Thanks to Berry for covering this exceptional new typeface! I think Amplitude is one of the most interesting works to come out in a long time - the sort of thing one expects from a seasoned designer with many years of accumulated insight, not somebody who's still just warming up it seems!
What's most interesting is that although Schwartz has appropriated traps largely for aesthetic effect (whereas in origin they're purely functional*), Amplitude is no push-up bra: it seems to have superb technical underpinnings in terms of its distribution of styles, including proper associations in the Cartesian space (like how the Wides also have a huge x-height). And although it's not the first font to use traps decoratively (FF Bradlo might hold that honor) it does the best job of it that I've seen, barring some small aberrations.
* And old. Some people think traps are only as old as photosetting, but they go back at least a hundred years, and quite possibly all the way back to Aldus/Griffo, or at least Le Be II.
The adoption of 'traps' in letters within typeface design is nothing new and designers of phone directories know all about this. To take this to the extreme and use trapping as a design facet in a typeface could be interpreted by some as a naïve gesture. You only has to look at the example of the uppercase 'Z' to see the problems with Amplitude when used large. Granted, to find something new in typeface design is hard although designers sometimes try too hard. The font is fine generally as yet another variation-on-a-theme sans serif - a choice for the designer wanting a subtle variation from the norm. It is obvious the font is in no way close to the elegance of Spiekermann's Meta or De Groot's wonderful Thesis. However, I look forward to young Schwartz's future creations with interest.
Submitted by Stanley Smith on Thu, 07/17/2003 - 22:51.
Pump up the volume
Thanks to Berry for covering this exceptional new typeface! I think Amplitude is one of the most interesting works to come out in a long time - the sort of thing one expects from a seasoned designer with many years of accumulated insight, not somebody who's still just warming up it seems!
What's most interesting is that although Schwartz has appropriated traps largely for aesthetic effect (whereas in origin they're purely functional*), Amplitude is no push-up bra: it seems to have superb technical underpinnings in terms of its distribution of styles, including proper associations in the Cartesian space (like how the Wides also have a huge x-height). And although it's not the first font to use traps decoratively (FF Bradlo might hold that honor) it does the best job of it that I've seen, barring some small aberrations.
* And old. Some people think traps are only as old as photosetting, but they go back at least a hundred years, and quite possibly all the way back to Aldus/Griffo, or at least Le Be II.
hhp
Trap the light fontastic
The adoption of 'traps' in letters within typeface design is nothing new and designers of phone directories know all about this. To take this to the extreme and use trapping as a design facet in a typeface could be interpreted by some as a naïve gesture. You only has to look at the example of the uppercase 'Z' to see the problems with Amplitude when used large. Granted, to find something new in typeface design is hard although designers sometimes try too hard. The font is fine generally as yet another variation-on-a-theme sans serif - a choice for the designer wanting a subtle variation from the norm. It is obvious the font is in no way close to the elegance of Spiekermann's Meta or De Groot's wonderful Thesis. However, I look forward to young Schwartz's future creations with interest.