dtl love/hate

Seen this? It’s the news page at the Dutch Type Library, and every once in a while, it gets an update. This time around, we have a nice specimen book of DTL Paradox, by Gerard Unger, and a presentation showing off a forthcoming typeface called DTL Prokyon, by Erhard Kaiser – the designer of DTL Fleischmann.

We’ve admired Paradox for some time now; what’s not to like? And according to Mr Blokland, it should be coming out next year in an OpenType version; we may finally get ff, ffi, and ffl. But save room in the drool bucket for Prokyon – this sure ain’t Fleischmann! Rather, an adventurous sans-serif that serves purposes of titling and text very well. Download the show and see. Four weights in roman, italic, and small caps; text, lining, and hybrid figures; a wider range of accented characters than is usually included. And check out the philosophy behind the lower case, roman g: roman and “italic” forms are compared; in the case of the former, “...diese g-Form wurde vom Designer verworfen...”

But what will this novel sans-serif cost us? Right – US $100. That’s per style per weight, folks. Mr Bringhurst tells us that “commerce knows no conscience,” and he does so in the case of mis-labeling typefaces. But what about charging too much for them – I wonder what Bringhurst thinks about this, and I wonder what, exactly, is Mr Blokland’s philosophy here? I’d love to buy Caspari, Dorian, Paradox, and the forthcoming Prokyon as much as anyone, but I simply cannot afford them. What’s more, compare the prices of DTL Albertina to MT Albertina... Of DTL Haarlemmer to MT Haarlemmer. Same cuts, big difference in price. I think it simply comes down to a mix of arrogance and ignorance – in any case, a bad business model. (I work at Great Big American Company, so I know all about business models.) Honestly, for every person who will buy a weight and style of Prokyon at $100 a crack, there are 20 more who would cave at $40. So, what’ll it be, Mr Blokland, $100 or $800. Think about it – you could have your conscience and your commerce...

20-June 2002