The Sands of Time A 2023 Typographic Calendar
January
3
5
7
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
J A N U A RY
1
Monday
2
Wednesday
4
Friday
6
8
Sunday
Monday
10
Tuesday
Wednesday
14
Thursday
Saturday
2023
12
9
Friday
11
13
17
19
21
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
J A N U A RY
15
Monday
16
Wednesday
18
Friday
20
22
24
28
Monday
23
Wednesday
25
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
26
Sunday
Friday
27
31
2
4
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
J A N U A RY
29
Monday
30
Wednesday
1
Friday
3
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
5
Sunday
Monday
Eric Gill 1882–1940 GB
6
Perpetua Type designer Eric Gill’s most popular Roman typeface is Perpetua, which was released by the Monotype Corporation between 1925 and 1932. It first appeared in a limited edition of the book The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, for which the typeface was named. The italic form was originally called Felicity. Perpetua’s clean chiseled look recalls Gill’s stonecutting work and makes it an excellent text typeface, giving sparkle to long passages of text; the Perpetua capitals have beautiful, classical lines that make this one of the finest display alphabets available.
2023
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, lettercutter, sculptor, wood-engraver and type designer, was one of the most prominent and controversial figures of his day. Born in Brighton, Gill studied at Chichester School of Art before being apprenticed to an ecclesiastical architect in London. Whilst there he attended the classes of the calligrapher Edward Johnston at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Thus he became involved in the small world of scribes and illuminators and the Arts and Crafts Movement, embarking on a career as a stone cutter and letterer. Gill designed his first typeface at the invitation of Stanley Morison of the Monotype Corporation.The drawings for the type, Perpetua, were begun in 1925. Gill Sans, designed during the same period, was based on the same sources as the Johnston Sans Serif. Gill had painted san-serif lettering on the Douglas Cleverdon’s Bristol Bookshop in 1927 and it was this that suggested the idea of a Gill sans serif to Morison. Joanna was cut by the Caslon foundry; one of its first uses in 1931 was for Gill’s own Essay on Typography. These three typefaces are from his most creative period.
February
31
2
4
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
FEBRUARY
29
Monday
30
Wednesday
Friday
1
3
5
Sunday
Monday
7
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
11
Saturday
2023
9
6
Friday
8
10
14
16
18
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
FEBRUARY
12
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
13
15
17
19
Sunday
Monday
21
Tuesday
Wednesday
25
Thursday
Saturday
2023
23
20
Friday
22
24
28
2
4
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
FEBRUARY
26
Monday
27
Wednesday
Friday
1
3
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
5
Sunday
Monday
Morris Fuller Benton 1872–1948 USA
6
Franklin Gothic Franklin Gothic, one of the most popular sans serif types ever produced, was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1902 for American Type Founders. In 1979, under license with ATF, Vic Caruso began work on more weights of the design for ITC. This version adheres closely to the subtle thick and thin pattern of the original design; the slightly enlarged x-height and condensed proportions of the new version result in greater economy of space. This typeface is a standard choice for use in newspapers and advertising. In 1991, David Berlow completed the family for ITC by creating compressed and condensed weights. ITC Franklin Gothic Compressed is designed especially to solve impossibly tight copyfitting problems, while maintaining high legibility standards. ITC Franklin Condensed provides medium weights of narrow proportions. It is frequently seen in newspapers, advertisements, posters, and anyplace with space restrictions.
2023
Morris Fuller Benton is accredited with being the most prolific type designer in American history, with an output twice as great as that of Frederic Goudy (although in fairness Goudy did not start his career until a later age). A factor in his relative anonymity was his position as an in-house designer, but in a position that suited his retiring character: when pressed he would put his successes down to ‘Lady Luck’. Benton has been credited with inventing the concept of the type family and although this is not the case he did do his best work expanding faces into families and adapting existing type styles for ATF. Between 1900 and 1928 he designed 18 variations on Century, including the popular Century Schoolbook.
