Clarendons serve as the middle point between the bold voice of an Antique and the more fragile state of a Roman serif. Nevertheless, the name and the style was swallowed up by most other type makers and spread from the UK to the US and abroad. William Caslon’s Double Pica Ionic in 1842 was the first true representation of this style, and in 1845 the name “Clarendon” was registered as a trademark by the Fann Street Foundry (the first typeface to ever fall under copyright protection!). The typeface is first and foremost a Clarendon: a slab serif with smooth brackets (this style was also referred to as “Ionic” at varying points throughout history). Thick Antique slab-serifs, Didone italics and Clarendons all make appearances, and you can see bits of their influence throughout Eames Century Modern. House’s mini-site for Eames Century modern is full of images of various Eames-related piece of typography that influenced the creation of the typeface. We’ll look at some of those as well as more “practical” uses of Eames Century Modern in this review. This is a typeface that makes you smile, and I think it says a lot about how much fun Eames is to use that there are so many projects out there that only exist to give designers an excuse to play with it. Those heavy weights, the stencil, and the special number sets are graphic and crisp, aching to be used with bright, punchy colors. This subtle imperfection across the family softens the massive slab serifs and prevents the design from feeling imposing in its boldest weights. But it’s also capable of a more restrained presence-this font can do more than playful if you ask it to.Įames is drawn with a “flex” to its strokes-the flat sides of serifs bend inward, giving the illusion that they’ve been pressed into paper. If you need something to really lean into the retro stylings of the mid 20th-century, Eames has you covered. This is a comically robust family, with 18 weights, multiple number sets and a set of borders to boot. It shares the same character of the famous couple from which it derives its name, and because of that it is a monumental task to find in-use examples of this font that aren’t either showcase specimens for the font itself, or works related to Charles and Ray Eames.ĭesigns that are this overflowing with personality risk limiting their potential use-cases, but you shouldn’t confuse Eames’ bright personality for shallowness. It’s an exuberant design, full of warmth and oddball design details. Eames Century Modern is a beautiful typeface that blends two major genres of serif: the Clarendon and the Scotch.
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