Yale Design Roman - release to the public?

drmns
6.Nov.2006 7.21am
drmns's picture

Does anyone know when Matthew Carter's Yale Design Roman will be available to the public?

http://www.yale.edu/universityprinter/typeface/yale_design_roman.html

Many thanks!

mondoB
6.Nov.2006 8.54am
mondoB's picture

Apparently never...I've seen it and it's just another Bembo...is there really no bold or bold italic, as it seems on the website?


sii
6.Nov.2006 9.11am
sii's picture

>I’ve seen it and it’s just a knock-off of Bembo

When I read that I almost choked on my latte. You can't say that here!


crossgrove
6.Nov.2006 9.17am
crossgrove's picture

John,

Please read up on the Yale Typeface before making any more ignorant comments:

http://www.yale.edu/universityprinter/typeface/typeface.html

There are 5 tabs there to help you understand where the typeface came from. Especially take note of the info in tab 3.

Please also re-consider advising people to enlist students or faculty to help steal unlicensed copies.


hrant
6.Nov.2006 9.42am
hrant's picture

> it’s just a knock-off of Bembo

I thought it was Times. You know, the one with the pointy things at the ends.

hhp


Miss Tiffany
6.Nov.2006 10.15am
Miss Tiffany's picture

As much as I hate to be overtly dramatic that is just plain-old flat-out wrong.


Lex Kominek
6.Nov.2006 10.45am
Lex Kominek's picture

I thought it was Times. You know, the one with the pointy things at the ends.

Looks closer to Arial to me...

- Lex


hrant
6.Nov.2006 10.51am
hrant's picture

BTW, onmy friends computer the Arial is called Helveeta
Now or something......... do anybody pleez tell me WHY?!?!?!

hhp


Lex Kominek
6.Nov.2006 11.06am
Lex Kominek's picture

Arial is called Helveeta

Like the cheese?

- Lex


sii
6.Nov.2006 11.08am
sii's picture

>Like the cheese?

Technically it's a "Cheese-flavor product"


hrant
6.Nov.2006 11.12am
hrant's picture

Ah. Helvetica: font-flavored bunch of glyphs.

hhp


drmns
6.Nov.2006 11.13am
drmns's picture

Sorry to have stirred up a tempest.

Certainly am not interested in obtaining the font via students, faculty, etc. but was told some time ago that the font would be available to the public at some point.

Simply was curious if anyone knew when.


paul d hunt
6.Nov.2006 11.32am
paul d hunt's picture

Apparently never…it’s easier to get someone who studies/works there to download it and share it with you…I’ve seen it and it’s just a knock-off of Bembo…is there really no bold or bold italic, as it seems?

sometimes i wonder what they DO teach in some graphic design programs...


dezcom
6.Nov.2006 11.47am
dezcom's picture

Helveetica, like the cheese, for those who don't know Jack about type :-)

ChrisL


dezcom
6.Nov.2006 11.50am
dezcom's picture

"sometimes i wonder what they DO teach in some graphic design programs…"

Maybe what they teach is just fine. Maybe what some students choose to think is another. Leading a horse to water...

ChrisL


sii
6.Nov.2006 12.23pm
sii's picture

>sometimes i wonder what they DO teach in some graphic design programs…

mondoB's site says he's been in the biz for 20 years, so you should edit...

"sometimes i wonder what they DID teach in some graphic design programs…"


hrant
6.Nov.2006 12.51pm
hrant's picture

OK guys, come on, let's not make it impossible for the guy to recant.

hhp


adnix
6.Nov.2006 4.49pm
adnix's picture

You know, the one with the pointy things at the ends.

Honest-to-God conversation I had with my wife a few weeks ago:

Me (presenting some font samples to my wife): What do you think of using one of these fonts for your business logo?

My wife: I don't know. I don't really like those pointy things at the ends.

Me (after a few seconds of trying to figure out what the hell she is talking about): You mean the serifs?

My wife: Yeah.