March
28
2
4
MARCH
26
Sunday
Monday
27
Tuesday
Wednesday
1
Friday
3
Thursday
Saturday
5
7
Monday
6
Wednesday
8
Tuesday
2023
9
Sunday
Thursday
11
Saturday
Friday
10
14
16
18
MARCH
12
Sunday
Monday
13
Wednesday
15
Friday
17
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
19
21
25
Monday
20
Wednesday
22
Friday
24
Tuesday
2023
23
Sunday
Thursday
Saturday
28
30
1
MARCH
26
Sunday
Monday
27
Wednesday
29
Friday
31
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
2
Sunday
Monday
William Caslon 1692–1766 GB
3
Adobe Caslon Pro William Caslon released his first typefaces in 1722. Caslon’s types were based on seventeenth-century Dutch old style designs, which were then used extensively in England. Because of their remarkable practicality, Caslon’s designs met with instant success. Caslon’s types became popular throughout Europe and the American colonies; printer Benjamin Franklin hardly used any other typeface. The first printings of the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were set in Caslon. For her Caslon revival, designer Carol Twombly studied specimen pages printed by William Caslon between 1734 and 1770. The OpenType Pro version merges formerly separate fonts (expert, etc.), and adds both central European language support and several additional ligatures. Ideally suited for text in sizes ranging from 6- to 14-point, Adobe Caslon Pro is the right choice for magazines, journals, book publishing, and corporate communications.
2023
William Caslon I was the first British typefounder of any renown and was responsible for ending the dependence of British printers on imported Dutch types which (with some French types) had dominated the market throughout the 17th century. Born in Worcestershire, William Caslon began his career in London engraving and chasing gun barrels (occasionally also cutting brass letters for bookbinders) until a printer called William Bowyer, after seeing some of his letters, encouraged him to try punch-cutting. Bowyer lent him €500 to start his own foundry, which he opened in London’s Vine Street probably in 1722 or 1723. In 1734 the foundry moved to Chiswell Street, where Caslon published his famous specimen sheet showing a full range of the roman types he cut. His work found particular favour in America, and Caslon type was used by Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore for printing the Declaration of Independence.
April
28
30
Sunday
Tuesday
A P R IL
26
Monday
Wednesday
29
Thursday
Friday
1
27
Saturday
31
2
Sunday
Monday
4
Tuesday
Wednesday
8
Thursday
Saturday
2023
6
3
Friday
5
7
Sunday
11
13
Tuesday
A P R IL
9
Monday
Wednesday
12
Thursday
Friday
15
10
Saturday
14
16
Sunday
Monday
18
Tuesday
Wednesday
22
Thursday
Saturday
2023
20
17
Friday
19
21
25
27
Sunday
Tuesday
A P R IL
23
Monday
Wednesday
26
Thursday
Friday
29
24
Saturday
28
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
30
Sunday
Monday
For Eric Gill’s bio information, see the January spread.
Eric Gill 1882–1940 GB
Gill Sans MT Designed by Eric Gill and released by the Monotype Corporation between 1928 and 1930, Gill Sans is based on the typeface Edward Johnston, the innovative British letterer and teacher, designed in 1916 for the signage of the London Underground. Gill’s alphabet is more classical in proportion and contains his signature flared capital R and eyeglass lowercase g. With distinct roots in pen-written letters, Gill Sans is classified as a humanist sans serif, making it very legible and readable in text and display work. The condensed, bold, and display versions are excellent for packaging or posters.
2023
Eric Gill, self-portrait, 1927
1
May
2
4
6
Sunday
Tuesday
M AY
30
Monday
1
Wednesday
3
Friday
5
Thursday
Saturday
7
Sunday
Monday
9
8
Tuesday
13
Thursday
Saturday
2023
11
Wednesday
10
Friday
12
16
18
20
Sunday
Tuesday
M AY
14
Monday
15
Wednesday
17
Friday
19
Thursday
Saturday
21
23
27
Monday
22
Wednesday
24
Friday
26
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
25
Sunday
30
1
Sunday
Tuesday
M AY
28
Monday
29
Wednesday
31
Thursday
Friday
3
Saturday
2
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
4
Sunday
Monday For Morris Fuller Benton’s bio information, see the February spread.
Morris Fuller Benton 1872–1948 USA
Century Schoolbook Another version of the Century family was produced when Ginn & Company, a textbook publisher, commissioned American Type Founders to design a typeface with maximum legibility. Morris Benton researched the subjects of eyesight and legibility, then created Century Schoolbook, which was released between 1918 and 1921. Century Schoolbook is still seen in elementary school texts, and can be used for text work where legibility is a primary consideration.
