once in 2007 by Rebecca Alaccari as Reiner Hand.
• Matura MT (1938, Monotype), Matura Swash (1938).
• Mercurius MT (1957).
• Meridian (1930, Klingspor: a fat display face). Swisstypedesign says 1929.
• Mustang (1956, D. Stempel, a brush script revived in 2005 by Canada Type as Hunter).
• Pepita MT (1959).
• Reiner Black (1955, Berthold, a brush script). For a digital vrsion, see Rough Script (2012, SoftMaker).
• Reiner Script (1951, Amsterdam). Digitizations of this brush script under the same name include those of Dieter Steffmann and Tobias Frere-Jones (Font Bureau, 1993).
• Sassa (1939).
• Stradivarius (1945, identical to his Symphonie; Bauersche Giesserei, 1938), a formal script font with a compressed straightened lower case alphabet. [Note: Neufville copied it in its Sinfonia later, and in 2005, Petra Heidorn made a digitized version called Symphonie.] Martin Z. Schröder discusses its origins here. Also called Neue Symphony (1938). Digitizations include the free font Symphonie (2015, Peter Wiegel) and the commercial typeface by Group Type (1993) called Stradivarius.
• Amsterdam Primula Ornaments. A digital version by Ari Rafaeli is called Ornaments 5 (2010).

In 1992, Manfred Klein made Tokay-MK after one of Reiner's ideas. In 2004, he added VariationsForImre, a playful typeface based on Reiner's lettering, and this was followed in 2005 by Magyarish.

Reiner wrote several books, including Modern and Historical Typography An Illustrated Guide (1946, Paul A. Struck, New York, and 1948, Zollikofer and Comp., St. Gallen).

Linotype page on him. FontShop link. Klingspor link.

View Imre Reiner's typefaces. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Indestructible Type Co

Small typefounder located at 491-493 Carroll Avenue in Chicago, active in the late 19th century. The Inland Printer of 1895 writes: In the column of business notices last month a description was given of a new type metal. A company to manufacture the new material has now been formed, and a license of incorporation secured. The title of the new concern is the Indestructible Type Company; capital, $100,000. The officers are: President, George N. Hall, president Citizens Bank of South Haven, Michigan; vice-president and general manager, John West; secretary, Charles W. Clingman, of Chicago; treasurer, H. B. Thomson, of Chicago. That same issue of The Inland Printer shows some border types and an upright calligraphic script called Indestructible Script.

Lenny Knox reports that he only found the Indestructible Type Company in the 1895 and 1896 issues of the Chicago City Directory search for 1894-1897, and thus suspects that the company seems to have existed for only two years or less. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Institute of Design, Chicago

You can take type design courses here. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Irene Yoo

Student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. On Behance, she published an interesting visual timeline of typeface history. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Isaac

Illinois-based designer of a revival of Grecian Condensed (2005) from page 272 of Rob Roy Kelly's book American Wood Type: 1828-1900. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Isaac Stanfield

Chicago-based designer of the octagonal grid/screen font Spongebob Evilpants (2003). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Isaac Tobin

Tobin is based in Chicago, and studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design (2002). He is a senior designer at the University of Chicago Press.

Designer of Ferdinand (Egyptian, a cross between Futura and Clarendon according to Tobin), Verne Jules (copperplate font), Ostia (a sans all caps typeface with Trajan proportions), Faina, Attleboro (sans), Strata (text typeface), Field (octagonal) and Rivadavia (octagonal and mechanical).

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

Isabella Reinhofer

Elmhurst, IL-based creator of the arrowed modular typeface Directional Linkage (2013, FontStruct). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Israel Molina

Graphic designer in Chicago, IL, who created an experimental modular typeface in 2015. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jackie Kutsinski

Graphic designer in Chicago, who created Sticks of Gum (2012, squarish typeface) and Kringla (2012, experimental typeface based on the shapes of the Nowegian treat called Kringla). [Google] [More]  ⦿

JackNChicken

Designer who used FontStruct to make The L (2008, letters in the style of maps of Chicago's elevated subway) and Elemental (2008). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jackson Cavanaugh
[Okay Type]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jaime Radar

Chicago-based graphic designer. In 2011, he created the grunge typeface Grant. In 2017, he designed Properly Nouned.

Creative Market link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jake Domingo

Jake Domingo (Palatine, IL) created several display alphabets in 2013. They include Stumped. [Google] [More]  ⦿

James Goggin
[Practise]

[More]  ⦿

James Hultquist-Todd
[James Todd (or: JTD Type)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

James Todd (or: JTD Type)
[James Hultquist-Todd]

Chicago, IL, and/or Fredonia, NY, and/or Philadelphia, PA-based designer, who runs James Todd Design.

Creator of the text family Garvis (2012), which was inspired by didones and the Dutch Fleischmann types.

In 2013, he designed the wood type revival family HWT Unit Gothic for Hamilton Wood Type Foundry. The Unit Gothic series was released by Hamilton Manufacturing Co. in 1907, and comprises a flexible range of widths from compressed to very wide.

In 2015, he published the contemporary didone optically corrected typeface family Essonnes [MyFonts link].

In 2016, James Todd designed the 6-style sans typeface family Cresta and his garalde take on the (normally didone) fat faces, Gastromond.

In 2017, he co-designed Biwa and Biwa Display, a grotesk typeface family, with Ian Lynam.

Typefaces from 2018: Chapman (a large Scotch roman typeface family with lots of pizzazz), Stack.

Typefaces from 2019: Elfreth (an informal blackletter), Glot (a 10-style flared terminal sans family by James Todd and Ian Lynam; see also Glot Round from 2020).

In 2021, he was part of a big effort by P22 to revive and extend Johnston's Underground to P22 Underground Pro [13 styles: Richard Kegler (1997), Paul D. Hunt (2007), Dave Farey (2021), James Todd (2021) and Patrick Griffin (2021) contributed at various stages].

In 2021, he released Cambium---a text family based on roman inscriptional lettering in which special attention was paid to trhe lowercase---at Future Fonts.

YTypefaces from 2022: Oculi.

Behance link. Dribble link. Old Fontspring link. Old URL. Future Fonts link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Janice Wong

Janice Wong (Run Comrade, Chicago, IL) is studying at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, working towards her Masters of Design and MBA (2013). She created some custom handlettered typefaces called Custom POP Fonts in 2010 for the POP Montreal festival. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jared Koenigshofer

Jared Koenigshofer, senior designer in Chicago, created the 3d typeface Marrakesh (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jared Stahl

Minooka, IL-based designer of the Victorian display typeface Willow LN (2017). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jason Lynch

Graphic designer in Lemont, IL, who created the techno typeface Calcu (2015). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jason McAloon

Chicago-based creator of the pixel typeface Type 180 (2010), MK Ultra (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jason Stemm

Herrinn, IL-based designer of Gametime (2019). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jason Warriner
[Fascination Workshop]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jay Vidheecharoen
[RedEyeType]

[More]  ⦿

Jean-Renaud Cuaz
[Typorium]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jeff Shaw

Decatur, IL-based photographer who created a typeface in 2014, the year in which he set up Shaw Font Foundry. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jeff Stein

Graphic designer in Chicago, IL, who used typography optimally in his World Hunger Poster (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jenn Moelker

Chicago-based graphic designer who created a beautifully lettered poster featuring Chicago's skyline in 2019. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jennifer Augustus

Jennifer Augustus (Chicago, IL) created the curlified Wedding Cake Font (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jennifer Delaney

Illustrator, freelance artist, and graphic designer from Chicago, IL, who studied graphic design at Texas Christian University and at Columbia College Chicago, and who is currently located in Northbrook, IL. Creator of the decorative typeface Wave (2014).

