osp blog - typehttp://blog.osp.kitchen/2011-06-21T17:00:00+02:00Acknowledgment2011-06-21T17:00:00+02:002011-06-21T17:00:00+02:00Antoinetag:blog.osp.kitchen,2011-06-21:/type/acknowledgment.html<p><em>“I think it is impossible to copyright empty space</em>” (Pierre H quotes
Pierre M)</p>
<p>We received different responses to our open letter to Monotype that we
posted <a href="news/sans-guilt-it-looks-like-the-story-continues">here</a> and on
<a href="http://typophile.com/node/82567">Typophile</a>.</p>
<p>Actually, we did get a reply from MonoType’s lawyer, acknowledging our
letter, and asking us to identify ourselves …</p><p><em>“I think it is impossible to copyright empty space</em>” (Pierre H quotes
Pierre M)</p>
<p>We received different responses to our open letter to Monotype that we
posted <a href="news/sans-guilt-it-looks-like-the-story-continues">here</a> and on
<a href="http://typophile.com/node/82567">Typophile</a>.</p>
<p>Actually, we did get a reply from MonoType’s lawyer, acknowledging our
letter, and asking us to identify ourselves as a legal body. We
responded with a long list of our names and various locations; we
haven't heard since.</p>
<p>For metrics we used the existing Gill Sans metrics. There is some
antecedent to using existing metrics. Ascender Corporation made the
Liberation fonts for Red Hat match the metrics of Times New Roman, Arial
and Courier New. Bosch Office Sans, by Erik Spiekermann and Christian
Schwartz, matches Arial metrics. Yes, we could have been clearer about
this in our letter.</p>
<p>With regards to quality, we are aware that using Potrace doesn’t produce
the same kind of optimized Bézier curves that are produced in a
traditional type design process. This is not necessarily what we are
interested in. We are interested in the process, in ways of producing.
Iterative, collaborative. Release early, release often. Test out ideas
and processes. The difference between a traditional typeface and an open
source typeface is that an open source typeface can be redistributed and
modified.</p>
<p>Merci,</p>
<p>l’OSP</p>Dingbat Dictée2011-01-27T23:53:00+01:002011-01-27T23:53:00+01:00OSPtag:blog.osp.kitchen,2011-01-27:/type/dingbat-dictee.html<p><strong>Recipe for teaching Unicode poetry to <a href="http://www.notbored.org/avertissement.html">students of all
ages</a></strong>: ((Previously tested
in <a href="http://zigzaganimal.be/?p=337">Brussels</a> and
<a href="http://www.geuzen.org/gallery/The_Tailored_Alphabet/the_tailored_alphabet_workshop/page/3/">Kiel</a>.))</p>
<p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5631" src="{filename}/images/uploads/dictee.jpg" title="dictee"></p>
<ol>
<li>Print out listings of the following Unicode blocks: <strong>Dingbats</strong>
(2700–27BF), <strong>Miscellaneous Symbols</strong> (2600–26FF) and eventually
<strong>Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows</strong> (2B00–2BFF). It is important
you include the descriptions in the language of …</li></ol><p><strong>Recipe for teaching Unicode poetry to <a href="http://www.notbored.org/avertissement.html">students of all
ages</a></strong>: ((Previously tested
in <a href="http://zigzaganimal.be/?p=337">Brussels</a> and
<a href="http://www.geuzen.org/gallery/The_Tailored_Alphabet/the_tailored_alphabet_workshop/page/3/">Kiel</a>.))</p>
<p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5631" src="{filename}/images/uploads/dictee.jpg" title="dictee"></p>
<ol>
<li>Print out listings of the following Unicode blocks: <strong>Dingbats</strong>
(2700–27BF), <strong>Miscellaneous Symbols</strong> (2600–26FF) and eventually
<strong>Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows</strong> (2B00–2BFF). It is important
you include the descriptions in the language of your choice. Below
are German, English and French sample files.</li>
<li>Contextualize the Dictée by showing
<a href="http://www.mythic-beasts.com/~mark/random/unicode-poster/poster-complete-version-5.0-one-sheet-00-A4-300dpi.png">this</a>
picture for example.</li>
<li>One person selects a number of descriptions he or she finds
interesting</li>
<li>Read out the number, followed by it's description</li>
<li>Allow participants a set time to come up with a proposal that fits
the description. Depending on the medium of choice, rhythm can vary:
pencil up to 30 seconds; cutting or digital drawing: up to
10 minutes.</li>
<li>Compare results of participants to each other and to official
Unicode blocks</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/unicode_german.pdf">unicode_german</a><br>
<a href="http://www.zigzaganimal.be/U2600_FR.pdf">U2600_FR.pdf</a><br>
<a href="http://www.zigzaganimal.be/U2700_FR.pdf">U2700_FR.pdf</a></p>Legal Soup2009-08-18T18:08:00+02:002009-08-18T18:08:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2009-08-18:/type/legal-soup.html<h3>1. Unlimited Use License</h3>
<p>Judging from the mysql errors flying around, the Open Records Generator
software developed by David Reinfurt, is not actively maintained at the
moment. Still, this
<a href="http://www.o-r-g.com/STORE/OPEN-RECORDS-GENERATOR/License.txt">GPL</a>
licensed software presents an interesting mix of buyers and users: "<em>The
buyer receives full rights to modify and reuse the …</em></p><h3>1. Unlimited Use License</h3>
<p>Judging from the mysql errors flying around, the Open Records Generator
software developed by David Reinfurt, is not actively maintained at the
moment. Still, this
<a href="http://www.o-r-g.com/STORE/OPEN-RECORDS-GENERATOR/License.txt">GPL</a>
licensed software presents an interesting mix of buyers and users: "<em>The
buyer receives full rights to modify and reuse the software for future
applications</em>" (found on:
<a href="http://o-r-g.com/STORE/OPEN-RECORDS-GENERATOR/">http://o-r-g.com/STORE/OPEN-RECORDS-GENERATOR</a>)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Open Records Generator is available as Open Source Software. <strong>By
purchasing</strong> this product from O R G inc., you will also receive the
complete source code. Using this code, <strong>the buyer</strong> is free to alter,
adapt and evolve this software to fit future projects.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>2. Ecology</h3>
<p>Dutch webdesign agency <a href="http://www.spranq.nl/">Spranq</a> developed the
much publicised <a href="http://www.ecofont.eu">Ecofont</a>, based on the idea that
if you punch holes in Vera Sans, you decrease the amount of toner used
by 20%. The font can be downloaded for free, and on the project site
they refer to the fact that Vera Sans is 'open source', but
unfortunately none of this is carried over in to the derivative work. We
wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>We saw an article on the Ecofonts you released in this month edition
of Items. What a great idea to establish a connection between
typography and ecology and also to create an inspiring example of how
an 'open source' font can be used. We were therefore a bit
disappointed to find that clear information on its legal status is
missing. You indicate that you may download Ecofont for free, but the
required original license is not included (See copyright Vera Sans:
"The above copyright and trademark notices and this permission notice
shall be included in all copies of one or more of the Font Software
type faces"), and thus it is not clear what users can and can not do
with your work. It creates unnecessary confusion about open source
fonts, and wouldn't it be nice (and beneficial for the environment!)
when other designers would feel invited to contribute a serif version
or apply the same principle to another font?</p>
<p>Kind regards,</p>
<p>OSP</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(Spranq responded within an hour and the downloadable font now includes
a correct copyright notice)</p>
<h3>3. You may use this font only if you ...</h3>
<p>@fontface is changing the rules of 'free' typography, which is confusing
fontdesigners everywhere. (Free Font License found on:
<a href="http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?id=706">http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?id=706</a>)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You may use this font for Font-Face embedding, but only if you put a
link to www.exljbris.nl on your page and/or put this notice /* A font
by Jos Buivenga (exljbris) -> www.exljbris.nl */ in your CSS file
as near as possible to the piece of code that declares the Font-Face
embedding of this font.</p>
</blockquote>Open Revival2009-02-23T21:55:00+01:002009-02-23T21:55:00+01:00OSPtag:blog.osp.kitchen,2009-02-23:/type/open-revival.html<p><img alt="stephenson-blake_original_scan1" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1958" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/stephenson-blake_original_scan1.jpg" title="stephenson-blake_original_scan1"></p>
<p>"<em>With the written word an absolute fundamental component of daily
communication, typography and fonts are vital to providing aesthetic
harmony and legibility to our textual works. There are thousands of
fonts available, of which only a small number are useful or any good for
setting vast quantities of text, and …</em></p><p><img alt="stephenson-blake_original_scan1" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1958" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/stephenson-blake_original_scan1.jpg" title="stephenson-blake_original_scan1"></p>
<p>"<em>With the written word an absolute fundamental component of daily
communication, typography and fonts are vital to providing aesthetic
harmony and legibility to our textual works. There are thousands of
fonts available, of which only a small number are useful or any good for
setting vast quantities of text, and of which an even smaller number are
available to be freely distributed and shared.</em>"</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://klepas.org/openbaskerville/">The Open Baskerville project</a></strong>
is an attempt to collaboratively re-create a high quality revival of
Baskerville, ultimately available under an Open Font License or GPL. The
project has an issue tracker and all font source files are available via
a repository. You can add a missing glyph or adjust the kerning; the
site at <a href="http://klepas.org/openbaskerville/">http://klepas.org/openbaskerville/</a> explains in detail how this
works, and why the initiators ended up using the 1913 Stephenson, Blake
specimen. A suivre!</p>
<p><small>Thanks <a href="http://nitrofurano.linuxkafe.com/">nitrofurano</a> for
reminding us :-)</small></p>Feature or bug?2009-02-04T13:04:00+01:002009-02-04T13:04:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2009-02-04:/type/feature-or-bug.html<p><img alt="" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/cover_360_260_rvb1.png"></p>
<p>The FLOSS+Art book is finally rolling off the print-on-demand press and
in the spirit of the kinds of practices described in the book, GOTO10
distributes our 'source files' as a bittorrent: ((You can order a
printed copy of the FLOSS+Art book here:
<a href="http://www.metamute.org/en/shop/floss_art">http://www.metamute.org/en/shop …</a></p><p><img alt="" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/cover_360_260_rvb1.png"></p>
<p>The FLOSS+Art book is finally rolling off the print-on-demand press and
in the spirit of the kinds of practices described in the book, GOTO10
distributes our 'source files' as a bittorrent: ((You can order a
printed copy of the FLOSS+Art book here:
<a href="http://www.metamute.org/en/shop/floss_art">http://www.metamute.org/en/shop/floss_art</a> or download the pdf +
sourcefiles as a bittorent:
<a href="http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4671426/FLOSS_Art_v1.1">http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4671426/FLOSS_Art_v1.1</a>))</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rather than just providing a “free” PDF, FLOSS+Art.v1.1.eBook-GOTO10
is also available and contains all the Fonts, Images, PDF and Scribus
source files that were used to make the book. Feel free to branch a
translation or fork the chapters!</p>
</blockquote>
<!--more-->
<p>In that same spirit, an OSP-friend sent us a design-bug-report:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>In the .pdf version, the Libertinage fonts are only appearing for the 14 first pages. From then on, it is something like Times New Roman. However, the fonts for the "footnotes" remain the same throughout the book. This thing happened with "Evince" and the "Acrobat Reader" on my linux, and I thought that maybe my computer was too slow or hadn't enough memory... I asked someone to check under Mac OSX, same thing. Finally, I got the .pdf printed at copy-shop (Windows) and it happened also.</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The font-issue he is experiencing, is luckily not a technical problem
((Even if we at OSP try to reserve the right to make mistakes, it would
have been sad to discover a technical mix up after having gone through
an already rather painful production process. We had misunderstood the
way RGB / CMYK conversion works in Scribus, and some texts in the first
version of the book had come out in 97% grey instead of full black.))
but might be a design version of the "feature-not-a-bug" phenomenon.</p>
<p>For the FLOSS+Art book, Harrisson and Ludivine created Libertinage ((The
font is included with the design source files, and also available from
the open font library:
<a href="http://openfontlibrary.org/media/files/OSP/322">http://openfontlibrary.org/media/files/OSP/322</a>)), 27 different
variations on the free software font Linux Libertine. Linux Libertine
was designed to be used in place of staple-font Times New Roman, so it
is not surprising that it looks & feels more or less the same:
((<a href="http://linuxlibertine.sourceforge.net/Libertine-EN.html">http://linuxlibertine.sourceforge.net/Libertine-EN.html</a>))</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/libertinagevstimes.png"><img alt="libertinagevstimes_th" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1747" height="53" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/libertinagevstimes_th.png" title="libertinagevstimes_th" width="400"></a><br>
<small>Times New Roman (top) vs. Linux Libertine</small> ((Instead of
the usual <em>The Quick Brown Fox jumped over the lazy dog</em>, this text on
silk pyjamas is used in Scribus Font Preview.
