I'm working on a 70's style one weight chunky retro font inspired by old scifi type book covers , I would love to add alternates reminiscent of the original Marvin Photo Typeface ( and know I know what a photo typeface is thanks to George Thomas - thanks George!) Particularly a curved leaning A, V and N and M.
Having not really ever ventured into historical font styles - I'm not all to familiar with the ins and outs of what is permitted in terms of not stepping on toes of anyone else who has derived inspiration/developed characters from a particular original style? I know that the original in this case, was 'Marvin' Photo type created in 1969 by London-based Face Photosetting, then In the early 1990s, Thomas E. Harvey did a gigitization named 'Marbold'. The in 2017 'Lodestone' was created by Red Rooster Fonts. And Finally 'Marvin Visions' was created later that same year by Mathieu Triay.
My question is - given that a few renditions ot it have already been made, particularily using a very similar letters in both shape and weight, is it safe to make my own also, without being sued for copyright infringment or the like by one of the latest rendition owners?
Sorry if it's a silly question - but literally very new to all this in terms of deriving inspiration from the past fashions in type and don't want to get into any hot water anywhere along the way. Any advice will be most welcome!
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When it comes to copyright and digital rights I let my conscience sort this out. I would feel deeply emabarrassed to present a font that was recognisable as a simple copy and have abandoned many projects for this reason. You have to add something (or take something away) as I am sure you will.
Thanks Florian, you ask why I would want to do yet another interpretation.
Firstly, I'm hesitant to even call it an interpretation, as the font was halfway developed before deciding that a similar shape of the A letterform from Marvin would be a touch of retro that it needs. It was already very very far away from Marvin in all other respects, and still is.
Simply put, I began by feeling the need for a typeface that has nuances of this awesome retro era, but essentially, built with a much more modern feel.
Honestly, I do feel that while Marvin itself was beyond awesome as a whole Typeface , to remake it too closely, would not only be pointless as you mention, it would be also be too retro for the application/usage I’m going for.
I also know it would have different applications, compared to what you would use the current Lodestone and Marvin Visions - those are both very close to Marvin in their final feel - I would want to step much further away from Marvin than they did.
I've just read the Marvin Visions web page -While he does pay tribute to Michael Chave, it seems that Michael Tray didn't have any success in speaking or getting blessings from him, so I'm not sure I'd have much more success in that department. I would like to persevere though.