Old URL. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jennifer Farrell

Together with Richard Kegler (P22 Type Foundry), Jennifer Farrell of Starshaped Press (Chicago, IL) created P22 Blox (2015). They write: In 1944, American Type Founders (ATF) introduced Alpha-Blox, an impressive system of both solid and linear shapes that could be combined to create all manner of typefaces, ornament and pattern in 1- or 2-colors. The design possibilities were endless and limited only to the imagination of the printer/designer. [...] P22 Blox is a set of modular letterpress printing blocks made from space age material... plastic!.

All work in the Starhaped Press studio is done with metal and wood type, making Starshaped one of the few presses in the United States producing commercial work while preserving antique type and related print materials. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jennifer Prado

Artist in Illinois who made the rounded logotype Aberdeen (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jennifer Zoleta

Graphic design student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who created the floral typeface Parol (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jerry Saperstein
[FontBank]

[More]  ⦿

Jess Colvin

During his studies in Chicago, Jess Colvin created Banana Sans (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jessamyn Patterson

Graphic designer and painter in Chicago, IL, who drew a painted alphabet in 2010. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jessica McCarty
[Magpie Paper Works]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

JH3 Software
[John H. Hedges III]

John H. Hedges (JH3 Software) created these free fonts: FegmaniaCaps (based on the handwriting of Robyn Hitchcock, musician, performer, author), JH3Bammerscript, JH3Euroblower, JH3Handpainted, JH3Squarebuttle, SandburgerCarved (based on the carved letters found on the concrete landmark at the entrance of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, IL). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jillian Fisher

A graduate of Columbia College with a BFA in Graphic Design, Jillian Fisher is a graphic designer who lives and works in Chicago. Creator of the display titling typeface Mountain Man (2010). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jim Ford
[VersaType]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Joanna Mirowska

Chicago-based art director who designed the rhombic experimental typeface Queen of Diamonds in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Joel Wolter

Designer in Mundelein, IL. He created a 3d typeface, Interiors, that emulates frames of chairs and tables. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Johann Flores

Urban explorer and graphic artist located in Chicago who received a BFA from Columbia College Chicago in May 2009. His typeface Nire (2012) is hand-printed and very readable. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

John Bonadies
[Mpress Interactive]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

John G. Hammond

Chicago-based creator of the wedge serif alphabet Spurred Egyptian that is featured on page 37 of John G. Ohnimus's Henderson's Sign Painter (1906). [Google] [More]  ⦿

John Graham
[Graham Type Foundry]

[More]  ⦿

John H. Hedges III
[JH3 Software]

[More]  ⦿

John M. Bergling

Great American calligrapher and engraver. He wrote several books, including Engraving Designing Etching (1914), Heraldic Designs & Engravings (1913), Heraldic Designs for Artists and Craftspeople, Ornamental Designs and Illustrations">, Art Monograms and Lettering (1912, 1916) and Art Alphabets and Lettering (1914, 1918, 1923). He was Master Engraver with the renowned C.D. Peacock jewelers in Chicago around 1900. Creator of many art alphabets, Bergling is also noted for state seals of the United States and many seal crests of foreign countries. His great-grandchildren set up Bergling Publishing and are selling directly or through Amazon most of his oeuvre.

Digital fonts based on Bergling's work:

• One Good Urn NF (2005, Nick Curtis) is based on his art nouveau lettering from 1914.
• Morocco (1914) provided the caps of Funky Tut NF (2005, Nick Curtis), and Keramic Text (1914) provided the lower cases characters of the latter font.
• Chantilly Lace NF (2005, Nick Curtis) uses uppercase letters by Bergling and lowercase letters by Roland W. Paul.
• His Nibs NF is a digital font by Nick Curtis (2007) based on the calligraphy of Bergling, ca. 1914.
• Carson Monogram (2009, Brian J. Bonislawsky) is based on Bergling's New Antique 53 from the book Art Monogram and Lettering.
• Bergling (2010, Scriptorium) is a floriate script based on Bergling's work. Other (art nouveau style) Scriptorium fonts based on Bergling include Boetia, Belgravia, Bosphoros and Beaumains (2011).
• LHF Bergling Panels (2012, John Davis) is based on Bergling's work.
• Initials Bergling (2012, Alter Littera) is a comprehensive set of initials (usually referred to as Uncials, Lombardic Initials, or Lombards) of the French variety, adapted from Bergling's book Art Alphabets and Lettering (Second Edition) (1918, Chicago: Blakely-Oswald Printing Company).
• In 2011, J.M. Bergling's work inspired John Studden's monogram fonts LHF Monogram Circle, LHF Monogram Diamond, and LHF Monogram Oval.
• MFC Ambeau Monogram (2019, Monogram Fonts Co). Based on the decorative art nouveau alphabet called American Beauty in Art Alphabets and Lettering).
• MFC Decatur Monogram (2020, Monogram Fonts Co). Based on an alphabet seen in J.M. Bergling's book Monograms and Engraving Alphabets (1914).
• Bergling Nouveau Display (2020, Steve Harrison).
• Skaliwag Display (2020, Steve Harrison).
• Allotropic (2022, The Flying Type). An art nouveau font that loosely draws inspiration from an untitled alphabet drawn in 1914 by J.M. Bergling.

John Schappler

John Schappler (1921-2017) graduated from the University of Iowa (1959), John had been a student of Father Edward Catich at St. Ambrose College, in Iowa, and had also worked with Ray Da Boll and R. Hunter Middleton. He worked from 1959-1965 at IBM on type design for typewriters in the era of IBM's Selectric typewriters. He was the designer of the typefaces IBM Script, Adjutant, and Delegate.

From 1967 until 1971 he was director of type design at Ludlow Typograph Co. He was manager of typeface design at the Chicago office of Compugraphic (1971-1973) and director of typography at Sun Chemical (1973-1976) and type and art director at Itek Composition Systems (1979-1984). He retired in Nashua, NH. John carved the tombstone of Victor Hammer, who had been his friend and mentor.

He designed these typefaces at Itek: Paul Mark (1977), Rita Script (1978). [Google] [More]  ⦿

John West

Charles S. Hazlett of Boone, IA, and John West, of Chicago, co-designed a script typeface for BBS in 1890. When he patented the stencil face in 1885, he was listed as living in Brooklyn, NY. This Stencil-Gothic appeared for the first time in the Eleventh Book of Specimens of printing types and every requisite for typographical use and adornment (1885, MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan). In the following years it was also offered by Shniedewend, Lee & Co. of Chicago as well as Barnhart, Brothers & Spindler of Chicago---in the later under the name Cleft Gothic. For a revival, see Stencil Gothic (2014, Johannes Lang and Stefan Ellmer; MyFonts link).

In 1885, he patented another typeface.