<a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/type/woven-silk-pyjamas-exchanged-for-blue-quartz">http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/type/woven-silk-pyjamas-exchanged-for-blue-quartz</a>))</p>
<p>Each text in the FLOSS+Art book has been typeset in another version of
Libertinage. The A-Z versions are subtle derivations; in each version
only one letter of the alphabet has been altered. For the introduction
(which ends on page 14!) and footnotes, we used Libertinage Full, the
most extravagant of all 27 variations. I wished I had a nicer type
specimen to show you those transformations, but you get the point:</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/libertinage1.png"><img alt="libertinage_th" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1747" height="53" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/libertinage_th.png" title="libertinage_th" width="400"></a><br>
<small>Libertinage Full and Libertinage A-E. In Libertinage Full, each
letter of Linux Libertine has been transformed and functions as an index
to the A-Z variations.</small></p>
<p>As The New Hackers Dictionary explains, "<em>a bug can be turned into a
feature simply by documenting it</em>".
((<a href="http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/b/bug.html">http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/b/bug.html</a>)) Now the question
remains whether it is a design bug or a design feature, that the
difference between a text typeset in Libertinage A and one typeset in
Libertinage B is easily overlooked?</p>Le Sale Boulot with NotCourier2008-10-14T09:19:00+02:002008-10-14T09:19:00+02:00Harrissontag:blog.osp.kitchen,2008-10-14:/type/le-sale-boulot-with-notcourier.html<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/saleboulot.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1110" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/saleboulot.jpg" title="saleboulot"></a><br>
Excellent Brussels based graphic design studio
<a href="http://collerettecocofilllsd.com/">collerettecocofilllsd</a> just released
a book called "Le Sale Boulot", from ~~german~~ Franco-Chilean artist
<a href="http://www.lesaleboulot.com/">Vladimir Cruells</a>. Main font used is
<a href="http://openfontlibrary.org/media/files/OSP/309">NotCourier</a> we
designed. We're proud!</p>
<p><a href="http://collerettecocofilllsd.com/blogblog/">http://collerettecocofilllsd.com/blogblog/</a></p><p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/saleboulot.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1110" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/saleboulot.jpg" title="saleboulot"></a><br>
Excellent Brussels based graphic design studio
<a href="http://collerettecocofilllsd.com/">collerettecocofilllsd</a> just released
a book called "Le Sale Boulot", from ~~german~~ Franco-Chilean artist
<a href="http://www.lesaleboulot.com/">Vladimir Cruells</a>. Main font used is
<a href="http://openfontlibrary.org/media/files/OSP/309">NotCourier</a> we
designed. We're proud!</p>
<p><a href="http://collerettecocofilllsd.com/blogblog/">http://collerettecocofilllsd.com/blogblog/</a></p>An update on the status of Utopia2008-07-09T12:37:00+02:002008-07-09T12:37:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2008-07-09:/type/an-update-on-the-status-of-utopia.html<p>As you might have gathered from Thomas Phinney's <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=504#comment-40348">latest
comment</a> on our
post <strong><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=504">The Status of
Utopia</a></strong>, Adobe will not
re-release Utopia under an Open Font License. It doesn't mean though the
font cannot be studied, copied, modified and distributed: "<em>Although
changing the license would make it easier for folks …</em></p><p>As you might have gathered from Thomas Phinney's <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=504#comment-40348">latest
comment</a> on our
post <strong><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=504">The Status of
Utopia</a></strong>, Adobe will not
re-release Utopia under an Open Font License. It doesn't mean though the
font cannot be studied, copied, modified and distributed: "<em>Although
changing the license would make it easier for folks who find licenses
confusing and don't want to read them</em>" writes Phinney in an e-mail,
"<em>my conclusion was that the existing license was close enough to open
source for most people's actual usage, if not for their brains :-)</em>"<br>
<!--more--><br>
And indeed, when you read carefully, the existing license is peculiar,
but in fact open. It starts with allowing TeX users to make
modifications: "<em>Adobe also grants to the TeX Users Group a license to
modify the Software for any purpose and redistribute such modifications,
for any purpose and royalty-free, provided that the modified Software
shall not use the font name(s) or trademark(s)</em>", and thanks to Karl
Berry, TUG President, this invitation is extended to "<em>any and all
interested parties.</em>" ((License for the Utopia Typeface:
<a href="http://archive.cs.uu.nl/mirror/CTAN/fonts/utopia/LICENSE-utopia.txt">http://archive.cs.uu.nl/mirror/CTAN/fonts/utopia/LICENSE-utopia.txt</a>))</p>
<p>On the one hand, the Utopia license is an interesting read, a narrative
account of changing technologies, people and ideas, contained in it's
particular phrasing and structure. But on the other hand, such a
labyrinth license hardly contributes to a typographic practice where
designers open up about their appropriations and affiliations. It is not
that we don't want to make an effort (hence this series of posts), but
if it was all somehow a bit more inviting and explicit, it would be
easier to make a difference to the culture of fear that surrounds the
author rights management of fonts.</p>
<p>Another argument for a more standardized licensing solution, is
discussed in the margins of the <a href="http://openfontlibrary.org/">Open Font
Library</a> mailinglist. Sticking to
OFL-compatible licenses that are both machine and human readable would
facilitate the embedding of fonts in web pages. ((The so-called
@font-face solution is promoted by Håkon Wium Lie, W3C member and CTO of
the Opera browser: <a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/cssatten">http://www.alistapart.com/articles/cssatten</a>. Opera
is shipped with the Adobe Creative Suite by the way...)) The idea is,
that fonts uploaded to the Open Font Library in the future can be
'served' to web pages anywhere, which could motivate typographers to
release their fonts in the public domain or under an OFL. ((Scroll down
to the interesting discussion between Thomas Phinney and Dave Crossland
on intellectual property, DRM and embedding fonts:
<a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/2007/11/web_fonts_1.html">http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/2007/11/web_fonts_1.html</a>))</p>
<p>Utopia was designed by typedesigner <a href="http://www.identifont.com/show?17Z">Robert
Slimbach</a> in 1989 for Adobe and it
is this version that was donated to the X-consortium, now <a href="http://www.x.org/wiki/">X-org
foundation</a>, an open source implementation of
the X Window System. Like Bitstream Charter, donated to the X-org
foundation in 1991 ((See our earlier post on the status of Bitstream
Charter: <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=11">http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=11</a>)), Utopia exists both
as an open and as a proprietary font, sold by Adobe under a conventional
license. The latter is a version that Slimbach heavily reworked as part
of it's conversion to the Open Type Format. ((David Lemon on the Typo-L
mailinglist:
<a href="https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0305&L=TYPO-L&P=14185">https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0305&L=TYPO-L&P=14185</a>)) So
if you plan to modify, use or redistribute Utopia, check whether you
start from the <em>open</em> version, which is downloadable from the TUG
website in .pfb format:<br>
<a href="http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/utopia">http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/utopia</a></p>
<p>In 2006, Adobe re-licensed the open version of Utopia to the TeX Users
Group, under similar terms as stated in the original license, but now
explicitly clarifying that modifying the fonts, and redistributing
modified versions, was allowed. Apparently, this was always the intent
but the original wording was ambiguous. ((See the Read Me included with
Utopia available from the Tex User Group website:
<a href="http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/utopia/">http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/utopia/</a>))</p>
<p>At this time, Adobe has no plans to release other fonts under open
license terms. Nor do they have any other fonts currently available
under anything resembling an open source license. But, "<em>Things change
quickly, sometimes</em>", Thomas Phinney writes.</p>
<p>Of course we're already thinking about many things we could do with
Utopia, and are even more curious about what you might make of it.</p>
<p>Keep us posted on your modifications!</p>The status of Utopia2008-05-20T08:45:00+02:002008-05-20T08:45:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2008-05-20:/type/the-status-of-utopia.html<p><img alt="utopia" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/utopia1.jpg"><br>
<img alt="utopia" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/utopia2.jpg"><br>
<img alt="utopia" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/utopia3.jpg"><br>
On October 11, 2006 Adobe granted members of the Tex User Group the
right to use, modify and distribute the Utopia typeface:</p>
<p><code>Adobe Systems Incorporated ("Adobe") hereby grants to the TeX Users Group and its members a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to the typeface software for the Utopia Regular, Utopia …</code></p><p><img alt="utopia" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/utopia1.jpg"><br>
<img alt="utopia" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/utopia2.jpg"><br>
<img alt="utopia" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/utopia3.jpg"><br>
On October 11, 2006 Adobe granted members of the Tex User Group the
right to use, modify and distribute the Utopia typeface:</p>
<p><code>Adobe Systems Incorporated ("Adobe") hereby grants to the TeX Users Group and its members a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to the typeface software for the Utopia Regular, Utopia Italic, Utopia Bold and Utopia bold Italic typefaces, including Adobe Type 1 font programs for each style (collectively, the "Software") as set forth below.</code><br>
<a href="http://tug.org/fonts/utopia/LICENSE-utopia.txt">http://tug.org/fonts/utopia/LICENSE-utopia.txt</a></p>
<p>Curiously enough, Adobe also granted TUG members the right to sublicense
the font so a few months later, Karl Berry (director of TUG) offered to
'any and all interested parties' the right to use Utopia:</p>
<p><code>The agreement below gives the TeX Users Group (TUG) the right to sublicense, and grant such sublicensees the right to further sublicense, any or all of the rights enumerated below. TUG hereby does so sublicense all such rights, irrevocably and in perpetuity, to any and all interested parties.</code></p>
<p>Open Font Library listmembers are currently looking into how to clarify
the status of Utopia and possibly re-publish it under an Open Font
License. In the mean time you can already enjoy the font, which can be
downloaded in
<a href="http://www.postscript.org/FAQs/language/node39.html">.pfb</a> format from
the TUG website:<br>
<a href="http://tug.org/fonts/utopia">http://tug.org/fonts/utopia</a></p>Mathematics, fonts, free and money2008-05-17T11:02:00+02:002008-05-17T11:02:00+02:00Pierretag:blog.osp.kitchen,2008-05-17:/type/mathematics-fonts-free-and-money.html<p>In a <a href="http://www.advogato.org/article/28.html">déjà old interview (2000) by
Advogato</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth">Donald
Knuth</a> (TeX and Metafont
author) answers in his sometimes-very-short sometimes-generous style. In
the middle of these all interesting things, a few exchanges about
relations between mathematics, fonts, free and money. Enough close to
some parts of talks at Wroclaw, like the …</p><p>In a <a href="http://www.advogato.org/article/28.html">déjà old interview (2000) by
Advogato</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth">Donald
Knuth</a> (TeX and Metafont
author) answers in his sometimes-very-short sometimes-generous style. In
the middle of these all interesting things, a few exchanges about
relations between mathematics, fonts, free and money. Enough close to
some parts of talks at Wroclaw, like the Dave Crossland's one, and some
of our interviews, to serve as an intuitive background.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/tex.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-497" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/tex.jpg" title="Computer Modern"></a><br>
<!--more--><br>
<strong>Advogato :</strong> There was a quote that you had in the "Mathematical
Typography" essay reprinted in "Digital Typography" where you said,
"Mathematics belongs to God."</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>Yes. When you have something expressed
mathematically, I don't see how you can claim... In the context, that
was about fonts. That was when I had defined the shape of the letter in
terms of numbers. And once I've done that, I don't know how you're going
to keep those numbers a secret...</em></p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p><strong>Advogato :</strong> Fonts seem like a really interesting edge case for that
argument, because a font is in some ways a mathematical formula,
especially a TeX font, much more so than what came before, but it's also
an artwork.</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>Absolutely. It absolutely requires great artistry.
