Commercial Type News

Appearances:

CommercialType — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

06 JUNE 2012 | APPEARANCES

MagNet 2012

Christian Schwartz will be delivering two lectures on type design for publications at MagNet 2012, an annual conference in Toronto held by Magazines Canada.

Releases: New release: 3 new widths of Guardian Sans Headline

CommercialType — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

20 APRIL 2012 | RELEASES

New release: 3 new widths of Guardian Sans Headline

Guardian Sans Headline has undergone a major expansion with the addition of three narrower widths: Narrow, Condensed, and X Condensed. Each is available in 9 weights with italics. Creating a condensed humanist sans serif is often a difficult proposition, as the round and friendly forms have a tendency to look squashed and ungainly. However, the subtle squareness of curves in Guardian Sans Headline allows the new widths to fit in naturally with the original design. Guardian Sans Headline is thoroughly unadorned, making it adaptible to many tasks, combining not just with Guardian Egyptian, but with a wide range of other typefaces as well. With 72 fonts now in total, Guardian Sans Headline has expanded beyond its newspaper roots, and is ideal for editorial design, corporate identities, signage systems, and general graphic design.

This family expansion has been expertly carried out by Commercial Type designer Berton Hasebe, under direction from Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz, who designed the rest of the family for The Guardian's major redesign in 2005. These new widths were first seen in Al Triviño's redesign of the regional newspapers for the Vocento group in Spain and in a redesign of Sydsvenskan in Malmö, Sweden.

Each of the three new widths is particularly well suited to its own set of uses. Graphic designers often need sans serifs which are compact enough to increase economy without feeling explicitly like a condensed typeface. Guardian Sans Headline Narrow is this sort of weight, particularly useful in corporate identities and signage programs. Headlines of all kinds usually have one thing in common: a lot to say with not enough space to say it in. Guardian Headline Sans Condensed solves this issue without looking cramped or squashed, keeping the same quiet, neutral tone of the normal width. The most condensed of the new Guardian Sans Headline widths, the X Condensed, exaggerates the subtle squareness of the original design, allowing it to maintain the humanist forms without sacrificing its economy. Particularly useful in editorial and newspaper situations, it truly turns the Guardian Sans Headline family into a complete workhorse. Please click here to see more.

Press, books: Marian, Une collection de revivals

CommercialType — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

10 APRIL 2012 | PRESS | BOOKS

Marian, Une collection de revivals from Ypsilon.éditeur

Marian is the subject of a new book from Ypsilon.éditeur in France. Written by Paul Barnes and translated into French by Sébastien Morlighem, this book is the first title in the publisher's new series, 1|1, in the "Bibliothèque typographique" collection. The book is 56 pages long, features Paul's essay in both English and French, is printed in 2 colors, and is profusely illustrated.

The following is the publisher's description of the book:
Designing typefaces in the digital age is not what it used to be. Marian, one of the most ambitious projects of British designer Paul Barnes, is emblematic of a revivalist approach that had become ‘rhizomatic’ and timeless rather than linear and respectful of chronology as it was for most of the twentieth century.
Through Marian, a collection of nine seriffed typefaces (roman & italic) suitable for titling and publishing, Barnes pays tribute to the old masters which inspired him (Granjon, Fournier, Baskerville, Bodoni…), whilst revitalising the principle of faithfulness to the original source. He describes which are the new means to do so, thanks to the present technical possibilities and to a bold concept : the reduction of each model to a thin, monolinear slab-serif typeface. A broad, modernist approach was adopted to distillate the essence of the form without depriving it of its historical value et of its original qualities.
The book comprises a well-illustrated essay written by Barnes, and a series of specimens showing each weight of Marian, set in an excerpt of a text written by, or about, each punchcutter that inspired it.

Preorders are available now, and the book will ship after 4 May. Please visit the publisher's site for more information or to place an order.

