Akira Kobayashi started Clifford in 1993, inspired by Alexander Wilson’s Long Primer Roman type used in Pliny the Younger’s Opera, printed in 1751. The italic was inspired by Joseph Fry and Sons’ Pica Italic No. 3 from their specimen of 1785. According to Kobayashi, the design eventually “became an anthology of 18th century British foundry type designs.” Clifford is drawn in three versions: No. 1 for large text where it can appear more lyrical and refined; No. 2 for text around 12 pt., and the robust No. 3, a workhorse for use in small print.
Typesetter Steven Albert grew “sick of looking at (and setting) bold headlines in Frutiger, Futura, Helvetica and Arial (and cursing that these stand-bys don’t have double-story ‘a’s and ‘g’s).” While Candidate echoes certain qualities of Frutiger, Franklin Gothic, and even Clearface Sans, the design exhibits a personality of its own, especially when allternate characters, such as the ‘t’s, are employed.
Olivier Umecker's Insects Collection was designed as a homage to Pierre Simon Fournier. The large collection of symbols is broken down into thematic sets: Larva, Ant, Dragonfly, Cicada, Ladybird, Firefly, Bee, Grasshopper, and Butterfly. These abstract symbols combine to create an infinite number of possible patterns and textures.
Jerez describes Latina as a “recreation of classical humanist forms through a personal vision.” Latina can be seen as a new mix of Roman capitals and Renaissance lower case letters.
Mudville evolved from the hand-lettering that Wolff produced many times over on a variety of projects.
The inspiration for Doodles grew in part out of many long, painful hours logged in boring and sometimes abusive corporate strategic planning meetings.