So the other part of this is that artists are traditionally not paid
like scientists. Scientists are supported by the National Science
Foundation to discover science, which benefits the human race. Artists,
or font designers, are not supported by the National Font Foundation to
develop fonts that are going to be beneficial to the human race. Fonts
are beneficial to the human race, they just don't traditionally get
supported that way. I don't know why. They're both important aspects of
our life. It's just that one part has traditionally gotten funded by a
royalty type mechanism and the other by public welfare grants for the
whole country.</em></p>
<p><strong>Advogato :</strong> Perhaps that has something to do with the absolute
necessity in science to have open access to the results of others, that
if you did science in a closed, proprietary framework that the
disadvantages would be so clear.</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>With fonts, it was pretty clear to me.</em></p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p><strong>Advogato :</strong> You've gotten a number of free fonts contributed by
artists, in some cases very beautiful fonts, to TeX and to the Metafont
project. In general, this has been a real struggle for open source
development these days <em>(OSP : in 2000!)</em>, to get free fonts. Do have
any thoughts?</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>I think it's still part of this idea of how are the
font designers going to get compensated for what they do. If they were
like a scientist, then they've got their salary for doing their science.
But as font designers, where do they get their salary? And musicians.
It's just a matter of tradition as to how these people are getting
paid.</em></p>
<p><strong>Advogato :</strong> But how did you address those problems with the fonts
that got contributed to TeX?</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>In my case, I hired research associates and they put
their fonts out into the open. Or else, other people learned it and they
did it for the love of it. Some of the excellent fonts came about
because they were for Armenian and Ethiopian and so on, where there
wasn't that much money. It was either them taking time and making the
fonts or else their favorite language would be forever backwards, so I
made tools by which they could do this. But in every case, the people
who did it weren't relying on this for their income. If we had somebody
who would commission fonts and pay the font designer, the font designer
wouldn't be upset at all about having it open, as long as the font
designer gets some support.</em></p>
<p><strong>Advogato :</strong> And you did some of that.</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>Yeah. In fact, I worked with some of the absolute
best type designers*, and they were thrilled by the idea that they
could tell what they knew to students and have it published and
everything. They weren't interested in closed stuff. They're interested
in controlling the quality, that somebody isn't going to spoil it, but
we could assure them of that.</em></p>
<p><strong>Advogato :</strong> Right. Working with the creator of the software.</p>
<p><strong>Donald Knuth :</strong> <em>Yeah, if they didn't like the software, I could fix
it for them.</em></p>
<p>(* Herman Zapf, Matthew Carter and lots of others known names has been
around Knuth for some times thirty years ago, but the complex and
difficult relations between designers and Metafont definitely need a
separate and future post, I'm still a nàíve garçöñ...)</p>Looking for F, Q, X and H2008-05-05T08:15:00+02:002008-05-05T08:15:00+02:00OSPtag:blog.osp.kitchen,2008-05-05:/type/looking-for-f-q-and-h.html<p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-464" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/slubice.jpg" title="slubice"><br>
On our way from Berlin to Wroclaw, OSP managed to photograph almost
every letter in the Polish roadsignage alphabet. We are preparing for
the <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=454">Local Universal</a> workshop
and still looking for <strong>F</strong>, <strong>Q</strong>, <strong>X</strong> and <strong>H</strong> (capital + lower
case). If you happen to come across one, please send us a …</p><p><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-464" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/slubice.jpg" title="slubice"><br>
On our way from Berlin to Wroclaw, OSP managed to photograph almost
every letter in the Polish roadsignage alphabet. We are preparing for
the <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=454">Local Universal</a> workshop
and still looking for <strong>F</strong>, <strong>Q</strong>, <strong>X</strong> and <strong>H</strong> (capital + lower
case). If you happen to come across one, please send us a picture?</p>DIN 42008-03-31T22:50:00+02:002008-03-31T22:50:00+02:00Harrissontag:blog.osp.kitchen,2008-03-31:/type/din-4.html<p><strong>Pandora's Standardised Box</strong></p>
<p>Kommando OSP Pierre and Harrisson spent a few days this February in
Berlin to explore the DIN project further.</p>
<p><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/image/index.php?level=album&id=10">http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/image/index.php?level=album&id=10</a></p>
<!--more-->
<p>The starting point was that we wanted to design an open format DIN font,
based on the …</p><p><strong>Pandora's Standardised Box</strong></p>
<p>Kommando OSP Pierre and Harrisson spent a few days this February in
Berlin to explore the DIN project further.</p>
<p><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/image/index.php?level=album&id=10">http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/image/index.php?level=album&id=10</a></p>
<!--more-->
<p>The starting point was that we wanted to design an open format DIN font,
based on the original documents stored in the DIN archives.</p>
<p>While encountering books, people, and wandering in our minds away from
the DIN font core problematic of how to design such a font, more general
(and richer) questions arose: the idea of implementing a "standard",
public purpose fonts, and typographic design done by engineers.</p>
<p>This connects it to another thread going on in OSP: the question of
standardised (European) language and its representation.</p>
<p><strong>The DIN Archives</strong></p>
<p>The DIN font is deeply interlaced in German history. It is actually one
of its building stones. During this concentrated short stay in Berlin,
we opened a lot of boxes, and copyright issues are uncertain...</p>
<p>We were told that there were only few remains of old DIN documents,
before 1945, due to the fact that the building (located not far from
Postdammer Platz, were fights were particularly intense) was bombed 2
times. Still, there was enough documentation for us to fill holes in the
story.</p>
<p>Precious information was as well found in Albert-Jan Pool's essays
published in <a href="http://www.magwerk.com/mag.php?magazine=encore&language=en&issue=13&page=32">ENCORE
MAGAZINE</a>
(No. 13,14,15,17 and 18). It seems that the designer of the massively
used "FF DIN", commissioned and distributed by FontShop, is currently
documenting a research that will eventually lead to an extention of the
FF family. This study left us with a lot of questions. For example, in
1949, the DDR started their own standard institute, written T (I don't
understand?) and re-taking the DIN number after (I don't understand?),
It seems there has been contact between the institutes. For that reason,
an East German version of the DIN font was developed, but what are the
rights for this?</p>
<p>DIN rights are not clear to us. We thought it was public domain, but it
seems there is a misunderstanding on terms - even if this would logical
for a standardisation to spread. We bought 2 sheets of DIN font
specification, but we are not sure what we have the rights on with those
sheets: the rights to use the font? Access to the know how? Those
questions were raised after our RAID visit to the very interesting and
wealthy DIN Museum, where everything is DIN, from staples (DIN 1) to
coffee cups or... schnaps!</p>
<p>By the way, what used to be the DIN library, has been transformed into a
Print On Demand workshop.</p>
<p><strong>Engineer fonts</strong></p>
<p>Encountering the question of standardisation of typography, we couldn't
ignore the proposals of other countries in their efforts to homogenize
systems such as highway signage or normalised national industry
references.</p>
<p>This lead us to "National Fonts", and more specifically to signalisation
fonts used across Europe. It is amazing to see that the field of road
signalisation is often were typography and engineers meet:</p>
<p>We are looking for infos about Swiss and Belgian "Alphabet" 1 to 6
current highway signalisation font, apparently designed by the American
3M company, and imported in Europe via the Marshall Plan.<br>
Seeing strong simultaneities between Bauhaus fonts [what fonts?] and
the 3M version, we would like to know if there is any relation between
them: is this font the result of engineer's mind or was it developed by
an expatriated Bauhaus student working in the US?</p>
<p>We are looking forward for infos about a Polish roadsigns font, and this
we might make the main subject of our next workshop we'll hopefully set
in May, in Wroclaw, Silesia, Poland at the occasion of the "Libre
Graphics Meeting 2008" .</p>
<p>Alexander Negrelli showed us a book by a letter painter from 1942 were
all fonts, fraktur as well, are structured from a grid. Even the
strangest fonts are qualified under a serial number (picture).</p>
<p>The destiny of east German fonts is related as well to this subject.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Actually, in the strict sense of socialist thought and GDR tradition,
the typefaces belong to the people and shouldn’t belong to any
individual person."</p>
</blockquote>
<p><small>Extract from interview of Karl-Heinz Lange, major font designer
of VEB Typoart<br>
<a href="http://pingmag.jp/2007/10/05/veb-typoart-the-east-german-type-betriebsstatte/">http://pingmag.jp/2007/10/05/veb-typoart-the-east-german-type-betriebsstatte/</a></small></p>
<p>Fonts in the DDR were designed for a central company, apparently in
Dresden - VEB Typoart. All the rights seems to be attributed to this
Konglomerat. In 1989, after the Wall fell, those fonts were bought with
the company, with the building... in a solid state investment. The
companies were bought and re-bought until Mr X. got hold of it. Soon
after the deal, Mr X had trouble with justice for fraud, and he flew
away. No one knows now where the owner of the entire patrimony of
former-DDR fonts is right now.<br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Typoart">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Typoart</a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/maxima">Maxima</a> font is currently
owned by URW++.</p>
<p>Some of Berlins' public signage was digitalised by FontShop:<br>
<a href="http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/fontfont/ff_city_street_type/">FF City Street
Type</a></p>
<p>The thing is that it seems that there are 2 societies from the city
doing signages, from the previous east and west part. Those 2 workshops
are still in use, but not with exactly the same specifications, thanks
to old systems of reproduction such as silkscreen.</p>
<p>To be continued!</p>
<p><small>Thanks to:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sekundaerschleife.de/impexunlimited12/impex1-1.htm"><strong>Raoul
Sanders</strong></a>
for the research-in-progress<br>
<strong>Alexander Negrelli</strong> for helping us and sharing with us fleah market
typographic treasures.<br>
<strong>Arnaud Robin</strong> for his hospitality, music and coffe support.<br>
<strong>Frederik Schikowski</strong> for his open ears.</p>
<p>The DIN Institute: Mr. <strong>Peter Anthony</strong> and the <strong>Permanent Exhibition
Crew</strong> for their serviceability and kindness.</p>
<p>We hope to continue collaborating with all of them</small></p>Free Operations2007-11-02T11:56:00+01:002007-11-02T11:56:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-11-02:/type/free-operations.html<p><strong>2 day workshop</strong><br>
Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem (20 + 21 November, 2007)</p>
<p>What permutations between typeface, typesetting and text can you
imagine? How to design through scripting and can you read differently
with computer manipulations?</p>
<p>Full brief: <!--more--></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Design could not exist without a larger eco system of cultural works
around it. Even …</p></blockquote><p><strong>2 day workshop</strong><br>
Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem (20 + 21 November, 2007)</p>
<p>What permutations between typeface, typesetting and text can you
imagine? How to design through scripting and can you read differently
with computer manipulations?</p>
<p>Full brief: <!--more--></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Design could not exist without a larger eco system of cultural works
around it. Even the most commercial of design practices are nourished
by historical or contemporary artworks, films, photographs, lay-outs,
images, ideas produced by others; at the same time, design feeds into
culture.</p>
<p>For culture to grow, it seems counter productive to fix it in place
with restrictive copyright licenses that prevent good ideas from what
they do best: to spread. Open content licenses such as the Free Art
License, Creative Commons, General Public License were invented to
subvert intellectual property laws in order to keep culture in
circulation. They are an unfortunately necessary asset when 'public
domain' has become the exception to the rule.</p>
<p>OSP (Open Source Publishing) is a small design research team from
Brussels, involved in various aspects of the publishing cycle. From
typography to editorial work, OSP tests out in practice how graphic
design could work differently, using Free Software and copyleft
licenses. We try to think out loud about what other tools are possible
and what is possible with other tools; to demonstrate to ourselves and
our colleagues the potentialities and limitations of Free Software,
how they can be tools to think with and how they can be put to work in
professional design environments.</p>
<p>For the *Free Operations* workshop, we will work exclusively with
content that is in the public domain, with fonts that expressly allow
for modifications and redistribution, and we will process those
materials using open source tools.</p>
<p>Point of departure is Project Gutenberg, the first and largest single
collection of free electronic books. Including Max Havelaar, Flatland
and Dracula, the project brings together many classic texts. Once
retyped and corrected, they are than re-entered in to the public
domain as digital files. Besides an immense and valuable library of
literary works, The Gutenberg project makes a searchable database
available of text files, paragraphs, words and letter combinations.</p>
<p>What permutations between typeface, typesetting and text can you
imagine? How to design through scripting and can you read differently
with computer manipulations?</p>
<p>*Free operations* starts with an installparty, adding FontForge and
Inkscape to your harddrives. When these two pieces of software are
strung together, they make other ways of doing design possible. We
will learn how to use the command line or console to communicate
differently with your computer, and experiment with new ways of
processing text through pattern matching using regular expressions.</p>
<p>Free Operations proposes a two day sampler of what Open Source methods
could mean for design in general and typography in particular. It is a
way to think about authorship, software and distribution in relation
to your practice, and an invitation to explore new territory.</p>
</blockquote>OSP @ Werkplaats Typografie2007-10-09T09:57:00+02:002007-10-09T09:57:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-10-09:/type/osp-werkplaats-typografie.html<p><img alt="werkplaats.JPG" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/werkplaats.JPG"></p>
<p>OSP visits Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem (The Netherlands) to discuss
a two-day workshop on Free Fonts with Anniek Brattinga and Karel
Martens. <a href="http://www.werkplaatstypografie.org">http://www.werkplaatstypografie.org</a></p><p><img alt="werkplaats.JPG" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/werkplaats.JPG"></p>
<p>OSP visits Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem (The Netherlands) to discuss
a two-day workshop on Free Fonts with Anniek Brattinga and Karel
Martens. <a href="http://www.werkplaatstypografie.org">http://www.werkplaatstypografie.org</a></p>DIN - Das Ist Norm - III2007-06-25T14:38:00+02:002007-06-25T14:38:00+02:00Harrissontag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-06-25:/type/din-das-ist-norm-iii.html<p>Schablonenschrift A - Din1451 - August 1949<br>
Inkscape drawing.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png" title="din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png"><img alt="din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png"></a></p><p>Schablonenschrift A - Din1451 - August 1949<br>
Inkscape drawing.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png" title="din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png"><img alt="din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/din1456_malschablonen_sample2.png"></a></p>Further Liberation.2007-05-15T10:35:00+02:002007-05-15T10:35:00+02:00Harrissontag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-05-15:/type/further-liberation.html<p>If we check the font infos of Liberation font, on Fontforge, for
example, here is what we find:<br>
<!--more--><br>
<a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/liberation1.png" title="liberation1.png"><img alt="liberation1.png" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/liberation1.png"></a><br>
Copyright Ascender Corp...<br>
and a trademark: <em>"Liberation is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. registered
in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and certain other jurisdictions."</em>.
In the license text of the …</p><p>If we check the font infos of Liberation font, on Fontforge, for
example, here is what we find:<br>
<!--more--><br>
<a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/liberation1.png" title="liberation1.png"><img alt="liberation1.png" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/liberation1.png"></a><br>
Copyright Ascender Corp...<br>
and a trademark: <em>"Liberation is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. registered
in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and certain other jurisdictions."</em>.
In the license text of the ttf font package, we find: "<em>Copyright ©
2007 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. LIBERATION is a trademark of Red
Hat, Inc.</em>", and the license text is GPL.<br>
Still, the license informations says:<br>
<em>"Use of this Liberation font software is subject to the license
agreement under which you accepted the Liberation font software."</em></p>
<p>Interesting as well: Liberation Sans seems to have been created in 1970,
while all the others in the pack were in 2004 or 2005.</p>
<p>Liberated fonts are not exempt of paradoxes...</p>
<p>Looking forward, the owner of rights of this font are <a href="http://www.ascendercorp.com/">Ascender
Corporation</a>, <em>"leading provider of
advanced font products specializing in type design, font development and
licensing"</em> company, which offers services such as Font Branding.<br>
you can also contact their "Font Licensing Specialists"</p>
<p>Sure designer <a href="http://www.ascendercorp.com/stevepage.html">Steve
Matteson</a> knows exactly the
font system specs - and what he does: "<em>...in 1990 he began work at
Monotype to create the Windows core TrueType fonts: Arial, Times New
Roman and Courier New</em>". He designed a.o. Xbox 360 Branding Fonts and is
part of the Segoe Vista font team development.</p>
<p>By the way, there is no Comic-Sans-like font in the L-pack. Which
designer will have the honour of drawing it?</p>Managing Fonts2007-04-28T09:53:00+02:002007-04-28T09:53:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-04-28:/type/managing-fonts.html<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/dfontmgr.png" title="dfontmgr.png"><img alt="dfontmgr.png" class="float" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/dfontmgr.png"></a>DEbian
Font MAnager a.k.a. dfontmgr (available through the Synaptic Package
Manager) is helpful when you want to register and unregister fonts on a
Debian / Ubuntu system.</p>
<p>After installation you can start the manager, which is a GUI for the
Defoma package, from the command line. Type <code>sudo dfontmgr …</code></p><p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/dfontmgr.png" title="dfontmgr.png"><img alt="dfontmgr.png" class="float" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/dfontmgr.png"></a>DEbian
Font MAnager a.k.a. dfontmgr (available through the Synaptic Package
Manager) is helpful when you want to register and unregister fonts on a
Debian / Ubuntu system.</p>
<p>After installation you can start the manager, which is a GUI for the
Defoma package, from the command line. Type <code>sudo dfontmgr</code> (you need to
be root to make changes to fonts). It does not look very pretty but
installing and uninstalling fonts should now be easy.</p>DIN - Das Ist Norm - II2007-03-14T16:20:00+01:002007-03-14T16:20:00+01:00admintag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-03-14:/type/din-das-ist-norm-ii.html<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_new.jpg" title="plate_new.jpg"><img alt="plate_new.jpg" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_new.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_old.jpg" title="plate_old.jpg"><img alt="plate_old.jpg" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_old.jpg"></a></p>
<p>"FE-Schrift or fälschungserschwerende Schrift (falsification-hindering
script) has been the only typeface used on new vehicle registration
plates in Germany since November, 2000. It was designed for the German
government in the late 1970s in the light of Red Army Fraction terrorist
activities, when it was discovered that with the then …</p><p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_new.jpg" title="plate_new.jpg"><img alt="plate_new.jpg" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_new.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_old.jpg" title="plate_old.jpg"><img alt="plate_old.jpg" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/plate_old.jpg"></a></p>
<p>"FE-Schrift or fälschungserschwerende Schrift (falsification-hindering
script) has been the only typeface used on new vehicle registration
plates in Germany since November, 2000. It was designed for the German
government in the late 1970s in the light of Red Army Fraction terrorist
activities, when it was discovered that with the then standard font for
vehicle registration plates (DIN 1451 road-sign font) it was
particularly easy to modify letters by applying a small amount of black
paint or black insulating tape. For example, it was easy to change a "P"
to an "R" or a "B", or an "L" or "F" to an "E". Modifications to FE-font
plates are somewhat more difficult as they also require the use of white
paint, which is easily distinguished at a distance from the peculiar
retroreflective white background of the plate, in particular at night."</p>
<p>From:<br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift</a></p>And all he left was letter A...2007-02-28T11:14:00+01:002007-02-28T11:14:00+01:00admintag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-02-28:/type/and-all-he-left-was-letter-a.html<p><em>A little note on <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=183">Appropriation and Type
text</a>.</em></p>
<p>Gutemberg printed the first book with movable type in 1455. Maybe
copyright wasn't existing at the time, but there was, and there is
still, a fight for the first inventor of the printer machine in Europe.
Castaldi is alleged to have created …</p><p><em>A little note on <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=183">Appropriation and Type
text</a>.</em></p>
<p>Gutemberg printed the first book with movable type in 1455. Maybe
copyright wasn't existing at the time, but there was, and there is
still, a fight for the first inventor of the printer machine in Europe.
Castaldi is alleged to have created movable type in 1442 (inspired by
the use of glass letters made in Venice and used by scribes to print
large first letter on page. Gutemberg knew that invention from Faust,
one of his student.)</p>
<p>One mythical story about the creation of printing press is a robbery.
Laurens Janszoon Coster was a important citizen of Dutch city Haarlem.
He discovered the movable type while playing with his grandchildren,
cutting pieces of wood in shapes of letters. Realizing the possibilities
of this, Coster improved the system with good ink and metal letters, and
soon started to print books. Business florishes, worksmen are employed.
But while the Coster family were at church on Christmas Eve 1441,
employee Johann broke into the printing office and stole presses and
types. He fled to Mainz, where he immediately sat an office and print.
