The Process Type Foundry, headed by Eric Olson, has released 2 1/2 new typefaces.
Stratum 1 and Stratum 2 are two squarish typefaces for both display and text. They are “a family of typefaces built from a synthesis of contemporary and historical sources. The austere geometry of early 20th century display faces paired with a desire for a contemporary lowercase have merged to produce this family of six weights”.
FindReplace is “an exploration into the generative possibilities of current type software and simple grid structures” built by using the Find and Replace feature in Fontlab”.
True to Process Type’s tradition, both are available as OpenType.
See also: Process Launches : Bryant : Locator : Twin Cities Project
The two qualities I admire most about Olsen’s work are one, his embrace and integration of new technology; and two, his ability to refresh older forms, making them relevant to modern design. The second of those two qualities is inherent in Stratum which borrows the best ideas from faces like Agency, Eurostile, and Bank Gothic and adds Olsen’s unique aesthetic to create an original, useful sans family.
Hah, just read my comment again. Can you tell I visited a museum of modern art yesterday and read all the exhibition material?
Hah, just read my comment again. Can you tell I visited a museum of modern art yesterday and read all the exhibition material?
Yes.
Process is a very special foundry.
hhp
Is it just me or does FindReplace look a lot like Unibody?
I love Stratum! It has that I want something modern and cool but not too technoey feel. Very cool.
I like the fact that even though Stratum is very square:ish, there is still has a warm humanist feeling to it.
> Process is a very special foundry.
And Eric is a very special sort of designer…
I once had a neuroscience professor at the University of Minnesota whose lectures, lab work, and publications were imbued with creativity, painstaking care, professionalism, and integrity. Eric reminds me very much of this professor: His own approach, methods, and work show these same qualities in abundance.
I’m not aware of said find and replace function in fontlab. Would someone care to enlighten me? Selecting a particular set of vectors to replace sounds rather ingenious.
Thank you for all the kind words guys.
Really, too much.
As for the find and replace function in FL, simply go
to Edit and select Find (or just F3).
I’m very much digging Stratum 1 and 2. For some reason they make me think very much of a very 50’s kind of dystopian future, wherein everything is rendered in concrete, but also shag carpet. And these fonts make that a good thing. I can see a 2-storey high sign in Stratum, i.e. “Human Processing Factory #4”. So dystopian, but it would look lovely.
“Soylent green is people.”
hhp
EXACTLY. But wouldn’t you buy a box of Soylent Green if it had this kind of font on it, and you lived in a dystopian future?
The answer, I feel, is yes.
The reason I’d buy Soylent green is the reason everybody else would be buying Soylent green: beef is $100 a pound.
I think the best font for Soylent green packaging is Helvetica – or as I like to call it, Helvomita.
hhp