John west became manager of the small Chicago-based typefoundry, Indestructibe Type Co towards the end of the century. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jon Allen

Illustrator and graphic designer in Chicago, IL. In 2012, he designed Hodgepodge SemiSerif, a modular typeface designerd with compass and ruler. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jonathan Corum
[13pt]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Jonathan Corum

Graphics editor for Science at the New York Times. Founder of 13 pt, a New York design and type studio. Designer of FB Agency, Eagle (1994, after initial design by David Berlow in 1989, which in turn was based on M.F. Benton's 1933 face, Eagle Bold; a strong font!), Law Italic (1997, for Sam Antupit and Harry N. Abrams---a digitization from a specimen of ATF's Law Italic No. 520), Mesa (1994, a Font Bureau handprinting face), the 5-unit handwriting family Victoria's Secret (1997, from hand-drawn originals provided by Sisman Design), the Bodoni-esque font Winterthur Display (1997, drawn for Harry N. Abrams), Law Italic. Custom typefaces include 2x4 (as part of logos), Columbia University, Liz Claiborne, Miesdings (dingbats for the new student center of the Illinois Institute of Technology), Readers Digest Fleurons (1997), WCS Wildlife (2001, the corporate typeface of the Bronx Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society).

Font Bureau link.

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

Jonathan Merry

Batavia, IL-based designer of the octagonal stencil typeface Picket Fence (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jonathan S

Chicago-based creator of an untitled spurred display typeface in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jonathan Sangster

Chicago, IL-based designer who started creating type in 2015. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jordan Halata

Student at the University of St. Francis in Chicago. Creator of the stencilish typeface Somethings Missing (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jorg Jemelka

Robotics and education software specialist in Colorado. Designer of the free outlined technical lettering font MCD Solid (2007), where MCD stands for McDonnell-Douglas. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jorge Pomareda

Chicago, IL-based art director who created the Filament typeface in 2014. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jose Gonzalez

Jose Gonzalez (Chicago, IL, b. 1994) designed Soccer Derby Display Font in 2016. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Joshua Bridges

Winter Park, IL-based designer of the decorative circuit font simply called Technology Typeface (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Joy Burke

Designer and typographer in Chicago, who made the fun and delicate display typeface Spooners (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jozef Sumichrast

In the 1980s, Jozef Sumichrast designed ornamental alphabets from his home in Deerfield, IL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

J.P. Ramirez

Graphic designer in Chicago, who used precise mathematical principles in the construction of his rounded typeface Flauret (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julia Thummel

At Washington University in St. Louis, Skokie, IL-based Julia Thummel designed the art deco typeface Jazzy in 2017. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julide Belen

Professional lettering artist in Chicago, who created the display typeface JJBLN (+Outline) in 2016. Behance link. Creative Market link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julie Bowers Lineberry

Ex-North Carolinian designer who has a BFA in graphic design from Columbia college Chicago, and lives in Chicago. Behance link. Creator of Aimiee (2011, an avant-garde face). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julie Fouts

Chicago, IL-based designer of The Format (2014, an outlined typeface). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julius Schmohl

In 1891, Julius Schmohl and Ernst Lauschke designed an art nouveau and a Victorian face for BBS. Schmohl was born in Germany, but lived in Chicago for most of his life. In 1895, he and Max Rosenow published an upright script with BBS. This ronde typeface was originally known as Oliphant and renamed Advertisers Upright Script in 1925. In 2014, Spiece Graphics created a digital version of it, Milroy Upright SG. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Justin Siddons

Designer (b. Florida) in the greater Chicago area who graduated from Columbia College Chicago. Creator of the spurred black death and wrought iron fence typeface family Codex (2014, Avondale Type Co). Free download of Codex.

His homepage is called The Skywatcher. He writes: I work for the jawesome Sprout Social at their headquarters in Chicago. We design and build the most innovative social media engagement platform. I also founded and operate a clothing company called Shycog out of my basement. Fueled by my love for my city and my bicycle, this venture is just getting started. Dribble link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Justin Ward

Chicago-based designer of an ornamental typeface in 2010.

In 2012, he created a sans face, Pelago, and added a couple of alchemic versions.

Typefaces from 2013: Here & There (poster typeface), Reynard (bejeweled typeface), Northerly (angular), Rime (ornamental display face).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Justine Nagan
[Typeface]

[More]  ⦿

K. James
[Depression Press]

[More]  ⦿

Kantol Khek
[Khek Brothers]

[More]  ⦿

Kara Neely

Springfield, IL-based student-designer of the comic book typeface Comikara (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kate Brankin

Type designer from Batavia, IL. She designed Mia Mano (2010, handwriting), and the simplistic monoline avant-garde geometric typeface Tumbly (2011).

Typefaces from 2012: Mano Danielli (children's hand), Hard Shadow, Hercule (a curly hand-printed typeface that was inspired by the moustache of Hercule Poirot), Something Fishy (dingbats).

In 2014, she published the dingbat typeface Tea and Crumpets and the handwriting typeface Altra Mano.

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

Katharina London

Chicago-based designer of an ornamental alphabet called AIGA Calendar Page (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Katherine Brown

Chicago-based designer in 2013 of a grotesk caps typeface. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Katherine Kuhn

During her studies, Katherine Kuhn (Sycamore, IL) designed the display typeface Sloth (2019). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kathryn Sarah Wasserman

Chicago-based designer of the free collection of numerals fonts called Influence (2017: Regular, Outline, Medium, Black). She describes the set as follows: Extravagant organic curves. Rigidly mechanical monoline stripes. A modernist interpretation of a 19th-century Fat Face. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kathy Warinner

Kathy has a BFA in Painting from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MA in Graphic Design from Kent State University, Ohio. Her illustrations have appeared on the cover of over 20 books. She is a managing partner in Aufuldish & Warinner, with type designer Bob Aufuldish. Codesigner with Bob Aufuldish at Fontboy of several fonts, such as Viscosity (1996). Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Katie Geary

As a student in Chicago, IL, Katie Geary designed the typefaces Chiseled (2016) and Paperclip (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Katie Hogan

Carbondale, IL-based designer of the hand-printed poster typeface Counterpoint (2013), which was done as a school project at Southern Illinois University. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kayden Knauss

During his studies in Chicago, Kayden Knauss created a display sans typeface (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Keira Bui

Chicago-based designer of a minimalist monoline sans typeface in 2013 that is based on a logo by Eric Keezer.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Keith Whetstone
[Centric Studios]

[More]  ⦿

Kelli Marie

Chicago-based designer of the curly script font Macaroons (2012).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kevin Beronilla

Designer based in Chicago. In 2016, he released the free monolinear geometric sans family Seiden Sans. Github link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kevin Flatt

Chicago, IL-based designer of the custom font family Panera Bread Sans (2017) for Panera Bread. He developed this family while at Cramer-Krasselt with the help of T-26. Home page. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kevin Ports

Letterer from Chicago, IL, who made the upright script typeface Cannonball Display (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kevin Synoga

During his graphic design studies in Chicago, Kevin Synaoga created the connected retro script Cab Script (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Khek Brothers
[Kantol Khek]

Kantol Khek is the designer in 1994-1997 of the free Khmer fonts Khek-Anlongvill, Khek-Sambot, Khek-Sangker, Khek-Sattawat, Khek-Wat-Sangker. Located in Skokie, IL, their commercial fonts for Khmer include Anlongvill, Battambang, Huysavy, Mool/Vongmool, Riel, Sambot, Samreth, Sangker, Sattawat, Sovannak, Vannsery, Wat Sangker. Cambodian Information Center (CIC) has the Anlongvill Khek family. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kim Reitzel