Press:

CommercialType — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

19 MARCH 2012 | PRESS

Interview in Eye 82

Editor in chief John Walters and creative director Simon Esterson sat down with Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz in London in November for a wide-ranging interview to be published in Eye magazine issue 82, winter 2012. Paul and Christian are delighted that one of Paúl Rivera's photographs of the Marian neon pieces from Thieves Like Us was selected for the cover.

Press:

CommercialType — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

16 MARCH 2012 | PRESS

Interview in Communication Arts

Angelynn Grant's interview with Commercial Type founders Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz is featured in the March/April 2012 issue of Communication Arts magazine.

Press:

CommercialType — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

12 MARCH 2012 | PRESS

Berton Hasebe chosen for Print magazine’s New Visual Artists 2012

Berton Hasebe was chosen as one of Print's New Visual Artists this year, also known as the "20 Under 30". (Thanks to Dino Sanchez for the photo)

Custom typefaces, publications, newspapers: Publico refreshed

CommercialType — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

05 MARCH 2012 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS | NEWSPAPERS

Público refreshed

Mark Porter and Simon Esterson have refreshed their 2007 redesign of Público with some additions to the type palette. Primary headline typography is now in the upcoming Publico Banner, a tighter and sharper display component to the Publico family that the two had commissioned for the last major overhaul, and a new Extrabold weight of Giorgio Sans, drawn by Commercial Type designer Vincent Chan. Chan also designed a Deck size of Giorgio Sans in 4 weights, making it possible to use this dramatically condensed family for bylines, running headers, and other small display type. The type palette is rounded out with Graphik, used for captions and info graphics.

The Fugas section, launching its new look later in the week, features a heavily swashed homage to late 1970s advertising lettering by Berton Hasebe.

Custom typefaces, sport: New Umbro England football kit

CommercialType — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

29 FEBRUARY 2012 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | SPORT

New Umbro England football kit

Commercial Type partner Paul Barnes has designed the distinctive 2-tone numbers and letters that appear on the new Umbro England football kit. They will be launched on 29 February 2012 when England take on the Netherlands at Wembley Stadium. They were designed with Umbro’s design team led by Robert Warner.

Publications, unreleased typefaces: BULLETT magazine

CommercialType — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

25 FEBRUARY 2012 | PUBLICATIONS | UNRELEASED TYPEFACES

BULLETT magazine

The Spring 2012 "Obsessed Issue" of glossy style magazine BULLETT uses an all-new type palette made up of upcoming and existing typefaces from Commercial Type, selected in collaboration with Nick Vogelson.

Headlines and display typography are in Portrait, a work in progress by Berton Hasebe that draws inspiration from the Renaissance roman forms of Constantine (c. 1530s), with a minimalist approach to details and sharply pretty Latin serifs. Text is in Kai Bernau's Lyon Text, and captions are in the soon-to-be-released Atlas Grotesk, originally drawn for Munich Re by Kai Bernau and Susana Carvalho with Christian Schwartz. This issue also features a special set of brightly colored Giorgio Sans Bold titling caps assembled out of small toys and knickknacks. Giorgio Sans also provided a starting point for Vogelson's subtle tweak nameplate for the magazine.

Publications: Platform in Glamcult

CommercialType — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

19 FEBRUARY 2012 | PUBLICATIONS

Platform in Glamcult independent style paper

Platform is the main typeface for both headlines and text in the recent redesign of Glamcult, a large-format independent style paper based in the Netherlands. The February 2012 issue, where the redesign debuted, featured a short interview with Berton Hasebe.

Jobs:

CommercialType — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

02 FEBRUARY 2012 | JOBS

Commercial Type has an immediate opening for a Font Technician

We are offering a full-time position with benefits for someone to handle mastering and testing of fonts in both current and legacy formats, and to handle technical support. Ideal candidates will have an interest in and experience with webfont production and implementation.

