Neue Aachen: Bigger, Better – and New The Aachen typeface dates back to the late 1960s when Colin Brignall designed it for Letraset dry transfer lettering sheets. Named after the German city where many believe Gutenberg first used moveable type, Aachen’s bold weight and short, slab serifs made it a natural choice for display typography. A lighter (medium) complement was drawn in the late 1970s but the bold design continued to be the most popular design. Aachen was made available as phototype fonts in the 1970s and digital fonts in the early 1990s – but the family retained its diminutive size. Realizing that more weights would dramatically increase Aachen’s range of use, Jim Wasco – a senior type designer at Monotype Imaging – put together a proposal that would bring the family into the 21st century. “I was amazed at how much I saw the old Aachen Bold being used and I thought that a larger family would be welcomed by graphic designers,” says Wasco. “I hope my redesign and enlargement of the original family make it more versatile – and will satisfy the desire designers seem to have for more Aachen.” The happy result of Wasco’s proposal is Neue Aachen, a family of 9 weights, from ultra light to black, each with an italic complement – for a total of 18 styles. Neue Aachen is also available as a suite of OpenType Pro fonts, allowing for the automatic insertion of ligatures, fractions – and a special alternate g that Wasco felt added a distinctive quality to the design. Pro fonts also include an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages. When asked about how his design improved the versatility of Neue Aachen, Wasco replied, “The family can now be put to work at any size from small text to large display applications. The bold weights can be excellent choices for headlines, banners and ads. The book and regular were drawn for text setting, and the extra light and ultra black weights add extra oomph – or a touch of finesse – to large display copy.” Wasco’s revitalization of Neue Aachen takes a 40-year-old design – with a heritage that dates back to the first fonts of movable type – fully into the 21st century. The complete Neue Aachen family is available as desktop fonts from the Fonts.com, Linotype.com and ITCFonts.com websites. It is also available as dynamically downloadable Web fonts. Click here to learn more about – and license – the Neue Aachen family: http://www.fonts.com/font/itc/neue-aachen

5. Jim Wasco, a second-generation lettering designer, began his lifelong
passion for lettering when his father taught him calligraphy at the age of 12.
He started with a reproduction of the book Operina, by Ludovico Vicentino
degli Arrighi, and an instruction sheet for Chancery Cursive (based on
Arrighi’s Operina typeface).
Jim’s father taught him about lettering, proper spacing, letter proportions and
balance. It was this knowledge, along with his illustration skills, that formed
the fundamentals for a California-based type design business Jim founded in
1974. Early career highlights include assisting Jim Parkinson with his
alphabet design for Rolling Stone Magazine.
Jim Wasco explains, “I realized I had a gift of understanding letterforms.
These things came to me naturally as common sense.”
Jim transitioned to designing type on computers at SlideTek, and later spent
13 years in the type department at Adobe. His signature style can be found
on typefaces such as the Tekton Bold and Mythos designs.
Today, Jim is an award-winning senior typeface designer at Monotype
Imaging. His work includes custom typefaces for Microsoft, AT&T and
Gatorade, and his most recent designs include the Neue Aachan, Elegy and
Harmonia Sans typefaces. Jim can also be found directing outside designers
and coordinating collaborative design teams. In addition, he served for three
years on the review board at Silicon Valley College and has taught workshops
on hand lettering and making fonts for software companies at SoTA (Society
of Typographic Aficionados).