My interest in typefaces (more commonly called "fonts" now) goes back many years, to my childhood in fact. Later, I used to design and create posters and album covers for friends' bands (by hand--this was before computer graphics really took off), and had several books of typefaces from which I would glean interesting letterforms, or use as catalogues if my 'clients' wanted to choose their own. So this story caught my eye. I expect the topic may be a bit dry for many members here, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
"Meet the Font Detectives Who Ferret Out Fakery" |
Wired (https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-font-detectives-who-ferret-out-fakery/)
QuoteWhat does international political corruption have to do with type design? Normally, nothing—but that's little consolation for the former prime minister of Pakistan. When Nawaz Sharif and his family came under scrutiny earlier this year thanks to revelations in the Panama Papers, the smoking gun in the case was a font. The prime minister's daughter, Maryam Sharif, provided an exculpatory document that had been typeset in Calibri—a Microsoft font that was only released for general distribution nearly a year after the document had allegedly been signed and dated.
A "Fontgate" raged. While Sharif's supporters waged a Wikipedia war over the Calibri entry, type designer Thomas Phinney quietly dropped some history lessons about the typeface on Quora (https://www.quora.com/When-was-the-Calibri-font-made-available-to-general-public-as-a-part-update-of-Windows-and-or-MS-Office), and found himself caught in a maelstrom of global reporting. Phinney said that because Calibri has been in use for several years, people have forgotten that it's a relatively new font. This has made Calibri a hot topic in document forgery as fakers fail to realize that this default Microsoft Word typeface will give itself away.
This wasn't Phinney's first forgery rodeo. He calls himself a font detective—an expert called upon in lawsuits and criminal cases to help determine documents' authenticity based on forensic analysis of letterforms used, and sometimes the ways in which they appear on paper. Phinney even IDs each of his cases with a Sherlock-Holmesian title: The Dastardly Divorce, The Quarterback Conundrum, and The Presidential Plot.
Detecting fraud via fonts isn't as sexy as sleuthing art forgery; it often involves tedious measurements with digital calipers, examinations under loupes and microscopes, charts that track the slight differences between two versions of the Times Roman face, or evidence that a particular form of office printer didn't exist at the document's dated execution.
Even so, such measurements can be worth millions—and can even be lucrative, for the handful of experts (maybe a dozen) who have hung out a font-detective shingle.
[Continues . . . (https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-font-detectives-who-ferret-out-fakery/)]
Interesting, very interesting! Thanks Recusant.
These sort of deteciuve stories are fascinating, as is forensic work. In some cases a spectrographic analysis of the ink on a document can provide evidence as to its date of writing, but I would guess that with hundreds of "refillers" etc (and does every printer manufacturer formulate their own unique inks?) this would not be feasible for inkjets.
Interesting also to hear you are into type face styles. I have agonised for ages sometimes when designing a document. I like nice clean type faces, Helvetica, Arial and all the rest, but have had to judge what another might like. I have had "fights" for clarity and ease of reading before now! (Used to design ads for local businesses in the village mag and did a bit of form design work.)
I am interested in all design-related issues, so thank you, Recusant. Have you seen the movie Helvetica by Gary Hustwit?
I also agonize over the correct choice of a typeface. I remember doing manual setting with a product called Letraset in my thesis writing student days.
I forgot to mention another good documentary I can recommend called Linotype: The Film. Link: http://www.linotypefilm.com/
Quote from: hermes2015 on September 16, 2017, 05:21:49 PM
I am interested in all design-related issues, so thank you, Recusant. Have you seen the movie Helvetica by Gary Hustwit?
I also agonize over the correct choice of a typeface. I remember doing manual setting with a product called Letraset in my thesis writing student days.
Aaaah! Letraset! Not to be done in a hurry, very careful spacing, especially if centered text. I used to lightly pencil in the letters over the line where possible, to much of a chance if concentrating on alignment so hard you miss a letter out! So my typo record goes back that far!
I have also done type setting, with quoins in chases, for hand presses back in the 60s, we had a "printing club" on the RAF camp in Bahrain. But we only had four different faces, each in two sizes, a serif, sans serif, serif italic and a script IIRC.
I was going to propose a game where we suggest which typefaces we think express the characters of some of our members, but I see there is a restricted list in the "Font Face" dropdown. I would like to think that I am Helvetica.