Some version tells it was Johannes Fust, the partner of Gutenberg (and
who scrooge him later on).</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/coster.jpg" title="coster.jpg"><img alt="coster.jpg" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/coster.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Fust was formerly often confused with the famous magician Dr Johann
Faust, who, though an historical figure, had nothing to do with him.</p>
<p>Not to mention the fact that the first printed font was an imitation of
monastic script blackletter.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/sample.jpg" title="sample.jpg"><img alt="sample.jpg" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/sample.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Read in "The Secret History of Letters", Simon Loxley, ed. I. B. Tauris,
2006</p>Appropriation and Type - before and today2007-01-31T16:38:00+01:002007-01-31T16:38:00+01:00Ricardotag:blog.osp.kitchen,2007-01-31:/type/appropriation-and-type-before-and-today.html<p>Appropriation has been a recurring and accepted strategy in defining
typography as activity and business. We can pinpoint four cases where
appropriation has definitely been key in defining landmarks in the
history of type, not only aiding the breaking of technical and creative
boundaries but also helping to question legal …</p><p>Appropriation has been a recurring and accepted strategy in defining
typography as activity and business. We can pinpoint four cases where
appropriation has definitely been key in defining landmarks in the
history of type, not only aiding the breaking of technical and creative
boundaries but also helping to question legal and moral ones.</p>
<p>We'll go on to briefly analyse the current situation in typography,
focusing on the approach to the subject by corporations, users and
designers. The current business model (digital foundries, font files
with copyrights) is, as we'll argue, a remnant of a time where a
typeface filled a whole drawer and fails to account for the necessary
changes that the information age demands; we'll conclude with the
definition of an essentially contradictory business model that has very
strong stands against "font forging" and copyright issues, although it
has historically - and now, more than ever - thrived on constant, and
often uncredited, appropriation of ideas and designs.</p>
<!--more-->
<p><strong>1. Appropriation in type through history</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The Gutenberg press</li>
<li>Stanley Morison and Monotype</li>
<li>Arial</li>
<li>Segoe</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>2. The digital typography paradigm</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Corporate type</li>
<li>User type</li>
<li>Designer type</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>3. Tweaking and reviving<br>
4. Technology on arcane standards<br>
5. What now<br>
</strong><br>
<em>a. Notes<br>
b. References<br>
c. Online references</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>1. Appropriation in type through history</strong></p>
<p>We could certainly identify many more instances of inspiration or
downright copying of ideas in typography, but these four cases will
suffice to demonstrate the different uses of copy, inspiration and
appropriation in general. Our focus here will be on the issue of
creative appropriation (inspiration) on one hand, and corporate business
models and copyright issues (plagiarism) on the other.</p>
<p><strong>i. The Gutenberg Press</strong></p>
<p>In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg produced the first commercially viable model
of his printing press, which was widely used for centuries until the
advent of the Linotype machine, the first way to automate, though
partially, the type setting and printing process.<br>
Gutenberg's press was the result of the combination of five key methods
and processes, three - possibly four - of which were not original:</p>
<ul>
<li>The screw press, which was already used by the Greeks and Romans to
process olive oil and wine.</li>
<li>Block printing, present in China since 594 AD. Gutenberg's
innovation was to use metal cast types (instead of the Chinese
traditional woodblock printing), although metal typecasting was
already developed in Korea around 1230 AD.</li>
<li>Letter punches, which were a goldsmithing technique - Gutenberg was
a goldsmith - used to engrave letters in metal pieces.</li>
<li>Letter replica casting, a method to quickly create new individual
characters, along with a particular metal alloy that made for
durable pieces. This method has been attributed to Gutenberg but
recent studies shed doubts on this fact.</li>
<li>Metal-adherent ink, devised by Gutenberg.</li>
</ul>
<p>This shows that originality is not a straightforward issue, in a time
before copyrights existed (it was not before 1700 that the first
copyright statute appeared in Britain), the protection of ideas could
have changed the fate of this invention. the combination of methods
made. What matters here is that they were combined in a way that made
typography as we know it possible, and there seems to be absolutely no
question to the legitimacy of this invention, which was made possible by
appropriating previous methods and processes. Gutenberg's model of
printing stood firm for centuries until the Linotype machine introduced
partial automation of the printing process.</p>
<p><strong>ii. Stanley Morison and Monotype</strong></p>
<p>On 1886, the Linotype machine began to be produced by the Mergenthaler
Printing Co. in the United States. It wouldn't take long, though (a
year) for Lanston Monotype to begin production of their own
fully-automated typesetting machine, devised by Tolbert Lanston.</p>
<p>In 1922, <strong>Stanley Morison</strong> was appointed as typographic advisor of the
Monotype Corporation (the British branch of the Philadephia company), a
post he would keep until 1967. The Monotype Corporation built an
extensive catalog of cuts made by Morison from classic references, such
as Bodoni, Bembo, Baskerville, and several others. These revivals helped
to bring general interest to the old masters' works, besides consisting
of a general market strategy to try to push up the value of the Monotype
machine - the faces available would definitely determine the decision of
a buyer who fancies a particular style, and thus the Monotype
Corporation had no qualms about recruiting all the classics (which were
in the public domain).</p>
<p>It is tremendously unfair, though, to portray Morison as a hijacker - he
was one of the hallmarks of 20th century type, being responsible for the
creation of Times New Roman and hugely influencing the field of
typography to the present day by the efforts he dedicated to bringing
the classics to the general public - legitimately appropriating other
designs. Without Morison's endeavour, our legacy would certainly be
poorer today.</p>
<p><strong>iii. Arial, Monotype and Microsoft</strong></p>
<p>1982 is the year in which the <strong>Arial</strong> typeface was released by
Monotype Typography (Monotype Corporation's type design division).
Designed by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders, this typeface had a
remarkable issue. Not only does it have obvious similarities to other
modern sans-serifs (sharing features with Helvetica, Univers and
Akzidenz Grotesk), it exactly mirrors the glyph width tables from
Helvetica, which is the data included in a font file that describes each
character's dimensions. An exact match that gives little chance for
coincidence.</p>
<p>Microsoft licensed Arial from Monotype instead of the more expensive
Helvetica, and in 1990 it was bundled with Microsoft Windows 3.1. It has
been a staple of Windows systems until today. This is a specific case
where a typeface was chosen not by its genuine creative and/or practical
value but by external reasons, in this case backed by financial motives.
Type designers are almost unanimous in shunning Arial as a lesser
typeface: it is notably absent from Robert Bringhurst's typeface
selection in <em>The Elements of Typographic Style</em> (the current all-around
reference on type design from the designer's perspective), and is also
only mentioned as a passing remark on Robin Nicholas's entry on the
typographic encyclopedic survey by Friedl et al[1]. This is pretty
much a clear notion of the type designers' community on the Arial issue;
it's also worth noting that there has been, however, no attempt to
replace Arial as a standard font in operating systems[2].</p>
<p>In strict legal/copyright terms, it's appropriate to compare the Arial
case to a cheating student who argues that the fact that his exam has
exact passages from his nearest classmates' exams owes to coincidence.
It's reasonable to argue that borrowing from three sources rather than
just one does not make the situation more acceptable.</p>
<p>So Arial stands in mixed principles: the type community is almost
unanimous in calling shenanigans, but it still made its way to our
current operating systems despite that fact - it never met any legal
actions.</p>
<p><strong>iv. Segoe</strong></p>
<p>In early 2006, Microsoft announced a significant effort to dignify type
design in their upcoming Vista operating system: six type designers -
Lucas de Groot and Robin Nicholas figuring among them - were comissioned
to design appropriate typefaces for screen and print. The result was six
very attractive fonts that not only could appeal to general uses by less
savvy people, but also soothe the type designers' fancy.</p>
<p>Another font included in Vista is Segoe, a revival of Frutiger Next
(which in turn is a revival of Frutiger) that Microsoft licensed from
Monotype and altered. It's not the first case in which Adrian Frutiger's
work has been remade: Adobe's Myriad and Apple's Podium Sans also bear a
striking resemblance to Frutiger's structure. When Microsoft registered
Segoe in Europe in 2004, Linotype sued for copyright infringement since
European law, unlike the American one, recognises the rights to font
designs (although patent law is often used to circumvent this legal void
in the US).</p>
<p>The most significant fact is that Microsoft based their defense not on
the issue of originality - stating the differences between Segoe and
Frutiger Next, but on the fact that Linotype wasn't selling its typeface
in Europe when the request was filed. This situation could very well be
interpreted as an admission by Microsoft's part that the font in fact
owes credit to Frutiger's design.</p>
<p>This case becomes all more revealing in that it's a high-profile and
current example of an attempt to settle the authenticity of a type
design in courts. Unlike Arial, it didn't sneak past the critics and
found serious hurdles while Microsoft tried to implement it in its
Windows OS. A verdict on the Segoe case is expected in early 2007.</p>
<p><strong>2. The digital typography paradigm</strong></p>
<p>Typography, and type design in particular, is historically defined by a
constant recursion of past themes and trends, be it as inspiration -
revivals - or as a way to question them - as in post-modern type
examples, such as <a href="http://www.emigre.com">Emigre</a>'s or <a href="http://www.davidcarsondesign.com">David
Carson</a>'s work. Nevertheless, modern
designs still owe heavily (with or without credit) to a tradition of
arts and crafts spanning five centuries.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, on the last 20 years, the type world hasn't ceased discussing
the issue of rights and plagiarism, a discussion that was sparked by the
digital revolution and the introduction of the personal computer as an
all-purpose design and production tool. This shift implied that the
tools used in typography and book production ceased to be the sole
domain of type makers, printers and book publishers - the only ones that
could afford the initial investment of a type foundry, workshop or
printing press and manage it effectively. Designing type soon became
cheaper and cheaper, as the physical footprint of the new tools
gradually became smaller and smaller. Nowadays, a computer and a printer
can do in minutes what a huge phototypesetting equipment would have
taken a lot of time, effort and money to produce 10 years ago.</p>
<p>The most important effect of the digital revolution in type design is
that typefaces became fonts - a radical change in that they were no more
lead blocks but data, files that describe how each glyph should be drawn
on screen or on a printer. <a href="http://fontforge.sf.net">FontForge</a>, a free
software solution to type design, was released in 2004, doing away with
any software costs involved in font creation and editing, meaning the
only overhead for a type design business would be a PC, paper, drawing
tools, an image-capture device (scanner or camera) and eventually an
Internet connection. This change has massive repercussions in the whole
typography market: now type design wouldn't, in theory, require any kind
of intermediaries between the typographer/designer and its audience.
Reality developed otherwise, as we will see from three standpoints in
typography usage and creation.</p>
<p><strong>i. Corporate Type</strong></p>
<p>The digital revolution made a deep re-definition of most areas of study
possible. We will show, though, that the field of typography has been
lagging behind when it comes to taking advantage of the digital medium.
Moreover, the corporate business model has failed to account for the
specific needs and features of information technology, sticking to an
artificial market sustained by an inflated value attributed to digital
files as if they still were physical objects that are owned.</p>
<p>Nowadays, there are three major players in the type business: Microsoft,
Adobe and Monotype Imaging.</p>
<p><strong>Apple Computer</strong> hasn't been a key figure in the type market
(concentrating on developing font technology for its operating system),
but it had an essential role in developing the actual playing field.
Apple heralded the personal computer era in with their original
Macintosh and has intermittently collaborated and competed with
Microsoft and Adobe, being responsible for the development of the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueType">TrueType</a> font format along with
Microsoft as a response to Adobe's high-priced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_1_Font">PostScript Type
I</a> font description format.
The release of TrueType in 1991 forced Adobe to gradually reduce prices
and eventually follow suit, releasing the PostScript specifications so
that software developers could implement it without limitations in their
programs.</p>
<p><strong>Adobe Systems Inc.</strong>, besides being responsible for a highly
successful suite of imaging and DTP software, has a very strong position
in the type market: not only is it a type vendor (through its typography
division, Adobe Type) but also the most influential company in the sense
that it owns most digital design solutions - especially after acquiring
its main rival Macromedia in April 2005 and facing no significant
competition in its market.</p>
<p><strong>Microsoft</strong> is responsible for creating the most widely used operating
system, as well as the most popular office suite. Along with Adobe,
Microsoft developed the currently dominant OpenType file format, which
is freely available to developers as long as they agree to the licensing
terms. Adobe converted its entire type collection to OpenType in a move
to spread the new standard.</p>
<p><strong>Monotype Imaging</strong> is now a distant remnant of Tolbert Lanston's
original creation. It has adjusted technical breakthroughs in the 20th
century and claimed a staunch position in today's digital type market.
