Planet typography MyFonts
The typographic Times
Adobe

 

[February 2006]
Adobe last news
Tom Prehn, Sr. Product Manager of the Creative Pro Business Unit
Thomas Phinney, Program Manager for Fonts and Core Technologies

   

On the Adobe website, 3 clicks are requested to find the type library? What is the place of the typefaces publishing in the global strategy of Adobe ?

Fonts are important part of Adobe’s publishing technologies and an integral part of all Adobe products. There are two main objectives in the type group: 1. to foster development of the OpenType format and other type-related technologies and to showcase them in our applications, and 2. to provide a convenient and trusted retail outlet for high quality fonts.

Which part of the Adobe sales represents the sales of typefaces ?

Specific revenues for any product area are confidential. However, Adobe is a multi-faceted business that addresses enterprise workflows as well as needs of the creative professional. Fonts are integral to both.

What is the estimated market share of Adobe? Who are you main competitors and what is your marketing positioning compared to them ?

Adobe’s type business has two main branches: to provide fonts for PostScript OEMs worldwide and to provide fonts in the aftermarket. We are a major player in both arenas.

Does Adobe publish its own creation (with inhouse type designers) or the works of independant designers ?

As a top font foundry, Adobe develops a handful of high quality type families each year. Our designs are a mix of those done by Adobe staff (mainly Robert Slimbach, but occasionally others), and those commissioned from top independent designers.

Are you concerned by the piracy? How do you react ?

Piracy is a concern for all types of software, including fonts. From time to time, our regional offices conduct compliance campaigns to encourage our customers to have up-to-date licenses for their font software.

Can you introduce your new Garamond Premier Pro ?

Garamond Premier ProGaramond Premier Pro had its genesis in 1988, when Adobe senior type designer Robert Slimbach visited the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, to study their collection of Claude Garamond’s metal punches and type designs. Garamond, a French punchcutter, produced a refined array of book types in the mid-1500s which combine an unprecedented degree of balance and elegance, and stand as a pinnacle of beauty and practicality in typefounding. While fine-tuning Adobe® Garamond® (released in 1989) as a useful design suited to modern publishing, Slimbach started planning an entirely new interpretation of Garamond’s designs based on the range of unique sizes he’d seen at the Plantin-Moretus, and on comparable italics cut by Garamond’s contemporary, Robert Granjon.

By modeling Garamond Premier on these hand-cut type sizes, Slimbach has retained the optical characteristics and freshness of the original designs, while creating a practical 21st-century type family.