Show & tell - The Foundry typefaces

The Foundry

Last year Liam and I went on a mission to find typefaces that could truly represent the University of Bath.

An origin of Origins

Que?What about all the typefaces

we already have?

Caecilia

Gotham Narrow

Helvetica Neue

TUNGSTEN

Lucida Grande

Raleway

There are many, many more hiding out across the University.

These typefaces just didn’t fit the bill. Things had changed. We’d moved on.

It’s not you. It’s us.

Why not?

We have been using Gotham Narrow on blogs.bath.ac.uk for over a year.

Although it’s a beautiful typeface it is a little too thin at a comfortable weight on screen. We’ve had to 'beef it up’.

Legibility is paramount.

Clarity & legibility

Raleway is a nice typeface. It’s got a funky ‘W’.

However it does not have a full character set. It is missing some key extended Latin characters.

It’s also pretty badly kerned which leads to some nasty looking letter pairs!

Flexibility

- Why are we using these typefaces?

- What was the thinking behind their original implementation?

- What is their connection to us, to Bath, to the UK?

The connection

- Designed with digital usage in mind

- Delivered via a reputable, robust web service

- Fully configurable web fonts in Opentype format.

Born digital

Select typefaces from a single source that share a design sensibility, harmony and structure.

Typefaces designed to work together from the ground up.

Harmonious

That little extra something… Something undefinable. Something special.

I’ll know it when I see it.

Je ne sais quoi

Serif

Sans serif

DISPLAY

We searched through hundreds

of typefaces

Founded by David Quay & Freda Sack in 1990

The Foundry

David Quay was the designer behind the Bath typeface used in signage across the city.

A happy coincidence. A sign perhaps…

The Foundry design typefaces that are grounded in British sensibilities but not weighed down by typographic history.

Foundry Sterling

Foundry Sterling is a functional and eloquent typeface family that has its origins in the desire to create a modern sans design with a quintessentially English flavour.

Foundry Origin

Foundry Origin has an elemental quality hinting at its ‘Egyptian’ roots. A quiet design with a big presence, tipped to become a modern classic.

Egyptian?

Upon Napoleon’s return from a three year Egyptian expedition and publication in 1809 of Description de l’Egypt, Egypt was all the rage.

At the same time English typographers were experimenting with slab serif letterforms for use on bill posters. The name ‘Egyptian slab’ just stuck.

waffle Ligatures (and other opentype features)

a aBook Book italic

Complete kerning tables

LT AV YO TO

la av yo to

la av yo to

Full character sets

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

- William Morris