I expect all of us who worked in any sort of design before the 90s are familiar with Letraset. ;D
Thanks for the reminisces, and the film recommendations. Brought to mind The Last Punchcutter (https://hyperallergic.com/313998/the-dying-typographic-art-of-cutting-letters-into-steel/).
As for the game, as a typeface I'm maybe a bit schizoid and would find it hard to settle on one. Both Caslon (https://www.typewolf.com/site-of-the-day/fonts/caslon) and the Art Nouveau of the Paris Metro are near the top of the list. ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/LG46VC2.png)
Interesting. I did not know that there was such a thing as a font detective! :sherlock3:
I took a typesetting class back in the early 90's. I loved it!
I think I'm a combination of Park Avenue Font, and Comic Sans Font. :notsure:
If there would've been a, "font club" I would've joined it. :grin:
(https://cdn.myfonts.net/s/aw/720x360/43/0/22154.jpg)
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-ow0VMcpU2Ls%2FViZaeXBMkHI%2FAAAAAAAAA08%2FunDCp6GsDFw%2Fs1600%2FComic%252BSans.jpg&hash=8c0383813fa030aee3d63e11ae50f4563262b1bc)
Any one old enough to remember the Speedball handbook of type faces that could be done with Speedball pens?
If I could take a calligraphy course I would like to write with a feather pen like medieval scribes did. I think it's very pleasing to the googly eye. :tellmemore:
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F5449175ae4b05edd5452b989%2F54b7ff23e4b069dab256d3cd%2F55412dfee4b0ef54fda47080%2F1430335362357%2F%3Fformat%3D1000w&hash=f17450d6c99f00d8367220b7c2def0cb24d90beb)
(Medieval illuminations are just beautiful).
Quote from: Icarus on September 17, 2017, 03:50:40 AM
Any one old enough to remember the Speedball handbook of type faces that could be done with Speedball pens?
Would that be this one (http://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/the-speedball-textbook/)? I didn't have that book, but I certainly recognize some of the typefaces from books that I did have. I used Rapidograph pens almost exclusively, but probably would have been able to get quicker results if I'd tried Speedball nibs.
Quote from: Recusant on September 17, 2017, 06:22:30 AM
Quote from: Icarus on September 17, 2017, 03:50:40 AM
Any one old enough to remember the Speedball handbook of type faces that could be done with Speedball pens?
Would that be this one (http://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/the-speedball-textbook/)? I didn't have that book, but I certainly recognize some of the typefaces from books that I did have. I used Rapidograph pens almost exclusively, but probably would have been able to get quicker results if I'd tried Speedball nibs.
Those pages are beautiful. I'm sure even our younger members would agree.
Quote from: Tank on September 17, 2017, 07:43:04 AM
[GBI: German Bold Italic video]
Heh, an actual font (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBI_(German_Bold_Italic)#Typeface) was created for that single, called by one designer who liked it a lot "a sick classic vector techno font."
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Towa_Tei_-_GBI_%28German_Bold_Italic%29.svg/481px-Towa_Tei_-_GBI_%28German_Bold_Italic%29.svg.png)
Back in the early days of Windows I had a font designer app.
What I did not have was the need or patience required to use it!
Decades ago a programme on font design featured a master engraver creating the master copies for making the moulds to create the actual type pieces.
Impressive.
Quote from: Dave on September 17, 2017, 05:32:43 PM
Back in the early days of Windows I had a font designer app.
What I did not have was the need or patience required to use it!
Decades ago a programme on font design featured a master engraver creating the master copies for making the moulds to create the actual type pieces.
Impressive.
Dave, you haven't told us which typeface best expresses your personality.
Quote from: hermes2015 on September 17, 2017, 06:22:25 PM
Quote from: Dave on September 17, 2017, 05:32:43 PM
Back in the early days of Windows I had a font designer app.
What I did not have was the need or patience required to use it!
Decades ago a programme on font design featured a master engraver creating the master copies for making the moulds to create the actual type pieces.
Impressive.
Dave, you haven't told us which typeface best expresses your personality.
Well, nit really sure hut I think I would like to be Comic Sans.
Or, if a little more formal Trebuchet.
(https://i.imgur.com/OczXDn8.gif)
Just a little less stark than other ss fonts
I associate you with the Gloucester MT Extra Condensed font, even though it has serifs. :grin:
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.identifont.com%2Fsamples2%2Fmonotype%2FGloucesterExtraCondensed.gif&hash=0a1401828c2a665c66686550f9a768a5496913b3)
^
Never met that one before, not bad as those fiddly serifed jobs go!
