Saturday, January 30, 2010

Font of Fonts

This old blogspot is looking staler than month old melba toast. NICK OLSEN needs to go global but he won't make it to Hoboken with that header ... it's time to build my "b" word, cheesy as it sounds. I need a logo but won't settle for just any old Helvetica. Want it classic but different and a little cheeky without being hard to read or too recognizable. Was it Roc-A-Wear that seemingly ripped off the Burberry font not long ago? So I need I help (vigorous nodding from the blognut gallery). I found my ideal more than a year ago deep in WASP country and have searched five font sites thus far with no luck. Can anyone ID this stylish italic:


Nice N's and O's, right? Mr. Johnston Jr. is not the present owner of the private drive bearing this sign or else I'd inquire. Seen anything similar? Graphic designers and kerning fanatics, please help me out! (Still determining the prize for anyone who nails it.)
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14 comments:

  1. Due to a handful of nerdy typographical observations (I won't bore you), I'd venture a guess that this more likely a hand painted sign than a font.

    Here's a font that is somewhat similar, but definitely not as quirky:

    http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/paratype/pallada/bold-italic/

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  2. Hi Nick. Sarah O'Brien brought your typography question to my attention. I ran your image through MyFont's "What the Font" identifier, and here are the results...

    http://bit.ly/cXJ11d

    Pallada Bold Italic isn't a bad match considering your original is a hand-painted sign, which means the letterform is likely a derivative of some novelty font.

    You might find something you like at Emigré, T26, or P22. Nothing free from those sites, but all high quality fonts. Definitely worth the $$. Or, if you're really into extreme do-it-yourselfing, you could download FontLab's "TypeTool" for $99 and create your own custom font. There might also be a less expensive/free application like TypeTool available.

    http://www.emigre.com/fonts.php

    http://www.t26.com/

    http://www.p22.com/

    http://www.fontlab.com/font-editor/typetool/

    Good luck, and enjoy!!

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  3. No idea, but perhaps these people

    http://www.typography.com/fonts/index.php

    might help?

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  4. get someone with some good handwriting to make that shit up for you and then scan it. duh.

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  5. What does your own handwriting look like? Nothing more personal.

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  6. THis is almost certainly hand-drawn, rather than a font. Note how the two Js are different, not just in size, but in the angle of the bowl to the descender. The two Os are also subtly different. In the past, signs were very commonly painted by craftsmen known as sign-writers (who have now all been replaced by technology).

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  7. Thanks urrybody! I'd considered that this could a sign artist's handiwork but hoped there was a close match out there. I'll just have to whup out tracing paper (or invest in TypeTool) ... home before dark, unfortunately my everyday handwriting brings to mind a mentally ill third grader.

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  8. Haha...mentally ill third grader...made my day...too funny!

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  9. Definitely hand-drawn.

    Based on the criteria you described, (though it doesn't look like your sample image), I think you might like Chapparal. Available here: http://www.linotype.com/44236/chaparral-family.html

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  10. Scan it in and post it at:

    myfonts.com forum

    ...and type nerds will go nuts scrambling to identify it.

    Also, go to myfonts.com and look at these:

    Lockon

    Stirling RR Bold Ital

    Amerigo Bold Ital

    Ellington MTStd Bold Ital

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  11. I just thought I'd throw this out there because my friends and I have been having fun with it.

    http://www.pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/

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  13. So after reading this the other day I was really bothered that I couldn't find the most similar font for this hand-painted sign. I gave up, but in all of my type nerdiness I was perusing for other fonts today and your query haunted me again. (This shit's not identical, but it's got the same feeling) Hope you check them out.
    Spira
    ITC Symbol
    Ideal Gothic
    Sheridan Gothic
    Shango
    ITC Quorum
    Prensa
    Vandermark
    Denver
    FF Quadraat

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  14. I really like this site, it's so important to know more about this topic, keep it up and of course every time I have time I'll love to check out again

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