Typophile

Alternative to Gloriola

rubenDmarkes

I have this job for which I thought Gloriola was perfect. I needed something which was forward looking – futuristic in a present kind of way, if that makes sense – but down to earth; elegant, not too youthful but not too classical; a bit of an optimistic young adult in typeface form (again, if that makes any sense). It needed to have a “techno-logical” edge to it, but still not fall too far away from the humanist tree. And of course, it had to have small caps.
Anyway, I thought it was perfect in all the right ways.

But then I discover it's not available for licensing until 2013. =(

So I start looking for an alternative. There's Leitura, which is great and cheap (and from a fellow portuguese), but I find it's not perfectly designed (the width of the stroke seems irregular, at least in the small caps, which is my main concern, here); Whitney, which I can't get as single weight files; Seravek, which is a bit too cute and frankly expensive; Facit, which also has the right price but just doesn't cut it for various reasons; Fedra Sans Alt, which is too expensive and has too high of an x-height; and I also considered Klavika, which lacks warmth, and Auto, which has too much of a personality for the job.

So that should give you a quite clear idea of what I'm looking for; any suggestions?

Frode Bo Helland

Have you seen Flex? Another alternative might be Relato Sans.

JoergGustafs

Hi Ruben,
two suggestions:

Zatro: http://www.primetype.com/faces_info.php?fid=26
Manual: http://www.primetype.com/faces_info.php?fid=2

Juergen Weltin

Apologize the self promotion, but have you considered Agilita?

rubenDmarkes

Thank you all, nice suggestions all around.

I didn't consider Relato because I thought it was too humanistic. I love it, but it didn't fit as well.
Agilita and Flex also have more or less the same problem; they are too detailed, too humanistic.

Primetype has some interesting stuff towards what I was looking for; but it all seems to be a bit over the budget for this, too (unless I could negociate a different package with them). And Zatro doesn't have small caps.

I'll have to study this. :P

Anyone else? Further suggestions will be thoroughly appreciated.

Indra Kupferschmid

Maybe Foundry Sans, Journal or Form, Quay Sans, Tabac, or – very versatile – Alright Sans

Florian Hardwig

Agile.

Indra Kupferschmid

Parka

rubenDmarkes

It's a shame Foundrytypes doesn't have a better showcase for their typefaces; I really can't see that much. I've been a fan of those Architypes for quite some time, now.

I had considered Tabac and Alright Sans, but they still have this same problem: not enough of that “technological” touch of cold precision (which in Gloriola came possibly from the almost monolinear design and lack of perfectly rounded shapes). Quay is also too detailed (tapering of ends of strokes, etc.).

Parka and Agile look closer to what I was looking for.

I have to further analise all these. At some point I'll have to give up on finding Gloriola going by some other name… :P

Thank you all for all your very helpful suggestions. :)

theterrible

A quick handful of others that sprung to mind: CamingoDos, Neue Sans, Corpid, and Locator.

rubenDmarkes

Thanks, theterrible! [That sounds funny]

Yeah, I saw all of those too: at least at the time I rejected all of them for some reason and/or other (too pricey comparing with my cheapest alternatives, no small caps, not really what I was looking for, etc.). I really love most of these and most of what I considered, but I guess love is not enough! :P

I've been playing since yesterday with the idea of forgetting this and just designing the most needed characters myself. The job didn't really ask for a typeface; I just thought it would be a nice touch. And the client isn't spending-inclined, either, so maybe that's that.

What I designed came out pretty well, so this alternative is now becoming the most likely candidate…

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