We have published a project at Behance covering our latest Medusa script in depth. Check it out, there are great new images of Medusa in use. The rest of ReType projects can be found here.

We are pleased to share that the website Graphicdesign.com has published a nice article/interview on Medusa and other ReType’s typefaces.

Our script Krul has been chosen among “Best of 2012” typefaces by Typographica.org. This is one of the most important type design prizes and we are exultant. And Winco and Dulcinea are also listed as “Honorable mentions”. Thanks to Laura Messeguer for reviewing and Typographica’s team for the support.

New from ReType, Medusa is Ramiro Espinoza’s homage to one of the most renowned masters of Spanish calligraphy, Ramón Stirling, who was active in Barcelona during the 19th century. Not much is known about his life, and there is even some doubt as to his real name, but his Bellezas de la Caligrafía (Beauties of Calligraphy) is one of the most exquisite English roundhand manuals ever produced.

The starting-off point in the creation of the typeface was an analysis of the historical models of formal English handwriting and the ways in which those styles had been adapted to the typographic technologies of different eras. A representative example of such adaptations involves the group of letters which, in connected scripts, join from near the top of their x-height, namely “b”, “o”,
“v” and “w”.

Model from The Universal Penman (1740)

Up to now, all typefaces derived from the roundhand have been simplified so that the above letters connect with the following glyphs from the middle of their x-height. Unfortunately, this solution produces an artificial, awkward appearance, far removed from the beauty of the canon of the golden age of commercial handwriting.

Letters typically adapted for typography (left) and a more authentically calligraphic approach (right)

Nowadays, the OpenType format affords the possibility of solving this problem. Instructions can be programmed into a font to automatically select the appropriate alternate glyphs as the user types. Despite the existence of this option, no one has yet published a copperplate typeface that is a faithful reflection of historical writing models, connecting “b”, “o”, “v” and “w” in the correct manner. Extra effort is required to program and design the many alternate character sequences necessary, and this has not been implemented by type foundries accustomed, as also are type users, to the familiar faux convention.
At ReType we decided to move in the opposite direction. We didn’t force the shape of hard-to-format letters into the service of technology, but rather resolved to press technology into the service of respecting the original graceful quality of those letters.
Medusa is much more than a mere digital transfer of Ramón Stirling’s model. Several of the original letters, such as “f”, “s” and “z,” whose appearance was somewhat weaker, have been replaced by designs based on Espinoza’s own accomplished pointed nib calligraphy.

In addition, numerous elements lacking in Stirling’s book have been added. The fantastically ornate capitals were redrawn in order to strike a greater balance and enhance the consistency of the set of letters as a whole. Several swashes and ligatures were also created from scratch, but with an unwavering respect for the formal rules of pointed pen calligraphy to ensure that their ductus was correct. Perhaps the most unusual feature of Medusa is its small caps, which have been carefully designed to produce an all-cap setting that is stylistically harmonious with the classic copperplate script, something which has up to now been missing from this genre of typeface.
Finally, we are offering a separate set of modular swashes that enable complex decorative headings and cartouches.
We are pleased to say that Medusa is a complete script system the unique features of which will lend elegance and sophistication to a wide variety of design projects.

You can purchase Medusa at the ReType’s website.

Ramiro Espinoza has just been interviewed by Myfonts. I you want to know a little more over ReType, follow this link.

Next week is Type Amsterdam 2012. We are very exited and – certainly – a bit nervous
See you on Thursday.

The following Dutch text is the only interview made to Jan Willem Visser (1911-1987), creator of the Amsterdamse Krulletter. It was published in 1987 in a small local paper so I thought it would be interesting to make it available on line. If you quote or reproduce, please link to the original article.

Bijna elke kroeg heeft hij wel beklommen.
Penseelschrijver Wim Visser vader van pakkende teksten.

Er zijn in het leven zo van die dingen die vanzelfsprekend lijken, maar het, bij nadere beschouwing absoluut niet zijn. Neemt u bijvoorbeeld de sierlijke teksten op de ruiten van café’s. Als u er even bij stilstaat zult u zien dat de woorden vaak kunstwerken op zich zijn, heel duidelijk met liefde een toewijding gemaakt.
Een man die daarover kan meepraten (en hoe!) is Wim Visser (76) uit Amstelveen. Veertig jaar lang heeft hij ontelbare café’s in het hele land op zijn volstrekt unieke manier versierd. En hoewel hij al bijna tien jaar gepensioneerd is, schrikt deze bijzondere aardige “penseelschrijver” er nog steeds niet voor terug om de ladder te beklimmen.

