Sommaire

mar 28 2011
Le jour où j’ai décidé de ne plus utiliser le Din

Là où je pensais que les caractères de type Fraktur avaient subsistés, là où je pensais, comme dans Astérix, que les Allemands parlaient et écrivaient en gothique, non, du Din, partout, du Din. Le panneau d’accueil du village, les enseignes sur les boutiques, les panneaux, jusqu’à la signalétique des portes de chiottes, Din, Din, Din…

For English readers, try the Google translation in English.

mar 10 2011
On type classifications

Classifications of Typefaces is an endless activity. Many books cover the subject, and try to adapt, optimise the system. There is no perfect system, I still use The Vox ATypI system mainly as terminology to describe typefaces. Maximilien Vox, founder of the Rencontres Internationale de Lure, its author said repeatedly that his system should work by combining the names of categories: “Each typeface has two parents.” Rare are those who really follow this mechanism. Read more…

aug 02 2010
Après le décès de Peter Keller par Rudi Meyer

Lors de mon premier voyage à Paris en 1961 en compagnie de mon ami Georg Staehelin, nous découvrions la typographie française dans la rue. Nous étions fascinés par les façades des marchands de couleurs, les affiches de boxe de l’Elysée-Montmartre, sans images, avec gros caractères et fonds arc-en-ciel, les colonnes Morris des concerts, mais aussi par les inscriptions omniprésentes dans la ville «Défense d’afficher, loi du 29 Juillet 1881», déclinées dans des Didones ou Egyptiennes, utilisées en versions étroites ou larges, chaque fois adaptées à la largeur des espaces disponibles. C’était loin de l’école suisse, et pourtant la vision de cette typographie de la rue, vivante et pleine de fantaisie, nous faisait une grande impression…

feb 04 2010
Lettering: Canadian Business

In 2009, Porchez Typofonderie was asked by Canadian Business to improve their current masthead which was to be used for their upcoming redesign. They discussed the possibilities with Jason Logan, in charge of the cover redesign, about the future design. The first step was to correct all problems with the current typeface used to set the new nameplate: Onyx.

oct 09 2008
Type history (2)

Featured here is the second part of a small history of type, it cover the twentieth century and recent history. Enjoy.

apr 09 2008
Type history

Featured here is the first part of a small history of type. This history, normally told from the Anglo-Saxon point of view, is from a French perspective, allowing the reader to form one’s own opinion. Enjoy.

nov 04 2006
Ladislas Mandel

Le créateur de caractères typographiques Ladislas Mandel est mort à son domicile du Paradou (Bouches-du-Rhône) samedi 21 octobre. Il était âgé de 85 ans. D’origine hongroise, né le 26 mai 1921 à Oradea (Roumanie), il arrive en France en 1936 et étudie aux Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Mandel est engagé chez Deberny et Peignot en 1954 et devient l’assistant d’Adrian Frutiger, alors jeune directeur artistique de la fonderie de Charles Peignot.

jun 02 2006
Ambroise in details

The typeface Ambroise is a contemporary interpretation of various typefaces belonging to Didot’s late style, conceived circa 1830, including the original forms of g, y, &; and to a lesser extent, k. In the case of the various Didot styles of typefaces we find in the company’s catalogues of typefaces that it was more the job of a team over a long period rather than the unique work of one designer.

jul 24 2004
ATypI survey 2004

IN recent years many changes have taken place in the word of type. Indeed, ATypI had learnt from that; as one example, in 1993 the fringe conference TypeLab appeared, which continued as an integral part of the annual conference, in one guise or another.

On 20 June 2004, this ATypI news item informs us that the Board has published a draft of new association statutes. Read more.

mar 08 2004
Un homme de caractère(s)

Online version of the recent exhibit on Jean François Porchez typefaces

feb 09 2004
Relaunch

In December 2003, typofonderie.com was relaunched after a major redesign from scratch for the first time in its existence.

jan 15 2004
ATypI report 2003 for France

Initially published as part of the ATypI country delegates report in September 2003 for the ATypI Vancouver conference 2003.

may 10 2003
PTF Expo 2003: Jean François Porchez

Online version of the exhibition of his work.

may 10 2003
PTF Expo 2003

may 05 2003
The latin alphabet in latin hands 2

Part II

Alejandro Lo Celso and Gabriel Martínez Meave interviewed by Jean François Porchez.

As France is categorized as Latin country, we’re always interested to see what happens in other Latin countries. It looks like we have something in common, culturally, with respect to Italy, Portugal and Spain, perhaps; but in fact less with Latin America countries.