I supposed I am a bit "condensed", well, short anyway . . .
Serifs aren't all that bad. :grin: There are a number of papers that suggest serifed fonts require less neurocomputational power, and so are recommended for long texts such as books. They are less tiresome to read. Others say that there is no difference so it seems there isn't much of a consensus.
I believe that serifed fonts with adequate spacing between letters are easier to read than the more rounded sans serif ones. The 'e' and 'c' look a little more different, so do the 't' and 'f'.
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 17, 2017, 08:31:14 PM
Serifs aren't all that bad. :grin: There are a number of papers that suggest serifed fonts require less neurocomputational power, and so are recommended for long texts such as books. They are less tiresome to read. Others say that there is no difference so it seems there isn't much of a consensus.
I believe that serifed fonts with adequate spacing between letters are easier to read than the more rounded sans serif ones. The 'e' and 'c' look a little more different, so do the 't' and 'f'.
Yes, "Times" was designed for readbility. However I changed my Kindle to a sans serif font, just seem to prefer it. I especially like Trebuchet because it is easier to differentiate between small "L" and capital "i". One sentence in a sci-fi story included, "...AI [short for "Allan"] her Al [Artificial Intelligence]..." Bit silly of the author to pick a name that could be ambiguous in this ereader age.
I also like nice square, or circular, icons for apps, very slightly radiused corners at most, not these modern jelly mold things in pastel colours! Simple and ergonomic.
Serif fonts don't work as well on digital display media as there is always a display compromise depending on the app interpreting the presentation on screen. Digital printing isn't quite so bad as the resolution would be 300dpi which is on the limit of the ability of the human eye to resolve at normal viewing distances.
Quote from: Tank on September 17, 2017, 09:06:31 PM
Serif fonts don't work as well on digital display media as there is always a display compromise depending on the app interpreting the presentation on screen. Digital printing isn't quite so bad as the resolution would be 300dpi which is on the limit of the ability of the human eye to resolve at normal viewing distances.
OK, grant you that, Tank, been playing with the gonts on my Kindle and serifed fonts guve tge eye more "clues" as to what the letter is. And deginitely no ambiguity between "l" and "l" ! But, donehow, to me most of them look too dense, too "crowded". Bsttle between my personal sense of the aesthreic and pragmatism.
On the other hand there sre websites out there that use a
very thin sans serif font that is very difficult to read, especially if it is one if those sites I can't magnify on the tablet.
Wirse case of choice/colour/environment was at B&Q (big DIY chain). Tins of paint, "Bold" letters, about 8 pixel, white, sans serif text on a curved "chromed" surface in a place with hundreds of flourescent tubes causing bright highlights. Even when shadowing the text with a hand the lack of contrast (and still highlights) made reading it very difficult. Even black colouring would not have helped much, red or royal blue might have. Another triumph of artistic styling over practicality!
If .i were designing a forum like this I would try to use more of the page width for the text window and a 30 to 50% larger face. Mobile devices need a whole difference style than a 13" or 15" lsptop screen. Need supplimentary lenses to see HAF on my phone! Bad enough on this 10" tablet but at least I can stretch the tect window to the sides - still very small if I do that on my 7" phone.
When I was a high school kid, I lived in a foster home. I was treated very well but I had no money. Teen agers need money. I had some limited graphic arts talent and I set myself up as a sign painter. I actually made a little bit of money doing that stuff. Not much mind you, but enough to keep me interested in the pursuit.
I did things like restaurant signs for special promotions. At one time I got a job with a restaurant to make a considerable number of large menus. Well I had not figured on the huge number of letters on the large menus. After about one or two of them done by hand, with Speedball nibs, I could see that I have vastly underestimated my ability to produce these things for the price I had agreed upon. What is as poor kid to do?....... I went to the library to read about screen printing.
I managed to make a screen in a primitive way, and stole the windshield wiper blade from the car of the people I lived with. The wiper blade became the necessary squeegee with which to apply ink through the screen. I got in trouble for that but I did finish the job in a fairly short period of time.
Some 45 years later I perfected a screen printing tool that sold well enough to gain attention. A large corporation bought my patent and that is how I made a few dollars more than I had to have in order to survive.
I also designed and manufactured some internationally sold measuring instruments that were an essential tool for the screen printing industry. I sold that business about three years ago. .......all that is because I had some very limited talent graphic arts talent, but high ambitions, as a kid who foolishly thought that he could paint or use ink to make signs.
Thank you Speedball.
