Author: Pedro Amado

Pedro Amado. Assistant Professor at FBAUP. Integrated researcher of the i2ADS research institute.

Redaction: an original approach to variable font masters

This year’s edition of the Fontstand Conference was an amazing one-day event! The culture, design, and typefaces presented by internationally acclaimed type designers were mind-blowing. One such presentation was Jeremy Mickel’s. He presented us with this fantastic typeface. As a hybrid revival of Times and Century, it is an excellent Case Study to be further… Continue reading Redaction: an original approach to variable font masters

Unbounded: a new open source variable font

Unbounded, a recent typeface constitutes the kind of work expected from FBAUP’s typeface design students. Especially considering the contents and presentation in the interactive digital specimen. Although not explicitly sourced from historical exemplars (thus… not really a revival as we do in the master’s course), the type specimen presents the concept, anatomy features, character set,… Continue reading Unbounded: a new open source variable font

Typeface Design Evaluation Criteria

The quality assessment (QA) or the evaluation of the quality of a typeface design is a very complex task, as it requires assessing the design’s technical, contextual, and aesthetic qualities.

Specimen showcase

Today was the first-semester class. During the next 15 weeks, I will [try to] bring a sample of different physical/printed type specimens to class. The only criteria are that they have to be bound books, booklets, magazines, journals, newspapers, or another book (ish) or editorial-based media. Class 1, 2022-01-08: Adobe Originals: Garamond Pro and Arno;… Continue reading Specimen showcase

Legibility paper

João Figueiredo (Superv. Aprígio Morgado) Exercício sobre a (i)legibilidade da letra — Desenvolvimento de uma metodologia para a construção de tipos de letras reducionistas (paper published in the 11ET, and soon to be published dissertation research) This (paper) research presents a very clear and detailed methodology for conducting legibility studies with “semi-randomized” options. The theoretical… Continue reading Legibility paper

Writing systems of the World

[This post is still a rough draft mainly citing Robinson’s book. Lacks additional sources such as Bright, Nakanishi and a few others. Also, examples of scripts!] Cuneiform Evolves from pictograms to wedge-shaped cuneiform signs in Sumer around 2500 BC. Evolved into Babylonian, Assyrian, Hitite. Used by the Akkadian and Elamites also. It evolved over the… Continue reading Writing systems of the World

Adobe Garamond Pro

A medium-sized perfect binding booklet, with a heavy-sized colored paper warping the white cover. Nicely executed, no-nonsense specimen. Dust-cover Cover Hlaf-title and Title pages Historical information about Garamond Font development information Character sets and features Mockups Very complete and exemplar reference for anyone designing a specimen. “Just” missing a “Fonts in Use” section and maybe… Continue reading Adobe Garamond Pro

Communication Arts award for Loretta Type Familly

The Loretta typeface family, designed by Joana Correia and Abel Martins — a former award-winning student from the MDGPE master program—, now working with Joana Correia at Nova Type Foundry, was awarded a Communication Arts (CA) prize in the 2022 Typography competition. A heartfelt congratulations to both, and a special thank you for promoting the… Continue reading Communication Arts award for Loretta Type Familly