I was approached back in 96 by a big magazine publisher about creating a typeface for an on the drawing board fashion magazine. They wanted a proprietary version of Bodoni. I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of Bodoni, and the world needs another reworking of it like I need another inch of height. After thinking about it for a bit the idea started to grow on me, appealing to me mainly as a purely technical exercise. I plotted and planned, studied and read, and began Fontographing.
About a third of the way into the task, the publisher decided to can the magazine. I’d been paid for my work up till that point, but I was faced with a dilemma as to what to do from there. I was disappointed with the gig falling through, but I decided to continue working on it. All the research I had done gave me an appreciation for Bodoni I didn’t have before. I had been pretty indifferent to the project initially, but by this point I was really enjoying it. And I speculated that the work might pay off in the end.
My version takes elements from several different sources. Some are as precise as Berthold brass, while some are a little more fanciful. The serifs are slightly scooped, but perhaps the major derivation from most versions of Bodoni is that my rendition is slightly condensed and has a slightly higher x-height. Factors which I think enhance legibility, and actually factors initiated by the original instigators of the project.
While the face itself is a serious piece of work, the name is me thumbing my nose at all those pedantic arguments over which reworking of an old classic is the more ‘correct’ version, or which one is the most ‘faithful’ interpretation.
I created the Lean version of Boloni, and I started churning the Fat version through the sausage machine, but never completed it.
About a third of the way into the task, the publisher decided to can the magazine. I’d been paid for my work up till that point, but I was faced with a dilemma as to what to do from there. I was disappointed with the gig falling through, but I decided to continue working on it. All the research I had done gave me an appreciation for Bodoni I didn’t have before. I had been pretty indifferent to the project initially, but by this point I was really enjoying it. And I speculated that the work might pay off in the end.
My version takes elements from several different sources. Some are as precise as Berthold brass, while some are a little more fanciful. The serifs are slightly scooped, but perhaps the major derivation from most versions of Bodoni is that my rendition is slightly condensed and has a slightly higher x-height. Factors which I think enhance legibility, and actually factors initiated by the original instigators of the project.
While the face itself is a serious piece of work, the name is me thumbing my nose at all those pedantic arguments over which reworking of an old classic is the more ‘correct’ version, or which one is the most ‘faithful’ interpretation.
I created the Lean version of Boloni, and I started churning the Fat version through the sausage machine, but never completed it.
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