^
Nice story, Icarus.
Quote from: Icarus on September 18, 2017, 02:05:59 AM
When I was a high school kid, I lived in a foster home. I was treated very well but I had no money. Teen agers need money. I had some limited graphic arts talent and I set myself up as a sign painter. I actually made a little bit of money doing that stuff. Not much mind you, but enough to keep me interested in the pursuit.
I did things like restaurant signs for special promotions. At one time I got a job with a restaurant to make a considerable number of large menus. Well I had not figured on the huge number of letters on the large menus. After about one or two of them done by hand, with Speedball nibs, I could see that I have vastly underestimated my ability to produce these things for the price I had agreed upon. What is as poor kid to do?....... I went to the library to read about screen printing.
I managed to make a screen in a primitive way, and stole the windshield wiper blade from the car of the people I lived with. The wiper blade became the necessary squeegee with which to apply ink through the screen. I got in trouble for that but I did finish the job in a fairly short period of time.
Some 45 years later I perfected a screen printing tool that sold well enough to gain attention. A large corporation bought my patent and that is how I made a few dollars more than I had to have in order to survive.
I also designed and manufactured some internationally sold measuring instruments that were an essential tool for the screen printing industry. I sold that business about three years ago. .......all that is because I had some very limited talent graphic arts talent, but high ambitions, as a kid who foolishly thought that he could paint or use ink to make signs.
Thank you Speedball.
Icarus, I admire people like you. Your story is very interesting and inspirational.
... and don't even get me started on kerning!
(anyone remember those sheets of font letters that you could apply to paper by rubbing on the back?)
I used to work with a small lotto paper publisher in the eighties. Everything was cut, paste - literally. cutting out printed bits and using glue-stick to make the master for the photo plates.
Quote from: joeactor on September 18, 2017, 04:55:30 PM
... and don't even get me started on kerning!
(anyone remember those sheets of font letters that you could apply to paper by rubbing on the back?)
I used to work with a small lotto paper publisher in the eighties. Everything was cut, paste - literally. cutting out printed bits and using glue-stick to make the master for the photo plates.
Yeah, had a publishing prog with adjustable kernjng - quite useful for type setting actually. And good old Lettraset gas been mentioned (still got some somewhere, it resists the etchant used on printed circuit boards so great for putting your initials on any nickel plated, steel, brass or copper items.)
I had to cut and paste the 48 page monthly village magazine when I was editor - that was Sunday morning occupied, and to the printer (a "retired" guy with all the gear in his, very large, garden shed) in the pm. Then I got a PC and a decentish printer, bought Serif's PagePlus (and DrawPlus for adverts and the cover) and could do it all on screen!
Thanks for the interesting stories,
Icarus and
Dave. :)
In my wanderings I came across the irony mark (⸮) proposed as a way of denoting irony or sarcasm. Too bad it never took off--it would be rather useful on the internet. I suppose that the common problem of people's intentions being misunderstood when communicating in text is a small price to pay for avoiding the clutter of yet another punctuation mark⸮
In the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation#Irony_mark) on the irony/sarcasm mark, some other potentially useful punctuation marks are shown.
QuoteThe irony point (⸮) (French: point d'ironie) was proposed by the French poet Alcanter de Brahm (alias Marcel Bernhardt) in his 1899 book L'ostensoir des ironies to indicate that a sentence should be understood at a second level (irony, sarcasm, etc.). It is illustrated by a glyph resembling, but not identical to, a small, elevated, backward-facing question mark. The same mark was used earlier by Marcellin Jobard in an article dated June 11, 1841, and commented in an 1842 report.
Hervé Bazin in his 1966 essay Plumons l'Oiseau ("Let's pluck the bird"), used the Greek letter ψ with a dot below for the same purpose. In the same work, the author proposed five other innovative punctuation marks:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Point_de_doute.svg/146px-Point_de_doute.svg.png)
the "doubt point"
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Point_de_certitude.svg/135px-Point_de_certitude.svg.png)
"certitude point"
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Point_d%27acclamation.svg/146px-Point_d%27acclamation.svg.png)
"acclamation point"
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg/135px-Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg.png)
"authority point"
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Point_d%27amour.svg/209px-Point_d%27amour.svg.png)
and "love point"
Of course we have smileys/emoticons, but I think another punctuation mark or two would be more elegant.
Good ones, Recusant. I also definitely want the interrobang
(https://imgur.com/Tnh4Jj0.jpg)
as a readily available punctuation mark.