Typophile

Buying one weight of Futura - Futura Book vs Futura Medium

Pylon0 votes

Hi,

I'm just a high school student that needs a few fonts for everyday use, and I've developed a particular liking for Futura.

Unfortunately as a student, I obviously cannot afford the whole family and I'll probably buy just one weight. I've narrowed it down between Futura Book and Futura Medium, both in the URW++ variant as it is the cheapest:
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/futura/t-book/
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/futura/t-medium/

So I just need some help choosing between the two. The two are similar, though I'm pretty undecided over which one of the two to get. My emotional response is pretty much identical between the two weights. It's going to be for things such as various school projects(posters,etc.),headings for papers,etc. No commercial work or any of that stuff.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
James

Dan Beltechi0 votes

Bold! :)

Better yet, ask Randy Jones (he frequents this forum) if he finished his take on Futura.

Nick Shinn0 votes

I would suggest Book.
You can use it for text, and at large sizes for display.
However, Medium is too strong for sustained text.
The all-cap setting of the Book is very classical, it has a style that can suit many different subjects.
The Book is also the original weight of the typeface, and embodies the principle behind it in its purest form.

R.0 votes

If you go for the book weight, consider buying Futura Book Text Pro. It contains old-style figures, some nice ligatures and alternate forms from the original metal Futura for several letters. Unfortunately, it is much more expensive than the URW version ($20 vs. $80).

Arno Enslin0 votes

Softmaker could be an alternative. I think, they have Futura in their collection with a different name. (In case of Stempel Garamond the outlines are identically. Stempel Garamond is likewise contained in the Softmaker collection.) The number of characters may be limited.

Frode Bo Helland0 votes

Ouch. Didn’t realize Futura had such an unusable æ/Æ.

Riccardo Sartori0 votes

@Frode: Futura No 2 and Futura Futuris seem to have a more sane Æ:
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/futura-no-2/
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/paratype/futura-futuris/

Don McCahill0 votes

Look into Adobe's Font Folio for Education. It costs $149, which will seem like a lot, but it gives you 500 fonts. Trouble is, I couldn't find anywhere on the Adobe pages that actually lists the fonts. If they have Futura, they will have at least a set of four or six weights.

jonathanhughes0 votes

Here's the full list:

http://www.adobe.com/education/products/fontfolioeducationessentials/pdf...

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