Download - Richler Font Specimen
R I C H L E RRoman, Italic, Bold, Small Caps
Hand Tooled, Dingbats
Designed by Nick Shinn, 2001
ShinnType
364 Sunnyside Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M6R 2R8
Tel. (416) 769-4198
The Richler Ty p e fac e
THE RICHLER TYPEFAC E was commissioned in memory of Mordecai
Richler and created by Canadian type designer Nick Shinn. It will be used
exclusively by Random House Canada and The Giller Prize.
R i c h l e r is an original face, full of personality in the details, yet smooth
in the composite effect. Up close, each letter is a study in thematic style, with
a subtle, firmly crafted, slightly offbeat quality that mocks both artful preten-
sion and mindless conformity.
R i c h l e r is an open, evenly spaced book face designed for sustained
reading at text size, in the mass. At display size—for titling and signage—it is
animated by fine details, which are derived from the seminal influence of the
broad pen on the classic types.
Taking its cue from the ingenious Post-modern tour de force that is
Barney’s Version, the R i c h l e r typeface fuses present-day structure with tradi-
tional skill: its metrics (especially the mechanical rhythm of vertical strokes)
are derived from the ‘technical’ sans serifs such as DIN, which are the domi-
nant trend in contemporary typography.
Criteria
• A “book” face, that is to say, a serifed face with classic construction and a
finely detailed finish—suitable for extended reading.
• Five styles in the family: Roman, Italic, Bold, small ca p s, and H A N D
TO O L E D. This enables the setting of the full range of text in a novel.
• The typeface contains the fine details necessary for it to also work as a
display face, in posters, brochures and collateral material for the Giller
Prize, and for book covers.
• There is also a set of 10 dingbats, representing items associated with the
author.
M.R.
Bb
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
ab cd e f g hi j k l m n o p q rs t u v w xy zƌ
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (“”$ £ - ? !.,: ;* )[@ æ œ&fi fl ß ]
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
a b c de fg h i j k l m no p q rs t u v w x y zƌ
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. , : ;* )[@ æ œ&fi fl ß ]
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q rst u v w xy zƌ
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. ,:;* )[@ æ œ&]
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
ab cd e f ghi j k l m n o p q rs t u v w xy zƌ
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. ,:;* )[@ æ œ&fi fl ß ]
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. ,:;* )ÆŒ[ @&]
A B C D E F G H I JA B C D E F G H I J
The Fo n ts
Regular
Italic
Small Caps
Bold
Hand Tooled
Dingbats
Hamburgefons148
Richler Roman
Roman
S poo l i n g m i n i o n MORSELSpooling r i c h l e r MORSEL
S p o o l i n g d i n M O R S E LIn traditional book faces such as Minion (top),
the sidebearings of round letters are narrower
than those of the straight, producing a modulated
rhythm. Richler (centre), with its squarish
curved characters and their wide sidebearings—
adopted from the contemporary sans genre (e.g.
DIN, below)—has the repetitive beat of today.
Traditional capitals (e.g. Minion, top)
have contrasting curved and straight
forms, and a variety of character widths.
The Richler capitals (centre) have curved
characters that tend towards the square,
and an evenness of width, akin to the
‘technical’ sans serifs such as DIN (below).
Hamburgefons148Hamburgefons148
I TA L I C S . The caps and figures of the Richler Italic are by and large
based on the Roman caps. The lower case letters however, are
derived from the classic chancery cursive forms used most
notably by Herman Zapf in Aldus and Palatino, Carl Dair in
Cartier, and Ro b e rt Slimbach in Minion. The ‘squareness’ of
this form, and the even metre of its strokes, complements these
characteristics of the Richler Roman. In fact, as in the Roman,
I have really emphasized these traits, especially the openness and
regularity of the metrics—note in particular the g, v, and w.
Richler Italic
Italic
Roman
gvw
H a m burge fo n s 1 4 8Hamburgefons148BOLD. If the x-height of the bold were, in absolute terms, exactly
the same as that of the regular weight, it would appear—in text
setting—to be smaller. This is because the human eye judges size
primarily on the basis of area, not linear height, and the counters
(the negative, enclosed white space within the letters) are
significantly smaller in the bold characters. For this reason, the x-
height of Richler Bold has been made slightly larger than that of the
Regular, so that it appears to be the same size.
Richler Bold
Bold
Regular
oo
Hamburgefons148Hamburgefons148Small Caps. En masse, the small caps have the same weight as
the lower case; they are also slightly taller and narrower. As with
most all-cap settings, it is usually a good idea to space out the
small caps, as shown in the side-head of this paragraph.
The Figures. In the Richler typeface, the regular font has old
style, proportional width figures— 1234567890. The small caps
font contains lining, monowidth (tabular) figures—1234567890.
These figures are slightly shorter than the cap height.
Richler Small Caps
Small caps
Regular
Cccca p i ta l l ow er c as e sma l l ca p
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
ab cd e f g hi j k l m
n o p q rs t u v w xyz
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î Ï
Ñ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û Ü Ÿ
á à â ã ä å ç é è ê ë í ì î ï
ñ ó ò ô õ ö ø ú ù û ü ÿ
ÆŒ&æ œ fi fl ß
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Ro m a n
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
a b c de fgh i j k l m
no p q rstuvwxyz
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9
Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î Ï
Ñ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û Ü Ÿ
á à â ã ä å ç é è ê ë í ì î ï
ñ ó ò ô õ ö ø ú ù û ü ÿ
ÆŒ&æœ fiflß
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I ta l i c
A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q RST U V W X Y Zab cd e f ghi j k l mn o p q rs t u v w xyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î ÏÑ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û Ü Ÿá à â ã ä å ç é è ê ë í ì î ïñ ó ò ô õ ö ø ú ù û ü ÿÆŒ &æ œ fi fl ß* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™ª º[«» ‹ ›" ' “” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ;… ‚ „]( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -– — \ | /⁄{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~µ% ‰}
B o l d
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
n o p q rst u v w xyz
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î Ï
Ñ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û Ü Ÿ
á à â ã ä å ç é è ê ë í ì î ï
ñ ó ò ô õ ö ø ú ù û ü ÿ
ÆŒ&æœ
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[«» ‹ › " ' “” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ;… ‚ „]
( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -–— \ | /⁄
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Small Caps
A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q RST U V W X Y Z0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9
Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î ÏÑ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û ÜÆŒ &* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™[« » ‹ ›" ' “ ” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ; … ‚ „]( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -– — \ | /⁄{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~%}
Hand To o l e d
A B CD F GH I J E
D i n g b ats