2023
Linn Boyd Benson, Morris Fuller Benson’s father and fellow typographer
5
June
JUNE 28
Sunday
Monday
30
Tuesday
Wednesday
1
29
31
Thursday
Friday
3
Saturday
2
4
Sunday
Monday
6
Tuesday
Wednesday
8
5
7
Thursday
Saturday
2023
10
Friday
9
JUNE 11
Sunday
Monday
13
Tuesday
Wednesday
15
14
Thursday
Friday
17
12
Saturday
16
18
Sunday
Monday
20
Tuesday
Wednesday
22
21
Thursday
Saturday
2023
24
19
Friday
23
JUNE 25
Sunday
Monday
27
Tuesday
Wednesday
29
28
Thursday
Friday
1
26
Saturday
30
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
2
Sunday
Monday
Max Miedinger 1910–1980 CH
3
Helvetica Neue The history of Helvetica includes a number of twists and turns. There are, in fact, two versions of Helvetica. The first one is the original design, which was created by Max Miedinger and released by Linotype in 1957. And secondly, in 1983, D. Stempel AG, Linotype’s daughter company, released the Neue Helvetica® design, which was a re-working of the 1957 original. The outcome was a synthesis of aesthetic and technical refinements and modifications that resulted in improved appearance, legibility and usefulness.
2023
Max Miedinger, born in Zurich, was an in-house designer with the Haas foundry in Munchenstein, Switzerland. His most famous typeface is Helvetica, currently one of the most widely used sans serifs, which was designed in 1956. Edward Hoffman of Haas had asked Miedinger to adapt the existing Haas Grotesk to bring it in line with current taste. Haas Grotesk had its origins in the 19thcentury German grotesques like Berthold’s Akzidenz-Grotesk. The type, which was created from Miedinger’s china-ink drawings, seemed like a new design in its own right, rather than an old one with minor retouching as had been the original plan. Although designed for the home market, the then-called Neue Haas Grotesk proved popular farther afield. When Stempel AG in Germany released the face in 1961 they called it Helvetica, the traditional Latin name for Switzerland, in order to capitalize on the fashion for Swiss typography. Additional weights were added to the Helvetica family over the years. In 1983 Linotype released a new, more extensive version, Neue Helvetica, in 51 weights.
July
27
29
1
Sunday
Tuesday
J U LY
25
Monday
26
Wednesday
28
Friday
30
Thursday
Saturday
2
4
8
Monday
3
Wednesday
5
Friday
7
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
6
Sunday
Sunday
11
13
15
Tuesday
J U LY
9
Monday
10
Wednesday
12
Friday
14
Thursday
Saturday
16
18
22
Monday
17
Wednesday
19
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
20
Sunday
Friday
21
25
27
29
Sunday
Tuesday
J U LY
23
Monday
24
Wednesday
26
Friday
28
Thursday
Saturday
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
30
Sunday
Born in London, Richard Austin trained as a wood-engraver with Thomas Bewick. In 1788 he joined the British Letter Foundry of publisher John Bell as a punch-cutter. Influenced by Bell’s enthusiasm for contemporary French types, Austin, a skillful cutter, produced a very sharply serifed letter which Stanley Morison was to call the first English modern face. the type retains some old-style characteristics and should more properly be called a late transitional. Austin went on to cut true moderns and later, in 1819, after starting a foundry of his own, he outlined the dangers of such designs being taken to extremes.
Monday
Richard Austin 1768–1830 GB
31
Bell MT
2023
In 1931 Monotype made this facsimile of the typeface cut originally for John Bell by Richard Austin in 1788, using as a basis the matrices in the possession of Stephenson Blake & Co. Used in Bell’s newspaper, “The Oracle,” it was regarded by Stanley Morison as the first English Modern face. Although inspired by French punchcutters of the time, with a vertical stress and fine hairlines, the face is less severe than the French models and is now classified as Transitional. Essentially a text face, Bell can be used for books, magazines, long articles etc.
August
1
3
5
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
AUGUST
30
Monday
31
Wednesday
2
Friday
4
6
8
Sunday
Monday
7
Wednesday
9
Tuesday
12
Thursday
Saturday
2023
10
Friday
11
15
17
19
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
AUGUST
13
Monday
14
Wednesday
16
Friday
18
20
22
26
Monday
21
Wednesday
23
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
24
Sunday
Friday
25
29
31
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
AUGUST
27
Monday
28
Wednesday
30
Friday
2
Saturday
1
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
3
Sunday
Monday For 50 Years Sol Hess was art director of Lanston Monotype Machinery Co., where he succeeded his friend and collaborator F W Goudy. He started with the company in 1902 after a three-year scholarship course at Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, and as a type designer there he redrew and readapted all their typographical materials. His forte was the development of type families, and during his years with Lanston monotype he carried out commissions for many leading American companies, including Curtis Publishing, Crowell-Collier, Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, Yale University Press and World Publishing Company.