It was acquired by Agfa in 1999 forming Agfa Monotype, which in turn was
acquired by TA Associates (a North American investment firm), changing
its name to Monotype Imaging and developing a position in font software
and rendering engines, and also securing a strong standpoint in the font
vendor market after acquiring its rival Linotype (and the rights to
their entire type collection).</p>
<p><strong>ii. User Type</strong></p>
<p>Most people get introduced to digital type by means of text editors. The
digital revolution would be the perfect reason to finally open
typography to everyone and make it a mainstream subject instead of a
limited-access craft. Things have happened otherwise, though, and the
inability to create a suitable interface for allowing basic
experimentation with type has severely crippled the possibilities of the
new medium.</p>
<p>The font selection paradigm has changed little during the years,
offering a whole collection of typefaces in a drop-down menu. Such is
the immediateness of digital type: It's just there, no need to open
drawers with thousands of lead characters. Users are encouraged, by
means of a simple GUI, to just pick their font and get to work on their
document. Even more: you don't even need to pick, just stick with the
default choice the software maker's made for you. Word processing
interfaces also assume the user doesn't want to be bothered with layout
choices such as margins, structure - and they also make the choice for
us (incidentally, they also made it quite awkward to change these
defaults). In short: the standard word-processing interface tells users
to not bother with type.</p>
<p>This paradigm helps to build the general perception that a font is a
finished, shrink-wrapped and untouchable product - pretty much like
prepackaged software. Although font files can be opened and edited as
long as we have an appropriate editor, most typeface editors are either
crude or catering exclusively to the type designer market. The user
usually isn't able to reach the underpinnings and intricacies of type,
instead being expected just to understand that the default template is
more than enough.</p>
<p>Such an approach to software designing effectively discourages any kind
of interest in typographic issues by the general public, and helps to
fuel the thought that fonts are "just there". It's worth noting that
there is still no easy and streamlined way to buy, install and use
fonts, unlike most other digital markets - iTunes would be a good
example of that kind of market strategy.</p>
<p><strong>iii. Designer Type</strong></p>
<p>The type designer community is centered on the study of classical and
modern examples and making attempts to postulate theory and practical
guidelines for the craft of type design, sitting somewhere between the
methods of architecture and those of poetry.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.identifont.com/show?13A">Fred Smeijers</a>'s analysis of the
type designer's duty, in his manifesto <strong>Type Now</strong>, is quite
straightforward. On the issue of responsibility of type designers and
commitment to specific guidelines, he states that "a type designer
cannot escape this responsibility of judgment (...). In the end, people
- the society - either accept it or they don't"[3]. Society, it seems,
would be the ultimate judge of whether a typeface is a hallmark of craft
or doomed to failure.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we find a curious account on Smeijers's description
on Fontana, a typeface by Ruben Fontana inspired by Meta [4]: he
describes it as "uncomplicated", "tres sympathique", "sunny" and "open
minded". This certainly sounds more like a description of a person or a
song than that of an object, and indeed sheds some doubt on the touted
objectiveness of good type design in the sense that it seems unable to
find serious and objective terms to classify a typeface's features.
Historical categorisations of design tendencies vary from author to
author, and although there are some widely used terms to describe
historical periods and typeface features, such as "transitional type" or
"slab serifs", there's a tendency to borrow from poetry and music to
identify a type family's "soul" (which, though relevant from an artist
or a historian's point of view, is rather unscientific).</p>
<p>This is not a contradiction, though, since we can distinguish between
type as a creative activity (in which there would be no problem with
this kind of analogy) and type as an industry and commodity (where
profit, market tendency, shareholder demands and legal requirements
imply that things have a definite value and purpose). Naturally,
Smeijers's interest is on the craft and art of typography, and not the
market and the economic relationships that it spawns. On the other hand,
our interest is definitely that which Smeijers doesn't care for.</p>
<p>We need to account that defending the status of type as a functional
solution to practical problems requires an objective set of rules that
derive from the way we read and write. We cannot yet account for matters
of objective legibility while we don't possess all information on our
mental processes and the mechanisms in the brain involved in acquiring
and processing written information - this is the field of cognitive
psychology and neuroscience.</p>
<p>We know, from history, that a text with generous linespacing will
certainly read better than other with no linespacing at all. The German
blackletter used by Gutenberg in his Bible, however, is almost
unreadable to a contemporary westerner's eyes and definitely alien to
someone from a non-Western background. In the fifteenth century, though,
it was certainly the norm. History can help to avoid repeating mistakes,
but it also shows the relative importance of our current standards.</p>
<p>In short, we still cannot objectively define type, and won't be able to
before a major breakthrough in neural science. However, copyright issues
and legal matters impose formal specifications on what a font is and
what it is not. Whether a typeface is a tweak, a revival or a work of
art is left to the courts.</p>
<p><strong>3. Tweaking and reviving</strong></p>
<p>In order to explain the type designer's first reluctance to embrace the
digital alternative, and also understand how design processes are not as
straightforward as they are presented to us, we'll concentrate on Fred
Smeijers's account on the current state of events in typography.
Specifically, we'll borrow his term <strong>font tweaking</strong> [5]. This
process consists of loading a font, "tweaking" it - altering small
details - and releasing them with different names, thereby circumventing
copyright laws (US law protects font names as trademarks, but not font
designs). Smeijers is clear in pointing that font tweakers have nothing
to do with type design at all, reinforcing the distinction between doing
type as a labour of love and doing it for a profit.</p>
<p>Font revivals, on the other hand, are re-interpretations of existing
designs, and our best example would be Morison's effort in bringing the
classical designs into the Monotype type library. Revivals matter to us
because they aren't original productions (as they draw inspiration from
existing designs) but aren't copies either (because no rights over them
could be warranted otherwise, since there would be no original idea).</p>
<p>Digital type foundries and vendors still maintain the tradition,
digitising and redoing the old masters' work. It's worth noting that
even if a certain typeface, such as those with expired copyrights,
resides in the public domain, anyone can make a digital version - a
revival - and claim the rights to it.</p>
<p>Digital type catalogues are rife with revivals: In Bringhurst's
inventory of digital foundries[6], we can find 14 that issue revivals,
and 4 that only release original designs. This interest in resuscitating
previous designs also has motives that stand apart from simple
typographic archaeology. Revivals are routinely issued by vendors and
foundries to protect the rights of the rightsholder when a typeface's
copyright is about to expire. Such is the case with Avenir LT, Adobe
Garamond and Frutiger Next - which is what allowed Linotype to retain
the rights to the original design and be able to sue Microsoft.</p>
<p>Revivals reside in a kind of legal in-between - some, like Arial (which
is more a tweak than a declared revival), manage to stick around; while
others, like Segoe, raise copyright lawyers' eyebrows.</p>
<p>Given these two aspects, one cannot but wonder that a type designer
wouldn't be thrilled with this perspective. One has also to question why
there is such a rift in reactions between font tweaking and font
revivals, which can be interpreted as no more than corporate font
tweaking. A practical example of this is MyFonts.com's description of
the Avenir LT font
(<a href="http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/avenir-lt/">link</a>, down the
page) - a "recut version of Avenir", stating that "The 'LT' was added to
the name as the metrics differ from the original version". This
definitely corresponds to Smeijers' description of font tweaking,
despite the fact that the name change wasn't intended to avoid legal
troubles, but to assert the brand of the author of the revival. What is
a revival, then, other than a corporate-sanctioned font tweak?</p>
<p><strong>4. Technology on arcane standards</strong></p>
<p>The current terminology used in typography is also a clear signal of how
it still depends on former traditions instead of adapting to its new
medium.</p>
<p>Digital typography's rules and terminology have been determined by its
physical counterparts, and that still hasn't changed. For example, we
still talk about "leading" - a term for the spacing between lines that
takes its name from the lead strips used for that purpose - although the
term "line spacing" is gradually replacing it in user-oriented
applications such as Microsoft Word.</p>
<p>Another example: while type foundries got that name because of their
heavy use of metal, single-person studios with Macs are still referred
to as "foundries". And fonts are described as being "cut" or "cast",
more than "digitised". We talk about "digital versions" instead of
digital copies, perhaps to preserve their history and soul and not treat
them as just another file in a user's computer.</p>
<p>Although we can forgive this persistence in using traditional
typesetting terms (mayhap as a historic homage), it also is a symptom
that the type activity and business have failed to redefine themselves
for the digital medium. On the other hand, these examples can actually
be interpreted as quite an artificial and linguistic way to value the
work of the typographer, probably with the aim of distinguishing between
"true" type designers and mere font tweakers, and not let "true"
typography be contaminated by the creeping tweaker threat.</p>
<p><strong>5. Now</strong></p>
<p>Given that digital type is hanging around for thirty years, the progress
in improving on font technology and taking advantage of the digital
medium has been rather dim. On the other hand, type designers in general
(with the exception of rare cases such as <a href="www.emigre.com">Emigre</a> or
<a href="http://www.letterror.com/">Letterror</a>) have not tried to get to grips
with font technology, rather limiting themselves to drawing and tracing
their designs in Fontographer and selling them on major font vendors
(<a href="http://www.myfonts.com">MyFonts</a>, <a href="http://www.fonts.com/">Monotype</a>)
or independent ones (such as <a href="http://www.t26.com/">T26</a> and
<a href="http://www.veer.com/">Veer</a>). Worse still, issues of originality and
plagiarism have been discussed in type design circles, but corporate
entities break them routinely while trying, at the same time, to assert
their rights in courts.</p>
<p>The difference between major and minor vendors is not substantial:
though distributors like Veer try to create a community and improve on
the users' and designers' experience compared to major sellers through
research, designer spotlights and support, digital typefaces are still
regarded in an esoteric limbo between metal characters and abstract
data. And though the price tags have steadily declined (and recently
stabilised in the 20 dollar range in general), it is revealing that
business models like iTunes or Flickr, or collaborative methods in
producing typefaces (many typographers are still lone workers) haven't
shown up yet, and that file formats have changed so little in the face
of recent, sleeker solutions like XML and SVG. And there's little hope
for innovation: the Adobe-Macromedia and Monotype-Linotype mergers have
paved the ground for a corporate monoculture ruled by software and
typeface vendors and distributors, with very little margin for
competition.</p>
<p>We can also point a mutual apathy between commercial developers and
designers as a possible reason - type designers try to adapt to outdated
ways - file formats and type tools - to create their works, while
developers lag in keeping up to date to new breakthroughs. Limiting the
tools is limiting the imagination.</p>
<p>On the other hand, font vendors have an incredibly contradictory stance
regarding font rights, using copyright law to protect their products
while violating it to borrow from others'. The different fate of Arial
and Segoe begs the question: are the vendors and distributors handling
this as it should be handled?</p>
<p>This model's obvious contradictions definitely invite serious
questioning as to the legitimacy and validity of the current type market
and business model, which cannot effectively release its standards and
technology because of the threat of competition. It's therefore left to
users, designers and independent developers to shape a new way of
defining type and creating effective communication channels between
providers and users, be it through online communities or real-world
discussion in type designer's circles and colleges.</p>
<p>If type takes the free/open source route -
<a href="http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/">the</a>
<a href="http://www.typeforge.net/cms/">wheels</a>
<a href="http://www.sil.org/~gaultney/gentium/">are</a>
<a href="http://robofab.com/ufo/index.html">already</a>
<a href="http://linuxlibertine.sourceforge.net/#licence">in</a>
<a href="http://freefontmanifesto.blogspot.com/">motion</a> - how can type vendors
sustain their profit margins and their markets? With open fonts and free
font-editing software around, there would be little doubt that
typography can take a very interesting turn. Could we also see the open
approach and the business approach coexist, catering to specific users'
needs, whether amateur or professional? And, finally, will the type
world come to terms with the fact that appropriation and use of other's
ideas have defined the activity since its beginnings, and that it
implies a serious rethinking of concepts such as authorship, plagiarism
and author's rights?</p>
<p><em>[Note: this text was written as part of my MA studies at the Piet
Zwart Institute. Please <strong>do</strong> post any comments or corrections in the
comment box below!]</em></p>
<p><strong>a. Notes</strong></p>
<p>[1] Friedl, Ott, Stein: Typography: An encyclopedic survey of type
design and techniques through history. (p. 409)<br>
[2] Arial is now a "standard" font of web typography, being part of a
very limited set of fonts that all browsers can read.<br>
[3] Smeijers, Fred: Type Now. (p.25)<br>
[4] id., p. 40<br>
[5] id., p. 32<br>
[6] Bringhurst, Robert: The Elements of Typographic Style. (p.309)</p>
<p><strong>b. References</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Bringhurst, Robert: The Elements of Typographic Style. Vancouver,
Hartley & Marks, 2002.</li>
<li>Smeijers, Fred: Type Now. London, Hyphen Press, 2003.</li>
<li>Friedl, Ott, Stein: Typography: An encyclopedic survey of type
design and techniques through history. London, Black Dog &
Leventhal, 1998.</li>
<li>Steinberg, S.H., and Trevitt, John: Five Hundred Years of Printing
(4th Revised edition). London, Oak Knoll Press, 1996.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>c: Online references</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.ms-studio.com/articles.html">The Scourge of Arial</a> by
Mark Simonson (background and critical account on Arial)</li>
<li><a href="http://redir.internet.com/!search/itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/executive_tech/article.php/3599861">"Is Microsoft's Vista Font Just a
Copy?"</a>
by Brian Livingston (news article on the Segoe legal case)</li>
<li><a href="http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/executive_tech/article.php/3601421">"Designer Says Vista Font Is
Original"</a>
by Brian Livingston (followup on the previous story)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sanskritweb.net/forgers/#FORGERS">The Funny Font Forging
Industry</a> - A Report
for Legal Authorities by Ulrich Stiehl (an aggressive take on font
tweaking and appropriation)</li>
</ul>Open DIN: Das Ist Norm2006-11-02T12:08:00+01:002006-11-02T12:08:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-11-02:/type/open-din-das-ist-norm.html<p><strong>What does it mean, when a typeface is released in the public domain?
