A short presentation explaining why we selected the Sterling and Origin typefaces from The Foundry.

1. The Foundry

2. Last year Liam and I went on a mission to find typefaces that
could truly represent the University of Bath.
An origin of Origins

3. Que?
What about all the typefaces
we already have?

4. Caecilia
Gotham Narrow
Helvetica Neue
TUNGSTEN
Lucida Grande
Raleway
There are many, many more hiding out across the University.

5. These typefaces just didn’t fit the bill.
Things had changed. We’d moved on.
It’s not you. It’s us.
Why not?

6. We have been using Gotham Narrow on blogs.bath.ac.uk
for over a year.
Although it’s a beautiful typeface it is a little too thin at a
comfortable weight on screen. We’ve had to 'beef it up’.
Legibility is paramount.
Clarity & legibility

7. Raleway is a nice typeface. It’s got a funky ‘W’.
However it does not have a full character set. It is missing some
key extended Latin characters.
It’s also pretty badly kerned which leads to some nasty looking
letter pairs!
Flexibility

8. - Why are we using these typefaces?
- What was the thinking behind their original implementation?
- What is their connection to us, to Bath, to the UK?
The connection

9. - Designed with digital usage in mind
- Delivered via a reputable, robust web service
- Fully configurable web fonts in Opentype format.
Born digital

10. Select typefaces from a single source that share a design
sensibility, harmony and structure.
Typefaces designed to work together from the ground up.
Harmonious

11. That little extra something…
Something undefinable. Something special.
I’ll know it when I see it.
Je ne sais quoi

12. Serif
Sans serif
DISPLAY

13. We searched
through hundreds
of typefaces

14. Founded by
David Quay & Freda Sack in 1990
The Foundry

15. David Quay was the designer behind the Bath typeface used
in signage across the city.
A happy coincidence. A sign perhaps…

16. The Foundry design typefaces that are grounded in British
sensibilities but not weighed down by typographic history.

17. Foundry Sterling
Foundry Sterling is a functional and eloquent typeface family
that has its origins in the desire to create a modern sans design
with a quintessentially English flavour.

18. Foundry Origin
Foundry Origin has an elemental quality hinting at its
‘Egyptian’ roots. A quiet design with a big presence,
tipped to become a modern classic.

20. Egyptian?
Upon Napoleon’s return from a three year Egyptian
expedition and publication in 1809 of Description de l’Egypt,
Egypt was all the rage.
At the same time English typographers were experimenting
with slab serif letterforms for use on bill posters. The name
‘Egyptian slab’ just stuck.

22. waffle
Ligatures (and other opentype features)

23. a aBook Book italic

24. Complete kerning tables
LT AV YO TO
la av yo to
la av yo to

25. Full character sets

26. Have nothing in your houses that
you do not know to be useful, or
believe to be beautiful.
- William Morris