Requirements include:
- BA or equivalent in a relevant field
- A minimum of 2+ years of professional experience with font production
- Working knowledge of Python
- Fluency in both the Mac OS and Windows

We will provide assistance with relocation to New York if needed, but working offsite is a possibility. Interested parties please send CV and salary requirements to jobs[at]commercialtype.com

Releases: New release: Marian by Paul Barnes

CommercialType — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

12 JANUARY 2012 | RELEASES

New release: Marian by Paul Barnes

Commercial Type is pleased to announce the release of Marian, a new typeface family in 19 styles designed by Paul Barnes. Marian is a series of faithful revivals of some of the greats from the typographic canon: Austin, Baskerville, Bodoni, Fournier, Fleischman, Garamont, Granjon, Kis and van den Keere. The twist is that they have all been rendered as a hairline of near uniform weight, revealing the basic structure at the heart of the letterforms. Together they represent a concept: to recreate the past both for and in the present.

Stretching over a period of nearly two and a half centuries from the mid sixteenth century to the early nineteenth century, they represent a period when the serif typeface as used in book typography was the dominant style. From the high Renaissance of Granjon and Garamont through to the Scotch roman; all the styles are represented: old style, transitional, and finally the modern. Painstakingly researched from original sources, together they represent a concept album of cover versions of the standards of type design.

Faithful to the originals, Marian comes with small capitals in all nine roman styles, with lining and non-lining figures, with swash capitals (1554, 1740, 1800 & 1820), alternate and terminal characters (1554 & 1571). And like the hidden track so beloved of the concept album, Marian is completed by a Blackletter based on the work of Henrik van den Keere. Please click here to see more.

Custom typefaces, publications: Druk XXXX Condensed and more for 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek Year in Review

CommercialType — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

23 DECEMBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Druk XXXX Condensed and more for 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek Year in Review

2011 was a densely packed and chaotic year, so the type needed to help reflect this in Bloomberg Businessweek's Year in Review issue. Berton Hasebe added some very dramatically condensed versions to his already very condensed sans family Druk, while Christian Schwartz pulled some Neue Haas Grotesk numerals in the opposite direction. Berton also provided some impossibly condensed pieces of lettering, for places where even Druk XXXX Condensed wasn't quite narrow enough. The illustration on the 4-part cover is by James Dawe.

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CommercialType — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

01 DECEMBER 2011 |

Appearances: DesignThinkers 2011

CommercialType — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

02 NOVEMBER 2011 | APPEARANCES

DesignThinkers 2011

Christian Schwartz will be speaking at the Association of Registered Graphic Designers' 12th annual DesignThinkers Conference in Toronto, along with an impressive list of designers from all areas of graphic design. For more information please visit the DesignThinkers site.

Custom typefaces, publications:

CommercialType — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

24 OCTOBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Neue Haas Grotesk Stencil for Bloomberg Businessweek Sports issue

Bloomberg Businessweek Creative Director Richard Turley wanted something a little bit more flexible than just a piece of lettering to tie a special section on sports together, so Christian Schwartz created a stencil version of the Regular weight of their Neue Haas Grotesk, loosely inspired by the work of Lawrence Weiner (who, ironically, despises Helvetica). The stencil resurfaces from time to time, including on the cover of the 2-9 April 2012 issue.

Custom typefaces, publications, ipad:

CommercialType — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

14 OCTOBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS | IPAD

A new iPad app from The Guardian

The Guardian has launched a new iPad edition, using the typefaces we developed for their print edition. Mark Porter, former Guardian creative director, headed up the design of the app, adapting and reimagining the design principles from his 2005 redesign of the newspaper.

Exhibitions: Thieves Like Us:
Dino Sanchez & Commercial Type

CommercialType — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

13 OCTOBER 2011 | EXHIBITIONS

Thieves Like Us:
Dino Sanchez & Commercial Type

"Thieves Like Us" is a collaboration between Commercial Type and designer and artist Dino Sanchez. This temporary showroom will exhibit Marian, a new typeface by Paul Barnes that reduces classic models of serif type design to their basic skeletal forms, exploring the possibilities offered by these single stroke forms in a variety of media. Please note that the hours have changed because the show really works best after dark.