What are the legal issues surrounding typography? How can a font be
generated collaboratively, using open source software? What does it
mean, an open standard and how can such a standard fit different
contexts?</strong></p>
<p><img alt="DIN_Q" id="image148" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/q-32.jpg"></p>
<p>To get our …</p><p><strong>What does it mean, when a typeface is released in the public domain?
What are the legal issues surrounding typography? How can a font be
generated collaboratively, using open source software? What does it
mean, an open standard and how can such a standard fit different
contexts?</strong></p>
<p><img alt="DIN_Q" id="image148" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/q-32.jpg"></p>
<p>To get our hands into these and many other interesting, but difficult
questions, the Open Source Publishing team has embarked on a new
adventure. In the coming year, we will be working on a new digital
rendering of the classic DIN font with the aim to release it in the
public domain.</p>
<p>We chose DIN (often referred to as "the German Autobahn typeface") as a
starting point for a few reasons.</p>
<p>First of all, because it is one of the rare typefaces that was released
into the public domain from the moment it was designed in 1932. While
the original drawings remain freely available, various type foundries
have copyrighted digital renderings (see:
<a href="http://www.linotype.com/306/din1451-family.html">http://www.linotype.com/</a>
and
<a href="http://www.fontfont.com/shop/index.ep?cview=P71702D&clist=PD">http://www.fontfont.com/</a>).</p>
<p>Secondly because its particular history brings up many questions about
standards, their political implications and relations to use. In 1936
the German Standard Committee decided DIN should be employed in
technology, traffic, administration, and business, with the idea to
facilitate the development of German engineering and industry. Our point
of departure is therefore far from neutral ground.</p>
<p>Collaborators: Pierre Huyghebaert, Harrisson, Philip May, Nicolas Maleve
and Femke Snelting.</p>
<p><wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>651</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[ignacio]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[ignaciogarcia@platoniq.net]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url></wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[81.36.162.242]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2006-11-18 10:49:16]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2006-11-18 09:49:16]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[this is a great initiative, please don't forget to include the spanish special characters!]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>3758</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Elle]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[beer.brommel@hotmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url></wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[80.200.0.105]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2007-06-23 20:45:12]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2007-06-23 19:45:12]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[I really am looking forward to this open font, since I am looking for it a long time]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>42774</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.linuxkafe.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.141.193]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2008-09-11 00:28:13]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2008-09-10 23:28:13]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[does it mean getting paths from Manuale Tipografico (and alike) raster scans we can have an OpenBodoni without having legal problems with those known foundries used to sell Bodoni, since a 250 year old work is a public domain?]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44696</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.linuxkafe.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.147.20]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-02-23 18:21:24]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-02-23 17:21:24]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[i forgot to tell about this project: http://klepas.org/openbaskerville/</p>
<p>(how can we delete that mistaken previous post?)]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44859</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-18 01:50:00]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-17 23:50:00]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[http://www.fontshop.be/upload/0ZC7YPAC.jpg - found this master drawing of Prussian Railways typeface - if someone have this in a better resolution, please let us know! :)]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44858</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-17 17:18:06]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-17 15:18:06]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Since this typeface were designed to be drawn over an orthogonal square grid, i didn't care about kernings - i think this would reach closelly the idea of the Prussian Railways at early 20th century - but, if the kerning needs really exists, could it be a good idea to be snapped to 50 or 25 units multiples?]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44857</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-17 17:09:00]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-17 15:09:00]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[http://www.magwerk.com/mag.php?magazine=encore&language=en&issue=13&page=34 helped me fixing http://pastebin.com/f21f16ecd (sfd) and http://pastebin.com/f4293eabb (svg) - accessing the original master drawing would help a lot indeed]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44855</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-17 00:53:12]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-16 22:53:12]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[i don't know if http://pastebin.com/f200354ae (sfd) and http://pastebin.com/f69957ad6 (svg) can be considered a start - of course it's plenty of mistakes, and i'm not completelly assured about if the licence of the original DIN drawing is really public domain (i imagine it is anyway...)]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44853</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-16 19:54:07]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-16 17:54:07]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[Interesting is seeing both Linotype and Fontfont versions are very different of the original Engschrift - both seems to try to fix some 'mistakes' from the original, and if some version (open, for example) follows strictly from the original (which seems to be public domain?), i think it may not have licensing problems... - i don't know if this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DIN1451board.jpg is the original master drawing, and where can we get one with better quality...]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44638</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[paulo]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.linuxkafe.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.56.143]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2008-12-28 12:05:27]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2008-12-28 11:05:27]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[not exactly about Din - the original drawings of Garamond seems to be in a Belgium museum - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantin-Moretus_Museum - would be possible an Open-Garamond being made from these drawings? http://barneycarroll.com/garamond.htm]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44862</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-18 18:24:12]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-18 16:24:12]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[when trying to upload to openfontlibrary.org - "/var/www/openfontlibrary.org/htdocs/cclib/cc-debug.php"(287): error_log(../cchost_offline/cc-log.txt) [function.error-log]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory [2009-06-18 16:22 pm][127.0.0.1][/media/submit/font] - beautiful...]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>44863</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[nitrofurano]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[nitrofurano@gmail.com]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://nitrofurano.gmail.com</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[87.196.237.33]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2009-06-18 19:38:20]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2009-06-18 17:38:20]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[last version at http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=107153]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment>
<wp:comment>
<wp:comment_id>45541</wp:comment_id>
<wp:comment_author><![CDATA[Waarom betalen voor iets dat gemeen goed is? « Jeffry Baecker]]></wp:comment_author>
<wp:comment_author_email><![CDATA[]]></wp:comment_author_email>
<wp:comment_author_url>http://jeffrybaecker.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/waarom-betalen-voor-iets-dat-gemeen-goed-is/</wp:comment_author_url>
<wp:comment_author_IP><![CDATA[66.135.48.201]]></wp:comment_author_IP>
<wp:comment_date><![CDATA[2010-05-19 11:46:23]]></wp:comment_date>
<wp:comment_date_gmt><![CDATA[2010-05-19 09:46:23]]></wp:comment_date_gmt>
<wp:comment_content><![CDATA[[...] Waarom betalen voor iets dat gemeen goed is? 19/05/2010 Via OSP [...]]]></wp:comment_content>
<wp:comment_approved><![CDATA[1]]></wp:comment_approved>
<wp:comment_type><![CDATA[pingback]]></wp:comment_type>
<wp:comment_parent>0</wp:comment_parent>
<wp:comment_user_id>0</wp:comment_user_id>
</wp:comment></p>Kaffeesatz + Tagesschrift2006-07-15T15:22:00+02:002006-07-15T15:22:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-07-15:/type/kaffeesatz-tagesschrift.html<p><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/kaffeesatz.gif"><img alt="kaffeesatz
font" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/_kaffeesatz.gif" title="kaffeesatz font"></a><br>
<strong>Kaffeeschrift</strong> was developed by Jan Gerner from Dresden for use in
menus etc., hence the monospaced figures. It works well for titles and
headers, but was not designed for longer texts (though it holds out
surprisingly well)</p>
<p>Download and try out here: <a href="http://www.yanone.de/typedesign/kaffeesatz/">http://www.yanone.de/typedesign/kaffeesatz/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/tagesschrift.gif"><img alt="tagesschrift
font" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/_tagesschrift.gif" title="tagesschrift font"></a><br>
Tagesschrift is …</p><p><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/kaffeesatz.gif"><img alt="kaffeesatz
font" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/_kaffeesatz.gif" title="kaffeesatz font"></a><br>
<strong>Kaffeeschrift</strong> was developed by Jan Gerner from Dresden for use in
menus etc., hence the monospaced figures. It works well for titles and
headers, but was not designed for longer texts (though it holds out
surprisingly well)</p>
<p>Download and try out here: <a href="http://www.yanone.de/typedesign/kaffeesatz/">http://www.yanone.de/typedesign/kaffeesatz/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/tagesschrift.gif"><img alt="tagesschrift
font" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/_tagesschrift.gif" title="tagesschrift font"></a><br>
Tagesschrift is scanned and vectoralized handwriting; very nice
atmosphere and a more than useful addition to the often rather dull set
of open fonts available.</p>
<p>Download and try out here:
<a href="http://www.yanone.de/typedesign/tagesschrift/">http://www.yanone.de/typedesign/tagesschrift/</a></p>
<p>Both fonts are available under a not too restrictive Creative Commons
License; you can copy, distribute, display, and perform (now that's a
nice idea! -> I think this would mean you can embed them in
documents?) the fonts; make derivative versions and also make commercial
use of them. If you distribute (the same or altered versions), you are
obliged to attribute Jan Gerner / http://www.yanone.de</p>Freie Schriften im Portrait2006-07-15T15:00:00+02:002006-07-15T15:00:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-07-15:/type/freie-schriften-im-portrait.html<p>For those who read German, type designer and -critic Gerrit van Aaken
published quite a few well-researched essays on familiar open source
typefaces such as <strong>Gentium</strong> and <strong>Vera</strong> plus a few surprises such as
<strong>Kaffeesatz</strong> and <strong>Union</strong> (not under an open licence, but distributed
by the Danish government for use …</p><p>For those who read German, type designer and -critic Gerrit van Aaken
published quite a few well-researched essays on familiar open source
typefaces such as <strong>Gentium</strong> and <strong>Vera</strong> plus a few surprises such as
<strong>Kaffeesatz</strong> and <strong>Union</strong> (not under an open licence, but distributed
by the Danish government for use in documents relating to Danish
culture. Interesting concept...)</p>
<p><a href="http://praegnanz.de/essays/">http://praegnanz.de/essays</a></p>Two Times Collaborative Type2006-06-06T22:43:00+02:002006-06-06T22:43:00+02:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-06-06:/type/two-times-collaborative-type.html<p>Two projects to submit fonts to, or find others to work with:</p>
<p><strong>Typeforge</strong><br>
<a href="http://www.typeforge.net/cms/">http://www.typeforge.net</a><br>
<img alt="fontforge" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/_fontforge.jpg" title="fontforge"></p>
<p>The <em>Typeforge</em> project was initiated by Portuguese type designer Pedro
Amado, to create a platform for "open source collaborative type design".
You are encouraged to share sketches, notes and ideas and work on …</p><p>Two projects to submit fonts to, or find others to work with:</p>
<p><strong>Typeforge</strong><br>
<a href="http://www.typeforge.net/cms/">http://www.typeforge.net</a><br>
<img alt="fontforge" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/_fontforge.jpg" title="fontforge"></p>
<p>The <em>Typeforge</em> project was initiated by Portuguese type designer Pedro
Amado, to create a platform for "open source collaborative type design".
You are encouraged to share sketches, notes and ideas and work on
collective projects. Good Fontforge tips + tricks too!</p>
<p><strong>Open Font Library</strong><br>
<a href="http://openfontlibrary.org/">http://openfontlibrary.org/</a></p>
<p>Based on the same principle as the <a href="http://openclipart.org/">Open Clip Art
Library</a>, this project simply aims to bring
together copyleft fonts. The project has just started, hence their
collection is rather small, but such a repository is so much needed that
I think it could grow quickly once people start adding.</p>This font is a ripoff, said the Invalidity Division2006-04-05T09:40:00+02:002006-04-05T09:40:00+02:00nicolastag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-04-05:/type/this-font-is-a-ripoff-said-the-invalidity-division.html<p><em>Invalidity Division</em>, sounds like science-fiction, doesn't it?
