Reviving a Victorian-American Typeface

Today’s Fonts on Friday is a little bit different: we’re letting you know about a Kickstarter project for a typeface design. Kickstarter, for those of you who may not know, is a way to get money for product development through what’s called crowdfunding. Everyday people like you and me provide the funds to “kick start” an idea, product, service, and so on. The developer can only uses that money on the advertised project, and only when the financial goal is realized.
This project is the development of a typeface to be called “Cristoforo” by Thomas Phinney, type expert and “Guru of Fonts and Typography” at Extensis (perhaps you saw the case study we ran about his role in the redesign of the Extensis logo). Cristoforo, however, is an entirely personal project for Phinney, in which he combines his love of typography with his passion for the cult game Call of Cthulhu, a roleplaying game inspired by the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.
Cristoforo is Victorian in style, with antecedents in the fonts Columbus and American Italic (the former is the font used in packaging for Cracker Jack popcorn candy).Phinney describes these fonts as “classic American-Victorian art nouveau metal types by Hermann Ihlenburg.”

Watch Thomas describe the project in this video.

His Kickstarter page has lots more illustrations, backstory, and project incentives. For example, if you pledge $48 you’ll receive: the full type package when finished, plus extras like wallpaer for your commuter screen. Another option gets you two days (or more) of personal, hands-on training in typeface design and development.
It looks like a fun project.
 

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