The best fonts you can't have...

[Typeology]

That's sick about Volvo! I always wondered about it. Have to say that Porchez is the shit! Matthew Carter's was the shit last year. Is Porchez gonna be the shit this year @ Typecon?

[Typeology]

Oh that's gay! It edited out my cursing! Sorry if I offended anyone!

[fredo]

I was thinking about Sem Hartz' Juliana, but it seems it's in the pipeline now.

ƒ

[alexhb]

I'm thinking Archer for Martha Stewart Living.
I love how Frere-Jones was able to merge a soft and feminine look with a rigid slab serif face.

[gthompson]

As far as the font I wish could have, but they don’t sell it any more: Antikva Margaret.
Zoltan Nagy’s organic tour de force. I hope someone [talented enough- too many lousy/sloppy remakes these days] decides to digitize this genius face… I’ll be waiting too.
Mikey

I've wanted to do Nagy's work for some time. Antikva Margeret has always been one of my favorites for a long time. I've never run across good samples of all of his work though. All I have is an old VGC specimen from the 70s. Anybody know of any really good sources? And is there any possible contact info for relatives, heirs, etc?

George
I felt bad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no Bodoni

[SuperUltraFabulous]

gthompson> Are you kidding!!! (your gonna pee your pants) I have ACTUAL pressure transfer sheets of Antikva Margaret sitting in my house in a box. NO JOKE!. THEY ARE IN PERFECT CONDITION! I pull them out gently and stare through them sometimes...and think how is it some people come up with brilliant ideas, whereas others like myself, can only appreciate them.

I also have samples of York by Georg Sultan another genius european. You can get a lousy phony version of York called Jorvik Antikva on dafont.com
The forger has the nerve to "want to know what you'll do with it"
Its bad but you can get an good idea.

Back to Margaret... My scanner is dead... contact me through my profile if you need too. I'm so pumped I can't type!

Mikey

Ps... I love all these unusual squarish Melior-like display faces from the 70's and 60's. They make me want to drink tea or garden or something... I love organics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pattyfab]

Let's not forget those Fontographer fonts which have disappeared into the ether. Some seem to have been rescued by other foundries but lots of them are still not available.

[Dav]

I wish I could have 'Luxury', but I fear I am just not wealthy enough. :)

( Ooh, And most of the other custom, exclusive 'stuff' by Christian Schwartz / Orange Italic and Hubert Jocham. )

Dav

[hrant]

But Mike, isn't the squarish style (which I admire as well, although in Melior
it doesn't really click for me) actually mechanical - the opposite of organic?

hhp

[Dav]

Yea, Shhh, Hermann Zapf = Superellipseman. :)

Dav

[paul d hunt]

Zapf's Civilite

and i believe house will be releasing luxury sometime in the future. don't know what the pricetag will be...

[gthompson]

I have ACTUAL pressure transfer sheets of Antikva Margaret sitting in my house in a box. NO JOKE!. THEY ARE IN PERFECT CONDITION!

I also have samples of York by Georg Sultan another genius european. You can get a lousy phony version of York called Jorvik Antikva on dafont.com
The forger has the nerve to “want to know what you’ll do with it”
Its bad but you can get an good idea.

Okay, now I'm jealous. Do you have more than the regular roman? VGC catalog shows an italic as well as light, extrabold, and black weights.

New York was another nice one. I used to keep big photostats of both to look at, but never had a job I could use them for. There was a day school I used to pass whose sign was painted in New York. Always nice to see it, though not really the right face for the job.

Surprisingly I couldn't find a specimen with New York in it, and the Jaspert & Berry Encyclodpedia of Typefaces doesn't list it or Antikva Margaret.

George
I felt bad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no Bodoni

[gthompson]

But Mike, isn’t the squarish style (which I admire as well, although in Melior
it doesn’t really click for me) actually mechanical - the opposite of organic?
hhp

Take a look at Antikva Margaret and you'll see what he means. It's geometric-organic the same way C. R. Mackintosh's work is. Looks a little boxy, but all curves.

George
I felt bad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no Bodoni

[samadam]

>SuperUltraFabulous

That's the font! (I believe) NewScientist, a british science magazine, uses it; you can find it at the bottom of the cover and throughout the magazine.

I was about to write to NewScientist to find out what this awesome sans they used was. I love it!