During her studies at North Park University in Chicago, Kim Reitzel designed a hand-printed typeface simply called Penmanship (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kimberley Tsui

Chicago-based creator of the avant-garde typeface Ainsley Deco (2010). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kirk Lyman

Bloomingdale, IL-based designer of the high tech modular typeface Aareo Blob (2013) and the grunge typeface Faded Glory (2013).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kris Sanchez

Graphic designer in Chicago. Behance link. Designer of Sanchez Mustache (2011, free at Dafont). He created a number of other unnamed typefaces. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kyle Letendre

BFA Graphic Design student at Columbia College Chicago, class of 2011. She made the Ribbon Candy typeface in 2010. In 2015, still based in Chicago, he created the hand-printed typeface 1 Day At A Time, which is based on the handwriting of designer Adam J. Kurtz, author of 1 Page At A Time.

In 2020, he released the sans / slab serif hand-painted sign pair of typefaces, Dotties Banilla and Dotties Chocolate, at Lost Type. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lars Harmsen
[Volcano Type (MAGMA)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Laura French

Designer in Chicago. Creator of Saul (2011), a typeface that is based on Saul Bass's hand-cut type from movie title sequences such as The Man With The Golden Arm. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Laura J. Wilkens

Chicago-based designer of the soft-edged sans display typeface Redondo (2013), which tries to evoke the beaches of Southern California.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Laura Kosmorsky

Chicago-based designer of the thin display typeface Roundabout (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Laura Zierke

Elgin, IL-based design student who created an unnamed thin informal sans typeface in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lauren Goldberg

Art director in Chicago who graduated from DePaul University in 2007. Creator of INA (2010), an artsy display typeface inspired by Irina and Art Deco typefaces. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lavender Design
[Maria Lavender]

Illinois-based designer of Pine Crest Rustic (2017) and Thick Thin (2017, handcrafted). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Leodis Scott

Leodis Scott (Carbondale, IL) created the slit typeface Broque in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Leslie Hamer
[Leslie Ray]

[More]  ⦿

Leslie Ray
[Leslie Hamer]

Leslie Ray (or: Leslie Hamer) (Swell & Grand, Chicago, IL) designed these typefaces in 2017: Pop Clink (in Classic, Deco and Diamond styles), Circle Monogram, North by Night, Holiday Cookies (a monoline Christmas script), The Holidays (Christmas font), Hazel Deco, Circle Monogram, Diamond Monogram, Obey Sans (squarish).

In 2018, she added the balloon font Helium. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lettering Inc.

Chicago-based company founded in 1939 by Edwin W. Krauter, which created lettertypes from the 1930s until the 1970s. In 2010, Stuart Sandler (Font Diner) announced that it intends to digitally revive the collection. He writes:

Founded in 1939 by Edwin W. Krauter of Chicago, Lettering, Inc. produced its own patented Photo-Ray process of lettering (US Pat 2165861) in which transparent letters made from original alphabets were assembled by hand and then placed in a line (angled or curved if so desired) and then photographed. This "glass setting" process created flawlessly set headlines and, with multiple character forms to choose from the headline looked authentically lettered.

An early competitor of Photo Lettering, Inc, they employed such notable lettering artists of the time as Oscar Ogg, Ray DaBoll and Ray Baker, among others. At its height in the late 1960s, Lettering, Inc. had as many as 14 franchises operating in the US and Canada and was continually producing new alphabet designs. As the market changed and computer technology evolved, Lettering, Inc. became less of a supplier of type to the ad agencies and became more involved as a supplier of high-end graphics and type to the big Detroit auto makers. Today, from its Southfield, Michigan office, Lettering, Inc. continues to provide various graphics services to a diverse group of customers.

Each Lettering, Inc. alphabet was originally designed with nearly 3-4 alternate glyph forms for every character and ligature pair, many with well over 300 Latin characters alone. Stuart Sandler, President of Font Diner, Inc. intends to release the Lettering, Inc. library in OpenType format so the original designs can be fully realized with a dynamic feature set including every alternate glyph forms and automatic substitutive ligature as it was designed by the original artists. "We're also thrilled to be working from the original ink drawings on board by the original Lettering, Inc. artists that have been in the Lettering, Inc. archives since the 1930s." says Sandler.

"We are very happy to work with Font Diner to once again make these beautiful and unique typefaces available to the public." says Karin Krauter of Lettering, Inc. "So much of this wonderful collection has never been seen before and we're pleased to honor and revive the work of these highly-skilled and talented lettering artists from the heyday of lettering to be appreciated and enjoyed by modern designers again", explains Sandler.

An illustrated history of Lettering, Inc. is currently being researched and written by Sandler with the assistance of many current and former Lettering, Inc. employees. His work will accurately re-tell the evolution of Lettering, Inc., its founder Ed Krauter and the significant contributions of Lettering, Inc. to the typographic industry. A re-release of the original Lettering, Inc. catalogs is also planned.

Sample. Another sample. And another one.

In 2012, production started with Feather Script (Patrick Griffin).

In 2013, the large advertising headline sans family Directors Gothic (Neil Summerour) followed. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Libby McGuire

Graduate of Loyola University Chicago. Chicago, IL-based designer of the display typeface Waves (2014). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lindsay Cooke

Bourbonnais, IL-based designer of the Peignotian typeface The Leade (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Louis Frank

Illinois-based creator, b. 1962, of the grunge typewriter typeface Silent Hunter III (2009). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lucas Bianchi

Chicago, IL-based designer of the modular display typeface Fiends (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ludlow
[Robert Hunter Middleton]

Foundry in Chicago run by Robert Hunter Middleton. Myfonts.com writes that its type library was largely derivative, with some original scripts. After Middleton's death, and Ludlow's demise, most of the typefaces from the Ludlow library were licensed exclusively to International TypeFounders, Inc., (ITF) and are part of the Red Rooster collection. Fonts by Middleton at Ludlow include Bodoni Campanile, Bodoni (see Bodoni D Black by URW, and Bodoni Campanile Pro (2017) by Steve Jackaman), Coronet, Mandate, Lafayette (now sold by Font Bureau), Tempo (see Tempo by Monotype), and Umbra (now sold by Bitstream and Monotype).

Ludlow house typefaces revived by Steve Jackaman include Caslon RR Extra Condensed, Chamfer Gothic (the original being from ca. 1898), and Gothic Medium Condensed.

