node 9255

unknown

Creators of Palemonas declare that an inducement to begin this work, was a need of independent, unlicensed, original and truely lithuanian font. Another reason � to insert diacritics and hundreds of specials marks used for philological researches. It is free. It is Unicode. And you can download it from the State Institution website. Palemonas was presented at the Govenment and leading newspapers.

Officially it is said to be the �first original lithuanian typeface�. And that it was �inspired by types from Italian Renaissance�.
I think that Palemonas is at least the redesign of S.Morison's Bembo. Moreover, I don't reject the probability of modification of existing digital typeface.

I would be very pleased, if somebody answered me some questions:
Is it ethical �revival�, even if we don't know how it was made? Just look at the result.
Can we treate this font as original design inspired by Italian tradition in general? (as Aldine style Minion)

I've read some stuff concerning revivals: �Revival of the Fittest. Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces�, �A Discussion on Type Design Revivalism� (Alejandro lo Celso, MA), �Call It What It Is� (by John Downer) and the TypeRight Guide to Ethical Type Design... but inspite of that, i'm full of doubts about originality of this typeface

P.S.
Don't expect typographic adornments or irreproachable kerning...
Search for a yellow .zip icon at the right corner of this website:
http://www.vlkk.lt/

comparison
palemonas_vs_bembo.pdf (83.3 k)

unknown

Oh
i am sorry. Please delete 3 previous threads
thank you

unknown

It's good to see you've done some preliminary reading! The area of revivals is a very tricky field to negotiate, in the legal, ethical and even cultural realms. Some people Just Say No, and they have a point.

--

I for one know virtually nothing about any Baltic culture, so I can't tell if Palemonas has any merit in this respect. But I think that even if I did, it's hard to imagine it having any, since this is indeed close to Bembo (more below) and I've never heard anybody say Bembo had any Batlic -much less specifically Lithuanian- affinity! And anyway, it's very hard to imagine a functional text face having such a particular cultural angle. Some Eastern European fonts have that, but I think there has to be a lot of non-typographic cultural "support" to create such an enabling environment for this; does Lithuania have an overall distinctive graphic style, and one that can be expressed in a text font?

As for the closeness to Bembo, although the overall effect is slightly different -probably different enough- it does indeed seem that some of the outlines are really way too close... My guess is it was a direct derivation from digital Bembo, but I could be wrong. Personally, that wouldn't be so bad if the result was highly different (like where people take Garamond and Futura and blend them together - there's no way that font is going to be interchanged for either and affect sales or anything), but in this case I think you're hunch is right: the ethical limit line seems to have been crossed.

But you know what personally bothers me more: the bad craft. The neutered "f"*, and splotchy color in the italic, etc. Pretty messy, not professional. Well, at least the way I use the term.

* Was Palemonas perhaps derived from a Linotype cut of Bembo?

hhp

unknown

Show me one original typeface.

unknown

Define "original" (such that it can be a useful term).

hhp

unknown

Well, if you want it to be a useful term, I think it should be up to you to define it. :-)

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