Classic Grotesque

Rod McDonald was clearly concerned. The designer of the newly released Classic Grotesque typeface family called me the other day about what he thought could be a problem. "I just went to a web site a friend told me about," he told me, "and it is using Classic Grotesque for the text copy."

"Not that this is a problem," McDonald continued, "but I also went to a bunch of other sites – and they are all using Classic Grotesque." McDonald's concern was that, somehow, unauthorized versions of his new typeface were finding their way into a wide variety of web sites.

A little sleuthing revealed that the sites were calling for a sans serif text typeface and that the desktop version of Classic Grotesque, on McDonald's computer, was providing the default font. After his initial concern was alleviated, McDonald became quite happy with his discovery. "The surprise I got when Classic Grotesque turned up as the default on my browser opened my eyes to the fact that the design is pretty darn good as a screen face," he exclaimed. "I've since discovered more sites that also default to Classic Grotesque and I am very pleased with what I'm seeing – and these are just the desktop fonts."

What McDonald meant by "just the desktop fonts," was that the Web fonts of Classic Grotesque will look even better in on-screen environments. Classic Grotesque, like all fonts available through the Fonts.com Web Fonts service, underwent special work to ensure that it was optimized for on-screen use. This means that Classic Grotesque will be as commanding a communicator on screen as it is in hardcopy. Click here to learn more about Classic Grotesque Web Fonts.

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.