Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tuesdays 10: Tops of the Types 1

Tuesdays 10: Tops of the Types 1 Tops of the Types, is a new feature on this blog that will appearing somewhat regularly one Tuesday every month, provided I have content for it. This month's post just making it in before Wednesday!

This feature will list ten or so of my latest favorite free or free for personal use font finds. I do a bit of font seeking, and come across some pretty cool fonts, here I share my favorites with you. This is also an oppurtunity for me to give some of my favorite lesser known fonts or designers a spotlight. Still, a well known font or designer may also be featured here as well.

"Where to Download" links will take you to the source of the feature or author of the feature's website, or to the dafont.com location where it can be downloaded, to give those authors much deserved traffic and statistics.

Here are my selections for this month's Top's of the Type:
#1 Aller Font | Dalton Maag
Where to Download »
Aller Font


#2 Lacuna Font | Peter Hoffman
Where to Download »
Lacuna Font


#3 Advent Font | Andreas Kalpakidis
Where to Download »
Advent Pro Font


#4 Sybil Green Font | Ray Larabie
Where to Download »
Sybil Green Font


#5 Arrière Garde Font | Clément Nicolle
Where to Download »
Arrière Garde Font


#6 Barbaric Font | Aeryn
Where to Download »
Barbaric Font


#7 My First F. Font | Kirk Shelton
Where to Download »
My First F. Font



#8 Bonbon Bleu Font | Holyrose
Where to Download »
Bonbon Bleu Font


#9 MTF Chunkie Font | Miss Tiina
Where to Download »
MTF Chunkie Font


#10 Circus Font | Dan Roseman
Where to Download »
Circus Font



Preview of Upcoming Fonts

Preview of Upcoming Fonts Just in case your were starting to wonder if I would make anything other than a geometric sans, here are some images of the fonts I am currently working on. Feel free to comment/make suggestions.

Unamed Serif Font Project
An as-yet-unnamed serif. I have been working on this one for quite some time, expected completion date? Another long time!

Slab serif project inspired by LT Chickenhawk
A slab serif inspired by my LT Chickenhawk font. Expected completion? Soon, July sometime.
Update: This became a the Happy Phantom Font Family, another spin-off of this design is the Cupid de Locke Font

Font project Ramses the Eternal which actually ended up inspiring the Sachiko Script Font
"Ramses the Eternal" a handwritten script font I am working on should be done sometime in July, and it's counterpart...
Update: Believe it or not, this font design was the start/inspiration of the Sachiko Font.

Font Project Ramses the Damned
"Ramses the Damned" another handwritten script font. To be done in July possibly. Counterpart to "Ramses the Eternal."

Those are just a few of the fonts I am working on right now. Let me know what you think! Comments, questions, suggestions? I want to know what you think!

LT Oksana Font

LT Oksana FontIntroducing what's been described as a "retro" geometric-sans, my new font, LT Oksana, initially released December 11, 2008.

This is my own personal favorites of the fonts I have created, and I am very proud of it! It has been categorized as "retro," however, I did not intentionally design it as such. I just wanted to make a sans-serif typeface I liked, and thus included various aspects to it's design that I have always fancied about sans-serif.
LT Oksana
Download Fonts!

The download is licensed free for personal use. Commercial use of these fonts requires a donation. Donations for the license to use these fonts commercially can be placed via PayPal using any major credit card, and do not require a PayPal account. Click here if you would like to donate. Email me nymphont@yahoo.com if you have any questions or need any assistance.

LT Oksana, version 3.0 release June 30, 2009, LT Oksana Version 4.0 published March 21, 2010, comes in Windows TrueType format, and is free to download for personal use, while commercial use requires a PayPal donation. Email me nymphont@yahoo.com if you need assistance. Please read the Terms of Use/End User License Agreement as the terms specified within are binding upon download.

4.0 is consists of the complete LT Oksana Regular family (regular, italic, bold, bold italic) and LT Oksana Light which also is complete with italic. The zip file contains the 6 font files and the readmenew.txt that defines the Terms of Use/End User License Agreement.

