(now maybe only a very few of you care. But as an old printer, this stuff matters to me)
(samples in the article)
Aptos, Microsoft’s New Default Font for Office Documents
I don’t know if Microsoft actually chose Aptos (née Bierstadt) based on customer feedback, but it says a lot about the company either way. Companies that have taste do not conduct design via surveys.
By John Gerber
@corlin so, I looked at the fonts in the article and ISTG I did not realize that Calibi changed the "a", "e", and "g" shapes when moving from standard to italics. No idea.
I kinda like the new one, Aptos.
(and Yes, I work in the industry as well, I'm in a digital pre-press. I make the offset plates for 4 different kinds of 1- to 6-color offset presses)
Thanks for sharing the article!
@corlin :D Yep. I started in analog pre-press, right at the start of when they were transitioning to digital separations, so....1998? or so?We still did some conversion to duotones and such up til 2020, when the client wanted to use black and a pantone color. That was fun! NOT. lol
I don't miss doing autostepped exposures onto the plates by hand, either. Love my laser plateburner! Even if the RIP software we are using is still running on a WinXP box that's 20 years old.
Yes.
Not fun.
But a skill, a trade, I would even say an art.
I worked in union shops, mostly high end magazines, and fine art reproductions. We were very well paid. And valued. Very few could do hand color separation, with a process camera, and filters, on 24" x 36" litho film. Hand developed, in trays. Hand striped. And ready for press in one shift.
Yes I am a bit proud of the work.
@kismatt @corlin I am by no means a font expert. Nor do I use Microsoft products. But I like this article and I, personally, like the trend of sans-serif/serif blending, particularly for hard to distinguish letters. I think putting a curve on the lowercase l is important. I hate the confusion that sans serif l and I cause. (See, which one is a lowercase L and which one is an uppercase i?). And I like the curliness of the Aptos quote marks, too.
This is well said.
And that fact that you noticed.
Means you have a discerning eye.
👍🏽
@kismatt
Cool I was hand pre-press, for 30 years. Hand color separation on film. Hand color correction on film.
And hand film to plate making.
You know all this, but I wrote a thing.
https://world.hey.com/corlin/a-tale-of-obsolete-technology-f73eae44