Twenty-five years ago the late Rob Roy Kelly, the maestro of American wood type preservation, scholarship and practice, supplied specimens to Adobe from which the type team devised this digital Wood Type Package 1: Juniper, Cottonwood, Ponderosa, Ironwood, Mesquite and accompanying ornaments.
This specimen, printed in 1990, is the next generation of historical artifact, covering the nascent period of digital media. The people who made this history are still around: Sumner Stone, leader of the Adobe Type Staff, along with Kim Buker, Barbara Lind, Joy Redick, managed by fred Brady and Carol Twombly. The designer of the booklet was Laurie Szujewska. Kelly wrote an historical introduction.
I present it, not to be nostalgic (the alphabets are still available) but to see our present is not that different from the past.
Do you design your own typefaces? Have you created stunning type-centric design work? Have you produced a gorgeous handlettered project? If so, we want to see your work. All too often, typeface designs, typographic designs and handlettering get overlooked in competitions—which is why Print developed a competition that gives the artforms their full due and recognizes the best designers in each category. Enter Print’s Typography & Lettering Awards today.
