Ancient writings now visible (but what about the fonts?!)
Just saw a story on DiscoveryChannel.com that covered the use of x-rays to view ancient, carved text that had been heretofore unreadable due to wear and erosion.
I realize that the x-ray technique will be used by historians for historical purposes, but hopefully it will also help inspire type foundries to come up with some "new" ancient fonts. In 1989 Carol Twombly designed a font called Trajan that was based on chiseled Roman writing from the first century A.D. Trajan rocks (get it? carving...rock...never mind), but it would be nice to see a few other ancient-history-based fonts that aren't all Herculanum.
I realize that the x-ray technique will be used by historians for historical purposes, but hopefully it will also help inspire type foundries to come up with some "new" ancient fonts. In 1989 Carol Twombly designed a font called Trajan that was based on chiseled Roman writing from the first century A.D. Trajan rocks (get it? carving...rock...never mind), but it would be nice to see a few other ancient-history-based fonts that aren't all Herculanum.
posted by Sasquatch at
4:28 PM
2 Comments:
I love how you get so excited by the prospect of new fonts. I wonder if they'll be serif or sans serif...
By
Z, at 8/26/2005 9:29 PM
This is incredibly cool. What I want to know more about, speaking in a modern context, is how someone goes about designing a font nowadays. I mean, there are the obvious "drawn-by-hand" numbers that are a dime a dozen (if not cheaper or free) on "free font" websites here and there.
But how does a Carol Twombly create something like Trajan? It's crisp and clean. It is started by hand and finessed on a computer? I just want to know.(I've wondered a lot about this...)
By
Merujo, at 8/27/2005 6:51 PM
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