<em>Registered community design</em> is not bad either. Time to start a jargon
file...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[...]this time the dispute is over fonts; specifically Segoe, one of
the typefaces Microsoft wants to use in Vista <font color="gray">(the
new Windows, "bringing clarity to your world")</font>. Microsoft filed
its …</p></blockquote><p><em>Invalidity Division</em>, sounds like science-fiction, doesn't it?
<em>Registered community design</em> is not bad either. Time to start a jargon
file...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[...]this time the dispute is over fonts; specifically Segoe, one of
the typefaces Microsoft wants to use in Vista <font color="gray">(the
new Windows, "bringing clarity to your world")</font>. Microsoft filed
its "registered community design" for the font back in January of
2004, paid the required fee, and everything was great—until December.</p>
<p>Just days before the end of 2004, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
sought a "declaration of invalidity" from the Invalidity Division
(yes, that is it's real name) of the Office for Harmonization in the
Internal Market. As the owner of the Linotype brand, Heidelberger
Druckmaschinen claimed that Microsoft's "new" font was a blatant
ripoff of Linotype's own Frutiger LT 45 Light, which has been sold by
the company for years. [...]</p>
<p>"The typefaces of both designs have the same stroke thickness. The
ratio from cap-height to descender height is equal. The proportion of
character height to character pitch is identical. The type face in the
specimen text does not show any differences."<br>
So they threw Microsoft's application out and ordered the company to
pay all the fees incurred by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Read online:
<a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060404-6517.html">http://arstechnica.com/news.ar...</a></p>The politics of typography2006-03-01T19:56:00+01:002006-03-01T19:56:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-03-01:/type/the-politics-of-typography.html<p>The open source font <strong>Gentium</strong> and <strong>The SIL Open Font License</strong> are
both developed and distributed by <a href="http://www.sil.org">S.I.L.</a>, also
known as The Summer Institute for Linguistics, apparently a subsidiary
of the <a href="http://www.wicliffe.org">Wicliffe Bible Translators</a>. S.I.L. has
developed large-scale ethno-linguistic research projects such as
<a href="http://www.ethnologue.org">http://www.ethnologue …</a></p><p>The open source font <strong>Gentium</strong> and <strong>The SIL Open Font License</strong> are
both developed and distributed by <a href="http://www.sil.org">S.I.L.</a>, also
known as The Summer Institute for Linguistics, apparently a subsidiary
of the <a href="http://www.wicliffe.org">Wicliffe Bible Translators</a>. S.I.L. has
developed large-scale ethno-linguistic research projects such as
<a href="http://www.ethnologue.org">http://www.ethnologue.org</a>, an attempt to map all indigenous languages
of the world. The S.I.L. site does not give much information about the
protestant character of it's mission, so we had to look for it somewhere
else. Marcio Ferreira da Silva (Universidade de Sao Paulo) about the
activities of S.I.L. in Brazil:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"S.I.L.'s objectives are no different from those of any other
traditional mission: the conversion of the indians and the saving of
their souls. Their methods, however, are in some ways peculiar,
incorporating a bilingual educational model which is an integral part
of their evangelical strategy."</p>
</blockquote>
<!--more-->
<blockquote>
<p>"The judicial and administrative references from the beginning of the
seventies should therefore be interpreted as the coming together of
the religiously dogmatic educational model idealized by S.I.L. and the
indigenous framework put forward by the military regime. In the Indian
Statute - a law passed in 1973 -, for example, there is explicit
reference to teaching reading and writing "in the language of the
group to which they belong", but nothing regarding the of official
recognition of these languages as means of communication with these
ethnically different minorities (...) Overall, the teaching of
communication skills in native language, included in law in the
seventies, is born of a purely instrumental missionary practice."</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.clas.berkeley.edu:7001/Events/fall1999/10-28-99-ferreiradasilva/">http://www.clas.berkeley.edu:7001/Events/fall1999/10-28-99-ferreiradasilva/</a></p>The Open Font License2006-02-27T21:34:00+01:002006-02-27T21:34:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-02-27:/type/the-open-font-license.html<p>[check <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=54">The politics of
typography</a> before applying
SIL-OFL]</p>
<p><img alt="" height="31" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/OFL_logo_rect_color.png" width="88"><br>
The SIL-OFL is a free license specifically developed for (multi-lingual)
fonts. These are the four freedoms guaranteed through the Open Font
License (similar to other Free licenses):<br>
<em>* <strong>Use</strong>: the freedom to use font software for any purpose. (freedom
0)<br>
* <strong>Study and adaptation …</strong></em></p><p>[check <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=54">The politics of
typography</a> before applying
SIL-OFL]</p>
<p><img alt="" height="31" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/OFL_logo_rect_color.png" width="88"><br>
The SIL-OFL is a free license specifically developed for (multi-lingual)
fonts. These are the four freedoms guaranteed through the Open Font
License (similar to other Free licenses):<br>
<em>* <strong>Use</strong>: the freedom to use font software for any purpose. (freedom
0)<br>
* <strong>Study and adaptation</strong>: the freedom to study how font software
works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access and rights to the
source code is a precondition for this.<br>
* <strong>Redistribution</strong>: the freedom to redistribute copies of the font
software so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).<br>
* <strong>Improvement and redistribution of modifications</strong>: the freedom to
improve the font software and release your improvements (freedom 3), so
that the community benefits. Access and rights to the source code is a
precondition for this.</em><br>
Applying an Open License to your font is made easy with the Open Font
License. See this
<a href="http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=OFL-FAQ_web">FAQ</a>
to find out how it works.</p>Alpha font2006-02-27T18:42:00+01:002006-02-27T18:42:00+01:00Harrissontag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-02-27:/type/alpha-font.html<p><img alt="alphabetum.png" id="image62" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/03/alphabetum.png"></p>
<p>Most amazing font so far, the Alphabetum font, for ancient languages. It
is now possible to compose text with languages that disappeared 5000
years ago. I have to say all my respect for such a nice and usefull
work! Thanks from university researchers that had to redraw all
archeologic inscriptions …</p><p><img alt="alphabetum.png" id="image62" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/03/alphabetum.png"></p>
<p>Most amazing font so far, the Alphabetum font, for ancient languages. It
is now possible to compose text with languages that disappeared 5000
years ago. I have to say all my respect for such a nice and usefull
work! Thanks from university researchers that had to redraw all
archeologic inscriptions found on sites. Now those texts can circulates.</p>
<p><em>Juan-José Marcos' <a href="http://guindo.cnice.mecd.es/%7Ejmag0042/alphaeng.html">Alphabetum
font</a> is a large
Unicode font covering more than 4000 characters in the most recent
version. Although the full font is not free, costing €15 for individual
registration, a demo version of the font lacking about 500 glyphs
present in the full font can be downloaded for free. Coverage is
provided for classic and medieval Latin, ancient Greek, Old
Italic-Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene-Gothic,
Iberian, Celtiberian, old and middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Runic,
Ogham, Ugaritic, Old Persian cuneiform, Phoenician, Linear B, Cypriot,
Aegean numbers, old and medieval Nordic.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://guindo.cnice.mecd.es/~jmag0042/alphaeng.html">http://guindo.cnice.mecd.es/~jmag0042/alphaeng.html</a></p>Linux Libertine font project2006-02-27T18:21:00+01:002006-02-27T18:21:00+01:00Harrissontag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-02-27:/type/linux-libertine-font-project.html<p><img alt="libertine
pic" height="47" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/libertine.png" title="libertine pic" width="346"></p>
<p>The Libertine family font contains around 1500 "western" caracters among
which cyrillic, greek, turkish and so on. The font looks classical,
between Baskerville and Caslon style. The general impression is a
contemporary looking 19th century font. Hints are good looking above 8
points, and is comfortable on screen. Good typography …</p><p><img alt="libertine
pic" height="47" src="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/blog/wp-content/libertine.png" title="libertine pic" width="346"></p>
<p>The Libertine family font contains around 1500 "western" caracters among
which cyrillic, greek, turkish and so on. The font looks classical,
between Baskerville and Caslon style. The general impression is a
contemporary looking 19th century font. Hints are good looking above 8
points, and is comfortable on screen. Good typography seems to be
possible using it.</p>
<p><em>Letters and fonts are two things in one: On the one hand they are basic
elements of communication and fundaments of our culture, on the other
hand they are cultural goods and artcraft.<br>
You are able to see just the first aspect, but when it comes to software
you'll see those copyrights and patents even on the most elementary
fonts. We want to give you an alternative: This is why we founded The
Libertine Open Fonts Project.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://linuxlibertine.sourceforge.net/">http://linuxlibertine.sourceforge.net/</a></p>Gentium2006-02-12T19:28:00+01:002006-02-12T19:28:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-02-12:/type/gentium.html<p>[If you consider using Gentium, check <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=54">The politics of
typography</a>]</p>
<p><img alt="gentium
font" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/02/Gentium.png"></p>
<p>"Gentium was driven by the need for a free, attractive, legible,
high-quality font for extended Latin (and Greek and Cyrillic) use.
Nothing else was available that was suitable for publishing use, so I
decided to give it a try." (from …</p><p>[If you consider using Gentium, check <a href="http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/?p=54">The politics of
typography</a>]</p>
<p><img alt="gentium
font" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/02/Gentium.png"></p>
<p>"Gentium was driven by the need for a free, attractive, legible,
high-quality font for extended Latin (and Greek and Cyrillic) use.
Nothing else was available that was suitable for publishing use, so I
decided to give it a try." (from: <a href="http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=Gentium_interview">interview with Victor
Gaultney</a>,
designer of Gentium)</p>Bitstream Charter2006-02-12T18:39:00+01:002006-02-12T18:39:00+01:00Femketag:blog.osp.kitchen,2006-02-12:/type/bitstream-charter.html<p>To my surprise <strong>Bitstream Charter</strong>, one of the few usable Open Source
fonts around I know of, is currently published on myfonts.com with the
following licence: <a href="http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?id=315">http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?id=315</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/02/noMod.jpg"><img alt="no
modifications" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/02/noMod.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://cramer.plaintext.cc:70/">Florian Cramer</a> explains what is really
going on:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"That's true, but the license change refers to …</p></blockquote><p>To my surprise <strong>Bitstream Charter</strong>, one of the few usable Open Source
fonts around I know of, is currently published on myfonts.com with the
following licence: <a href="http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?id=315">http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?id=315</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/02/noMod.jpg"><img alt="no
modifications" src="http://blog.osp.kitchen/images/uploads/2006/02/noMod.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://cramer.plaintext.cc:70/">Florian Cramer</a> explains what is really
going on:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"That's true, but the license change refers to a newer version of
Bitstream Charter. A copyright owner of a work is free to change the
licensing terms any time, either rendering a formely free work
proprietary or vice versa. But a license change can never be
retroactive, i.e. it can't affect the licensing terms of a previously
released version of the same work. (Same happened to SSH for example:
The original SSH continues to be developed as proprietary software,
whereas OpenSSH - included among others in Mac OS X and Linux - was
developed on the basis of an older, free version of the original SSH
package.)</p>
<p>An older version of Bitstream Charter was donated to the X Window
system and continues to be available under the extremely liberal
MIT/X11 license. In Debian and Ubuntu, the font is part of the package
"xfonts-scalable" which is in the fully free standard distribution.</p>
<p>(...)</p>
<p>The
"<a href="http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=Gentium&_sc=1">Gentium</a>"
font is another interesting typeface that just has switched to a free
license. However, the license is still under review by Debian. It's a
classicist font that looks more conservative than Charter, but it
offers a greater number of international glyphs."</p>
</blockquote>