From The Archives ~ Topics: typography

Goodchild

by Nick ShinnOctober 21, 2002

Nicholas Jenson's seminal type of the 1470s was a book face, around 16pt in size, and this has been reflected in the majority of Jenson revivals, which tend to have a bookish elegance with plenty of stress contrast.

It was also roughly printed, by subsequent standards, and this too has influenced the appearance of the revivals, which generally sport a graceful patina of distress, formalizing the letterpress-process irregularities as part of the type design.

Goodchild is true to the original in the shape of its curved forms, its character construction, its tight fit, its modulation of stroke contrast, and its variety of x-height and serif size.

But with its large x-height and short capitals, it is a small-text workhorse that matches Utopia's word-count. And its crisp, no-nonsense details provide a contemporary freshness at display sizes.

About the Author: Nick Shinn, R.G.D. was born in London, England in 1952, educated at Bedford, and acquired a Dip.AD in Fine Art (1974) from Leeds Polytechnic, Yorkshire. He has lived in Toronto since 1976. During the 1980's he was an art director and creative director at a number of advertising agencies, and a partner in the environmental marketing company Earthmark from 1988 to 1990. He went digital in 1989 and started the Shinn Design studio, which specialized in publication and marketing design during the 1990s. He has been a member of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (R.G.D.) since its inception in 1996. His type design can be found at shinntype.com.

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