Funky Italics

Jasper de Waard
Jasper de Waard Posts: 654
in Type Design Technique & Theory
Hey folks,

Italics tend to offer more room for creativity and surprising solutions. I'm looking for examples of funky italics in book typefaces. For example...

- The rotated stress in Adobe Caslon's o
- Garalda's f and g and v and everything
- Scala's y
- Dolly's ll ligature

Cheers,

Jasper

Comments

  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,306
    Goudy’s Companion (custom for the Woman’s Home Companion magazine, 1927). It’s never been revived, AFAIK.
    I used the principle in Oneleigh and Panoptica.

  • Sander Pedersen
    Sander Pedersen Posts: 33
    Cochin; the d, v and h in particular.
    Galliard; very lively rhythm, the pelican-beak g.
    Not really a book face, but Ludlow Tempo’s italic is peculiar because it’s a 1930s geometric sans-serif but the italic isn't a mechanical oblique. It has several features that suggest handwriting, like the lowercase letters that tail off in a slab serif.
  • Craig Eliason
    Craig Eliason Posts: 1,485
    edited October 2017
    Delphin's y (Maybe not a "book face.")
  • Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian
    Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian Posts: 2,044
    Jasper de Waard said:
    funky italics in book typefaces
    To me: oxymoron alert!  :-)
    But funky italics on their own, I'm all eyes.
  • Jasper de Waard
    Jasper de Waard Posts: 654
    @Hrant H. Papazian
    Legibility isn't everything, you know. Nobody notices that their reading is a few milliseconds slower, but they might just notice the liveliness of a page. Also, being funky serves a purpose: to stand out from the non-funky regular.
  • Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian
    Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian Posts: 2,044
    @Jasper de Waard I certainly agree that readability isn't everything; beyond a certain minimum it only matters for longer texts. My concern is exactly standing out too much, essentially contradicting the reason the Roman was chosen. BTW the Roman itself could be "lively".

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