Richler Font Specimen

R I C H L E RRoman, Italic, Bold, Small Caps

Hand Tooled, Dingbats

Designed by Nick Shinn, 2001

ShinnType

364 Sunnyside Avenue

Toronto, Ontario M6R 2R8

Tel. (416) 769-4198

[email protected]

The Richler Ty p e fac e

THE RICHLER TYPEFAC E was commissioned in memory of Mordecai

Richler and created by Canadian type designer Nick Shinn. It will be used

exclusively by Random House Canada and The Giller Prize.

R i c h l e r is an original face, full of personality in the details, yet smooth

in the composite effect. Up close, each letter is a study in thematic style, with

a subtle, firmly crafted, slightly offbeat quality that mocks both artful preten-

sion and mindless conformity.

R i c h l e r is an open, evenly spaced book face designed for sustained

reading at text size, in the mass. At display size—for titling and signage—it is

animated by fine details, which are derived from the seminal influence of the

broad pen on the classic types.

Taking its cue from the ingenious Post-modern tour de force that is

Barney’s Version, the R i c h l e r typeface fuses present-day structure with tradi-

tional skill: its metrics (especially the mechanical rhythm of vertical strokes)

are derived from the ‘technical’ sans serifs such as DIN, which are the domi-

nant trend in contemporary typography.

Criteria

• A “book” face, that is to say, a serifed face with classic construction and a

finely detailed finish—suitable for extended reading.

• Five styles in the family: Roman, Italic, Bold, small ca p s, and H A N D

TO O L E D. This enables the setting of the full range of text in a novel.

• The typeface contains the fine details necessary for it to also work as a

display face, in posters, brochures and collateral material for the Giller

Prize, and for book covers.

• There is also a set of 10 dingbats, representing items associated with the

author.

M.R.

Bb

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z

ab cd e f g hi j k l m n o p q rs t u v w xy zÆŒ

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (“”$ £ - ? !.,: ;* )[@ æ œ&fi fl ß ]


a b c de fg h i j k l m no p q rs t u v w x y zÆŒ

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. , : ;* )[@ æ œ&fi fl ß ]


a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q rst u v w xy zÆŒ

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. ,:;* )[@ æ œ&]


ab cd e f ghi j k l m n o p q rs t u v w xy zÆŒ

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. ,:;* )[@ æ œ&fi fl ß ]


0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 (“”$ £ - ? !. ,:;* )ÆŒ[ @&]

A B C D E F G H I JA B C D E F G H I J

The Fo n ts

Regular

Italic

Small Caps

Bold

Hand Tooled

Dingbats

Hamburgefons148

Richler Roman

Roman

S poo l i n g m i n i o n MORSELSpooling r i c h l e r MORSEL

S p o o l i n g d i n M O R S E LIn traditional book faces such as Minion (top),

the sidebearings of round letters are narrower

than those of the straight, producing a modulated

rhythm. Richler (centre), with its squarish

curved characters and their wide sidebearings—

adopted from the contemporary sans genre (e.g.

DIN, below)—has the repetitive beat of today.

Traditional capitals (e.g. Minion, top)

have contrasting curved and straight

forms, and a variety of character widths.

The Richler capitals (centre) have curved

characters that tend towards the square,

and an evenness of width, akin to the

‘technical’ sans serifs such as DIN (below).

Hamburgefons148Hamburgefons148

I TA L I C S . The caps and figures of the Richler Italic are by and large

based on the Roman caps. The lower case letters however, are

derived from the classic chancery cursive forms used most

notably by Herman Zapf in Aldus and Palatino, Carl Dair in

Cartier, and Ro b e rt Slimbach in Minion. The ‘squareness’ of

this form, and the even metre of its strokes, complements these

characteristics of the Richler Roman. In fact, as in the Roman,

I have really emphasized these traits, especially the openness and

regularity of the metrics—note in particular the g, v, and w.

Richler Italic

Italic

Roman

gvw

H a m burge fo n s 1 4 8Hamburgefons148BOLD. If the x-height of the bold were, in absolute terms, exactly

the same as that of the regular weight, it would appear—in text

setting—to be smaller. This is because the human eye judges size

primarily on the basis of area, not linear height, and the counters

(the negative, enclosed white space within the letters) are

significantly smaller in the bold characters. For this reason, the x-

height of Richler Bold has been made slightly larger than that of the

Regular, so that it appears to be the same size.

Richler Bold

Bold

Regular

oo

Hamburgefons148Hamburgefons148Small Caps. En masse, the small caps have the same weight as

the lower case; they are also slightly taller and narrower. As with

most all-cap settings, it is usually a good idea to space out the

small caps, as shown in the side-head of this paragraph.

The Figures. In the Richler typeface, the regular font has old

style, proportional width figures— 1234567890. The small caps

font contains lining, monowidth (tabular) figures—1234567890.

These figures are slightly shorter than the cap height.

Richler Small Caps

Small caps

Regular

Cccca p i ta l l ow er c as e sma l l ca p

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O P Q RST U V W X Y Z

ab cd e f g hi j k l m

n o p q rs t u v w xyz

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î Ï

Ñ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û Ü Ÿ

á à â ã ä å ç é è ê ë í ì î ï

ñ ó ò ô õ ö ø ú ù û ü ÿ

ÆŒ&æ œ fi fl ß

* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™ªº

[«» ‹ ›" ' “ ” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ;… ‚ „]

( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -–— \ | /⁄

{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~µ% ‰}

Ro m a n



a b c de fgh i j k l m

no p q rstuvwxyz

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9





ÆŒ&æœ fiflß

* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™ªº

[«» ‹ ›" '“” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ;… ‚ „]

( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -–— \ | /⁄

{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~µ% ‰}

I ta l i c

A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q RST U V W X Y Zab cd e f ghi j k l mn o p q rs t u v w xyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î ÏÑ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û Ü Ÿá à â ã ä å ç é è ê ë í ì î ïñ ó ò ô õ ö ø ú ù û ü ÿÆŒ &æ œ fi fl ß* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™ª º[«» ‹ ›" ' “” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ;… ‚ „]( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -– — \ | /⁄{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~µ% ‰}

B o l d



a b c d e f g h i j k l m

n o p q rst u v w xyz

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9





ÆŒ&æœ

* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™ªº

[«» ‹ › " ' “” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ;… ‚ „]

( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -–— \ | /⁄

{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~µ% ‰}

Small Caps

A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q RST U V W X Y Z0 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9

Á À Â Ã Ä Å Ç É È Ê Ë Í Ì Î ÏÑ Ó Ò Ô Õ Ö Ø Ú Ù Û ÜÆŒ &* † ‡ ¶ § @© ® ™[« » ‹ ›" ' “ ” ‘ ’? !¡ ¿. , : ; … ‚ „]( $ £¥ ƒ ¢ ) _• · -– — \ | /⁄{ # °= + ± ÷ < > ¬ ̂ ~%}

Hand To o l e d

A B CD F GH I J E

D i n g b ats

Richler Font Specimen

Documents

technical sans serifs

small caps

giller prize

ab cd

ne details

richler roman

richler italic

richler bold