Okojo

Okojo is a new font, available via YouWorkForThem, and within the week via MyFonts and Wordshape.

We started working with YWFT very recently and the results have been more than favorable, so releasing Okojo via their distribution portal first makes more than sense.

Okojo is what happens when you take the ideas behind early geometric gothics like Futura and Kabel and put it through and American and Japanese blender, then makes a slab serif accompaniment. More fun, more contemporary, considered spacing and no hangups about capitalization.

Okojo means “ermine” or “stoat” in Japanese - a close relative of the ferret. Look at the lowercase “f” and you’ll see what we mean.

Also included: ligatures like crazy, Central and Eastern European character sets with non-default spacing, the wacky Germany-specific characters that other folks blow off, and the best-designed yen sign in BOTH places that folks look for.

Beyond that, Okojo is offered at $12 per weight- a STEEP discount compared to lesser/older faces of diminished quality. Cheap? Yes. Quality? Also, a stern “yes”. Hinted to death, kerned to death, spaced to death even if your kerning pairs drop out even though we ran it through both Bibliotype and InDesign previews with real text.

‘Nuff said: Okojo.

Long Awaited

Breechcloth and bandymount. Opportunities await those whom seek.

Josh Berger Fundraiser: A Request

Hi all,

Josh Berger got in a serious bicycle accident on May 18 and sustained traumatic brain injury. Being in the hospital for ages, therapy and all of the care involved is expensive, so Jeremy Bitterman has put together a fundraiser website to help the Berger/Brown family out here:

http://tinyurl.com/joshfundraiser

Josh was one of the first people to give me a proper job as a graphic designer. He has acted as a friend and a mentor to me for over a decade, always willing to lend a hand if I needed it, either through freelance work or to shoot the breeze over coffee. He’s the solidest of solid dudes (shit, he was even wearing a bike helmet when he crashed) and he’s done so much for me that it’s absurd. 

In the larger scheme of things, Josh has helped steer graphic design and creative culture in Portland and the greater Northwest  through both commercial work and self-initiated pursuits like his magazine Plazm. He’s constantly created opportunities for young designers, writers and artists, providing exposure where there was little before. 

If you can, sparing even a couple of bucks would help.

Thanks,

Ian Lynam

Idea #352

The latest issue of IDEA Magazine is in! 200 pages of video game goodness, retro 8-bit and 16-bit fonts, a look at 80s new wave/post-punk publishing including heavily-illustrated interviews with Kiki Picasso of Bazooka and Leonard Koren of WET Magazine, an essay by Swiss typographer Emil Ruder that’s been out of print for 20 years and some of the naughtiest video game promotional airbrush artwork ever. Hands down, an amazing issue. Available here.