The new release of Proxima Nova features a couple of compatibility fixes and more flexible access to alternate characters.
As a side benefit of one of the fixes, the Normal, Condensed, and Extra Condensed styles appear in their own font submenus. This turns out to be a better arrangement than having the whole family all in one submenu. I should have done it this way in the first place.
Alternate characters will now be much easier to deal with. I’ve set up seven “Stylistic Sets” so that alternate characters may be substituted globally in any combination. The new sets are also smarter the the original two in the way they handle the two-story and one-story lowercase “a” in the roman and italic. Again, I should have done it this way in the first place.
The update is free to customers who purchased before December 14, 2005. Customers who purchased after December 14, 2005 already have the new version.
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I’ve been working on this font family for almost 25 years. Here’s an early sketch (possibly the first one) from 1981:
Here’s Proxima Nova Bold for comparison:
The caps are a bit different from the early concept sketch (they started out with proportions more like Futura), but my concept for the lowercase has remained virtually the same all these years.
Proxima Sans (released in 1994) was my first attempt to realize that concept, and one of the first major fonts I developed. Proxima Nova, just released today, has ten years more thinking and experience behind it. It also fulfills many of the plans and ideas I had for Proxima Sans—small caps, wider range of weights and styles (including Condensed and Extra Condensed), and things I never dreamed of, like extended language support and UniCode.
If you want to know more about this new family of fonts, here are some links:
There is also a comprehensive 93-page PDF sample book. I split it into two parts in case you just want to look at the overview (the first part):
Proxima Nova Overview This nine-page introduction has complete information about the fonts with one-line display samples and a page of text samples. (420k PDF)
Proxima Nova Full Specimen This 84-page comprehensive specimen devotes two pages to each of the 42 Proxima Nova fonts—one with display showings and one with text samples and complete character set. You might want to make sure your printer has enough paper before printing this out. (2.2mb PDF)
Yes, I know. I haven’t been posting a lot on Notebook lately. There’s a good reason for this: Proxima Nova. That’s what I’m tentatively calling the new improved version of my ten-year-old Proxima Sans, one of the most ambitious font projects I’ve ever undertaken. Here’s how it looks so far:
Ever since I released it in 1994, I’ve had in the back of my mind larger plans for Proxima Sans. Small caps. More weights. Condensed styles. After some potential customers asked about such possibilities early last year, I decided it was time.
The new version will have more than new weights and features. I went over every character, refining and retooling the design, adjusting, perfecting, cleaning up. In short, this is completely new set of fonts.
Proxima Sans
Released: 1994
3 weights, 2 styles
6 fonts total
PostScript Type 1, TrueType
Basic Western Latin
245 characters
Proxima Nova
To be released: Soon
7 weights, 2 styles, 3 widths
42 fonts total
OpenType
Extended Latin (including CE)
699 characters
699 characters? You read that right. Take a look:
All the characters from Proxima Sans are still there (even the dingbats). But there’s loads of new stuff, and every weight has all this in it, all in one font. No separate “expert” fonts needed.
In order to keep these hundreds of characters under control, Proxima Nova will be released in OpenType format. Using popular graphics software like Adobe’s Creative Suite and (real soon now) QuarkXPress, you will be able to tap into sophisticated typographic effects such as:
- True small caps
- Lining and old style numbers
- Proportional and tabular numbers
- Automatic “f” ligatures
- Alternate character designs for some characters
- Automatic fraction creation
- True superscript and subscript characters
- Automatic ordinal formatting (e.g., 1st, 2nd, etc.)
- Case-sensitive alternate forms for parentheses, brackets, etc.
- Alternate forms of certain characters to match small caps and old style numbers
- Cross-platform compatibility
As to how soon Proxima Nova will be available, it’s difficult to say. The roman styles shown here are in the final stages of completion. It mostly depends on how long it takes for me to finish the italics. Sure, I could just hit the “slant” button and be done with it. But, it’s not so simple to do it right. Best guess: Spring 2005.
6/24/05 Update: If all goes as planned, Proxima Nova will be released by the end of June 2005. I’ve updated the graphic above showing the various weights and styles to include the italics. Also, the weight and style names are slightly different than what I originally announced here in March.
6/30/05 Update: It’s available now.
For over ten years, Grad has been trapped inside Phil Martin’s old DOS computer. Now it’s out.
Phil Martin designed over 400 typefaces from the late 1960s through the 1980s, most of them released as film fonts for the VGC Typositor and licensed exclusively to franchised typesetting houses. Grad is Phil’s first and only foray into digital type. He designed it around 1990 for his own use. He conceived it as a redesign of the classic Century Schoolbook. Unfortunately, Grad only existed in an old and obsolete font format.
In early 2004, Phil approached me with the idea of doing an outline version of Grad for general release. I set to work using laser prints of Grad provided by Phil and samples of the original ATF Century Schoolbook. The result is a family of three OpenType fonts with advanced typographic features such as real small caps, ligatures, old style numerals, swash alternates and more.
See more info about it here.
In case anyone’s wondering why I’ve been posting items less frequently lately, it’s because I’ve been working on fonts. The family closest to completion is Phil Martin’s Grad. It consists of just three fonts (plain, italic, bold), but I’ve been getting a little carried away and have added small caps, ligatures, old style figures, swash characters, and even a few dingbats (see above). All of these existed in Phil’s original private version of this face which he used for a couple of newsletters he published in the 1990s. If one had a mind to, one could recreate Re:Language, Millenium Memorandum, or even Phil’s personal stationery. Yes, some of the characters in Grad are…unusual. But that’s Phil for you. Ever the iconoclast.
Some might say that Grad is nothing but Century Schoolbook in drag. There is some truth to that. And I think Phil would even agree. But looking over Phil’s output from the late sixties through the eighties, this is the kind of thing he does best. I have come to the conclusion that Phil is the George Barris of type designers. Phil’s best-known faces were redesigns, customizations, or hybrids of existing—often classic—faces. In the type world, such an approach to type design is sometimes looked down upon. Yet Phil is very good at it. He considers Grad one of his best.
Grad is an unusual font for me to develop. It’s not a design I would have conceived myself. Nevertheless, it’s turning out very nicely. I’m putting everything I know into making it a well-tuned machine that works as well for text as for headlines. In order to accommodate all the extra characters Phil designed, I’m planning to release it in OpenType format. This will mean that things like the real small caps and alternate characters will be accessible from a single font in each style. I plan to also do Grad Condensed at a later date, completing the family.
In the mean time, I have other fonts in the works, including a re-release of Proxima Sans. The new version will have more weights (lighter, bolder, and more in-between) as well as condensed and semi-condensed styles. Plus small caps and other typographic niceties. More information on this as it develops.
For more about Phil Martin, see my interview with him on Typographica or visit his personal website. [Update: Phil died in 2005 and his original site is long gone, but I’ve linked to an archived version on archive.org.]
2. Mostra
3. Coquette
4. Changeling
5. Proxima Sans
6. Refrigerator
7. Goldenbook
8. Kandal
10. Blakely