HEX

Happy solstice everyone. If you’re using Mastodon, you can follow HEX there too: @HEX" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">typo.social/@HEX

✳︎ IN THE WILD ✳︎ Margo by HEX in use Beloved type community Goodtype brought in @hoodzpahdesign to give the brand a refresh. They paired Margo with Griffith Gothic by @frerejones. “Margo had that perfect old school calligraphy feel but with a modern sophistication.”

The talk I gave about all things Franklin Gothic for @coopertype & @lubalincenter last month has be re-edited to restore some parts that were dropped in the livestream and subsequent recording. The new edit also includes high-res/full-screen slide images. youtube.com/watch?v=94uCx6…

@oelna Yeah the older versions of macOS are probably stuck as they are. I know it’s not ideal, but if you outline the type before exporting, it can often fix the issue. Or if you’re only using named instances of the variable font, you could switch to using the static fonts instead.

@oelna No you aren’t doing anything wrong. This is just an issue with rendering engines that still aren’t up to speed with variable font specs. Do you mind if I ask the specifics of OS / app version etc? The only place I’ve seen it recently was with some PDF exporting processes.

Last reminder: My talk about Franklin Gothic is happening ✨tonight✨ – about 7 hours from now – at 18:30 EDT. (An earlier flyer accidentally specified the wrong weekday.) RSVP for free to attend in person or to stream the event live online: coopertype.org/event/franklin…

@bctuttle @cjtype @djrrb @JeremyTankard @typotheque If we’re not talking about *alternate* glyphs, there are surely many earlier examples – not just in the historic context of wood type or metal titling fonts, but also because many digital fonts have been made by people who didn’t know or care about overshoots in the first place.

Most typefaces rely on Optical Alignment to improve their appearance, but Nickel Gothic goes further with a cutting-edge approach known as “Actual Alignment” 📐 djr.com/notes/nickel-g…

@cjtype @djrrb @JeremyTankard I can’t say I’ve seen it as alternates in a digital font before. But almost all wood type was historically made without overshoots, and I wouldn’t be surprised if various “titling” versions of metal type took a similar approach.

@djrrb @JeremyTankard In the typical wood type tradition, I also also refrained from overshoots with Brylski (it makes the wood type production process much easier and allows for tighter line spacing): hex.xyz/Brylski/

@djrrb @JeremyTankard Funny you mention this because I *just* made a set of non-overshooting alternates for HEX Franklin. The normal overshoots were messing up my extra-tight line spacing for this flyer:

I’m giving a free talk next week about all things Franklin Gothic as part of @CooperType & @lubalincenter’s Herb Lubalin Lecture Series. The event will be live in person at @cooperunion and also streaming online. RSVP for free: coopertype.org/event/franklin…

October 24, join us @cooperunion or by livestream for the first fall Lubalin Lecture Series talk w/@hexprojects @NickSherman who'll be talking about Franklin Gothic & its relatives, as well as the cultural impact in the world of design RSVP [always free] coopertype.org/event/franklin…

HEX Franklin is HEX’s fresh take on Franklin Gothic, with handy features like multiplexed weights for easy text reflow, and variable fonts that allow for endless tweaking of your spacing, widths, and weights! futurefonts.xyz/hex/hex-frankl…

HEX Franklin got a nice mention in the latest edition of @robinrendle’s newsletter (buttondown.email/adventures/arc…) after he used the variable font for his essay, “In Praise of Shadows” (robinrendle.com/essays/in-prai…). Glad to see the big quotation mark ornaments from the fonts getting used.

@posttypography @futurefonts Thank you! It means a lot coming from you.

@HEXprojects @futurefonts Very very nice.

✨NEW FONTS✨ HEX Franklin has been upgraded to version 0.2, with much more character support, plus an early ‘Tyght’ variable font that allows for extra-tight display spacing without the need for manual user kerning tweaks. Available now at @futurefonts: futurefonts.xyz/hex/hex-frankl…

@murtaugh Very strange! I’m not seeing that on my machine, but I'll pass the word along to the powers that be. Thanks for the heads up.

… Just one more thing, then I promise I’ll pause the flood of Franklin content in your timeline: Check out the interactive HEX Franklin Tyght demo page. Moving the sliders around is fun but also a good way to understand how the variable font works. 🎚🎚🎚hex.xyz/HEX_Franklin/T…

… I should probably mention that, despite all the uppercase samples I’ve been sharing, the HEX Franklin Tyght variable font does include lowercase too. (I’m just partial to all-caps tightness.) This sample was also made with no kerning beyond what is built into the font.