Iowan Old Style
 | |
| Category | Serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Old-style |
| Designer(s) | John Downer |
| Foundry | Bitstream |
Iowan Old Style is a digital serif typeface designed by John Downer and released by Bitstream in 1990.
Iowan Old Style is inspired by serif typefaces designed in the 1490s in Italy now called the 'old-style' of typeface design, with influence from Downer's work as hand-painter of signs.[1][2] Compared to the historical models it is based on, Iowan has a higher x-height, meaning that the lower-case letters are taller and appear larger.[3] This produces a design that is particularly orientated for uses where legibility is a problem such as display and on-screen use. It is used as a default font on Apple's iBooks application and is included as a system font on iOS and OS X.[4][5]
Design
Downer has described the design as influenced by painted signs he saw or has painted himself in eastern Iowa. It has diamond-dots (tittles) on the 'i' and 'j' similar to the Arts and Crafts-influenced work of Frederic Goudy such as his Goudy Old Style.[6] The character set includes small capitals and ligatures, as well as Cyrillic characters. Bitstream later revisited the design, adding ornaments and capitals for titling.[6] Stephen Coles, an expert on digital fonts, has described its design as 'hardworking'.[7]
Gallery
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An extended setting of a text by Oscar Wilde in Iowan Old Style, showing justified text and leading between the lines.
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Iowan Old Style's x-height compared to other serif fonts: higher than Caslon and Bembo, used in fine book printing, but lower than Lucida Bright which is intended for maximum legibility.
References
- ↑ Butterick, Matthew. "Iowan Old Style". Typography for Lawyers. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ Hoefler, Jonathan. "John Downer at The Propagandist". Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ↑ "Iowan Old Style". Identifont. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ Coles, Stephen. "Apple iBooks 1.5". Fonts In Use. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ↑ Berry, John. "Text on the pages of iBooks". Easily Amused. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- 1 2 Berry, John. "An American Typeface Comes of Age". dot creative. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Recommended book text fonts". Fontshop. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
External links
- Font designer John Downer - Klingspor Museum article on John Downer's work
- John Downer Speedballs (Typographica)
- Sostav (Russian) - page on Downer's lettering and influences
- Type design in Iowa - Luc Devroye's page on Downer and other Iowa-based type designers
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