I did a bit more work on JY Aristi last night and today. Here are some test documents for it, now with a few revised characters.
   Firstly, Hamburgerfonts (or, in this case, Hamburgefontsiv) is a common test word in typeface design. It shows the cap height, x-height (the height of a lowercase x), ascender height (b, f, t) and descender height (g) plus some regularly occurring letters and how the typeface fares with diagonals and curved letters.
   The first graphic compares JY Aristi (first line) with some similar typefaces to check copyfitting and styles. The typefaces are JY Aristi, JY Ætna (on which JY Aristi is loosely based, but was designed for 14 pt settings), Monotype Plantin Light (a 10 pt master), Monotype Bembo (also based on a 10 pt master) and the ubiquitous Monotype Times New Roman.



   What is apparent above is that JY Aristi could work in text. There is little contrast between verticals and horizontals and it is largely legible. The new g is more robust. It can be an excellent text font with some oldstyle connotations.
   JY Ætna, because it was designed for 14 pt, appears lighter when set at the same point size. It also appears narrower. The idea is that when it is set at the size it was designed for, it should look like it has the same contrast and weight as the text. In this case, I think it would work with JY Aristi.
   The third typeface is Monotype Plantin Light. This version was based on drawings for a 10 pt model, so it should compete with JY Aristi. The x-height is greater so if we were to shrink down the point size to match the x-height, it would be more compact.
   Fourth is Bembo, which has the same roots as Ætna and Aristi. I normally like Bembo but I think this early PostScript version from Monotype is too light for text usage. Monotype issued a new Bembo Book some years ago, but I haven’t bought (a licence for) it yet.
   The last is Times New Roman, as installed on nearly every computer in the world. Times was based loosely on Plantin and it’s here for comparison. It also has a high x-height but its designer, Stanley Morison, was clever in having many of the common letters condensed, which newspapers love—that’s why, for so long, many newspapers used it—and many still do.
   JY Aristi is not meant to replace Times—I see it used more for magazine work (one of the aims) and my colleague Stanley Moss thinks it would work for academic usage as it looks historical enough.





   Finally, here’s JY Artisti with Monotype Bembo, set to the same x-height and leading. It’s not really a fair fight: Aristi is easier to read and more compact. Put Aristi alongside Times and I am sure it would not fare as well. However, I believe the two typefaces have a similar overall effect. Posted by Jack Yan, 10:02  permalink

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