bald condensed from december 2006

Before we kick off this long overdue new episode of Bald Condensed, I want to quickly have a look at the results of the TDC2 2006 competition. You'll notice that FF Headz - which I arrogantly dismissed in a previous review - is the winning entry in the Ornament category. Oh irony! Shows how little I know... but that doesn't stop me from thinking it's a silly package.


changes for better or for worse

In the introduction to the last episode of Bald Condensed, I alluded to "another surprise or two". Well, one of them was of course Unzipped, my new weblog for FontShop Belgium. After I have been away from the fold for over ten years (I started out at FontShop), Rudy Geeraerts invited me to have my personal spot on the FontShop.be home page. So now there's three of us FontShop bloggers, with me joining the unstoppable Jürgen Siebert for FontShop Germany and Stephen Coles, my accomplice at the Typophile Type ID Board and Typographica editor.

This new affiliation with a type vendor inevitably has repercussions for my role here. Our "mission statement" or whatever you want to call it reads that we "offer impartial and non-commercial writing". From the TypeCon2005 booklet: "One of the founding principle of the website is that it should provide fiercely independent voices within the typographic community. The site does this by not deviating from its foundations of honesty, impartiality and independence of funding. (...) As such we intend never be constrained or co-opted by commercial pressures." I have never made a secret of the fact that I often help out several of my type designing friends, writing bits of copy, proof-reading texts, beta-testing fonts and so on. This is different though, as one could see me as a spokesperson for FontShop. This might make one question my impartiality. Whether or not I truly remain independent sadly becomes irrelevant, as we all know "perception is everything".

David and I have seen this kind of situation coming from the get-go, so we are prepared and have already discussed at length what we should do if and when it would happen. Basically our position is this: as soon as there's even the slightest chance that people might doubt my independence from a certain foundry or vendor, I stop writing about it. Effective as of, like, right now, I will stop reviewing FontShop-related products, starting with FontFonts. David and I will evaluate what to do about other foundries (there's 44 of them in the FontShop portfolio!) but it's possible some more will get the axe and become forbidden territory for me. I hope you understand and would love to hear from you what you think of this situation.

So, now that that's taken care of, without further ado, let's look at some type! First I'd like to review the astonishing new FontFont 39 release... naaaah, just kidding!


ridiculously late

I try to be a man of my word, and that can go pretty far, even as far as to make me look frankly ridiculous (fortunately I couldn't care less about that). After the publication of the TypeCon2005 NYC booklet last summer I promised I'd review the four typefaces that - due to the limited page count - couldn't be included. Well, it's taken me over a year, but finally here they are. Yeah yeah, I know...

FS Lola was named differently when it was sent to me, so it took me a bit by surprise when it eventually was added to the FontSmith website. Phil Garnham designed a humanistic sans with top serifs on a number of key characters - I hesitate to call it a semiserif, though it definitely can be categorised as such. The typeface has an ample x-height and a generous width. Most exit strokes of the roman weights as well as the arm and leg on the upper- and lowercase k are curved, lending them a scriptural flavour. Those curved exit strokes add a fluid, forward movement to the text, making it quite dynamic. FS Lola's italics are very flowing, emphasising that dynamism, and include a nice lowercase g and y with a characteristic bowl.

The typeface looks good and performs perfectly well. It's available in a nice range of weights - from Light to Extra Bold in five steps - all with corresponding italics. The only problem is... well, there's nothing inherently wrong with FS Lola. It's an adequate design but altogether not very exciting. I fail to be thrilled about this release. I'm convinced there's a market for it out there and it might do well, but personally I must say it all looks a bit tame to me.

Alwyn & Baksheesh are two type families from the Identikal Foundry. One thing is for sure: Identikal has some of the most striking techno typefaces around, perfectly tailored for the club scene. Panic, Airbrake and Sampler - to name just three of them - kick ass and take names when it comes to conveying the feverish atmosphere created by sweaty bodies pulsating to the relentless rhythms of thumping techno music.

Alwyn by Chris Dickinson is a different take on the straight-sided tech sans which has been made overly popular by DIN 1451 Mittelschrift, ITC Conduit and the likes. The face features some interesting alternating rounded and square corners, which makes for a quite striking uppercase M and W and a bulging top on the B and R. These details add a little element of surprise in the text, but not to the point of being jarring.

On the whole the uppercase are the best thing in this five-weight family with matching italics. Personally I wouldn't have minded an even darker weight than the Bold. The lowercase and numerals are slightly less convincing, despite some nicely tense curves on the c and e. And I think it's no coincidence the name of the face has a y in it, as it is one of the best glyphs in there.

Baksheesh is a three weight plus italics family by Stuart Brown, which "develops the theme built upon a system for typewriters during the seventies". Its grid-based structure feels a bit forced to me, and falls short when compared to similar efforts by Lineto. Furthermore the design reminds me a lot of Lineto's Alpha Headline and Eric Olson's Stratum 2 - especially the lowercase a and k - which manages to apply that graphic motif far more consequently than Baksheesh.

The last one on the list is Cruz Script Ballpoint, a member of the Cruz Script set of fonts, which also comprises a Brush and a Calligraphic variant. At first sight one might think it is too light, but this actually is an advantage. It allows the user to apply a stroke and make the type bolder without distressing the character shapes. The type of script is not my favourite though - too curly and cute, not energetic enough. Of the other two variants, the Calligraphic version is by far the best, as the design lends itself very well to the contrast in the broad-nibbed pen. On the other hand the texture of the Brush variant looks far too regular and manufactured.

That's all for this relaunch edition. Now that all the loose ends have been tied up, I can get started reviewing new stuff in earnest. Stay tuned.