Typetanic Fonts

Typetanic Fonts’ Conglomerate typeface family is a subtle yet unorthodox blend of sans and serif that’s sturdy but never stiff, crisp but never stark. To celebrate this new font’s release, I’ve created a Conglomerate cocktail — a mix of classic elements that’s a bit like a blend between a Martini and a Manhattan, but with a character all its own:

The Conglomerate

60ml (2.0oz) Barrel-Aged Gin

15ml (0.5oz) Cocchi Americano Aperitif

7.5ml (0.25oz) Dry Oloroso Sherry

7.5ml (0.25oz) Maraschino Liqueur

2 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Stir over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired. I like Ransom Spirits’ Old Tom Gin, though if it’s unavailable in your area, many regional craft distillers offer barrel-aged gins. Dutch oude genevers such as Bols or Boomsma work quite well, too.

Vintage Objects, New Fonts

Specimens of Typetanic’s new Conglomerate font family recreating vintage packages and labels. Conglomerate’s unique blend of sans and serif forms is sturdy but never stiff, crisp but never stark — and works beautifully in many different contexts.

CONGLOMERATE: A New Type Family from Typetanic

Sans or serif? Square or rounded? Calligraphic or geometric? Conglomerate is both all and none of these things — a subtle yet unorthodox blend of typographic traits resulting in a clean, unique, and versatile font family with large, open counters for legibility in text yet crisp, sharp details that sparkle at display sizes. Conglomerate is sturdy but never stiff, crisp but never stark — perfect for projects that require a more contemporary feel than either a traditional serif or geometric sans might bring.

Each style also contains an extensive set of OpenType features for quality typesetting — including small caps, proportional, tabular, lining, and oldstyle numerals, case-sensitive punctuation, ligatures, arbitrary fractions, localized forms, and elevated, underlined ordinal indicators for English, French, Spanish, Italian, and other languages. TTF versions have also been manually hinted for optimum screen clarity on Windows and the web.

The Gibbs typeface is inspired by wayfinding signage from the historic mid-century SS United States ocean liner. Some sign layouts similar to those found on board — typeset after the fact in Gibbs — are shown in the above graphic.

Appropriately enough, the first project using Typetanic's new Gibbs typeface is a 6x9" postcard I designed (along with Paul Stipkovich and Carl Weber) used to raise awareness of the endangered historic place, the 1952-built luxury liner SS United States.

The "Gibbs" typeface takes various cues from the unique cast aluminum signs found on board the iconic ship, and is named after her designer, maritime architect William Francis Gibbs.

The famous ship — which still holds the transatlantic speed record for ocean liners and transported the likes of John F. Kennedy, Rita Hayworth, and Duke Ellington — was retired in 1969 and for 40 years sat tied up at a dock, first in Hampton Roads, Virginia and most recently in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2011, the SS United States Conservancy purchased the ship out from under the nose of a scrapper, and is currently raising funds to maintain the ship as it secures a development deal to site the ship in her former home port of New York as a multi-use attraction and museum. The Conservancy is in a race against the clock to save the SS United States, or it could still be scrapped within a year.

How many typefaces do you know have an official cocktail? Typetanic's new release Gibbs — inspired by the historic SS United States ocean liner — comes with an exclusive cocktail recipe, the aptly named American Flagship!

45ml (1.5oz) Applejack

30ml (1.0oz) Southern Comfort

30ml (1.0oz) cranberry juice

3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters

Stir ingredients together over ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a cocktail cherry. Enjoy!

For the lucky few who can find it, I highly recommend using Laird's 7½ Year Old or 12 Year Old Apple Brandy in place of the Applejack. It's a bit richer and more flavorful, not to mention smoother, so I'd recommend bumping it up to 2oz and bumping down the cranberry juice to 0.5oz to get the most out of the cocktail.

Introducing GIBBS — a tough, sophisticated sans, named for prolific maritime architect William Francis Gibbs and inspired by his greatest design, the record-breaking mid-century luxury liner SS United States. Taking various cues from the unique cast aluminum signs found on board, the result is truly transatlantic — somewhere in between industrial American vernacular lettering and the English humanist styles of Gill or Johnston. Both stylish and comfortable to read, and with an extensive list of OpenType features, Gibbs allows you to set quality type with ease at both text and display sizes.

Built in 1952, the beautiful United States was the most revolutionary ship in the world when new. After a flawless 17-year career, she now sits unused and is in danger of scrapping. Her current owner, the non-profit SS United States Conservancy, wishes to restore the ship as a vibrant waterfront development and museum for future generations to enjoy for decades to come.