Thesis (typeface)
 | |
| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Humanist |
| Designer(s) | Lucas de Groot |
| Foundry | FontFabrik |
Thesis is a large typeface family designed by Lucas de Groot. The typefaces were designed between 1994 and 1999 to provide a modern humanist family. Each typeface is available in a variety of weights as well as in italic. Originally released by FontFont, it is now sold by de Groot through his imprint LucasFonts.
Thesis fonts have become popular and can be seen in various publications or logotypes.
To create a varied range of fonts of different thicknesses and levels of condensation, Thesis was developed using multiple master technology, in which weights were created by 'averaging' and extending the trend between a thick and thin design to create a smooth, continuous trend in styles from thin to very bold.
The family is a font superfamily, since it includes both serif and sans-serif designs.
TheSans
A humanist sans-serif font family, somewhat similar to Frutiger. It included fonts in 8 weights and 2 widths, with complementary italic fonts. A distinctive figure is the 'Q' with the detached slash, somewhat similar to that on Dwiggins' Metro; an alternate is provided for when this is unsuitable.
In TheSans Condensed, each weight only includes roman and italic, but all 4 number styles can be found.
TheSansMono
It is a monospaced variant. 3 widths have been produced. All fonts use hanging monospaced figures.
TheSansTypewriter
It is a monospaced variant with ragged strokes. It included fonts in regular and bold weights in the widest TheSansMono width, with complementary italic fonts. It uses hanging monospaced figures.
TheSerif
It is a slab serif font family. It included fonts in 8 weights and 1 width, with complementary italic fonts.
TheMix
It is a slab serif font family, but using only serif on upper portion of small letters. It included fonts in 8 weights and 1 width, with complementary italic fonts.
TheMixMono
It is a monospaced variant. Each weight only includes roman and italic. All fonts use hanging monospaced figures.
TheMix Arabic
It is a variant designed by Lucas de Groot, Arab calligrapher and designer Mouneer Al-Shaarani, and with technical support from Pascal Zoghbi. Lucas designed the Bold version of the type, while Pascal finalized the Bold design by modifying some glyphs, spacing and encoding/scripting the font, and later developed TheMix Arabic Regular.
The font was included in the Typographic Matchmaking Project organized by the Khatt Foundation.
TheAntiqua
It is a variant based on TheSerif. It included fonts in 7 weights and 1 width, with complementary italic fonts. OpenType feature includes small caps (roman only).
The Antiqua won an award in 1999 from Type Directors Club.
Collections
Each of the family are categorized in following family collections: Classic, Basic, Office.
Classic family includes all 8 font weights, with roman, italic, small caps roman, small caps italic, expert, expert italic in each weight. It includes hanging proportional, hanging monospaced, lining proportional, lining monospaced figures; and additional f-ligatures. Expert fonts include arrows, swashes, fraction figures, alternate styles, mathematic symbols, ornaments.
Basic family includes all 8 font weights, but without small caps and expert fonts. It includes lining proportional figures (smaller than in classic).
Office family only includes Regular and Bold weights, with only roman and italic in each weight. It includes hanging monospaced figures.
de Groot's choice of weights to release was developed using an "interpolation theory". The optical interpolation b, in the three stems a (thinnest), b (interpolation) and c (thickest), is set to the geometric mean of a and c, i.e. b² = ac (as opposed to the linear arithmetic mean).[1]
As an amusement, de Groot also developed a number of parodic reworkings of Thesis, including Nebulae and JesusLovesYouAll.[2]
Uses of Thesis fonts
- AOL (various services) — TheSans
- American Airlines – American Sans; custom version of TheSans
- ARD — TheAntiqua and TheSans: corporate and branding identity for the organization and its main channel Das Erste.
- Belgian police — TheMix
- Bristol City Council's corporate identity
- Citizens Bank — TheSans
- Compaq – TheSans CPQ; custom version of TheSans, used until integration with Hewlett-Packard
- Democratic Party of Serbia - TheSerif
- ETH Zurich - TheSans[3]
- Hard Rock Cafe – TheSans
- Maastricht University - TheSans for print publications and signage
- Marque Bretagne — TheMix[4]
- O'Reilly Media (code font for book publishing) — TheSans Mono Condensed
- Royal Bank of Scotland – TheSans
- The Scout Association - TheSerif headlines on all promotional materials
- Social Democratic Party of Germany - SPD-Sans; custom version of TheSans
- Speedway LLC - TheMix: Headlines, promotional materials, and signage
- Sprint Nextel — TheSans
- Swisscom — TheSans and TheMix
- Technische Universität Berlin — TheSans
- Terra Networks (various services) — TheMix
- Telefónica — TheSans
- TriMet — TheMix
- University of Geneva — TheSans
- Weekly Dig — TheSerif
- Victoria and Albert Museum — TheSans (custom variant)[5]
See also
References
- Middendorp, Jan. Dutch Type. 010 Publishers: 2004. ISBN 90-6450-460-1.
- ↑ "Interpolation Theory". LucasFonts. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
- ↑ "FontFabrik Type". FontFabrik. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
- ↑ "The ETH typeface"
- ↑ "BRETAGNE – Le site officiel de la marque Bretagne" (in French). Retrieved October 15, 2014.
- ↑ "Sources for the study of marketing in the V&A Archive" (PDF). V&A. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
A new typeface was developed specifically for the V&A, the ‘V&A Sans’ (adapted from TheSans font, which had been designed by Luc(as) de Groot in 1994
External links
- Thesis super family: TheSans, TheSansTypewriter, TheSansMono, TheMix, TheMixMono, TheSerif
- TheAntiquaB
- identifont.com: FontFabrik
- TheMix Arabic: balancing handwritten and geometrically constructed letterforms.
- 29 Arabic Letters: TheMix Arabic