To give Pomfret a little extra edge, I pumped up thick/thin contrast to point that the forms are extremely brittle. I also took the liberty to add details that were nowhere to be found in the source material: for example, the high-waisted N, the looped 2, the asymmetrical Y, and the overlapping vertices on the A and V. The C and G have subtle but distinctive underbites, and the bottom of the S gets far larger than the top. This established the guiding principle for this typeface: it’s okay to do weird things, but do them with restraint. It kinda just dangles off that flattened, high-waisted bowl, but it manages to do so with a measure of confidence and restraint. It’s not brazenly expressive like the R in Map Roman, the other true titling face I’ve done for the club. The detail that first drew me into this design is definitely the distinctive leg on the R (see also the K). I never paid attention to any of his other work until Roger Black encouraged me to try something in this style, sending me a bunch of images including the Knight Errant cover, shown above. I remember visiting this distinctive Egyptian-revival building as a kid, and recall it being one of the first places where I thought “Wow, so THIS is architecture.” It is still on the list of places that I recommend to first-time visitors to LA.Įven if he was better-known as an architect, Goodhue was an accomplished graphic artist as well as the designer of the popular Cheltenham typeface (famously used in the New York Times). When I was growing up, my parents worked in downtown Los Angeles, just blocks away from the LA Central Library designed by the very same Bertram Goodhue. I’ve been familiar with Goodhue’s work for most of my life, just not his typographic work. The Knight Errant, cover illustration by Bertram Goodhue, 1892 It is modeled after the Arts & Crafts-style lettering of Bertram Goodhue, particularly his 1892 cover of the short-lived literary magazine, The Knight Errant. This month I have a titling face for you called Pomfret. “Display typography” is a general term that can describe anything with big letters, but “titling” describes something much more specific (book titles, essentially), which tends to imply a certain dignified, inscriptional style-capitals that feel special, but not showy. I’ve never been able to resist a good titling face.
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