A renewed Ludlow was established in 2001 and is run from the UK. Current (2002) catalog: Admiral Script (Robert H. Middleton's formal script, 1953: see the digital revival by Ralph Unger in 2005), Adrian VGC (2003), Annonce Grotesque (Wagner&Schmidt, 1914), Delphian Open Title (Robert H. Middleton), Flair (connected writing, 40-50s style), Franklin Gothic ExCnd Title, Founders Garamond (based on the Berner type specimen of 1592), Lotther Text (blackletter based on an alphabet of Melchior Lotther, 1535), Ludlow Ornaments (2001), Ludlow Stygian (art deco, which inspired Nick Curtis' 2009 font Kharon Ultra NF), Maxim (Peter Schneidler, hand-printed font from 1955), Orplid (Hans Bohn), Samson (Robert H. Middleton), Speedball Roman, Ludlow Stencil (1937, Robert H. Middleton; a digital revival includes Jeff Levine's Favorite Stencil JNL (2015)), Tempo MedCond (Robert H. Middleton), Theda Bara (great titling type), Vulcan Shaded (based on the design of the Richard Gans Foundry in Madrid), Karnak Black (Egyptian slab serif originally designed by Robert Hunter Middleton in 1930), Oriana (blackletter font based on a design of the Imprimerie Nationale, Paris), Ludlow Square Gothic (revival/modernization of a 1920s font by Robert Wiebking for Ludlow), The Hardy Arcade (like Umbra), Ogre, Vulcan Bold (a display font inspired by a 1925 design of the Richard Gans Foundry, Madrid), Walbaum. Crestwood (2006, Ascender) is an updated version of an elegant semi-formal script typeface originally released by the Ludlow Type Foundry in 1937.

References: Ludlow Typefaces A Supplement, November 1933, Ludlow Typefaces Typefaces Recently Produced, April 1936, Ludlow Typefaces [Edition D] (between 1940 and 1956).

View a list of digital typefaces derived from the metal typefaces at Ludlow.

Ludlow Foundry: List of some digital fonts. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ludlow Typefaces

A type specimen book of the Ludlow Typograph Company (2032 Clybourn Avenue, Chicago), published between 1940 and 1958. The list of typefaces shown: Artcraft, Bodoni (Bold, Black), Bodoni Campanile, Bodoni Modern, Bookman, Cameo, Caslon, Caslon Old Face Heavy, Caslon Heavy Italic, Century, Chamfer Gothic, Cheltenham Oldstyle, Cheltenham Cursive, Cheltenham Wide, Commerce Gothic, Condensed Gothic, Coronet, Clearface Bold, Cushing Antique, Delphian Open Title, Eden, Eleven, Engravers Bold, Eusebius, Extra Condensed, Franklin Gothic, Fraktur No. 16, Garamond, Gothic Bold Condensed Title, Gothic Extra Condensed, Greenwich, Hauser Script, Headline Gothic, Hebrew Modern, Karnak, Lafayette Extra Condensed, Laureate, Lining Litho, Lining Plate Gothic, Ludlow Black, Mandate, Mayfair Cursive, Medium Condensed Gothic, Number 11, Old English, Plantin, Powell, Radiant, Record Gothic, Samson, Square Gothic, Stellar, Stencil, Stygian Black, Tempo, True-Cut Caslon, Ultra-Modern, Umbra, Underwood Bold, Victoria Italic. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Luke G Design
[Luke Gregulak]

Aka Forever Rad. Chicago, IL-based designer of an all caps brush typeface in 2017. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Luke Gregulak
[Luke G Design]

[More]  ⦿

Luke Williams

Graphic designer, photographer and letterer in Chicago. Behance link. Hallmark lettering example, poster entitled Mise en scene (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

M. Elizabeth Colwell

Chicago lettering artist who created Colwell Handletter&Italic in 1917 for ATF, and this roman (possibly in 1923), also for ATF. She was noted for her display work and hand-lettered pages. Some say that Colwell Handletter was designed by someone else based on her work.

Digital versions: HPLHS Prop Fonts (Andrew Leman) has HPLHS Colwell and HPLHS Colwell italic. Lazy Dog Foundry (or: Franklin Type Founders) has a font called Colwell. Suzanne Fleischauer and Apostrophe created Colwell and Hadley (2000), based on 1916 hand lettering by Ned Hadley. So, maybe this suggests that Ned Hadley was the real designer of these fonts. Finally, Nick Curtis created McKenna Handletter NF Normal, McKenna Handletter NF Bold, McKenna Handletter NF Normal Italic and McKenna Handletter NF Bold Italic in 2002.

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

Madison Apple

After studying the illustrations, cartographies, and penmanship of Lord of the Rings author, J.R.R. Tolkien, Chicago-based Madison Apple (b. Whitefish, Montana) created a detailed script font based on his handwriting called Legendiarum (2015). It was developed during his studies at Columbia College Chicago. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Maggie Sichter

Freelance artist in Chicago. Behance link

Creator of Hatch (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Magpie Paper Works
[Jessica McCarty]

Type foundry in the United Staes, run by lettering artist Jessica McCarty, which specializes in hand-drawn, pen-drawn and hand-printed typefaces. In 2017, she co-founded Rare Bird Font Foundry.

The following fonts were released in 2012: Vermandois (a great irregular vintage penman's hand, accompanied by Vermandois Splatter), Saltpetre (grungy medieval outline face), Plinth (architectural typeface), Mignonette, Jacob Riley (a vintage 18th century printers' specimen revival, hand-illustrated with calligraphy nibs dipped in walnut ink), Ghouligoo, Cerise (curly hand), Sullivan, Saissant (Treefrog style), Campland.

In 2013, she made the upright calligraphic script typeface Ahra and the children's script typeface Mirabelle (not to be confused wit an earlier typeface called Mirabelle by Alessandro Colizzi, or the 1926 Mirabelle typeface by Wagner&Schmidt). Ondise (2013) and Dasha (2013) are other decorative scripts in the mould of Emily Lime's Bombshell Pro.

Typefaces from 2014: Woolen (a hand-inked & italicized serif, based upon a 17th century type specimen by Jean Jannon. Many of the capital letters are decorated with subtle sprigs and leaves, while the lowercase letters remain classically styled).

Typefaces from 2015: Quimbly, Rivea Twist, Rivea Upright: two calligraphic scripts.

Typefaces from 2017: Liesel (a watercolor brush typeface family consisting of Regular, Brush, Pencil, Shadow, Printed, Icons).

Typefaces from 2019: RF Marshall.

Behance link. Creative Market link. View Jessica McCarty's typefaces. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Marder, Luse and Company (or: Chicago Type Foundry)

Chicago-based type foundry, 1863-1892, also called Scofield, Marder, Toepfer&Co., Scofield, Marder&Co., and the Chicago Type Foundry. In the great Chicago fire of 1871, they lost all their matrices. They were part of the big number of foundries bought in 1892 to form the American Type Foundry. They are credited with inventing the American point system, in which 12 points are a pica and 72.27 points are an inch.

A list of types will follow later, but for now, I will just mention display types such as Mandarin (an oriental simulation typeface digitized by Elsner&Flake in 1985 and available here). Images of selected typefaces and ornaments: Anglo Gothic, Antique Extended, Arcadian, Card Ornamented, Carriage and Livery Cuts, Celtic Initials, Centennial Script (1876), Clarendon Ray Black, Commercial Script, Crosier, Ecclesiastics and monastics, Eureka Text, Harlem Shade, Heading Script, Mortised for Calendar, Natural History Cuts, (another image), Norman Condensed, Payson Script, (another image), Poster Roman, Rimmed Black Ornate, Round Hand Scrtipt, Sloping Black Shaded, Text Ornate and Old Style Ornamented.

Additional images: example ornament (carriage), example ornament (hippo), example ornament (zebu), Dearborn Theatre ad (1869), Newspaper subheadings.

