March 08, 2002
Online typeface identifier: Identifont
Earlier today I needed to identify a particular cursive font in order to update a heading on an old website. The prospect of a trial and error search across the company network for a font that may or may not be there made me turn to Google. I wasn't expecting much, since I've never had much success with David A. Mundie's venerable "A Field Guide to the Faces".
Top result for "typeface identifier" was Identifont, which I hadn't come across before. 2 minutes later, I had my font -- Shelly Allegro -- and I was extremely impressed.
It uses the same heuristic approach as Mundie's guide, as I expected, but as my headline comprised only about 30 letters, that wasn't much help. But Identifont can also "Identify from a logo",
Choose this option if you want to identify a typeface from a restricted set of letters, such as in a logo or heading. You will only be asked questions that can be answered from the letters you specified.
Typeface specimens are of excellent quality. As a final bonus, all typefaces have extensive cross-referenced metadata, including descriptions, designer, publishers and publication date. (Did you know the Shelley family was designed by Matthew Carter, whose Verdana you are reading now? I didn't.) All fonts are linked to vendors selling that font.
But on top of excellent results, a huge up-to-date database and interesting metadata, the site impressed me with its beautifully simple interface that was obvious from the first step. Quite simply, I can't imagine it being improved. The web at its best.
Comments
Hi Bill,
Not sure I'd necessarily be able to help... I know for a question such as this -- minor differences between versions of the same font -- Identifont certainly won't be able to help. It's only useful for narrowing down on the general family.
Jenson's fame is well deserved, but as you recognise, much depends on the particular interpretation, cut or digitisation. Dean Allen, a designer I respect, seems to endorse Adobe's Jenson by Robert Slimbach. You'll find better specimens on Adobe's site.
This is, apparently, a specimen of the original Jenson Eusebius, but don't expect your font to resemble it too closely. Many different typefaces were created using this as model.
You can find more Jenson versions and variants on Myfonts.com.
Finally, Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style should help you with both your first question and the arguments around beautiful book design.
Posted by: francois on March 17, 2003 12:32 AMPost a comment
(HTML is OK. Two linebreaks are converted to a <p>, one linebreak to a <br />. Represent all occurrences of <, >, and & by character or entity references, i.e. <, >, and &.)
I'm looking for help--trying to see, online, a specimen of the Jenson Eusebius. I say because the book I'm reviewing is said to be set in JE. But if I recall correctly from too many yeats ago, when I had just one course on typography in college, Jenson's fonts are famously readable and handsome.
Yet the one in the book is not, not, not! It's so fussy it distracts the reader. For example: the dot over the i it a wee, tiny little thing like a speck of soot, it is set off-center and it is set high above the body of the letter. Same with apostrophes--set way high up. Hyphens are skinny little things set at a 45-degree angle. Assorted capital letters seem to have been manipulated. The "R" for example has its right left bent so the letter occupies a basic box of space, whereas it should (I think) have a right leg that steps out at a strong, 45-degree angle.
All in all, it's a low-legibility face. And I don't think it really is Jenson. I think it's some whimsical, computer-aided bastardization thereof. But to know for sure I need to see a specimen of the real thing, which is why I seek your advice. I apologize for saddling you with this amateur's question, but in my review I want to raise the entire subject of good books' being sabotaged by bad typography.
Thanks and best regards,
Bill Marsano
Posted by: bill marsano on March 16, 2003 11:21 PM