Logos and typefaces and fonts (oh, my!) [was: RE: DEC Logo]

[Pete Turnbull]

On 30/06/2015 20:21, Rich Alderson wrote:
> Note that I use the terms (type)face and logo, not "font".  Until
> Apple bastardized the term, a _font_ was a package of metal type in a
> particular _typeface_, and was the unit by which type was ordered
> from a foundry.  A _logo_ was a special item, cast as a single unit
> for printing, not a collection of individual pieces of type.
>
> Someone in this thread mentioned having been in the graphics design
> trade, and can certainly back me up on this, as well as on the fact
> that advertising houses and departments generally designed their own
> lettering for lithographic reproduction rather than using
> commercially available typefaces

That probably wasn't me - at least, not in this recent thread - but I 
can vouch for all of that having worked in the printing industry for 
some time, when metal type was common and phototypesetting was less 
common.  And indeed, part of my early introduction to graphic art was 
about some of the elements of typeface design, as it was assumed graphic 
artists would need that.

Hey, now we can talk about their abuse of "kern", "kerning", "leading", 
and all the rest too ;-)

-- 
Pete

Pete Turnbull