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FF Tisa • A Perfect Typeface for Magazines
Statistics
Created: 01/16/09
Last Edited: 11/16/09
Views: 9469
Appreciations: 518
Comments: 44
Project Info
Owners
Credits
Mitja Miklavčič
Tags
FSI, FontShop International, FSI FontShop International, FontFont, FontShop, Typeface, Typography, Typedesign, Fonts, Font, FF Tisa, Tisa, typeinuse, fontsinuse, fontsinuse FF Tisa, fontsinuse Tisa, font:FF Tisa, font:Tisa, Mitja Miklavčič, Mitja, Miklavčič, text face, TDC, Certificate of Excellence in Type Design, typeface for magazines, magazine typeface
Project featured on 1/29/09
From: FontFont's Portfolio
FF Tisa
Designed by Mitja Miklavčič, initially created in 2006 to fulfill the requirements for the MA in Typeface Design, University of Reading, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication. Versions released in June ’08 for FSI FontShop International: Regular, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Bold Italic [Thin, Thin Italic, Light, Light Italic released 2009]. Selected by the TDC judges to receive the Certificate of Excellence in Type Design for the year 2007.
Designed by Mitja Miklavčič, initially created in 2006 to fulfill the requirements for the MA in Typeface Design, University of Reading, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication. Versions released in June ’08 for FSI FontShop International: Regular, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Bold Italic [Thin, Thin Italic, Light, Light Italic released 2009]. Selected by the TDC judges to receive the Certificate of Excellence in Type Design for the year 2007.
FF Tisa in Fontlab
A typeface for magazines
FF Tisa is a typeface created while studing in the MA Typeface Design course at the University of Reading. The typeface was primarily created for use in various magazines that are either printed by web-fed offset or gravure printing techniques. Nevertheless, the typeface can also be successfully used in other printed media, such as newspapers, annual reports etc.
It is rather hard to define the characteristics of a ‘conventional magazine typeface’ and how a magazine typeface differs from other groups of typefaces, particularly from newspaper typefaces. In many ways the closest relative to a magazine typeface is a newspaper typeface. The text length should be fairly close, although in magazines articles tend to be shorter and more frequently interrupted by other elements on the page, such as illustrations or photographs. On the other hand newspapers tend to look more and more like magazines.
However a magazine typeface doesn’t necessarily need the rough character of a newspaper typeface. The reason may lie in printing technology differences. Magazines are often printed on different kind of web-fed offset presses using paper of better quality and different types of printing ink. On the other hand, quite a significant number of magazines are printed with gravure printing. Gravure printing is principally used for very long print. A detailed description of this old and interesting printing technique would go beyond the subject of this showing. But one has to be familiar with the key peculiarity of gravure printing: everything, including letterforms, is ‘rasterized’.
In order to meet the technological and aesthetic requirements of magazine use a typeface with a relatively low contrast and fairly pronounced serifs was designed. From this point of view a group of typefaces usually labelled as Slab serifs or Egyptians (or sometimes Egyptiennes) was chosen as a model. Slab serifs normally have a rather solid style and somewhat simplified character. They were traditionally used in newspaper printing and were a good choice for a suitable typeface in early typewriters. Many typefaces from this group also have a relatively large x-height, which is advantageous for newspapers and magazines. The main goal of this project was to design a softer and a more dynamic version of a slab serif typeface. The idea was to create a typeface that would have good legibility in text sizes while showing interesting characteristics when used in larger sizes.
FF Tisa is a typeface created while studing in the MA Typeface Design course at the University of Reading. The typeface was primarily created for use in various magazines that are either printed by web-fed offset or gravure printing techniques. Nevertheless, the typeface can also be successfully used in other printed media, such as newspapers, annual reports etc.
It is rather hard to define the characteristics of a ‘conventional magazine typeface’ and how a magazine typeface differs from other groups of typefaces, particularly from newspaper typefaces. In many ways the closest relative to a magazine typeface is a newspaper typeface. The text length should be fairly close, although in magazines articles tend to be shorter and more frequently interrupted by other elements on the page, such as illustrations or photographs. On the other hand newspapers tend to look more and more like magazines.
However a magazine typeface doesn’t necessarily need the rough character of a newspaper typeface. The reason may lie in printing technology differences. Magazines are often printed on different kind of web-fed offset presses using paper of better quality and different types of printing ink. On the other hand, quite a significant number of magazines are printed with gravure printing. Gravure printing is principally used for very long print. A detailed description of this old and interesting printing technique would go beyond the subject of this showing. But one has to be familiar with the key peculiarity of gravure printing: everything, including letterforms, is ‘rasterized’.
In order to meet the technological and aesthetic requirements of magazine use a typeface with a relatively low contrast and fairly pronounced serifs was designed. From this point of view a group of typefaces usually labelled as Slab serifs or Egyptians (or sometimes Egyptiennes) was chosen as a model. Slab serifs normally have a rather solid style and somewhat simplified character. They were traditionally used in newspaper printing and were a good choice for a suitable typeface in early typewriters. Many typefaces from this group also have a relatively large x-height, which is advantageous for newspapers and magazines. The main goal of this project was to design a softer and a more dynamic version of a slab serif typeface. The idea was to create a typeface that would have good legibility in text sizes while showing interesting characteristics when used in larger sizes.
