I am a bit of a font nerd.
Okay, there it is. Right there in Libra Baskerville. Admitting it is Step One, isn’t it?
What’s more, I know I am not alone. Many books make a point of mentioning what the font has been used, and I admit delight in finding out.
So I was all eagerness to discover what font the designer had planned for my book. Imagine my joy to find several fonts used, which did not produce what one might suspect being a font fondue mess but rather a bouquet of parts that added up to a beautiful sum.
Allow me to elucidate, using the description I was happy to see could be added to the first page of the finished product:
The body of Boom & Bust was set in Capital Serif and Capital Gothic, the superfamily designed by Emil Bertell, Erik Bertell, and Teo Tuominen, and published by Fenotype in 2018.
I got goosebumps reading that my book’s font is part of a “superfamily”. I don’t know exactly what that means but it sounds so impressive.
When I investigated the Capital font superfamily further I found that:
Capital is a multifunctional super family with modernist roots. It is comprised of two distinct subfamilies: Gothic and Serif. Both share the same structure and proportions and come in seven weights – thin, light, regular, bold, extra bold and black, along with corresponding italics.
The third person treatment of the women’s stories in in Capital serif, while the first person daughters’ voices is sans serif. The section headings for the daughters are in italics. This distinguishes the different sections, while maintaining a cohesive whole. Lovely.
The font identification in the book goes further. Wait, wait! Let me go refresh my tea before I read further. I want to savour it!
Right, I am ready now:
Titles are set in styles of Dallas Print Shop, designed by Emil Bertell and Teo Tuominen, and published by Fenotype in 2018;
AND
Trade Gothic LT, based on designs by Jackson Burke in 1948, and published by Linotype in 2000.
Of all the font variations used for all the book’s various titles and headings, my absolute favourite is the Dallas Print Shop Serif Inline version, which is prominent on the cover for the two key words of the title. An inspired choice.
Jennifer L Butler 