Je kunt bijna geen café, hotel of restaurant opnoemen of Wim heeft er zijn stempel op gedrukt. “Het vak heb ik van mijn vader geleerd” vertel hij ons. “Hij was hout-, marmer- en letterschilder. Toen ik meende dat ik voldoende ervaring bezat ben ik in 1941 als zelfstandig penseelschrijver begonnen. De Amstel Brouwerij was mijn belangrijkste opdrachtgever en is dat tot aan de fusie met Heineken ook gebleven. Van de Duitsers heb ik weinig last gehad, behalve dan die ene keer toen ik op het hoofdkwartier van de SS in Amsterdam aan het werk was. Ik verzuimde een of andere hoge piet te groeten en voor ik wist wat er met me gebeurde werd ik als een misdadiger opgepakt. Een uur lang heb ik met m’n potje verf een kwastje in de houding moeten staat terwijl een soldaat zijn geweer op me gericht hield. Leuk was anders. Ook na de oorlog ging ik voor de Amstel brouwerij op pad. Zonder mezelf op een voetstuk te willen zetten, kan ik zeggen dat ik de eerste geweest ben die de Oudhollandse Stijl in de penseelschrijverij gebracht heeft; een fraaie manier van belettering met veel krullen en versieringen”.
Aangezien Wim Visser van het penseelschrijven alleen niet kon leven, startte hij indertijd een schilderbedrijf. Zijn firma verschafte werk aan maar liefst vierentwintig medewerkers.

Nuchter
Wim Visser: “‘s Avonds, na het werk, ging ik naar de kroeg. Niet om in te nemen, hoewel ik op z’n tijd niet vies van een borreltje ben, maar om het letterwerk op te nemen. Vaak werkte ik acht zaken op één avond af. Ik zorgde er altijd voor nuchter te blijven want ik heb heel wat vrienden en kennissen uit de bocht zien vliegen. Mijn eerste werkgever hield ook van een slokje. Hij at elke dag twintig haringen en liet ze zwemmen in tachtig glazen bier. De man is toch 93 geworden. Thuis maakte ik van de op de ruit te schrijven tekst een werktekening. Ook handig voor het geval de ruit ooit zou sneuvelen. Met deze uitgesneden tekening ging ik aan het werk. Het schilderen van de tekst nam een hele dag in beslag. Niet alleen heb ik op die manier vele ruiten bewerkt maar ook auto’s, lichtbakken en balken. De teksten kan ik me niet allemaal meer herinneren, behalve die ene: Alcohol is je grootste vijand. Heb jen vijanden lief.”

Bewijzen
De zorgvuldig aangebrachte beletteringen van Win Visser gaan lang mee. Dertig jaar is geen uitzondering. Wat dat betreft zijn er meer dan voldoende bewijzen. De Twee Zwaantjes, Hoppe en De Drie Fleschjes, zijn zijn slecht een paarweerspiegelingen van de uitgebreide scala.

Dulcinea is the title of Ramiro Espinoza’s in-depth look at Spanish Baroque calligraphy’s most extreme tendencies, and especially at some of those produced by the writing masters Pedro Díaz Morante and Juan Claudio Aznar de Polanco. These 17th and 18th centuries alphabets with their plentiful calligraphic flourishes represented a marked break with the harmonic and angular Renaissance Cancellaresca style.
It was Morante who first introduced and popularized the use of the pointed quill in Spain, and although his famous text entitled “Arte Nueva de escribir” – first volume published in 1616 – contains alphabets that have much in common with traditional broad nib Cancellaresca calligraphy, most of the examples therein are outgrowths of the new models put forward by the Italian master Gianfrancesco Cresci.
The writing’s swashes are complex and intricate, but at the same time they feature a profusion of defects. Many of them sometimes come close to ugliness. However, these pages contain an artistic essence that bears a relationship to the ironic and sometimes somber character of Spanish Baroque.

That’s why the name of the font pays homage to “Dulcinea del Toboso”, the fictional beauty from Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, a work that reveals many of the period’s conflicts, such as the contrast between utopian ideals and reality, uncertainty and madness.
But Dulcinea is far from being just a revival. Its forms are not careful tracings of the outlines of Morante and Polanco’s letters, nor are they attempts to reproduce them digitally. In fact, the author of the letters says that had the font been created that way it would have been too archaic to serve as acceptable contemporary typography. However, he believes that there are myriad interesting details that can be rescued and preserved, along with the playful spirit of the original.

The work of designing Dulcinea consisted of combining original historical elements with the creativity and calligraphy of the font’s author in order to produce a modern typography that isn’t based on the same traditional sources as many recently created scripts fonts.
Dulcinea offers attractive options for the setting of texts and headlines: abundant ligatures and swashes along with intricate alternate characters. It sophisticated forms make it an ideal option for women’s magazines, recipe books, lingerie products or perfume packaging.

Super font promo: during July you can buy at re-type.com the font families Kade and Winco with a very convenient 50% discount. Stay tuned for more interesting offers!

Ramiro Espinoza gives new details about his research on the origins of the ‘Krulletter’ and the life of the letter painter Jan Willem Visser in an article published by the website ‘I love Typography’.
Existe tambien una versión un tanto más extensa y en español publicada en la revista digital Monográfica.org