Sol Hess 1886–1953 USA
4
Century Gothic
2023
Century Gothic Regular fonts maintains the basic design of 20th Century but has an enlarged ‘x’ height and has been modified to ensure satisfactory output from modern digital systems. A design based on 20th Century, which was drawn by Sol Hess between 1936 and 1947. The Century Gothic Fonts Regular design is influenced by the geometric style sans serif faces which were popular during the 1920’s and 30’s. Century Gothic Fonts Regular is useful for headlines and general display work and for small quantities of text, particularly in advertising.
September
29
31
2
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
SEPTEMBER
27
Monday
28
Wednesday
30
Friday
1
3
5
9
Monday
4
Wednesday
6
Friday
8
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
7
Sunday
12
14
16
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
SEPTEMBER
10
Monday
11
Wednesday
13
Friday
15
17
19
23
Monday
18
Wednesday
20
Friday
22
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
21
Sunday
26
28
30
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
SEPTEMBER
24
Monday
25
Wednesday
27
Friday
29
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
1
Sunday
Robert Slimbach, who was born in Evanston, Illinois, received his training and early experience of type design in the drawing office of Autologic in California. In 1987, after two years of self-employment, which saw him contribute ITC Slimbach and ITC Giovanni to the International Typeface Corporation, he joined Adobe Systems. Since then, he has been designing and developing type-faces for the Adobe Originals program. Slimbach’s typefaces offer type users a rich palette of designs, mostly for text use, based on his enthusiasm for classic letter forms. In 1999 he received the Prix Charles Peignot from the Association Typographique Internationale for excellence in type design.
Monday
Robert Slimbach 1956–present USA
2
Adobe Garamond Pro
2023
An Adobe Originals design, and Adobe’s first historical revival, Adobe Garamond is a digital interpretation of the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon. Since its release in 1989, Adobe Garamond has become a typographic staple throughout the world of desktop typography and design. Adobe type designer Robert Slimbach has captured the beauty and balance of the original Garamond typefaces while creating a typeface family that offers all the advantages of a contemporary digital type family. With the introduction of OpenType font technology, Adobe Garamond has been reissued as a Pro type family that takes advantage of OpenType’s advanced typographic capabilities. Now this elegant type family can be used with even greater efficiency and precision in OpenType-savvy applications such as Adobe InDesign.
October
3
5
7
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
OC T OB E R
1
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
2
4
6
8
Sunday
Monday
10
Tuesday
Wednesday
14
Thursday
Saturday
2023
12
9
Friday
11
13
17
19
21
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
OC T OB E R
15
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
16
18
20
22
Sunday
Monday
24
Tuesday
Wednesday
28
Thursday
Saturday
2023
26
23
Friday
25
27
31
2
4
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
OC T OB E R
29
Monday
30
Wednesday
Friday
1
3
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
5
Sunday
Monday
Carol Twombly 1959–present USA
6
Myriad Pro An Adobe Originals design first released in 1992, Myriad has become popular for both text and display composition. As an OpenType release, Myriad Pro expands this sans serif family to include Greek and Cyrillic glyphs, as well as adding oldstyle figures and improving support for Latin-based languages. The full Myriad Pro family includes condensed, normal, and extended widths in a full range of weights. Designed by Robert Slimbach & Carol Twombly with Fred Brady & Christopher Slye, Myriad has a warmth and readability that result from the humanistic treatment of letter proportions and design detail. Myriad Pro’s clean open shapes, precise letter fit, and extensive kerning pairs make this unified family of roman and italic an excellent choice for text typography that is comfortable to read, while the wide variety of weights and widths in the family provide a generous creative palette for even the most demanding display typography.
2023
Carol Twombly studied design at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she became interested in type design and typography. She received an MS from Stanford University in the graduate programme of digital typography under Charles Bigelow, and later joined the Bigelow & Holmes Studio. In the Morisawa Typeface Design Competition in 1984 she won first prize for Mirarae, a latin design which has since been licensed and released. A member of the Adobe type studio since 1988, Twombly has designed many successful display and text typefaces for the Adobe Originals library. In 1994 she was the first woman to receive from ATypI the Prix Charles Peignot for outstanding contributions to type design.
