LostAndFont Notes
LostAndFont Notes
1. History of Fonts
Gutenberg designed the first press.
He was a goldsmith.
The first press font was blackletter calligraphy. It limited the amount of text that could fit on
a single page, creating longer books that required more time to set up.
In 1470, Nicolas Jenson. He created the first Roman typeface, based on Blackletter and Italian
Humanist lettering
His Roman type is the basis for multiple modern fonts, including Centaur, created by Bruce
Rogers in 1914, and Adobe Jenson, created by Robert Slimbach in 1996.
In 1501, Aldus Manutius and Francesco Griffo created the first italic typeface. Nowadays they
are used to emphasise text
In 1734, William Caslon created a new typeface style that included more contrast between
strokes in each letterform. Now referred to as the “Old Style” type, these typefaces made
letterforms more distinguishable from one another at a glance, improving readability.
In the 1780s, two type designers—Firmin Didot in France and Giambattista Bodoni in Italy—
created modern serifs with extreme contrast between strokes.
The first commercially available slab serif, or Egyptian, typeface—called “Antique”—
appeared in 1815 and was designed by Vincent Figgins
William Caslon IV developed “Two Lines English Egyptian”—also known as “Caslon
Egyptian”—in 1816( Sans Serif Font)
In 1957, Max Miedinger designed Helvetica, arguably the most iconic typeface of the 20th
century
The first digital typeface—Digi Grotesk—was designed by Rudolf Hell in 1968
By the late 1980s, TrueType fonts were created, allowing both computer displays and output
devices like printers to use a single file. In 1997, OpenType fonts were invented, which
allowed both Mac and PC platforms to use a single font file.
The 21st century brought considerable advances in web fonts. In 2009, the Web Open Font
Format (WOFF) was developed and added to the W3C open web standard.
The introduction of variable fonts within the OpenType standard in 2016 strengthened the
web typography revolution. Variable fonts can change size and weight based on where
they’re used in a design, within a single font file. This flexibility means using fewer font files,
resulting in faster page load times.
One emerging technology to watch is the development of color fonts, within the OpenType-
SVG format. These fonts allow designers to use multiple colours within a single glyph. Itha
has been around for years but has not been widely accepted
2. Microsoft
has named the next default font for its productivity applications, such as Word and Outlook,
after testing five candidates it introduced in 2021. Since then, it’s been called Bierstadt. Now
it’s getting a new name: Aptos.
its Office products fetch almost 24% of its revenue.
Aptos will remain available in the font list under the old Bierstadt name for people who are
accustomed to it. Users can also choose to set any other font as the default.
In 2019, Microsoft asked font designer Steve Matteson to develop a font in the grotesque
sans-serif style that includes the classic Helvetica. The company didn’t let on that it was
considering it as a possible successor for Calibri,
Koyuk to Bierstadt to aptos
Koyuk was not taken seriously by the people so its name was changed
Still, Matteson has nothing but respect for Calibri and its creator, Lucas de Groot.“I can
understand Microsoft wanting to, you know, make a change, but I don’t think there’s ever
been anything wrong with Calibri,
3. London Underground
The initial typeface was the Johnston typeface and was designed by Edward Johnston in
1916
The new typeface is called Johnston 100.
The original font, introduced in 1916 by calligrapher Edward Johnston, has been adapted to
create "Johnston100".
Tfl (Transport for London) said the new style retains the "soul" of the original lettering.
When Edward Johnston's original lettering was unveiled a century ago it was considered
revolutionary."Johnston Sans combined readability, beauty, and simplicity," Donna Steel,
the curator of an exhibition about Edward Johnston at the Ditchling Museum of Arts and
Crafts said.
In 1913 London Transport's managing director Frank Pick commissioned Edward Johnston to
create a typeface to bring visual uniformity to the transport network
In 2016 Johnston100 was introduced to make a digitally friendly font that includes new #
and @ symbols
4. USA department
In the State Department the first font was Courier then Times New Roman and now
Calibri
The change comes as a means to help employees who are visually impaired and was
recommended by the secretary’s office of diversity and inclusion. However, the
announcement has received criticism and complaints that the Calibri font is not
aesthetically pleasing.
At the time, the change was instated because Courier New 12 was considered outdated
and was swapped for Times New Roman because it “takes up almost exactly the same
area on the page as Courier New 12 while offering a crisper, cleaner, more modern look,