Typophile - FB ITC Franklin - Comments

A clear decision was made

Eben Sorkin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:50:04 -0700

A clear decision was made not to call it Franklin Gothic, because it was felt, as observed here, that it isn’t.

Thanks for setting up the distinction re: the name including “ITC”.

I do think that to the buyers of fonts, this distinction isn’t always clear; hence my comment.

But then that’s what our eyes are for. As you said, simply buying by name is a bad plan.

”...Certainly if ITC wants

dberlow — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:23:29 -0700

”...Certainly if ITC wants to name it “Franklin Gothic” “

A clear decision was made not to call it Franklin Gothic, because it was felt, as observed here, that it isn’t. If one thinks Franklin, is too close a name, I’m not going to argue. On the other hand, it is not in fact, ATF Franklin Gothic in format, face or name, so I’m not sure if there is a question.

Cheers!

I do agree with all the

SuperUltraFabulous — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:25:19 -0700

I do agree with all the sentiments that this design is very sanitized—highly regularized. However, it should be noted that Font Bureau caters to the newspaper crowd and those folk require highly efficient and compact type. Quirks are not appreciated there.

Mikey :-)

I think it is a fair

Eben Sorkin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:59:19 -0700

I think it is a fair observation that this version does vary in feeling from the original to such an extent that the voice, feeling or sensibility of the font can be regarded as definitely changed. This might be what be what Tiff meant by “with an industrial blower”. I can only assume this was David’s intention. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong BTW! The clearest sense of the change would probably come from looking at an ATF book and then at the FB material.

I hold the metal franklin gothic in very deep esteem* so I admit it’s is a bit disconcerting to see this new one. I’ll have to let you know in time if I still cling to my sacred cow or not. If you asked me today I would probably have to cling.

In any event, if what you want is a fairly pure continuity with the old metal face but with more weights etc; then this release is probably not what you are looking for. But then that’s not everybody...

Ceratinly if ITC wants to name it “Franklin Gothic” then I think that’s their right.

And if you would have preferred it otherwise I suppose it’s your right to complain.

* Maybe too deep. On the positive side though I can definitely say that pondering the mystery of why FG looked so very fine to me was one of the first steps I took on the road to designing type.

if you insist James mate!

muzzer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:00:15 -0700

if you insist James mate! Then no need to name it after a metal face then??

———————————-
Chopper Reid says “Harden the **** up”.

No reason for it to look

James Puckett — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:55:18 -0700

No reason for it to look just like the metal one—it’s not a metal face.

Mikey mate, its nothing

muzzer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:47:07 -0700

Mikey mate, its nothing tlike the metal one! If youve ever seen that then you’l know what iam talking about. Did you guys look ay the metal one David or just tear into it as you went along??!

———————————-
Chopper Reid says “Harden the **** up”.

Two weeks (in Berlin) ago

bert_vanderveen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:41:21 -0700

Two weeks (in Berlin) ago David B made quite a lot of jokes re his reworkings of Ed Benguiats oeuvre — and he did it again: even more cuts of FG than Ed did. Wonderful!
What’s next? Breaking Luc[as] de Groots Thesis–record? ; )

. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO

Muzzer> What about this

SuperUltraFabulous — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:16:54 -0700

Muzzer> What about this design fails to meet your standards?

Mikey

Franklin zgothic

muzzer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:27:23 -0700

Franklin zgothic Fail!!

———————————-
Chopper Reid says “Harden the **** up”.

David, at a glance:

Chris Rugen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:23:08 -0700

David, at a glance: excellent stuff! I need to spend some time with printed specimens. If it’s any indication about the appeal, I got this email from a type-aware but non-design friend this morning:

“Do you ever have any occasion to use ITC Franklin?
http://www.fontbureau.com/fonts/ITCFranklin

(Via Daring Fireball, as you surely saw)

That is danged nice.”

You’ve got some fans in the non-design community.

[edited] Cheers!

dberlow — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:20:08 -0700

[edited]
Cheers!

First thanks for all the

dberlow — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:18:45 -0700

First thanks for all the nice comments, and I hope the family is even more useful than the one before. Second, I never go by the name of the designer alone, I always look. I’ve found two errors in the specimens that are being published, (never, ever, track or let ultra open via justification), and those will be corrected this week. I don’t think there is anything amiss in the well-drawn department, but considering all the things I’ve said in my life about various versions of you-know-what-ica, I’m always interested in a Swiss point of view. ;)

Cheers!

> That doesn’t mean

david hamuel — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:15:35 -0700

> That doesn’t mean much...
> Obviously I mean professionals....

Cut to the chase. What do you want to say?

Berlow’s output is

SuperUltraFabulous — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:07:08 -0700

Berlow’s output is excellent! FB fonts are kerned very well too.

FB ITC Franklin

James Puckett — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:54:37 -0700

So Dave Berlow finally finished his uber-revision of Franklin Gothic. 48 weights including condensed and compressed variants. It’s like staring into the face of God.

Right now I need to find a very wealthy client…