November
31
2
4
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
NOV E M B E R
29
Monday
30
Wednesday
Friday
1
3
5
Sunday
Monday
7
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
11
Saturday
2023
9
6
Friday
8
10
14
Sunday
Tuesday
NOV E M B E R
12
Monday
Wednesday
16
18
Thursday
Saturday
Friday
13
15
17
19
Sunday
Monday
21
Tuesday
Wednesday
25
Thursday
Saturday
2023
23
20
Friday
22
24
28
Sunday
Tuesday
NOV E M B E R
26
Monday
Wednesday
30
2
Thursday
Saturday
27
29
Friday
1
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
3
Sunday
Monday
For Robert Slimbach’s bio information, see the September spread.
Robert Slimbach 1956–present USA
Minion Pro Minion Pro is an Adobe Original typeface designed by Robert Slimbach. The first version of Minion was released in 1990. Cyrillic additions were released in 1992, and finally the OpenType Pro version was released in 2000. Minion Pro is inspired by classical, old style typefaces of the late Renaissance, a period of elegant, beautiful, and highly readable type designs. Minion Pro combines the aesthetic and functional qualities that make text type highly readable with the versatility of OpenType digital technology, yielding unprecedented flexibility and typographic control, whether for lengthy text or display settings. The full Minion Pro family contains three weights and two widths, each with optical size variants, and each supporting a full range of Western languages, including Greek and Cyrillic. With its many ligatures, small caps, oldstyle figures, swashes, and other added glyphs, Minion Pro is ideal for uses ranging from limited-edition books to newsletters to packaging.
2023
Robert Slimbach, alternate portrait
4
December
28
30
2
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
DECEMBER
26
Monday
27
Wednesday
29
Friday
1
3
5
7
Monday
4
Wednesday
6
Friday
8
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
9
Sunday
12
14
16
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
DECEMBER
10
Monday
11
Wednesday
13
Friday
15
17
19
21
Monday
18
Wednesday
20
Friday
22
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
2023
23
Sunday
26
28
30
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
DECEMBER
24
Monday
25
Wednesday
27
Friday
29
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz &0123456789
31
Sunday
Monday Frederic Goudy, one of the bestknown and most prolific of type designers, designed, by his own reckoning, 123 faces. Born in Bloomington, Illinois, he worked in various cities before founding the Booklet Press in Chicago in 1895 with equipment bought from Will Bradley. The sale of a set of capitals of his own design to the Bruce Type Foundry, Boston, encouraged him to become a freelance lettering artist. Goudy’s breakthrough with type design came in 1911. He designed Kennerley Old Style for the publishers Mitchell Kennerley on the understanding that he could sell it to the trade. He set up the Village Letter Foundry to cast and sell Kennerley and a titling font, Forum. These established his reputation, and American Type Founders commissioned Goudy Old Style, regarded as one of his finest designs.
Frederic W. Goudy 1865–1947 USA
1
Goudy Old Style
2023
In 1915, Frederic W. Goudy designed Goudy Old Style, his twentyfifth typeface, and his first for American Type Founders. Flexible enough for both text and display, it’s one of the most popular typefaces ever produced, frequently used for packaging and advertising. Its recognizable features include the diamond-shaped dots on i, j, and on punctuation marks; the upturned ear of the g; and the base of E and L. Several years later, in response to the overwhelming popularity of Cooper Black, Lanston Monotype commissioned Frederic W. Goudy to design heavy versions of Goudy Old Style. Goudy Heavyface and Goudy Heavyface Italic were released in 1925. The huge success of Goudy’s typefaces led to the addition of several weights to many of his typefaces; designers working for American Type Founders produced additions to the family. In 1927, Morris Fuller Benton drew Goudy Extra Bold.
The hourglass was commonly used by sailors to measure the distance from port to port, and by churches to measure the length of sermons. Due to its simple design, it was an inexpensive way to tell time.
Although when exactly the hourglass was invented is uncertain, it was commonplace by around 14 BC, with similar devices using water instead of sand dating back to the time of Babylon.
As mechanical clocks became less expensive and more common-place, the hourglass faded out of common use, but did not disappear completely.
In modern times, the hourglass typically only finds use as a timer for cooking and board games. But it remains a testament to the longevity of a truly time-less design.
Cameron Levine
CREDITS
Design
Designer Photos linotype.com identifont.com Monotype Imaging
References
TYPOGRAPHIC HISTORY & DESIGNER BIOS linotype.com typophile.com identifont.com bitmap.nl Monotype Imaging
Title Page Images
Influences Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
Cameron Levine