Type Network is happy to add some new volumes to its collection. For years these Mark Simonson designs have graced the covers of many books – now they grace our shelves.
A lucky find at a used book store was the inspiration for Goldenbook in 2003, but it took imagination and the insight garnered from years of perusing type specimens to extrapolate a complete typeface from three words on a magazine cover. In this 2019 edition of Mark Simonson’s take on a Trajan Roman, the family size is doubled with a trio of bolder weights: Extrabold, Heavy, and Black. Support for Cyrillic and localizations for Dutch and German widen the typeface’s scope, while an alternate ampersand and a long-tailed capital R add additional flair. Goldenbook’s old style proportions, small x-height and round, open shapes lend an air of erudition and elegance to any publication.
Refrigerator has seen many iterations since its debut in 1988. One of Simonson’s earliest digital typefaces, it came from childhood memories of block-style lettering. Now titled Refrigerator Deluxe 2.0, it’s a five volume set (Light, Regular, Bold, Extrabold and Heavy) with better overall letterform quality and improved spacing, kerning, and hinting. The many alternates make it a veritable compendium of vernacular styles: from squared off, closed shapes, with few diagonals, to open shapes with an Art Deco feel. The most “deluxe” edition of Refrigerator to date; explore the alternates to create a variety of appearances for all your titling needs.
Grad first rolled off the press in the 1990s as a Century Schoolbook redesign by Phil Martin (founder of Alphabet Innovations and TypeSpectra), who gave the design an antique-update by adding spurs, tilting terminal serifs, and incorporating tail terminals. He also included swash characters, old style numerals, decorative ligatures, and a few dingbats, but it was still only available in bitmap form. In 2004 Simonson completely redigitized the family (based on the 1918 ATF original sources but incorporating the 1990 design changes) and created OpenType fonts with small caps, a full set of f-ligatures and other features not present in the original version. Grad has most definitely graduated to the big-time and is ready to take on complicated publishing projects.
Metallophile Sp8 (2003, 2008) is a facsimile of 8-point sans serif type as set on a hot metal typesetting machine. Ink spread gives warmth to the geometric design, and the exaggerated unevenness adds a material quality. While modern digital faces take a one-font-for-all-sizes approach, hot metal faces were designed to specific point sizes. For that early-space-age documentation look, set Metallophile Sp8 at or near 8 point.
All Mark Simonson fonts are available for print, web, applications, and ePub licensing. Webfonts may be tested free for thirty days; desktop trials are available upon request. To keep current with Mark Simonson and other foundry partners, subscribe to Type Network News, our occasional email newsletter featuring font releases, foundry happenings, type and design events, and more.
