#goodtype
Greetings from Mars. The software support is a little thin here, just like the
atmosphere…[Who's a lurker?] Let the treaty talks begin. I learned to "set"
type on the old IBM MT/ST machines…and eventually came back to the
Intergraphics' remote Linotron 202's, which I found all sorts of ways to abuse.
(Read: Make them do what they never did before). So Postscript and FUZZY-WIG
screen displays with ten minute turnaround are much appreciated here, even if
the typographic controls aren't as precise. I had [discreeetly] custom
distorted a typeface for a packaging client several years ago on the 202's, an
effect that was lost when "offshore" manufacturers' gave up on trying to match
the style afterwards. So when the same client asked for another product, I
offered them the range of faces I can access in DTP, which is faster turnaround
and cheaper revises. (They're penny-tight.) They picked Souvenir Bold [Frank
Romano, eat your heart out] and that wonderful Windows environment, unable to
find Souvenir on the soft-font list for the Linotron 300, politely grabbed the
first font on the list; AACHEN BOLD. (Looked better to me, too. Maybe Frank is
right about Souvenir being useless…) What to do? The job is set, the clock is
running….since the client is on very good/familiar terms, I said take a look,
I'll have the correction ready in the morning, or you can have this today. THE
CLIENT DIDN'T NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE! So much for good type/vs/good taste. Maybe
that makes me a whore, but there are certain realities when you work for both
pleasure AND a living. —-The point of this being:—Submitted, regardless of
your approval, a working definition of "Good Type": *1* The client happily pays
for it. *2* The typographer/typesetter/designer is willing to sign their name
to it and accept the payment. –Anything more is not merely good type, but the
ART of typography, as opposed to typsetting.
–jared sherman d/b/a sherman's army–N ……………………. …
…-….1200 N81N EDDIE CH