They ran a magazine with type news, called The Chicago Specimen. I leafed through most issues at Chicago's magnificent Newberry Library and took some poor quality photographs of selected passages. The Marder&Luse sale from 1871. A logo ca. 1872. Another logo. A logo from 1871. And another one from 1871. The Marder Luse building in Chicago. The sale in 18690 to Marder Luse. The Scofield Marder Toepfer building. Gossipy news about the Conner foundry. The Chicago Specimen, October 1872. The Chicago Specimen: an ad. The Chicago Specimen, January 1869. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Maria Kuznetsova

Graphic designer from Chicago, who has made some nice typographical posters like Garamond Botanicals (2009). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Maria Lavender
[Lavender Design]

[More]  ⦿

Marie Otsuka

Marie is a type and graphic designer, and programmer. In addition to designing type, she works on tool engineering at Occupant Fonts in Providence, RI. She also collaborates with a range of organizations as a designer and developer. Marie holds an MFA in Graphic Design from RISD and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Chicago.

In 2021, at Occupant Fonts / Type Network, she released the 42-style Pentameter. Type Network writes: In Pentameter, Marie Otsuka explores the polyrhythmic potential that usually stays dormant inside the limitations of monospaced typefaces. As an upright italic, the letterforms create a lively pattern while their uniform metrics remain steady. The result is an inventive design on a syncopated beat that resonates with the poetics beyond code. Pentameter's lower case i looks like a breaststroke swimmer coming up for air. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Marilyn Frank

Chicago-based designer. In 1995, Frank Heine and Marilyn Frank co-designed the hand-printed typeface Divine. In 1997, they designed Kaiju, but never released it for distribution. Kaiju's design is based on wood type from the 1800's---it was first used on the CD package design for the Reggae album Holy Mount Zion by CocoTea. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mark Butchko
[Central Type (was: Lamesville)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Marlo Elizabeth Owczarzak

Chicago-based designer of the modular (FontStruct?) typeface Dash (2015) for a school project at Indiana University. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Marshall Bohlin
[EmDash]

[More]  ⦿

Martha Chiplis

School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Designer with Bob McCamant of the AIEgyptian family at Alphabets Inc. in 1994. At Alphabets Inc, she also designed or co-designed Oberon, AI Quanta (1992) and Oz Poster. However, over at MyFonts, these fonts are credited to Peter Fraterdeus.

Martha works/worked at Sherwin Beach Press in Chicago with Bob McCamant and Trisha Hammer. Klingspor link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Martin Sitta

Designer and photographer in Chicago, who created these typefaces in 2012: Von Atelier (Peignotian), Atase, Clodia (a display sans with variable contrast), Mirego (squarish), and Foto Blog (fat and counterless). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Marty Goldstein

Creator of typefaces at VGC, such as Sol (1973 or 1975, with C.B. Smith) and the neotech font family Harry (1966, with C. B. Smith). Goldstein was born in Chicago in 1939, and co-founded the groundbreaking Creative Black Book. He graduated from the Pratt Institute in 1960. His father was called Harry, hence the name of the font. Harry was revived digitally by Steve Jackaman and Ashley Muir as Harry Pro (2009, Red Rooster). Sol was extended and revived by Patrick Griffin and Kevin Allan King in 2010 at Canada Type as Sol Pro (20 styles). The Quick Brown Fox GmbH copied the original Sol, and that version ended up as Digital Sans in the Elsner & Flake collection in the mid-nineties. In 2015, Elsner & Flake published the 36-style extension Digital Sans Now. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Mason Mulcahy

Chicago, IL-based designer of the modular font family Rigor Mortis (2018), the spurred typeface The Alchemist (2018), and the octagonal typeface Three Point (2018). Typefaces from 2019: Discharge, Astron (sci-fi).

Typefaces from 2020: Ferocity (a free sports or speed font. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mathematica Fonts
[André Kuzniarek]

André Kuzniarek is Electronic Documents Manager, Wolfram Research, 100 Trade Center Drive, Champaign IL 61820A, in charge of fonts for Mathematica. He developed PostScript math fonts between 1996 and 1998 for Mathematica: Math1-Bold, Math1, Math1Mono-Bold, Math1Mono, Math2-Bold, Math2, Math2Mono-Bold, Math2Mono, Math3, Math3Bold, Math3Mono-Bold, Math3Mono, Math4-Bold, Math4, Math4Mono-Bold, Math4Mono, Math5, Math5Bold, Math5Mono, Math5MonoBold.

Another set of Wolfram fonts is called Mathematica. It ships with the software. Mathematica is a large typeface family designed by Andre Kuzniarek, with Gregg Snyder and Stephen Wolfram (head of Wolfram) between 1996 and 2001. That family has invaded many font archives, such as this one.

In his early life, Kuzniarek designed the comic book font Whiz Bang (1995), and his studio at that time was called Studio Daedalus. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mathias Coutoux

Born in France but based in Chicago, IL, Mathias Coutoux studied at Columbia College Chicago. He designed the straight-edged typeface Révolté in 2014. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Matt Soar
[Chicago O'Hare]

[More]  ⦿

Matthew Congreve

Chicago-based designer (b. 1990) of the organic typeface Equinox (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Matthew Mackowiak

New Lenox, IL-based graphic designer. He created the decorative caps typeface Nature Type (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Matthew Pahl

Hoffman Estates, IL-based creator of the modular typeface Crooked Block (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Max Rosenow

Chicago-based designer at BBS of an ornamental face that was patented in 1894. In 1895, he and Julius Schmohl published an upright script with BBS. This ronde typeface was originally known as Oliphant and renamed Advertisers Upright Script in 1925. In 2014, Spiece Graphics created a digital version of it, Milroy Upright SG. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Mechanics Type Foundry

Chicago-based foundry, also called Creswell, Wanner&Co., and Wanner, Weber&Co. It was short-lived (1872-1883). The great Chicago fire of 1871 had wiped out nearly all printing businesses in Chicago. In 1872, Alexander Barnett (b. Ireland, 1820-d. Chicago, 1896), John Creswell, Nathan Lyman and A.F. Wanner started the Mechanics Type Foundry. Only Barnett was a well-known type founder and caster, having worked previously at A.D. Farmer and the Marder, Luse&Co (which was destroyed in the fire). In 1883, the company split into Union Type Foundry (led by Creswell and Wanner) and Barnett, Griffith&Co (led by Alexander Barnett and his son, William A.). The latter business, which used the type designs of the Boston Type Foundry, closed soon afterwards. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Meg Vonderhaar

During her studies at Notre Dame University, Meg Vonderhaar (Wheaton, IL) created the watercolor typeface Alphawet (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Megan Janeski

During her studies at Illinois State University in Normal, IL, Megan Janeski created a handcrafted typeface (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Megan Kaley

During her graphic design studies at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL, Megan Kaley created the curly typeface Twisted Roots (20133) and the beveled typeface Paper Diamond (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Megan McNaught

During her studies at Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL-based Megan McNaught designed a flowery display typeface (2016) and a counterless handcrafted typeface (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Melbert Cary
[Continental Typefounders Association]

[More]  ⦿

Mele Hamasaki

During her studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Mele Hamasaki designed a display sans typeface (2015). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Meredith Kennedy

During her studies in Elgin, IL, Meredith Kennedy designed a curly typeface in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Meredith Niles

A graduate of Boston University (2010), Meredith Niles started studies at the Chicago Portfolio School. During her studies, she created an untitled hand-drawn decorative caps typeface based on vegetables. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Cox

Chicago, IL-based designer (b. 1986) of the squarish typeface family Uniform (2020) and the blocky typeface Bloxy (2020). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Cullen-Benson

Student at MNSU in Mankato, MN, who lives in Vernon Hills, IL. He made a text-based poster of the Seattle skyline in 2010.