Popup showroom
29 Kenmare St (at Elizabeth St.)

Opening reception
Thursday, October 13 7-10pm

Hours
Noon-8pm ~~Daily~~ Saturdays & Sundays
5pm-8pm Monday-Friday

Closing party
Methods & Madness presents Dinner with Marian at Jo's, 264 Elizabeth Street. We're collaborating with Art Director Jaspal Riyait and Chef Tessa Liebman on a 9 course dinner of updated European dishes and a limited-edition poster to take home with you. Seatings for dinner start at 7pm and 8:30pm, at the Barn Door Room at the back of the restaurant. Feel free to bring your own wine although Jo's has a full wine list and wonderful cocktails. Please book ahead at the Gusta page as space is very limited. $100 includes meal, service and art work.

Releases: New release: Austin Hairline

CommercialType — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

07 OCTOBER 2011 | RELEASES

New release: Austin Hairline

When we first designed Austin in the middle of the last decade, we always imagined that it was as extreme as it could possibly be. Well of course it wasn't, as our new release Austin Hairline amply demonstrates. Designed by Berton Hasebe in a single weight, it really can only be used in the largest sizes: 100 point and above. Commissioned originally for WSJ, the weekend fashion lifestyle magazine of the Wall Street Journal it pushes the contrast between thick and thin strokes to the maximum. Its design will seem suitable in editorial design and where large type is needed; posters, advertising hoardings, and the largest of book titles. Particularly exquisite are the wonderfully elegant and fine italic swash capitals. Click here to see more.

Custom typefaces, exhibitions:

CommercialType — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

13 SEPTEMBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | EXHIBITIONS

Platform Stencil for a show at SALT, Istanbul

Berton Hasebe drew a custom stencil version of Platform for an exhibition at SALT Istanbul called "Becoming Istanbul" designed by Project Projects, seen here during the installation process. Images of the final show, also featuring Lyon Display, can be seen on the Project Projects site.

Appearances: Lecture by Christian Schwartz at Les Rencontres internationales de Lure

CommercialType — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

26 AUGUST 2011 | APPEARANCES

Lecture by Christian Schwartz at Les Rencontres internationales de Lure

Christian Schwartz will be speaking on "Obsessions in Type Design" at the 2011 Rencontres internationales de Lure, a weeklong conference on typography taking place the week of August 21-26 in Lurs, Alpes de Haute Provence, France. For more information, please visit the conference website (in French).

Custom typefaces, publications:

CommercialType — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

15 AUGUST 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Kaiser and Zizou for Fast Company

The September 2011 issue of Fast Company is the latest step in a redesign by creative director Florian Bachleda, with Alice Alves and Ted Keller, introducing three new typeface families from Commercial Type: Kaiser, Zizou Sans, and Zizou Slab.

Kaiser, a condensed sans serif in 3 widths designed by Vincent Chan, is used for display and is the primary typeface on the cover. Insipred by 1920s and 30s-era German display typefaces, it is characterized by tight and regular spacing, and by a highly simplified lowercase. Zizou Sans originally began as Christian Schwartz’s attempt to draw Antique Olive from memory, but ended up with its own distinct personality. Zizou Slab takes a straightforward approach in adapting these forms into a slab serif, resulting in a simple, personable and compact slab serif. These two families are used at a wide range of point sizes for headlines, captions, sidebars and info graphics throughout the magazine.

Rounding out the type palette is Meret, originally designed as Nils Thomsen’s degree project at Type]Media in The Hague. This family will soon be released by OurType. Section head lettering in the front of book section by Simon Page.

In January 2012, fastcodesign.com launched a redesign by Simple.Honest.Work using a selection of styles from the Kaiser and Zizou family to help extend the feel of the print magazine to the web. These styles were carefully hinted to ensure that they would be attractive and readable on all browsers.

