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Question about Austin (Paul Barnes)
Posted by etahchen in
1 Oct 2012 — 2:23am
1 Oct 2012 — 2:23am
Hello.
I am near the end of my graphic design program at school. For my portfolio,
I have chosen to use the typeface Austin. I wanted my book to have a fashionable feel
to it. I like how it looks as a display and for titles. but what do you guys think about it being used for text? The book is mostly graphic design with short explanations. I feel like this is a similar situation to using Didot for text. The thins don't help for reading.
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1 Oct 2012 — 3:53am
Maybe look at one of Richard Austin’s faces? Bell for example.
1 Oct 2012 — 6:46am
If it looks great in display, it can't be great for text.
hhp
1 Oct 2012 — 8:47am
I might add that your portfolio is another opportunity to show your skill at font pairing to prospective employers.
1 Oct 2012 — 2:26pm
I’ve always liked the Scotch Modern for text, and optically scaled my version.
1 Oct 2012 — 3:18pm
Scotch looks like it's closer to 'egyptian/slab', which doesn't seem to go with something like Austin. But at 10pt or 9pt, most people probably can't tell what kind of serif it is anyway...
1 Oct 2012 — 4:30pm
@Nick Shinn
Hmmm......actually this might work.
1 Oct 2012 — 7:57pm
The Scotch story is rather convoluted.
At any rate, the Austin type is related to the Carter types Miller and Georgia:
http://typefoundry.blogspot.ca/2007/02/scotch-roman.html
Really, you could use anything that has an early 19th century provenance, but not Bodoni or Didot.
Richard Austin’s types were a reaction to that kind of cool neo-classicism, as in his foundry statement:
http://typefoundry.blogspot.ca/2007/02/richard-austins-address-to-printe...
2 Oct 2012 — 1:23am
Ohkay. Thank you Nick. I learned something today.