Recom. for book font latin and cyrillic.

snow is nigh3 July 2010 · 14:59

Hi everybody!

[EDIT]
New question below, a bit related, but actually independent from the initial post
[/EDIT]

short version
I need a font for a novel. Genre Distopia (like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, you get the genre). I must not be expensive. Would like to avid bundled and be individual. Thought about Capsa, because it is a book-font and price is right. It is darker though than any other text-font I know. Is it too dark; for which printing conditions? How would you rate it's quality (low on myfonts, why?)

Then: Different suggestions, different style recommended? Suggestions for a cyrillic font as well?

initial post

I am looking for a font for the small scale publishing of a novel. The book is a distopia about a future world of consumerism, about a dictator brought to life again and controlled as a puppet. I am not connected with writing it, so please forgive I can't explain the plot better, as I don't have too much insight in the writing process.

Anyhow the budget is limited, I am basically looking for a classic looking text font, easy to read. I thought it would be nice to have something which is classic, and somehow in contrast to a futuristic topic, as it reminds of the time before the novel sets place and how the society in the novel could develop in this direction. Maybe that is a misleading though, maybe something more edgy and modern would be better, I am open for suggestions.

I was interested in Capsa by DStype on myfonts for example, but I hesitate a bit.

The price for roman and italics with 26$ each is quite right, that's why I consider it. My concerns are firstly I don't know if it suits the function as a book face. I know book faces are supposed to be darker, but this particular one is quite dark, even compared to Arno Pro, MVB Verdigris and similar darker faces. Isn't it too dark almost for the contemporary reader out there?
Is there any advise why the font per se would be not a good font, as the rating is quite low? It seems to be a quality product, but I am not an expert, what is your opinion?

Or any other proposals? Anything more modern or a different classic book font?

And a second question, for this project we would need as well a fitting cyrillic font, classical or modern, I don't know as I am not a native cyrillic reader. I thought about Maiola or Leksa maybe, but I would appreciate some help here, as I really don't know a lot about cyrillic type design.

snow is nigh5 July 2010 · 08:55

Alright, in case nobody was interested to read through the long text, I made a short summery on top of the page. Would appreciate some help here, please.

John Nolan5 July 2010 · 09:07

Why not use a font with a cyrillic? Many suitable choices exist: Arno Pro has cyrillic, for one, or NIck Shinn's Modern Suite, or maybe one of Stormtype's faces, including his Walbaum Pro and his Baskerville Pro.

snow is nigh5 July 2010 · 14:25

Hm, thanks for the advise.

Still any thoughts on Capsa and its "dark" appearance, anybody?

I guess a font with latin and cyrillic in combination is a fine idea anyhow.

David Yoon5 July 2010 · 14:27

I can't really judge Cyrillic designs either, but Leksa might be a good choice. It is very attractive, it has a nice complementary sans, and the designer is Russian. This is simpler than trying to find a Cyrillic that gives you similar color on the page to Capsa would be.

snow is nigh7 July 2010 · 19:51

Thanks for the input so far. The question of publishing in Russian is still in the future though.

Therefore for now, out of practical curiosity, I really would appreciate an educated estimation of one of you professionals how a font like Capsa would look on paper. Again it is the darkest typeface I saw in the tradition of Old-Style serif font made for body text! Is it too dark? I like it because it is very similar to Sabon actually, but a bit more "organic" meaning less straight cut, if that makes sense. So it seems warmer than Sabon, without being to playful. Just the color puzzles me. Please type-professionals, your opinion!

Capsa Specimen PDF
Sabon and Capsa in comparison.

William Berkson7 July 2010 · 20:21

The question of typographic "color" is complicated because it is affected by what size you want to set the type, and the leading. If you have a dark type like Quadraat, and set it relatively small with generous leading, then it won't be too dark. The best thing is to see printed examples, and then you can really judge. If someone here has used Capsa they could tell you better.

Also the texture on the page is a matter of how the contrast of thick and thin, horizontal and vertical are handled. For example, my Williams Caslon looks dark but has stems that are not thick—you can see the effect in this thread.

snow is nigh13 February 2011 · 06:09

Hi everybody again!

As the project is getting on the way, the question is still current. In the meanwhile I came across a beautiful wedge serif with cyrillic and latis script! It seems to be a right mix between a classic "skeleton" and a contemporary wedge finish in details/terminals/curves.

The only problem, this font is not completed yet, here is a preview of "Florian": http://www.behance.net/gallery/Florian-Family/548744

It looks amazing to me, but I was wandering if anybody knows something similar, at least for the latin script. No matter which font will be used in the end, I would just like to know some similar alternatives.

Thanks to everybody!

Igor Freiberger13 February 2011 · 11:06

Peter, you can contact Alexei Vanyashin, Florian's author, to know about a release schedule. Some other fonts which may interest you:
Enclave
Greta Text
Guardian Text
Expo Serif
Stuart
Sirba
Karmina

About Capsa, maybe Dino dos Santos know some publishings where his font was used. I think Capsa is really beautiful, but is darker than most text faces and would work well just in quality prints and when properly typeset.

Recently I decided to add Cyrillic support to my under-development font, but I believe its design is very orthodox to the kind of typefaces you look for.

snow is nigh17 February 2011 · 08:04

Thank you very much. I just came across Ataxia, which would be a candidate too. I will contact Alex about the Florian typeface.

Andrij Shevchenko18 February 2011 · 01:30

maybe, Adamant?

Alexei Vanyashin1 February 2012 · 01:56

Hi,

Florian is still in development - I am rethinking a lot of decisions.
No release date yet.

Hrant H Papazian1 February 2012 · 10:30

You might also look at the Granshan winners:
http://granshan.org/index.php?lang=eng&mode=competition_2011
http://granshan.org/index.php?lang=eng&mode=competition_2010
http://granshan.org/index.php?lang=eng&mode=competition_2009
http://granshan.org/index.php?lang=eng&mode=competition_2008

hhp

Captured from web.archive.org on 24 Jul 2014. view this capture