Autumn 2001

Same name, different face

Can classic, remastered fonts retain the spirit of the ‘authentic’ original?

In the days of metal type the designer rarely had a choice in the version of a typeface. You could only get Helvetica from Haas or one of its partners, and though you might find a few different versions of Baskerville or Garamond, the chances were that the type supplier (printer or typesetter) would have only one manufacturer’s version. With the advent of photosetting, a typesetter would usually have only one manufacturer’s system (in which it had invested a large amount of money) and only one version of the particular typeface you wanted.

[…]

Martin Dawson, designer, London

First published in Eye no. 41 vol. 11 2001

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues.

EYE41