Monotype Plantin - A digital Revival

The revival project is part of the Type and Media Master's program at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, The Netherlands. Students were asked to acquire an inexpensive book set in letterpress, and to reproduce its typeface in a digitized revival. The book I decided to use is ‘Fables Choisies II’ (La Fontaine), printed in 1934 in Paris, which uses for the main typeface of ‘Fables Choisies II’ Monotype Plantin.

The layout of this paper is as follows: The first part covers Monotype Plantin's historical context. It contains the description of the typeface, including its stylistic period, the way it has been designed, and under which type foundry and circumstances it has been produced. Furthermore, I layout the historical model Gros Cicero, and how its elements have been translated into the Monotype Plantin typeface. A part of the roman weight, the italic weight is looked at, and finally the typeface's success in the context of other typefaces used during this period is established. The second part is dedicated to the revival process with the goal of reproducing the typeface from the past into a digital format. Design decisions and the reasoning behind these decisions are explained, other revivals are analysed, and the original and revival designs are compared. Eventually, I present my ‘Conclusion and further Development’.

Monotype Plantin - A digital Revival Essay [in PDF]

Monotype Plantin Revival Book