New typeface packages now available from Adobe Systems

Business Wire, Sept 25, 1995

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 1995--Adobe Systems Inc. today announced seven new typeface packages from the Adobe Type Library.

The new packages include dramatic display faces from designer Arthur Baker, Sassafras and Kigali, condensed and compressed versions of ITC Franklin Gothic, two elegant Berthold Scripts packages, and a second collection of Optima faces.

Two new Adobe Collector's Edition packages of initial caps clip-art are also available. The new packages can be viewed using the Adobe Type Browser on Adobe's World Wide Web site at http://www.adobe.com/, or purchased through Adobe's Font & Function type catalog (Fall 1995 issue) at 800/445-8787, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All packages are available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms and are currently offered at special savings through Font & Function.

The new Adobe Collector's Edition packages capture the spirit of illuminated manuscripts, wood carvings and stained-glass windows. These two packages feature six more dramatic designs by Marwan Aridi to decorate a page. Each package contains three complete alphabets with 78 characters total. Each letter comes in separate color and black-and-white EPS-language files. Users can easily drop them into a word processing or page layout program, or edit them in a drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator. The Adobe Collector's Edition packages are available through Font & Function for $49.95 each. Special pricing of $99.95 for three packages, or $149.95 for all five, is available through Jan. 31, 1996, in Font & Function.

The Optima 2 package (no. 392) comes with four new weights from Medium to Extra Black, including italic designs. Optima remains among the Top Ten on Adobe's list of best-selling typefaces due to its readability. The new Optima 2 package includes Optima Medium, Optima Medium Italic, Optima Demi, Optima Bold, Optima Bold Italic, Optima Black, Optima Black Italic, Optima Extra Black and Optima Extra Black Italic. The addition of these new weights greatly extends the range and flexibility of the Optima family.

Berthold Scripts 2 and 3 packages (no. 393 and no. 395) add a variety of script faces to the Adobe Type Library. Berthold Scripts 2 comes with Aja, an informal script face with short descenders, simplified letter shapes and looped capitals, and Poppl-Exquisit Regular and Poppl-Exquisit Medium, based on 19th-century handwriting with graceful, curling ascenders and elegant swashed capitals.

The Berthold Scripts 3 package features two useful script faces, Arkona and El Greco. Arkona is a slightly inclined script face in which tall ascenders contrast sharply with very short descenders. Arkona adds circular strokes that remain unclosed, resulting in a casual, open appearance. The upright script face El Greco features pronounced calligraphic characteristics, most notably thick and thin lines that suggest an angled pen nib.

Franklin Gothic has been a standard since its creation in 1902 by Morris Fuller Benton. David Berlow then revived the Condensed and Compressed faces for ITC and now Adobe brings them to the Adobe Type Library. ITC Franklin Gothic Compressed (no. 396) is designed especially to solve tight copyfitting problems, while maintaining high legibility. This package comes with six faces, including Book Compressed, Book Compressed Italic, Demi Compressed, Demi Compressed Italic, Book Extra Compressed and Demi Extra Compressed.

ITC Franklin Gothic Condensed (no. 397) comes with Book Condensed, Book Condensed Italic, Medium Condensed, Medium Condensed Italic, Demi Condensed and Demi Condensed Italic. These six faces are perfect for use in any place where space is at a premium.

Sassafras (no. 398) is based on the natural inline effect created when writing with a split, metal, nibbed pen. Designed by Arther Baker, Sassafras nicely balances black and white, giving the type a smooth appearance. Sassafras comes in three styles, including Sassafras Sx with shortened ascenders and descenders, and its opposite - extra-tall Sassafras Lx.

Kigali (no. 399), another Baker design, is a wide-bodied display type with bold, rough-edged pen strokes that taper dramatically. This unique family also comes with Kigali Block, that features the face reversed-out in a black square, and Kigali ZigZag, a zigzag-patterned version of the face.

These seven new packages are currently offered for the special price of $69 through Font & Function. Special prices are good through Jan. 31, 1996. After that date, the suggested retail price for Berthold Scripts 2 and 3 and Sassafras will increase to $105 for each package; ITC Franklin Gothic Compressed and Condensed will increase to $205 for each package; Kigali will retail for $145 and Optima will retail for $275. All typefaces are licensed to customers for installation on up to five home or business computers and one permanent download to a printer hard disk.

Adobe Systems Incorporated, founded in 1982, is headquartered in Mountain View. Adobe develops, markets and supports computer software products and technologies that enable users to create, display, print and communicate electronic documents.