Monday, December 13, 2010

No Type Like SnowType






















This bit of snow-capped trivia might be archived under early ice age type or glacial lettering as it is nearly as old as the invention of snowplay. Typefounders first made their share of snow-covered fonts farther back than you might imagine. Seasoned type designers, Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones of Hoefler & Frere-Jones nearly had to do a glacier core sample to dig up a sample of an early snow-capped alphabet. According to Hoefler, "it was lurking on page 120p of Die Haupt Probe, otherwise known as The Behemoth: the 1,478-page, six-kilogram, scanner-breaking type specimen of the Stempel Foundry, issued in 1925, and thought to be the largest typefoundry specimen book ever produced. Behold Schneekönigin, a snow-capped adaptation of the Fette Teutonia typeface. Like the book that contained it, it is equal parts delightful and menacing."

Hoefler also reports that the wags at Deitch have created
their own Ice-o-Type version
of H&FJs font, Gotham Black.
It was created by illustrator/guitarist Rick Froberg.

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