[comp.text.desktop] Garamond Condensed

Michael.Skinner@f109.n221.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Skinner) (07/16/89)

While I'm sure many of us Mac users agree that Garamond Condensed, Apple's 
corporate font, is very attractive, I find that it's a rather difficult
(if not impossible) font to purchase.  Garamond Condensed doesn't appear on
my most recent list of Adobe faces, and while BitStream apparently does
have it, I understand it's only available for the IBM.
        
If you know where this font might be purchased, please advise!!


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mouser@portia.Stanford.EDU (Michael Wang) (07/18/89)

In article <2636.24C15AB0@isishq.FIDONET.ORG>
Michael.Skinner@f109.n221.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Skinner) writes:

> While I'm sure many of us Mac users agree that Garamond Condensed, Apple's
> corporate font, is very attractive, I find that it's a rather difficult
> (if not impossible) font to purchase.  Garamond Condensed doesn't appear on
> my most recent list of Adobe faces, and while BitStream apparently does
> have it, I understand it's only available for the IBM.
>
> If you know where this font might be purchased, please advise!!


First, some background:
Apple uses two different text weights of ITC Garamond Condensed in their
documents and artwork. Most of Apple's ads that you see in magazines are
done in ITC Garamond Book Condensed. Most of their other documents including
manuals, employment ads, newsletters, etc., are done in ITC Garamond Light
Condensed.

Solution:
Since ITC Garamond Light is readily available from Adobe, it would be nice
if the condensed version could be created from the normal version. In fact,
if you scale ITC Garamond Light by 80% horizontally, you have created the
condensed version. The best program to do this in is Quark XPress, which
can scale fonts directly in a text block (I'm inferring from your message
that you want this typeface for the Macintosh). You can also do this in
Ready,Set,Go! by pasting a text block into a graphic block scaled 80%
horizontally. If you plan on using the condensed face at large sizes, or
are going to be printing stuff out at 1270 dpi and up, see if there is
somebody selling the Book weight of ITC Garamond (I haven't heard of 
any, but there probably is one) since it will look better under those
conditions.

Soapbox time:
Make sure you really want to duplicate the "look and feel" of Apple's
documents. There are many companies in the Mac market that copy "look and
feel" of Apple's ads and after a while, they all begin to look the same.
It's better to create your own original style, if possible, than to
blatantly copy somebody else's.

Designer notes:
If you are worried about the "authenticity" of this scaling method, don't.
This is the method used by Apple itself to create its text faces (I read
about this method on Apple's Graphic Standards Poster). However, I don't
know if this "condensed" version is identical to the condensed version ITC
sells, but it probably is. The "ITC" part of the name is also important to
note since there are many different versions of Garamond available for
PostScript printers including ITC Garamond, Stempel Garamond, Garamond 3,
and Adobe Garamond. Sabon is also another design based on the types by
Claude Garamond. Many typographers get into heated discussions about the "authenticity" of the various Garamond faces. I won't
bother, but make sure
you get the proper version for the type of work you want to do.

Sorry for the long-winded reponse, but I always get carried away when
responding to messages in this newsgroup.


-Michael Wang

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amanda@intercon.uu.net (Amanda Walker) (07/19/89)

In article <2636.24C15AB0@isishq.FIDONET.ORG>,
Michael.Skinner@f109.n221.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Skinner) writes:
> If you know where this font might be purchased, please advise!!

I don't know where you can buy it, however, it seems quite easy to
produce if you want to do a little hacking.  In particular, if your
software can do transformations on text (such as Adobe Illustrator),
just take normal Garamond and shrink it by 80% horizontally.  If you're
not afraid of getting your hands dirty, you can take the Adobe printer
fonts for Garamond and edit the FontMatrix field to compress the characters
by 80% horizontally.  You can then take the screen fonts and compress them
as well, and then finally edit the FOND resource with ResEdit so that it
points at your new mangled printer fonts instead of the standard ones.

I have done this, and it works like a charm, but it's complex enough that
it would take me a while to type up a "cookbook" for doing it, unless there's
a whole lot of interest...

--
Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
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Michael.Skinner@f109.n221.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Skinner) (07/20/89)

Thanks for your comments, Mike.  Actually, I know Quark XPress is capable
of modifying the horizontal scale of any font.  I have worked with XPress
in the past and, unfortunately, find the user interface leaves something
to be desired.  Therefore, it's not practical for me to use it for any
serious work.
        
Your point regarding the use of Garamond Condensed in ads is well taken.
One only has to glance through a copy of MacWorld to see Garamond used to
considerable excess.  While Garamond is my favourite font, even I get
tired of looking at it.
        
I'm hoping a future release of PageMaker will bring it up to par with
XPress for it's type manipulation features.  Since PageMaker is, in my
opinion, by far preferrable to work with, that would solve the problem.
        
In the meantime, I have written a few letters regarding the availability
of Garamond Condensed from BitStream and will advise you on the result.


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