Version 5.0- Updates to this font include kerning revisions and improvements, as well as the addition of several new characters.

Below is a sample character map for the font, however,this only shows the first 255 glyphs, the actual font contains many more characters not shown.

LT Oksana First 255 Characters
LT Oksana Sample

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I Love Avant Garde

Avant Garde plus Marilyn Monroe equals Sexy
Avant Garde + Marilyn Monroe = Sexy
I love letters wallpaper in my flickr photostream
A wallpaper in my flickr wallpapers gallery, double click to go there.
The Complete Science Fiction Treasury by H.G. Wells
"The Complete Science Fiction Treasury," H.G. Wells, thank sis! Click for full

My predilection for Herb Lubalin's typeface, Avant Garde has been dominating my creations as of late. I end up using it in virtually everything, nothing else seems to work. The use of Avant Garde font on in this blog for example, speaks volumes to my penchant for the design. Prior to this, I had never and would never consider using Avant Garde as a web font. I typically find the use of Avant Garde or even Century Gothic as web fonts amateur and pretentious.

But since the state of fonts on the web is dismal regardless the font you chose, using an 'Avant Garde-Century Gothic-sans-serif' CSS font-stack is as good as any other font-stack, right?

I'm pretty sure though, if I had to name a definitive favorite typeface, it would be Avant Garde. I'd prefer not to think of type in definitive terms, however; for reasons I myself can't quite explain, I love letters. I'd be hard pressed to find a letter I didn't like or felt there wasn't a need for. So much so, that I wouldn't even discount Comic Sans as being a worthwhile typeface. It has it's place. [On the list of fonts I would never, ever use]


Friday, June 26, 2009

Aeropostale Uses LT Chickenhawk Font

Aéropostale Uses LT Chickenhawk Font LT Chickenhawk, the original font I designed February of this year, was used by the popular mall-based retailer Aéropostale. The font appeared in promotional materials for the company's annual Memorial Day sale, which ran from 05/21/09 through 05/27/09, and were mailed out to the retailer's email subscribers.

Aéropostale Promo featuring LT Chickenhawk Font

I personally like the brand and had a positive experience with the company, so I am happy they employed my fonts for their advertising, and would gladly have a font featured in future materials for the company.

The font LT Chickenhawk is free for personal use but can be licensed for commercial use with a PayPal donation.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Top 10 Not-Free Fonts

Top 10 Not-Free Fonts With so much attention placed on so-called "free" fonts these days, this list hearkens the subject at hand: fonts. Period. Digital typefaces spawning new renditions by today's designers, some worthy contributions, as well as some less respectable "knock-off" varieties.

Regardless of recent trends, these fonts are timeless, and unsurpassed in their perfection. They do not disprove the notion, that the quality of purchase-ware fonts eclipses that of freeware fonts . From the many legions of beautiful fonts, this list is "Nymphont's Top 10 Not-Free Fonts."

Feel free to comment with your thoughts on my selections, and to share your own favorites!

*"Where to Find »" links are for informational purposes only, I do not receive commissions for providing them, I do so only as to provide the information. If any information is incorrect or if there is a more appropriate link please let me know.

#1 Avant Garde | Herb Lubalin
Where to Find »
Avant Garde
#2 Georgia | Matthew Carter
Where to Find »
Georgia
#3 Futura | Paul Renner
Where to Find »
Futura
#4 Goudy Old Style | Frederic W. Goudy
Where to Find »
Goudy Old Style
#5 Clarendon | Edouard Hoffmann and Hermann Eidenbenz
Where to Find »
Clarendon
#6 Palatino Linotype | Hermann Zapf
Where to Find »
Palatino Linotype
#7 Gando | Nicholas Gando
Where to Find »
Gando
#8 Footlight MT Light | ?
Where to Find »
Footlight MT Light
#9 Bodoni | Giambattista Bodoni
Where to Find »
Bodoni
#10 Century Gothic | Monotype Imaging
Where to Find »
Century Gothic