In 2012, he designed the tall typeface Towering Heights (2012).

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

Michael Hagemann
[Font Mesa]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Michael Kostal

Graphic design student at Columbia College Chicago. Designer of the handwriting family Kreep (2006). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Piwko

Huntley, IL-based designer of the techno / sci-fi typeface Spacer (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Ryndak

Graphic designer in Chicago, who created the modular display typeface Pace Dr. (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Scott Murphy

Geneseo, IL-based designer of a noteworthy typographic poster called How In The World (2013).

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michael Zhang

Graphic design student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012-2014. Creator of Serasin Std (2012, octagonal modular typeface). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michelle Batton

Illinois-based "designer" of English Gothic (2007, blackletter), which she is actually selling. She also made Johnny B (2007, handwriting), Think Pink Alphabet (2007) and Damaged Alphabet (2007). Alternate URL. Yet another URL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michelle Kahl

Chicago, IL_based designer of the watercolor brush alphabet Lambitt Regular (2013). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michelle Lehmann

Chicago-based creator (b. 1971) of Pixel Noir (2011), Pixel Western (2011), Pixel Sleigh (2010), Teeny Pix (2010), Tiny Times (2010, pixel face), Emoticomic-Regular (2010), "SpriteComic-Regular (2010), Pixel Stix (2010), Jump (2010, pixel face), Teeny Pix (2010), Pixel Caps (2010), Bit Signage (2010, pixel face), Rasterman (2010), Earth-Momma (2010, pixel font), Celtic Bit (2010, family), Pixel Josh (2009), and (partially) of License to Pixel (2009).

In 2010, she did the pixel fonts PixelJosh6, Pixelstars, Pixelstars&Stripes, Pixel Love (pixel script), HarryPixel, Emoticomic, Sprite Comic, and Emote Letters (2010).

In 2013, she added Pixel Western and Relativity.

Alternate URL. Aka Mirz. Dafont link. Fontspace link. Devian tart link. Klingspor link. Another Dafont link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Michelle Maynard

As a student at DePaul University in Chicago, Michelle Maynard designed a sans typeface in 2016. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mike Brando

Born in 1990, Mike Brando lives in Chicago. He created the condensed art deco typeface Pasta Palazzo (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mike D. Kowalczyk

Polish American illustrator in Chicago. Creator at FontStruct in 2009 of Prof. Downer's Iowa Tonic (inspired by Brothers and Council, by Downer), Fleet (alomost octagonal), Bankowy Gotycki (outline typeface patterned after Ban Gothic), Bolt Plate, Garibaldi (+Bold, +Black), Nocturnis, Lastustruct (kitchen tile) and Macrogular. In 1999, he created the very original Aborigine (1999). Additional URL. Home page. Klingspor link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Miko Ramirez

Chicago-based designer. Creator of the counterless geometric typefaces Circa (2010) and Acute (2010), and of the scratchy hand Extrafine (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Milos Zlatanovic

Vranje, Serbia and now Chicago, IL-based designer of the Latin / Cyrillic dry brush font Paris Blue (2015) and the experimental typeface Kanibal (2016). [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Minjoo Kim

Chicago, IL-based designer of an untitled experimental bitmap font (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mitch Stomner

During his studies at Columbia College Chicago, Mitch Stomner designed the free ultra-fat octagonal typeface Hashtag Basic (2015). Dafont link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Molly Bramlet

Chicago-based graphic designer who has a BA from DePaul University. She based her Bodoni Poster Script typeface (2012) on Bodoni Poster Italic.

Cargocollective link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Molly Studer

During her studies in Elgin, IL, Molly Studer created Curly Font (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Monotype Typography Inc.

A major type foundry, set up in 1887 by Tolbert Lanston. The Monotype Corporation, based in Redhill, Surrey, was an independent English company that originally shared patents with the Lanston Monotype Company in Philadelphia. In the first half of the twentieth century, F.H. Pierpont and Stanley Morison built up the best type library of its time, and Monotype came to be leaders in European book printing. After the Second World War, Monotype continued to offer printing machines, entering the photocomposition era with the Monophoto in 1955, and pioneering laser technology in printing with the LaserComp in 1976. In 1992 the company was split up. The hardware side was purchased by the IPA Group. The type department, continued as Monotype Typography.

In July 1998 Agfa acquired Monotype Typography and became Agfa Monotype. In 2000, Agfa acquired ITC. In 2004, TA Associates purchased a majority interest in Agfa Monotype from Agfa Corp and the company was renamed Monotype Imaging Inc, with headquarters in Woburn, MA

Monotype history.

Monotype Imaging in turn went on a spending spree: it acquired Linotype (in 2006), Ascender Corporation, Berthold (unconfirmed), Bitstream (in 2011) and MyFonts (in 2011). They also own China Type Design Ltd, Fontwise, iType, Planetweb, WhatTheFont, and WorldType.

The Monotype specimen book of type typefaces.

A complete catalog of matrices made for use with the Monotype composing machine and with type&rule caster (1922, Philadelphia) is freely available on the web. See also here and here.

Catalog at the most popular typefaces available via MyFonts. Full catalog of Monotype's typefaces [large web page warning]. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Montague M. Bear

Chicago-based designer at BBS of a Victorian face that was patented in 1890. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Morgan Semmelhack

Graphic designer in Chicago, IL, who created the sans typeface Helio (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mortal Turtle Foundry (or: Einzig Design)
[Robert Conlon]

Graduate of Taylor University (1978), Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (1987) and Goddard College (2007). He was art director at Paramount Pictures ((1988-1996), and taught art at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (2001-2007) and Siena Heights University (2007-2018). Based in Tecumseh, MI (was: Lake Zurich, Illinois), Conlon set up Mortal Turtle Foundry where he was selling fonts for about 5USD a shot.

Hi typefaces include Dodgenburn, EinzigSans, EinzigSerif, Einzine, Etched, Notchenarow, RogersTypewriter (1999), Rubberstamp, Scraping, Scratchy (1994), SloppyInk (1999), Sponged, Stratenarow. Sloppy Ink and RogersTypewriter are great old typewriter fonts. Web site for his art. Linkedin link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mota Italic
[Rob Keller]

Foundry, est. 2009 by Rob and Sonja Keller. Originally located in Berlin, Mota Italic is a type design studio specializing in unique, extensive type families. It relocated to Mumbai, India, at the end of 2014, and moved back to Berlin in 2020.

Rob Keller (b. 1981) is a typeface designer from Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois where he earned Bachelor (BFA) degrees in both Graphic Design and Sculpture. From 2006 until 2007 he attended the University of Reading, England, for the MA in Typeface Design program. Immediately following the dissertation submission, Rob moved to Frankfurt, Germany, to work at Linotype GmbH in the Product Marketing department. He left Linotype to be able to do type design full time, first as a freelancer then forming Mota Italic in 2009. Sonja Keller, now Sonja Stange, left Mota Italic in 2013 to join Type Together. From 2014 until 2020, Rob lived in Mumbai.

