The First of Our New Infoletters

Much has happened at Dalton Maag during the last few months. First, we introduced Synopsis, our new service for products off-the-shelf, and our involvement with Linotype Library.

Then we opened a new office, in Effretikon, near Zurich. For many years Dalton Maag has been active in both Germany and Switzerland. We have designed and engineered new typefaces and fonts for big corporate clients such as TUI, Sparkasse, Winterthur Insurances, DIT, Coop Switzerland, BMW, MINI and many others. Of course we have also helped our clients to get the best typography out of their logos. The new office will ensure that we are close to our established clients and will help to encourage others to make use of our skills and experience in all things typographic.

Last but not least we have also decided to place more emphasis on creating our own, unique type designs and making them available to the public. Some of these fonts have been available for a number of years – InterFace, Lexia, Pan, Dedica and Royalty. Over recent months we have added Plume and Fargo. It is our aim to update all our fonts to OpenType font format, to ensure that all our fonts will be fully compatible with European languages that use the Latin alphabet. InterFace, for example is currently under development: we are adding a set of Small Caps, matching numerals, superior and inferior numbers and an extended set of fractions. This will much excite the typographer in us, but our corporate clients will also find that the update of InterFace will contain Greek and Cyrillic language support. At present we have not got a release date but hope to be able to publish it soon. At the end of October we are planning to release a new typeface which was developed with our friends at North Design. Stay tuned for more info.

A Typeface for The National Lottery

Ben Hovanessian, creative services manager at Camelot had this to say:

"The overall aim for commissioning a new typeface was to help create a more consistent and identifiable look and feel for everyone who comes into contact with The National Lottery."

"We required a typeface that had the flexibility to generate a sense of excitement and optimism when talking to our consumers about our games and jackpots, yet serious and straightforward enough when communicating the billions of pounds that The National Lottery has raised for good causes. Instead of compromising to fulfil the two quite different roles, a typeface was created across four weights. The heavier weights of the face capture the sense of excitement needed for our advertising and game communications, while the lighter weights, though very much feeling as though they are from the same family, straighten up and feel slightly less playful, making them perfect for when we want the communication to have a slightly more serious edge.”

Bruno Maag said "This project went quite smoothly. Of course it helped that all parties involved understood that type can gel different elements of a brand together. And that it can also support different functions. Interbrand (London) was in charge of the overall design direction of the various brand elements. Andy Howell led the art direction and we worked closely with him in finding the right look and feel for the type. The process was also helped by the fact that Ben Hovanessian is a designer himself, with a keen appreciation of type and typography. Between Dalton Maag, Interbrand and Camelot, we developed a typeface that won’t date and communicates in the exactly right tone of voice."

Font Combination You'd Never Have Thought Of...

Bruno, for example, thinks that Blackletter type, preferably Fraktur, should be re-introduced into the mainstream. So, we'd like to show how fonts that may not get much consideration when alone, can form a beautiful and successful marriage when brought together.

The first marriage to celebrate is that of Shelley Script and Excelsior. Shelley Script reminds of a warm summer with its elaborate caps and harmonious lowercases. It reminds of strawberries and cream, Pimm's on the lawn as an aperitif to the picnic. Excelsior is the opposite; it is rough and sturdy. It provides strong foundations, like a cheese and pickle sandwich or a delicious pork pie. The combination of these ingredients will always give satisfaction.

Both Shelley Script and Excelsior can be purchased on the Dalton Maag website. To see a sample of how these to typefaces live happily together please download the pdf.

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If you'd like to be kept up-to-date with what's going on here at Dalton Maag, you can subscribe to our Infoletter by registering with us and selecting "News of Dalton Maag's latest activities" in your Privacy settings. This is our first Infoletter, and we intend to produce one every two months.