Award Winning Typefaces by Linotype

Linotype has once again received critical recognition for their commitment to exploring the cultural and technological frontiers of typography. The accolades came at the culmination of this year’s Type Directors Club Type Design Competition – TDC2 2007 – at which two pioneering Linotype fonts were awarded the celebrated Certificate of Typographic Excellence in Type Design. Representing the breadth and the depth of Linotype’s vision, the winners were Palatinoâ„¢ Sans and the Arabic typeface Midanâ„¢.
This year marked the 10th open call for entries to the prestigious design competition, TDC2 2007. The competition was organized by the Type Directors Club of New York, an international organization founded in 1946 and devoted to excellence in typography. The entries to the competition were judged by a panel of distinguished designers, consisting of Chairman Dennis Pasternak, Maxim Zhukov, Sumner Stone, Rod McDonald and Luc(as) de Groot.
Not surprisingly, Linotype’s entries at TDC2 2007 are no strangers to worldwide acclaim. Midan was one of the winners of Linotype’s 2006 Arabic Type Design Competition (ATDC), announced last year at Kitabat, the first ever Arabic Calligraphy and Typography Conference in Dubai. The ATDC is part of an ongoing effort by Linotype to promote Arabic fonts and the artistic tradition they represent, while also drawing attention to the exciting new advances in typography that now make it possible to apply innovative font technologies to Arabic designs.
Midan, designed by Kameel Hawa of Al-Mohtaraf Assaudi studio in Beirut, is a modern Arabic typeface based on a simplified Naskh with a slightly modulated stroke treatment. It is suited for text settings, especially in brochures and magazines, and is characterized by a large body height and open counters. Midan belongs to a new trend in Arabic type design today and is in touch with the new design scene in the Middle East. Palatino Sans – the other Linotype winner at TDC2 2007 – is the latest unique addition to the Palatino font dynasty designed by Professor Hermann Zapf and Linotype Type Director Akira Kobayashi. With Palatino Sans, Zapf brings a new level of subtlety to his interpretation of the sans serif genre. Boldly combining human emotion with geometric discipline, Palatino Sans addresses the need for a font suited to warm, interpretative texts that is also clear and familiar on the page. Its elegantly curved outlines are reminiscent of handwriting. The type flows naturally but precisely, augmenting the space around it. This balance of organic with mechanical traits makes it perfect for any printed material where a normal sans serif might be too technical, such as in packaging, product design, annual reports, scientific publications or magazine headlines.
For over half a century, Professor Zapf has been designing for Linotype typefaces that help define how our world communicates. Not surprisingly, Zapf also had a role to play in the journey of Midan to the Type Director Club Competition. In November 2005, internationally renowned calligraphers, type designers and academics assembled in Bad Homburg to consider the entries and select the winning designs for Linotype’s seminal Arabic Type Design Competition. Hermann Zapf participated as an honorary guest juror and picked Midan as his Judge’s Choice.
Palatino Sans, Midan and the other winning works will be publicly exhibited during the summer of 2007. The primary exhibit will be in New York City, while parallel exhibitions will travel throughout North and South America, Europe, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The Linotype TDC2 2007 Award-winners Palatino Sans and Midan are available for download at – https://msg1svc.net/cfjmx/71117/55/164794/250/0/T/ymag.html
Linotype GmbH, based in Bad Homburg, Germany and a wholly owned subsidiary of Monotype Imaging Inc., looks back onto a history of more than 120 years. Building on its strong heritage, Linotype develops state-of-the-art font technology and offers more than 9000 original typefaces, covering the whole typographic spectrum from antique to modern, from east to west, and from classical to experimental. All typefaces (in PostScriptâ„¢ and TrueTypeâ„¢ format as well as more
than 7,000 fonts in OpenTypeâ„¢ are now also available for instant download at www.linotype.com. In addition to supplying digital fonts, Linotype also offers comprehensive and individual consultation and support services for font applications in worldwide (corporate) communication.
Linotype GmbH
Du-Pont-Strasse 1
D-61352 Bad Homburg
Tel.: +49 (0) 61 72 – 484 – 0
Fax: +49 (0) 61 72 – 484 – 499
E-Mail: [email protected]
Please find more typeface application samples on the Internet at www.linotype.com.

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