Mota Italic's fonts:

• Vesper, a hookish and sturdy serif typeface with which Rob graduated from Reading in 2007 [Discussion by I Love Typography]. It includes Vesper Devanagari (2006) and Vesper Hebrew. The Vesper Devanagari character set was completed in 2014 through the collaboration with Kimya Gandhi. The free font Vesper Libre (2014) is a special web version that has been optimized for online use. Tiny details have been simplified and the character set is reduced for the perfect balance of beautiful web typography with fast page loading.
• Mota Pixel (free), made in 2009.
• In 2013, Rob created the ultra-fat counterless typeface Pufff with three f's.
• Fip (2015) is a techno family.
• When he was a student at Reading he announced that he was working on these font projects: Azul y Blanco Pin Pan Pun (hand-printed), Compilation Serif, New Orleans Light, Unicase Monospace, Untitled Experiment, Chef, Gemma. The large informal typeface family Gemma was finally published in 2009. It includes wonderful multiple master dingbats.
• Brashy, a crazy large multi-glyph handcrafted typeface that emulates painted letters.
• Sharad 76 (2016: free). A Devanagari only font by Kimya Gandhi (after his father's writing).
• Chikki (2019 / Devenagari variable font.
• Collection (2020). An allm caps font in which each letter has 50 variants, and all letters look like they cam from a different font.
• Show Me The Mono (2020).

Type blog by Rob Keller. At the University of Reading, he published Linotype Devanagari: an abridged history of the typeface with analysis of the 1975 redesign (2007). Alternate URL for his blog. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mpress Interactive
[John Bonadies]

Type foundry set up in 2013 in Champaign, IL, by John Bonadies who has an MFA in graphic design from the University of Illinois. In 2011, he set up an iPad application in which one can move wooden letters around as in a letterpress. He says: LetterMpress will be a virtual letterpress environment---released first on the iPad---, that will allow anyone to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints.

The typefaces are based on letterpress and/or vintage wood type, and have names that are prefixed by MPI.

In 2013, Mpress Interactive published MPI Roman Condensed (based on a typeface from Showcard Machine Company), MPI Old Style, MPI Bodoni Ultra, MPI Sardis (after Warren Chappell's Lydian from 1938, ATF), MPI Republic Gothic, MPI No. 510 (based on a design by William H. Page, 1887), MPI No. 508 (based on William H. Page, 1890), MPI No. 507 (based on William H. Page, 1890), MPI Headline Modified (also called Modified Gothic by some type manufacturers, it is based on a typeface by Hamilton Manufacturing Company from 1897), MPI Gothic, MPI Aldine Extended (based on a 1872 wood type by William H. Page), MPI Antique (slab serif), MPI French Clarendon (based on wood type from 1865 by William H. Page), MPI French Antique (a typical far West saloon font based on wood type by William H. Page, 1869), MPI Egyptian Ornamented (a western typeface based on a 1870 wood type by William H. Page), MPI Arcadian (based on a 1870 design by William H. Page), MPI Tuscan Extra Condensed (based on William H. Page wood type from 1872), MPI Norwich Aldine Reversed (from a 1872 original), MPI Nouveau, MPI Delittle (based on a wood type by DeLittle), MPI Deco (art deco caps), MPI Atlas (slightly art nouveau typeface based on a font by Day & Collins), MPI Circle Sans (white on black letters). [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

MyFonts: Oswald Cooper

MyFonts selection for Oswald Cooper [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nakeyisha Aisha Huddleston

During her studies at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where she is a cohort of the class of 2015, Nakeyisha Aisha Huddleston (Chicago, IL) designed the art deco typeface Gatsby (2014). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nathan Hurt

Nathan William Hurt (Chicago, IL) designed the circle-based typeface Waffles Modular in 2013. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nathan Matteson

Designer of Ardbeg (2003, award winner at the TDC2 2004 competition), a Thai bitmap font, Gaijaaethao (2004, a grayscale Thai font), and of Hamfist (2003, a serif font).

In 2004, he joined Ultra Pixel Fonts, where he made the pixel typeface Daasaang (Thai). He works at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago, and will soon start Eightyproofpress Inc. His web page opens new windows and makes my browser crash.

Der Teufelshaufen won an award at ProtoType in 2016.

Klingspor link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Neil Summerour
[Positype]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Neon Type Foundry

Typefounders of Chicago (or: Castcraft) acquired the Neon Type Foundry (Pittsburgh) in 1959. The Neon Type Division of Typefounders of Chicago (Castcraft) published a specimen book in 1962 which can be downloaded from Archive.Org in two 1 GB parts: Part I, Part II. See also here and here. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nerfect Type Laboratories
[Britton Walters]

Nerfect Type Labs in Berwyn, IL, is the foundry of Britton Walters (b. Atlanta, GA, 1973). Free fonts: Desmond (2003), Ausfahrt (dingbats), Bad Weekend (comic book font), Clint (2003), CursedMustache (2003), Clunky, Coffin Nails, Conspiracy (old typewriter font), Crap Magnet family (free at Chank's), Cursed Mustache, Demand (ransom font), Emma 65, G.I. Jerk, Goblin, Heavyweight, Hybrid, Joey, Kirok, Mental Junk Drawer (dingbats), Minibike, Mister Filthy, Mutant, Pixie (pixel font), Roadtrip, Sanford, Sex Shop, Skyland, Space Junk, Speed Demon, Stag Wart, Thug, Tricky Treat (2003). Pay fonts: Crunk, Go-Rilla, Kurtzberg, Monsterkit, Nerfect Cola, Outlaw, Muggler.

MyFonts.com sells some of their fonts: Stinky School Book, Creeps (2002, funny typefaces!), Ailene, Smuggler (2001), Crunk, Kurtzberg, Nerfect&Cola, Go-rilla, Outlaw, Class of 1964 (dingbats), Dingbatio, Mr. Walters-Casual (comic book face), Tricky-Treat (scratchy handwriting), Fiend (2004) and MonsterKit.

View Britton Walters's typefaces. Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Nermin Moufti

Syrian typographer and graphic designer in Chicago, who has also worked in Dubai and Toronto. Nermin holds a BSc in Visual Communications from the American University of Sharjah (UAE), as well as an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, Media and Design from OCAD. She created the cooking utensil alphading typeface Shai (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Newberry Library

Public library in Chicago with a great collection of books related to typography. Located at 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL 60610-7324. Paul F. Gehl is the custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing, which is where most of the type books are. In April 2010, I finally had an opportunity to check it out, spending two full days at the library. The positives: the collection is indeed extensive, laptops are allowed, the staff is very friendly and helpful, and one is allowed to take photographs without a flash. The (minor) negatives: tripods and other camera tools are disallowed, and ballpoint pens are forbidden. Also, browsing in the stacks is impossible (as opposed, to, say, Harvard's Houghton library, where books less than about 70 years old are in public stacks). Still, there are some real treasures at the Newberry. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nic Swaner

Graphic designer in Chicago who made the dot matrix typeface TrapZoids (2009). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nicholas Hojnacki

Media designer in Chicago who created the display typeface Odyssey in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