Playing to Type

Nice piece by Virginia Postrel on modern typography in The Atlantic (whence came the aforelinked interview with Michael Bierut):

In 2001, The Wall Street Journal hired Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones to create a new typeface for its financial tables. The result, called Retina, uses the microscopic precision of digital design to correct for the blurring that takes place when thin ink hits cheap paper at high speed. Designed for tiny agate type, Retina looks bizarre at larger sizes; Frere-Jones compares it to a fish evolved to survive at extreme ocean depths.

★ Wednesday, 19 March 2008