FF Tisa in use
FF Tisa in use
FF Tisa in use
FF Tisa in use
Basic characteristics
FF Tisa is a low contrast slab serif typeface. It is an attempt to create a contemporary version of the nineteenth century woodtype slab serif typefaces. Some ‘humanist’ characteristics, such as asymmetric serifs and slightly oblique stress, might make it easier to read in longer texts. Due to its low stroke contrast FF Tisa is also surprisingly legible in small sizes and works fine in demanding printing techniques, such as gravure printing or low resolution laser printing. FF Tisa has a relatively large x-height which makes it suitable for use in publications such as magazines or newspapers. Small caps are visibly taller compared to lowercase letters, and can be used effectively in emphasizing parts of text.
FF Tisa is a low contrast slab serif typeface. It is an attempt to create a contemporary version of the nineteenth century woodtype slab serif typefaces. Some ‘humanist’ characteristics, such as asymmetric serifs and slightly oblique stress, might make it easier to read in longer texts. Due to its low stroke contrast FF Tisa is also surprisingly legible in small sizes and works fine in demanding printing techniques, such as gravure printing or low resolution laser printing. FF Tisa has a relatively large x-height which makes it suitable for use in publications such as magazines or newspapers. Small caps are visibly taller compared to lowercase letters, and can be used effectively in emphasizing parts of text.
FF Tisa: Basic Features
Italics
The italic version was not primarily created to have the role of emphasising - it is more a secondary typeface to the regular version. From this reason a fairly upright ‘hybrid’ italic was designed which is slightly lighter comparing to the regular version. However, the angle of slant is mathematically not the same in all glyphs and varies roughly from 7 to 5 degrees. In order to achieve an optically uniform angle of slant, taller and wider letters were slanted less. Small caps are comparing to lowercase less and comparing to uppercase more slanted. Another peculiarity of the italic version is that the main strokes are slightly wider on the baseline (this adjustment was more applied on lowercase letters). This characteristic gives the italic typeface some stability.
The italic version was not primarily created to have the role of emphasising - it is more a secondary typeface to the regular version. From this reason a fairly upright ‘hybrid’ italic was designed which is slightly lighter comparing to the regular version. However, the angle of slant is mathematically not the same in all glyphs and varies roughly from 7 to 5 degrees. In order to achieve an optically uniform angle of slant, taller and wider letters were slanted less. Small caps are comparing to lowercase less and comparing to uppercase more slanted. Another peculiarity of the italic version is that the main strokes are slightly wider on the baseline (this adjustment was more applied on lowercase letters). This characteristic gives the italic typeface some stability.
FF Tisa: Italics
Ink traps and diagonals
In letters where a round stroke meets a straight one, such as the lowercase ‘n’ or ‘p’, or in letters where two diagonals meet, for example lowercase ‘v’ and ‘w’, a dark area results. To reduce this unwanted effect some inspirations from phototypesetting were used. Due to small openings in some parts of the letters less light penetrated in these areas when exposed to light and the inside angles had to be strongly opened. Although the process of reproduction in digital workflow is very different a similar optical adjustment was made in a more subtle way. A similar, though much less obvious adjustment is made when a serif and a diagonal stroke meet (e.g. letter ‘w’). The diagonal stroke was thinned in a similar and even more subtle way.
In letters where a round stroke meets a straight one, such as the lowercase ‘n’ or ‘p’, or in letters where two diagonals meet, for example lowercase ‘v’ and ‘w’, a dark area results. To reduce this unwanted effect some inspirations from phototypesetting were used. Due to small openings in some parts of the letters less light penetrated in these areas when exposed to light and the inside angles had to be strongly opened. Although the process of reproduction in digital workflow is very different a similar optical adjustment was made in a more subtle way. A similar, though much less obvious adjustment is made when a serif and a diagonal stroke meet (e.g. letter ‘w’). The diagonal stroke was thinned in a similar and even more subtle way.
FF Tisa: Ink Traps
Typeface in tables
One of the main characteristics of tabular features is that they all have the same width. Normally oldstyle and lining tabular figures are also designed on the same width. When designing this typeface a further step was taken in this direction: figures in all versions have the same width. All mathematical operators also share the same width while some basic punctuation for use in tables was created.
One of the main characteristics of tabular features is that they all have the same width. Normally oldstyle and lining tabular figures are also designed on the same width. When designing this typeface a further step was taken in this direction: figures in all versions have the same width. All mathematical operators also share the same width while some basic punctuation for use in tables was created.
FF Tisa: Tabular Figures
FF Tisa: Case Sensitive Forms
Have a closer look at FF Tisa, a perfect typeface for magazines, reading the entire Specimen, trying it out at the FontShop or on the FontFont Library’s Website.
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