Retype shares Reiher Headline, Tasman, and Guyot Press with Type Network
Ramiro Espinoza’s new offerings include a rerelease, an expansion, and the beginnings of a superfamily.
By Type Network Staff
Retype’s first three Type Network releases for 2019 are strongly geared toward editorial and publication design. Originally published by the now-defunct OurType, Dan Milne’s Tasman has found a new home at Retype and is once again available for licensing. Reiher Headline and Guyot Press form part of Espinoza’s continuing efforts to resuscitate lesser-known historical typefaces and adapt them for exacting contemporary typography.
In addition to the four conventional weights with matching italics, Reiher Headline also has a striking Open style.The Groote Paragon Romein in the Ploos van Amstel specimen served as the basis for Reiher Headline’s roman styles.
Espinoza took inspiration for his new display face, Reiher Headline, from the famous Ploos van Amstel specimen, first printed in Amsterdam in 1767. The roman styles are characterized by self-assured strokes, an almost imperceptibly slanted contrast, and slender serifs. Well-balanced vertical proportions and narrow features make this an economical, confident titling face. An Aszendonica attributed to Nicholas Kis inspired Reiher Headline’s italics. Decisive, slightly angular in- and outstrokes give the letterforms dynamism and purpose. Each of the italic weights includes swash capitals and an extended set of ligatures that add a refined touch of class.
Reiher Headline’s italics come with swash caps and extended ligature sets.
Besides the four weights from Light to Black with matching italics, Reiher Headline also comes in an inventive upright Open style. The straight stems split through the middle conventionally, but the curved strokes transition from outside to inside. This gives the otherwise classic design a refreshingly idiosyncratic look. Finally, Reiher Headline’s character set includes a collection of ornaments. They can be used separately as individual typographic elements, strung together to form frames and borders, or set solid to create patterns and backgrounds.
Reiher Headline’s decorative borders and ornaments make it easy to create classical-looking compositions.
Reiher—German for “heron,” a fitting name for such a graceful design—has the requisite aplomb to set credible newspaper headlines and decks, as well as titles in magazines and medium-sized text, and will be equally persuasive on book covers. Use Reiher Headline to convey a timeless, authoritative style in your display typography.
Tasman’s slightly bulging serifs add a touch of whimsy and make it look a little friendlier than other slabs.
Dan Milne had newspapers on his mind when he came up with the concept for Tasman. Looking to create a sturdy and reliable typeface that could communicate in a clear, unbiased voice, he combined a relatively large x-height and reduced contrast with strong serifs and short ascenders and descenders. These qualities permit compact setting and lend Tasman excellent legibility in smaller sizes. The design favors objectivity over opulence. Its proportions and finish imbue the typeface with a trustworthy personality without making it look mechanical. Gently bulging serifs give it a warm and friendly disposition, even a hint of playfulness.
Tasman offers extras like positive and negative indices and small-cap figures, alongside the ten common figure styles.
Every aspect of Tasman tends toward clarity. Its rationalized letterforms present information in an unambiguous way, with ample small caps and strong punctuation and diacritics. Besides the usual figure styles, Tasman offers both hybrid figures and small-caps figures. The body of hybrid figures is taller than the x-height, which makes them stand out in the surrounding text while still integrating better with mixed-case setting than lining figures. The small-caps figures are exactly as high as the accompanying small caps.
Tasman is ideally suited for the sort of heavy lifting editorial design requires.
Tasman is a robust yet friendly face that can withstand taxing conditions both on and off screen, ranging from low-resolution displays to low-quality printing. The feature-rich OpenType fonts are fully equipped to tackle complex professional typography in a variety of environments. Although Tasman was originally intended for use in newspapers, it has adopted a matter-of-fact, businesslike attitude that also makes it a prime candidate for corporate identity and communication, newsletters and annual reports, and all manner of digital and print publications.
Guyot Press has shorter ascenders and descenders than Guyot Text for more compact typesetting.
Complementing the Headline and Text cuts, Guyot Press is the newest member of Espinoza’s Guyot family. By making the capitals less tall and shortening the ascenders and descenders, Espinoza gave Guyot Press a slightly larger x-height than Guyot Text to improve its legibility in small body sizes, and expanded its character set. Users can take full advantage of three grades to fine-tune the color of the type. Remember that printing techniques and paper stock will affect the text image; rougher, more absorbent papers will cause the ink to spread, causing the type to turn darker than crisp type printed on high-quality, glossy stock. Using a lighter grade can compensate for this effect, making the type look consistent across different media. Similarly, deploying a darker, more robust grade will compensate for screen glare and aid legibility in low lighting conditions. This solidifies Guyot’s position as a type family optimized for the demanding environment of newspapers and other periodicals.
The three grades of Guyot Press allow you to fine-tune the darkness of the text.Like all Retype fonts, Reiher Headline, Tasman, and Guyot Press are available for desktop, web, app, and ePub licensing. Webfonts may be tested free for thirty days; desktop trials are available upon request. To stay current on all things Retype, subscribe to Type Network News, our occasional email newsletter featuring font releases, foundry happenings, type and design events, and more.
