Illuminating Letters

The sixth installment in Illuminating Letters will be about the Century typeface family – the first typographic "super family." The lineage of the first super family dates back to1894, to the fruits of the collaborative labors between publisher Theodore Lowe DeVinne and typographer Linn Boyd Benton. The Century family is in fact a dynasty. After several generations, it is now enjoying its third century as a powerful typographic communicator.

The Illuminating Letters series is about the most significant and enduring typeface families. Each article provides a brief history of the typeface; its design attributes, the availability of the original design and newer versions of the design, and tips for using the family. The first five Illuminating Letters articles have been about the Bodoni, Garamond, Franklin Gothic and Optima® typefaces. Future articles are scheduled to cover the Bembo®, Frutiger® and ITC Galliard™ designs. Each issue can also be downloaded as a print-friendly PDF.

If you would like us to shed some light on your favorite typeface, please let us know by commenting here – or by sending an email to allan.haley@fonts.com, and we will consider it for our growing list of future topics for Illuminating Letters.

Allan Haley is Director of Words & Letters at Monotype Imaging. Here he is responsible for strategic planning and creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs.