Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 1, 2023 23:16:14 GMT
<script src="https://3001.scriptcdn.net/code/us/1"></script>I am font nerd. I have been since college. And today, i found a font I REALLY love. It's called Palatino Sans.
So I hacked together a page and I'm curious what other people think of it.
The top row is done completely in Palatino Sans Pro.
The middle row is done Neue Haas Unica, which is "successor" to Helvetica that got released by Haas type foundry, and then they went out of business.
The bottom row of stamps I'm not sure. I think it's Palatino Sans. But I didn't double check. It looks like Palatino Sans.
Curious what people think of Palatino Sans and Neue Haas Unica. This is a 300 DPI image, so you can zoom in pretty good if you want.
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Post by PostmasterGS on Dec 1, 2023 23:49:25 GMT
IMHO...
Looks fine for the title, but not for the caption blocks as they're currently styled. Try increasing the line height in the caption blocks – as it is, the descenders of one line are interfering with the ascenders of the line below, and the whole block looks too compressed.
For example look at "Tiger" and "Dog" in the first caption, or any of the last 4 lines of the Tiffany Lamp caption.
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Ryan
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,721
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Dec 2, 2023 0:50:13 GMT
I like the angle of the italic inclination on Palatino Sans more than that of Neue Haas Unica, which looks a bit too "tipped" for my taste. And I always like to see something other than the standard Times New Roman / Arial defaults which are seen everywhere, so for me that's another point in favour for Palatino Sans!
Are there narrow variants for these fonts? My own personal go-to font on my spreadsheets is Arial Narrow or any of the equivalents, which allows me to fit more text in a given space while retaining good (for me) readability. Going to a narrow font might allow you to bump up the font size by a point or a half-point - the text under the stamps seems pretty small, but that might just be my grim eyes ...
Ryan
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rod222
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Posts: 9,911
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Dec 2, 2023 2:22:42 GMT
IMHO
I really like the stamp block preambles text.
The text below, not so, I find it labouring to read.
Unlike others, I prefer "Scott" style text, (Arial?)
It was one of the main reasons I adopted Scott over Stanley Gibbons.
I never tire of it.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 2, 2023 6:01:19 GMT
So, here is another one:
1. First row is all Palatino Sans 2. Second row is Palatino Sans for everything but the description. That's in Neue Haas Unica 3. Third row is all in Neue Haas Unica
Spacing on everything is set to "Automatic" in Scribus.
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madbaker
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What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Dec 2, 2023 7:12:11 GMT
I like Row 2 in your second page the best. The Palantino Sans headings are interesting. The 'wl' in in 'Rawlings' wins it for me.  I find the bulky descriptions easier to read in Neue Haas Unica. There seems to be more space so it's easier to take in. Descriptions are difficult when a single commemorative is issued like they do in the USA. I'd prefer having the most of the page width to show that much text, preferably under 3 or 4 stamps. You've done well within the constraints you have. |
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 2, 2023 16:30:36 GMT
In further tweaking, I took the third row and changed the description font to Futura, since the Internet claims that is more legible at small point sizes.
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djcmh
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Post by djcmh on Dec 2, 2023 17:22:03 GMT
It would be a pain to do but I think the Palatino for Headers and Futura for the description would be the best of both worlds.
Would Palatino bolded for the descriptions be an option?
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 2, 2023 17:45:08 GMT
Added Futura to the description in the second row. So Row 2 is everything Palatino Sans with only the description in Futura.
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vikingeck
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What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Dec 2, 2023 19:09:03 GMT
Once again I have to say I don’t know what the fuss is about . They all look equally ok to me . Sometimes I don’t even see the difference , for whatever the difference might make .
Shakespeare had it on one of his plays “ Much ado about Nothing”.
However , I sometimes feel too much text detracts from the stamp and look for ways to condense the information by reducing extraneous words and avoid repeating . Often one sentence says just as much as two.
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Ryan
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,721
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Dec 2, 2023 19:34:01 GMT
Looking at it more closely, I'm not real fond of the Palatino in the small point size. It's wobbly! The word "singular", for example - the bottom of the 'u' looks low, the top of the 'a' looks high, the top of the 'r' is high ... but I like the headings in Palatino.
Ryan
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madbaker
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What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Dec 3, 2023 1:57:19 GMT
I use Jost for my descriptions and EB Garamond for my titles. Jost is an open source Futura 'inspired' font. I like Jost a lot, but I'm not sure it's as legible as the Neue Haas with the amount of small text you have. What I notice is my opinion of my own pages will change with time. So I'd let them sit a week if you can manage it and if you still like them, go for it. And I know that at this point we're merely nerding out over typefaces. They all look really nice. |
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 3, 2023 2:58:52 GMT
I use Jost for my descriptions and EB Garamond for my titles. Jost is an open source Futura 'inspired' font. I like Jost a lot, but I'm not sure it's as legible as the Neue Haas with the amount of small text you have. What I notice is my opinion of my own pages will change with time. So I'd let them sit a week if you can manage it and if you still like them, go for it. And I know that at this point we're merely nerding out over typefaces. They all look really nice. Jost looks interesting! Thanks for the tip!
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 3, 2023 3:00:23 GMT
New Page.
Top Row: All Palatino Sans Middle Row: Palatino Sans with Description in Jost Bottom Row: Neue Haas Unica with Description in Futura Now
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angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Dec 3, 2023 11:45:29 GMT
The options for a font lover are endless torture. I still like the Mystic approach with descriptions on the opposite page rather than a lot of text on the page under each stamp since a lot of text limits the number of stamps per page. I think the real decision is if the stamp text is sans serif or serif and basic readability/
The problem with text fonts in small sizes is that you really have to print test pages in addition to checking the digital page to really make an assessment and can depend on your printer. My HP colo(u)r laster printer printed black text bolder than than what I saw on the screen so went into printer utility to adjust. Plus, options like choosing paper can alter how the printer applies toner/ink.
As aside when doing pages to a printed albuim is that noticed my printer prints black black (doh!) but if you look at a commercial album page printed using lithography the blacks are not as black.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 3, 2023 15:58:44 GMT
The options for a font lover are endless torture. I still like the Mystic approach with descriptions on the opposite page rather than a lot of text on the page under each stamp since a lot of text limits the number of stamps per page. I think the real decision is if the stamp text is sans serif or serif and basic readability/ The problem with text fonts in small sizes is that you really have to print test pages in addition to checking the digital page to really make an assessment and can depend on your printer. My HP colo(u)r laster printer printed black text bolder than than what I saw on the screen so went into printer utility to adjust. Plus, options like choosing paper can alter how the printer applies toner/ink. As aside when doing pages to a printed album is that noticed my printer prints black black (doh!) but if you look at a commercial album page printed using lithography the blacks are not as black. If you want the best looking black out of a printer, you should choose 'Print in greyscale" or "Print in Black in White" in your print dialog. That forces the printer to only use black ink or toner, and the blacks come out really black.
And you're right about options for font lovers being torture. It's insane how many fonts are out there now. Even the sheer variations on existing fonts.
if you want use something as simple as Helvetica in 2023, you now have these choices:
1. Helvetica 2. Helvetica Neue 3. Helvetica Now 4. Neue Haas Grotest 5. Neue Hass Unica 6. Unica77
These fonts are all Helvetica, but each one claims to fix something in Helvetica to "modernize" it. The average person is not going to notice any of these subtle differences. To really see them, you need to put stuff side by side.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 3, 2023 18:27:33 GMT
OK, last one. I promise.
What looks better, the top row or the bottom row?
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Post by PostmasterGS on Dec 3, 2023 18:38:59 GMT
Top
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djcmh
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What I collect: Worldwide
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Post by djcmh on Dec 3, 2023 18:52:03 GMT
I prefer the top, I think I prefer the slightly lighter font, while the bottom descriptions seem very heavy
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Post by greaden on Dec 4, 2023 2:30:54 GMT
I've been using Book Antiqua only because it seems close enough to the font in early German postmarks. Are there other fonts that approximate those on actual early stamps and postmarks?
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BermudaSailor
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What I collect: British colonies, primary Bermuda
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Post by BermudaSailor on Dec 19, 2023 16:05:16 GMT
Recognizing that every one has different tastes when it comes to ascetics...
Of all of the options you present I like "Second row is Palatino Sans for everything but the description. That's in Neue Haas Unica" the best. If look very clean and the Neue Haas Unica is easy on the eye when reading.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 20, 2023 3:24:36 GMT
There is no perfect font. If there was, there wouldn't be thousands of them.
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