Infoletter November 2005
Möbel Pfister goes with InterFace
Möbel Pfister is one of the most respected furniture retailers in Switzerland and clearly dominates the interior decoration retail business. The company was founded in 1882 by Johann Jacob Pfister and today has 21 outlets. Möbel Pfister is a name synonymous with sound interior design ideas.
Külling and Partner are one of Switzerlands largest corporate design agencies. They developed a new identity for Möbel Pfister which uses Dalton Maags InterFace font family as one of its main elements. However, Möbel Pfister has a slightly modified version: the daring @ symbol was toned down, and of course the font name has been changed to incorporate the clients name. The different font name will allow all users to easily identify the new corporate identity with the recommended typeface. In the coming months, Pfister InterFace will be used on all printed materials such as catalogues, posters and on the livery of the many vehicles in service.
Vodafone
Vodafone recently launched their new promotional campaign with an updated corporate identity created by Enterprise IG. One of the most obvious changes is in the typeface that is used. In the past Vodafone relied entirely on Helvetica Neue Condensed for all of its typography. The new identity allows for four weights – Light, Regular, Bold and Extra Bold, and the typeface used is based on Dalton Maags InterFace but has been modified specifically for Vodafone to create increased brand differentiation. Whilst InterFace is available to everyone for licence, Vodafones version is exclusive. The fonts contain the necessary characters for Western and Eastern European languages, Greek and Cyrillic, supporting Vodafones wide international needs. Other script systems may be added in future, as Vodafones needs change. As the fonts are rolled out for desktop and presentation use, Dalton Maag will apply QuDOS for pixel-perfect screen display quality.
Vodafone could simply have used InterFace straight off the shelf, but a unique and ownable look-and-feel of the typography is important to the distinctiveness of their brand. With this uniquely modified version of the font, Vodafone strengthens its brand message for years to come.
Dalton Maag is happy to work with design agencies and clients to look at the possibility of customizing one of our existing font families to suit the clients exact needs. We are passionate in our belief that interesting typography supports and adds value to the brand message. A consumer may not be able to discern and argue the stylistic subtleties of fonts, but they will be touched on an emotional level by the tone of voice that a typeface lends to the text it renders. They will now perceive Vodafone as a brand that has its finger on the pulse, a brand that is friendly, and a brand that is in tune with their needs. Much of this is achieved by the understated quality of the typeface.
OTF or TTF?
There's one support question that we're asked more often than any other here at Dalton Maag. Why, when the client asked for an OpenType font, have we delivered a TrueType font with an OpenType icon? Many clients and customers have already experienced OpenType fonts from other foundries that have an .otf file extension, whereas Dalton Maag OpenType fonts have a .ttf extension. Have we, perhaps, made a mistake?
The confusion is understandable when .otf obviously stands for OpenType Font, and .ttf obviously stands for TrueType Font, but the reasons for choosing to give an OpenType font a .ttf extension rather than an .otf extension are subtle, significant, and of enormous value to users.
When Microsoft and Adobe announced the end of the font format war in 1996, the resulting marriage between TrueType Open and PostScript Type 1 font formats left us with a single font format with two distinct flavours - those based on TrueType font outlines, and those based on CFF (a descendent of Type 1) outlines.
While all OpenType fonts can feature support for advanced typographic features, created by the font engineer to be sympathetic and appropriate to the individual typeface design, there are some differences between where the two font flavours can be reliably used.
CFF-based OpenType fonts are supported in many design applications, and by OS X and Windows XP natively, plus many other environments when you use Adobe Type Manager. Unfortunately, not all applications see them correctly; some Windows applications show them as "printer fonts" and so don't give correct behaviour, or refuse to allow them to be used at all.
TrueType-based OpenType fonts are supported by the same Operating Systems and applications, but because they are a clean superset of the TrueType format, they behave as traditional TrueType fonts in applications or Operating Systems that aren't aware of OpenType's features but know about TrueType. Older versions of Windows, proprietary applications, embedded systems, etc. are all able to use the high quality type that can be produced by a carefully-engineered, well-hinted OpenType font based on TrueType outlines - so long as you use the legacy .ttf file extension.
Because of the opportunity that the format gives to our engineers to produce a pixel-perfect result every time, and because of the exceptional backwards and forwards compatibility, TrueType-based OpenType is Dalton Maag's delivery format of choice. So, next time you see an OpenType icon on a .ttf file, remember that it's because we care about how our fonts look and where you can use them.