ITC Cheltenham
Since the family’s release in the early 1900s, “Chelt” (as the old-timers call it) has drawn criticism for being ungainly. But someone – in fact, lots of someones – got hooked on using it, making it one of the most successful typefaces of its day. Even in recent decades, ITC Cheltenham has been one of the most popular typeface families that International Typeface Corporation offers.
In the mid-1970s, ITC commissioned Tony Stan to revitalize the design and correct a few of its shortcomings. The first thing Stan did was enlarge Cheltenham’s x-height. This dramatically improved the aesthetics of the face. Counters are now more open and the lowercase proportions are in keeping with the caps. With this single change, Stan took a dated display design and turned it into a straightforward, no-nonsense typeface that will serve ably in both text and display applications.
The first weights Stan drew were Book and Ultra. These proved so popular that ITC asked him to create companion Light and Bold weights, followed by a suite of condensed designs. The family now includes four weights of roman and four condensed weights, with companion italics for each.
ITC Tactile
According to Joe Stitzlein, ITC Tactile’s designer, “I wanted to create a modern and dynamic serif face that draws its forms from antiquity. I also wanted to have as much fun as possible with the drawing and architecture of each letter. Hopefully I’ve created a very legible typeface that grabs the reader’s eye in a nice ‘tactile’ way.”
The apparent design inconsistencies in ITC Tactile are not without justification and careful consideration. Stitzlein’s logic behind the seemingly odd serif design is quite clear. “The transitional serif is an entry point for the eye into the letterform, and the long slab is an exit, leading to the next letter. The idea being that tactile appears clean and is easy to read at text sizes, but when enlarged to display sizes, details appear that separate Tactile from more traditional designs. Stitzlein also drew the small caps to match the height of the lowercase x-height, which enables “bi-form”, or “unicase” setting in display copy.