YOFonts Classiq
Just after designing
Practica, I began to draw another typeface in 1992 that was tentatively called
Garamond Sans. As the name shows, this sans serif face has references to the various versions of
Garamond including
ATF, Monotype, Simoncini, Stempel, Adobe and so on.
Practica is a sans serif face with a bone structure that is derived from
Apple Garamond, but one that has a different proportion than the original
Garamond. I then thought it would be an interesting challenge to make another sans serif adaptation of this well-known Old Roman style mid 16th century typeface.
Modern versions of the typeface
Garamond are essentially based on the original cuts by
Claude Garamond, however, some of the modern revivals, that I used as references, are based on re-cuts by
Jean Jannon. Their italics are based on a design by
Robert Granjon. The structure of the typeface that I have drawn is a mixture of these, therefore, in 2002, I changed the name of my
Garamond Sans to
Classiq.
Initially, my
Garamond Sans only had a regular weight. The drawings were on paper; some of them were digitized, some were not. They just looked like sketches that were never completed and forgotten for a while. Later in 2002, I decided to expand the original weight to include 6 variations, and then changed the name of this typeface to
Classiq. I discarded the old drawings on paper, and began to draw my new character variations on computer. I still could not pick the right ones from these additional variations, so just before the completion of
Classiq, I constructed another family,
Classiq Choix, with some alternative characters that included tabular numerals.
Choix has a little more modern feeling than does the regular set of
Classiq.
After the completion of
Classiq I decided to make another alternative family with tails:
Classiq Queue. I still had an idea for italic characters with tails that referred to
Garamond Italic, but I almost abandoned this. At first, it only served as an italic accompaniment to the regular upright
Classiq. Later I added shorter tails to the upright characters; then rebuilt the
Queue family. The
Queue italic looks closer to the
Garamond Italic, but as a result, the
Queue upright looks as if it has come far from its original reference.
Classiq is designed by Yamaoka Yasuhiro 1992-2013.
Download free font (OpenType)
Classiq, Classiq Choix, Classiq Queue, | A3 specimen poster (
Classiq, Classiq Choix, Classiq Queue)