Custom typefaces, publications: Druk for Bloomberg Businessweek

CommercialType — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

05 AUGUST 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Druk for Bloomberg Businessweek

Berton Hasebe has designed Druk, a condensed sans serif in 4 weights, for Richard Turley and his team at Bloomberg Businessweek. Based loosely on late 19th century condensed sans serif styles common to many Continental foundries (and popularized again during the middle of the 20th century), Druk's 4 weights are designed to add heft and volume to spreads and especially to covers, complementing Neue Haas Grotesk by doing things it can't.

Press: Interview in Codex

CommercialType — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

15 JUNE 2011 | PRESS

Interview in Codex

Christian and Paul were interviewed by Sébastien Morlighem for the inaugural issue of Codex a new journal on typography from John Boardley, the man behind I Love Typography and designed by our friends at Working Format. The print run was limited, but copies may still be available at codexmag.com.

Appearances: Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz in Australia: AGDA International Speakers Tour

CommercialType — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

13 JUNE 2011 | APPEARANCES

Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz in Australia: AGDA International Speakers Tour

13 June: Perth, WA
14 June: Adelaide, SA
~~15 June: Hobart, Tasmania~~ cancelled
16 June: Melbourne, Victoria
17 June: Workshop in Melbourne
20 June: Sydney, NSW
21 June: Brisbane, Queensland
~~22 June: Canberra, ACT~~ cancelled

Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz will be touring Australia in June, giving 7 talks and a workshop over 12 days. Their lecture will touch on a number of the projects they have collaborated on, and discuss how they came together to form Commercial Type.

For more information on exact time, locations, and ticket pricing, please visit AGDA's website.

Commercial Type News

Appearances:

06 JUNE 2012 | APPEARANCES

Releases: New release: 3 new widths of Guardian Sans Headline

20 APRIL 2012 | RELEASES

Press, books: Marian, Une collection de revivals

10 APRIL 2012 | PRESS | BOOKS

Press:

19 MARCH 2012 | PRESS

Press:

16 MARCH 2012 | PRESS

Press:

12 MARCH 2012 | PRESS

Custom typefaces, publications, newspapers: Publico refreshed

05 MARCH 2012 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS | NEWSPAPERS

Custom typefaces, sport: New Umbro England football kit

29 FEBRUARY 2012 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | SPORT

Publications, unreleased typefaces: BULLETT magazine

25 FEBRUARY 2012 | PUBLICATIONS | UNRELEASED TYPEFACES

Publications: Platform in Glamcult

19 FEBRUARY 2012 | PUBLICATIONS

Jobs:

02 FEBRUARY 2012 | JOBS

Releases: New release: Marian by Paul Barnes

12 JANUARY 2012 | RELEASES

Custom typefaces, publications: Druk XXXX Condensed and more for 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek Year in Review

23 DECEMBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

:

01 DECEMBER 2011 |

Appearances: DesignThinkers 2011

02 NOVEMBER 2011 | APPEARANCES

Custom typefaces, publications:

24 OCTOBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Custom typefaces, publications, ipad:

14 OCTOBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS | IPAD

Exhibitions: Thieves Like Us:Dino Sanchez & Commercial Type

13 OCTOBER 2011 | EXHIBITIONS

Releases: New release: Austin Hairline

07 OCTOBER 2011 | RELEASES

Custom typefaces, exhibitions:

13 SEPTEMBER 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | EXHIBITIONS

Appearances: Lecture by Christian Schwartz at Les Rencontres internationales de Lure

26 AUGUST 2011 | APPEARANCES

Custom typefaces, publications:

15 AUGUST 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Custom typefaces, publications: Druk for Bloomberg Businessweek

05 AUGUST 2011 | CUSTOM TYPEFACES | PUBLICATIONS

Press: Interview in Codex

15 JUNE 2011 | PRESS

Appearances: Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz in Australia: AGDA International Speakers Tour

13 JUNE 2011 | APPEARANCES

Exhibitions: Thieves Like Us:
Dino Sanchez & Commercial Type