Me: Good to know. I'll go search for some more fonts.


dezcom
6.Nov.2006 5.52pm
dezcom's picture

Don't tell Edel about the wife story :-)

ChrisL


poms
7.Nov.2006 5.54am
poms's picture

@adnix
I really had to laugh, fine story, thanks :)


mondoB
7.Nov.2006 11.27pm
mondoB's picture

Before you all pull on your hooded robes, I should say that I did read all the documentation on the Yale site, and then compared his alphabet with that of Monotype Bembo, and to my eye it's entirely too close to that Bembo. My heterodox opinion is that Carter could have gone much further. (And where are the bold and bold italic? Only a "street" version, somewhat but not quite fully bolder, appears on the website.) His differences are fascinating, of course--slight overall condensing, adjusted x-height, and above all, a smoothing away of many of the most charming kinks--e.g., on the capital K--instead of adding *more* kinks as, say, Dupré might have done with the same assignment. But these differences don't add up to anything fresh, transcending the source material, as Galliard did. Yale is certainly entitled to their own more "formal" Bembo, but if it went on the market, I would see no point to getting it. I speak as a type consumer, not a type designer.


hrant
8.Nov.2006 6.14am
hrant's picture

> Carter could have gone much further.

I agree, but not further from Bembo, because that's not the point anyway.

> where are the bold and bold italic?

Somewhere in Yale's budget?

hhp


dezcom
8.Nov.2006 7.11am
dezcom's picture

"Somewhere in Yale’s budget?"

There is the rub :-)

ChrisL


paul d hunt
8.Nov.2006 7.25am
paul d hunt's picture

where are the bold and bold italic

i thought these were for people in advertising... >^P


sii
8.Nov.2006 8.27am
sii's picture

mondoB, good to see that you've edited the offending post. Typophile's edit functionality has saved my skin a few times too. :-)


hrant
8.Nov.2006 9.54am
hrant's picture

Good catch, Simon.
mondoB: please no sleights of hand, OK?

hhp


sii
8.Nov.2006 10.38am
sii's picture

The edit functionality is indeed 'a whole other Oprah' - I suppose it's good form to mark an edited post (edit) or such (maybe this should happen automatically) - but the feature is there, and when I've said something really stupid I've used it (usually within a few minutes of posting the stupid comment). Perhaps the feature should expire within a set time after posting?


dezcom
8.Nov.2006 12.24pm
dezcom's picture

I use it to correct my horrid typing/spelling or ommisions of letters in hopes that whatever I first typed might be almost inteligable :-)

ChrisL


sii
8.Nov.2006 5.25pm
sii's picture

I suppose you could always try posting when sober? ;-)


dezcom
8.Nov.2006 6.33pm
dezcom's picture

I wish it were so simple Si. I just suck at typing.

ChrisL


jselig
8.Nov.2006 8.06pm
jselig's picture

I second Chris, I use edit to fix words that Safari sees as words but aren't the word I wanted it to be.

(for instance I just wrote 'he' instead of 'be' at the end.)


mondoB
10.Nov.2006 6.00am
mondoB's picture

> Carter could have gone much further.
from hrant: I agree, but not further from Bembo, because that’s not the point anyway.

But that's exactly the point. The first poster asked whether Carter's Yale fonts were available to the public, which implies a second question: if they were, would they be worth acquiring? My answer to both is no. The prospect of Carter taking a fresh look at Bembo is profoundly exciting, especially since Morison's 1929 is the only version extant. We don't know what his client specified, but the Yale tweaking is deeply disappointing relative to the type market, and I hope Carter could still revisit Bembo with more creative effect. There is a market demand to revive older pre-Morison Bembos, delving deeper into the Renaissance source material for a funkier, more charming result, more like a Dupré face.


hrant
10.Nov.2006 7.41am
hrant's picture

> if they were, would they be worth acquiring?

It would depend on the pricing. But nominally, of course they would be worth acquiring. Look at all the fonts selling out there.

hhp


kaibernau
10.Nov.2006 1.52pm
kaibernau's picture

> if they were, would they be worth acquiring?

I, for one, would welcome a more useable version of Bembo. "Something went wrong" in the transfer to digital (or maybe even in the transfer to phototype? I'm too young to tell) of the standard MT Bembo and its offsprings.

<rant>
Hell, Tufte even had his own Bembo made because the commercially available ones are mostly crummy.

As for a bold, or even a --shudder-- bold italic: What are you thinking? Did Manuce have a bold italic? Does anyone need bold italics? We would live in a much better world if it weren't for bold italics!
</(h)rant>


crossgrove
10.Nov.2006 2.23pm
crossgrove's picture

Tufte had a digital Bembo made for his later offset work, probably because he was accustomed to having books set in Monotype metal Bembo by Michael and Winnie Bixler (for offset repro, no less). He has the same prejudice we all have: "Metal Bembo is so great, why is the digital so weak?" and he knew metal Bembo.

One partial answer to that complaint is the new, OpenType Bembo Book, which Robin Nicholas based on a different size master than the earlier digital version. It's stronger.