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Freaky Greeks

Ray LarabieRay Larabie Posts: 1,379
edited April 2020 in Technique and Theory
Check out the Greek Compacta and Eurostile in the 1988 Letraset catalog—quite progressive, I think. I like in Eurostile how the ζ is a z and the λ is dropped. And then in Compacta, they keep the β, ζ and ξ aligned to the x-height. Whaddya think?


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    Adam JagoszAdam Jagosz Posts: 689
    edited April 2020
    Dropped λ is common in modern (especially pointed-nib) calligraphy. It works there, because the entire "wide portion" of the letter is delegated to the descender space, kind of like Latin j. Not sure how well it works here.
    Interesting how the arms are shorter than the x-height in Compacta's ψ — I suppose it aids legibility in the otherwise tightly packed forest of full stems.
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    Craig EliasonCraig Eliason Posts: 1,400
    Hadn’t occurred to me before, but a bold condensed Ξ is pretty much impossible, isn’t it. 
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    Deactivated UserDeactivated User Posts: 11
    Rüdiger's Theodor and probably some others I've seen add a vertical bar to fill the gaps. Not sure how common a practice that is but it seems like it works.
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    John SavardJohn Savard Posts: 1,091
    Well, a dropped lambda works very well in Letraset. If you don't like it, you can just move the sheet up.
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