[fontplayer]

( Ooh, And most of the other custom, exclusive ‘stuff’ by Christian Schwartz / Orange Italic and Hubert Jocham. )

I have a new font-making hero. I like almost every single one.

[hankzane]

The best font I can't have is in my head!

[SuperUltraFabulous]

Steven Wulf> I'm loving this DB Type. Looks like the design has lots of longevity.

Chris Keegan> Telenor has clean lines AND a personality. I like the light weight.

Typeology> I know. Volvos- not so sexy. The font inside- very sexy!

fredo> Sem Hartz’ Juliana is getting attention now and I hope they make it true to its design and modern for today. There is even a book in the works.

http://infernopress.blogspot.com/2006/04/sem-hartz-making-of-linotype-ju...

alexhb> I have never seen Archer before... great post! Umm... it reminds me if Stymie and Century had a baby, Archer would be it. It also reminds me of:
http://www.vanderfont.com/type/page/CHARMINETTE.php

Pattyfab> I have never ever heard of that... I wish someone has a site that shows some of them. I'm not a type designer so I'm clueless about fontographer.

formlos> SuperEllipseMan???? Splain that one.

paul D hunt> I have never seen Civilite...please elaborate!

Samadam> Good pick... very strong. Would have never spotted that.

Thanks guys....

Mikey

[SuperUltraFabulous]

hrant> You have not seen Antikva Margaret I take it... have a look at this image I pulled from another thread.

Sqarish yet organic... not mechanical. Is it just me or does that lowercase 'g' rock?

Mikey

[SuperUltraFabulous]

Sergej> Although I'm not a type designer I know what you mean.

[SuperUltraFabulous]

gthompson> Now you go me jealous. You have THE actual VGC catalog! I wish I had that puppy. Umm... sorry but I only have the regular and no italic. :-/
Speaking of public sightings... there's a concrete bus stop in my city and you know what?... the inscriptions are set in Margaret.

Thanks....
Mikey

PS... York is the actual name to Georg Sultan's typeface. New York is the font standard on macs by Font Bureau. Not to be picking-nits but I just don't want anyone to be confused... :-)

[Dav]

Mikey, Ever heard of the term 'SuperEllipse'?
( Hermann Zapf + SuperEllipse )

Dav

[hrant]

Now that you've put up a sample, I know I'd seen Antikva Margaret, but I'd
forgotten what it looks like (and how nice it looks). It certainly has some great glyphs! The "g" though I would have given an open bottom - it's clotting a bit.

BTW, I think the famed old Czech-produced ITC catalog from the 80s
has decent samples of it, and I once made some copies from that, so...

hhp

[Norbert Florendo]

> You have THE actual VGC catalog! I wish I had that puppy.

Gee, I thought everyone has at least one! ;-)
Which leads me to a few faces that I doubt will ever see the light of digital-day --

Though Stempel AG acquires full ownership of the type foundry Klingspor Bros., VGC had these available in Typositor fonts:
> Folkwang (H. Schardt) 1949 (which CG digitized as an experimental font manipulation exercise).
> Orplid (H. Bohn) 1929, a sans display with 3D shadow.

Also will never be digitized:
Gerstner Program type family, nice but who needs another extended grotesk :\

And, oh yeah... the missing alternates for Bauer Topic!

[gthompson]

… there’s a concrete bus stop in my city and you know what?… the inscriptions are set in Margaret.

Hey, nice. Got any pictures?

PS… York is the actual name to Georg Sultan’s typeface. New York is the font standard on macs by Font Bureau. Not to be picking-nits but I just don’t want anyone to be confused… :-)

I finally located a phototype specimen of it in an old Total Type (defunct Chicago type house) specimen that called it New York. VGC catalog calls it York, so perhaps York was the original name and New York the knockoff name.

George
I felt sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no Bodoni

[SuperUltraFabulous]

I'm noticing a trend here. Its seems the most likely clients to request custom type work are: telecommunications, banking, and transportation.

http://www.teldesign.nl/opdracht/onderwijs/cito.html

You can find Cito Sans here. Super clean, very minimalist.

But my favorite, in fact one of the most successful designs, is CakeType's work for KPN. This should be released! If Myriad and Vista had a baby this is it. In fact I would say this thousnd times better than Vista! More elegant more powerful! But too exclusive :-(
Check it out:
http://www.caketype.com/custom_kpn.html

Mikey