Berkeley Oldstyle/Conduit

ITC Berkeley Oldstyle

The University of California Old Style, the basis for ITC Berkeley Oldstyle, was one of Frederic Goudy’s favorite designs. In 1937, a friend asked Goudy if he would consider drawing a face for the exclusive use of the University of California Press at Berkeley. Goudy accepted the task gladly and, a little over a year later, produced the foundation for the new type family.

ITC Berkeley Oldstyle carries the flavor and dynamics of the Goudy’s original University of California Old Style without being a slavish copy. In fact, there is a little of several other Goudy designs in ITC Berkeley Oldstyle: Kennerly, Goudy Oldstyle, Deepdene, and even a hint of Booklet Oldstyle. The design is characterized by its calligraphic weight stress, smooth weight transitions, and classic x–height. These traits, in addition to the ample ascenders and descenders, provide for both high levels of character legibility and text color that is light and inviting.

ITC Conduit

Mark van Bronkhorst claims he had parking lot signs in mind when he designed ITC Conduit “It’s the kind of lettering you might find on boilers, assembly diagrams, and desiccant packets: plain, grid–based, visually incompetent, yet legible and direct.” Unlike most typefaces, where each letter is carefully rendered, ITC Conduit was constructed from a set of character parts: straight strokes and round corners.

It’s hard to imagine a typographer referring to ITC Conduit as being beautiful–or even handsome. “Quirky” doesn’t quite fit the description either; although letters like the lowercase ‘g’ and ‘s’ are clearly idiosyncratic. Somehow it’s naive shapes, and graceless proportions strike a familiar chord. Or, as Erik Spiekermann said, “The beauty in ITC Conduit is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything that it’s not. It may not be pretty, but it is versatile, legible and easy to work with – a wonderfully stupid typeface.”

Instructions for printing the card templates, as well as information on purchasing the pre–cut cardstock can be found on the Avery® Web site.

Download the Type Trading Card here (PDF)

• Allan Haley is Director of Words & Letters at Monotype Imaging. Here he is responsible for strategic planning and creative implementation of just about everything related to typeface designs. He is also responsible for editorial content for the company’s type libraries and Web sites.
• Prior to working for Monotype, Mr. Haley was Principal of Resolution, a consulting firm with expertise in fonts, font technology, type and typographic communication. He was also executive vice president of International Typeface Corporation.
• Mr. Haley is ex officio Chairman of the Board of the Society of Typographic Aficionados, and past President of the New York Type Directors Club. He is highly regarded as an educator and is a frequently requested speaker at national computer and design conferences.
• Mr. Haley is also a prolific writer, with five books on type and graphic communication and hundreds of articles for graphic design publications to his credit.