U&lc Issue: 29.1.2

The nature of the type world keeps changing. And any online publication is, by definition, about change. U&lc Online began life as an online companion to U&lc, ITC’s award-winning magazine; from here on in, it will begin a new life, in a new format, as ITC’s online voice. Expect the unexpected. U&lc Online is ITC’s international journal of graphic design and digital media. U&lc Online needs no subscription; it’s part of the ITC web site, itcfonts.com. To read U&lc Online, just bookmark this page and check it out every month.

Proportional Vs Tabular Figures Some numbers add up, and others don’t – no, it’s not your tax return. It’s the difference between proportional and tabular numerals. Know which style you need before you choose a typeface and you’ll reap a big savings in time and effort.

Type Trading Card: Berkeley Oldstyle/Conduit ITC Berkeley Old Style, by Frederick Goudy, is based on his University of California Old Style font. Conduit, by Mark van Bronkhorst, is loosley based on parking lot signs.

Featured Designer: Jill Bell Jill Bell has a “lust for lettering” that started in high school, when she got her hands on her first Speedball pen and forged her parents’ signatures. Now an accomplished lettering artist, Bell creates typeface designs that showcase her taste for the natural, human touch.

Titling Fonts With their proportions and design details perfectly suited for use at larger sizes, titling fonts are an indispensable but often-overlooked category of typefaces.

Baseline Shift Learn to control the ups and downs of type by using your software’s baseline shift feature. This often-overlooked function is a great tool for fine-tuning your typography.

Letter Series: Ampersand One of our most aesthetically pleasing characters, the ampersand, started out as two letters that merged into a single flowing symbol. Since the days of the earliest typographers – who sprinkled it liberally over their pages – the ampersand has been admired as a functional thing of beauty.

Auto Leading First came the automat, then the automatic transmission – now there’s auto leading. Like other technological “conveniences,” auto leading has its pros and cons. Read on to become automatically enlightened!

Letter Series: Punctuation Punctuation marks tell us when to slow down, stop, get excited or lift a quizzical eyebrow. But punctuation marks weren’t added till long after written language evolved – and some people are still thinking of new symbols to add expressive punch to text.

Featured Designer: Matthew Carter The essence of Matthew Carter’s genius is his ability to perfectly balance the aesthetic and functional requirements of type. From his early apprenticeship as a punchcutter to creating designs for such favorites as Snell Roundhand and Charter, Carter has proven himself a master of both the art and craft of type design.

Hyphenation One of the often-overlooked details of good typography is hyphenation. Here are some simple guidelines for what to look for in properly hyphenated text – and tips on how to improve troublesome sit-u-a-tions.

Letter Series: Numbers Roman numerals can be quite attractive in chapter headings, but aren’t you glad you don’t have to do your taxes with them? Thank the Arabs for that – if not for their numbering system, Western mathematics would be X times as hard.