Typophile

Futura sans-inktraps

Dan Gayle0 votes

In the LetterCult interview with Corey Holmes about the new Watchmen collateral, Mr. Holmes mentions this concerning Futura Extra Bold:

"We learned that the copy of Futura we own was not the correct cut that the comic book used. Doh!

I was unable to source the original cut, but am taking a guess that it was a display cut that was only available as phototype. There was a variance in how the letters were drawn, probably adjusted optically for a larger point size—and the main difference was the lack of ink traps. That ended up being the key to making the type look authentic. Whenever we used Futura in collateral, we redrew it so that it lacked the ink traps."

Does anyone here know if there is a digital version of the display cut of Futura that doesn't have the inktraps?

I might have found my answer, but I can't be sure.

The Scangraphic Headline version of Futura might be it, but I can't tell from the example on myfonts.

Anyone have that particular cut?

You can view fonts super huge on FontShop. But yes, that version has no traps.

Captured from web.archive.org on 19 Jul 2018. view this capture