Los Angeles InDesign User Group

13th Anniversary Meeting

 

The Future of Fonts in InDesign: Variable Fonts and Color Fonts

 

Thursday, September 20, 2018

7-10 p.m.

Los Angeles Valley College

5800 Fulton Ave, Van Nuys, California 91401

 

 

Be entertained and enlightened with the joys of variable fonts and color fonts in InDesign and friends. This demo night unlocks the secrets of OpenType variations, aka variable fonts and color fonts. Learn how they work, how you use them, and why they work the way they do. Bonus: some pointers on font creation and font editing.

 

You will learn:

 

Font Creation and Editing:

  • How fonts are made and modified
  • Font drawing compared to Illustrator
  • OpenType features are easy
  • Variations and color
  • Highlights of FontLab VI

 

Color Fonts:

  • What they can and can’t do
  • The four different color font formats and where they each work
  • The secret of the color fonts (cluster bleep) and its impact
  • How Adobe made the best color font bet
  • What it means that InDesign color font support is a “Tech Preview” feature
  • How color fonts work in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop today

 

Variable Fonts:

  • What they can and can't do
  • How they work in Illustrator and Photoshop today (and hope for in InDesign real soon now)
  • Origins of variable fonts (older than you think!)
  • Previewing variable fonts: Axis-Praxis, FontView, etc.
  • Standard axes: weight, width, optical size and others
  • Common other axes: optical size and animations
  • Great uses of variations
  • Weird, wacky and wonderful uses, too
  • Resources: more info, free fonts, and others

 

 

About the Presenter

 

Thomas Phinney is CEO of FontLab, the font software tools company. Their latest app, FontLab VI, supports design and editing of both color and variable fonts. Thomas previously had strategic font product management roles at Adobe and Extensis. In the 2000s, he was instrumental in driving the adoption of OpenType, both within Adobe and in the marketplace. Thomas also developed character set standards for Adobe, and is the designer of Latin/Greek/Cyrillic typefaces Hypatia Sans and Cristoforo.

 

Thomas has four patents and a medal. He also has an MS in printing/typography from the Rochester Institute of Technology—where he did his thesis on the precursor to today’s variable font technology—and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. Thomas has been on the board of ATypI since 2004.

 

 

Directions and Free Parking

 

The meeting is being held in the Fireside Room in the Campus Center Building. You can park free in the parking structure. There is only one parking structure on campus. The campus is bordered on the north by Oxnard Street. Enter the campus from the Oxnard and Ethel Street entrance. You will be going south and the parking structure is on your right. You can park free on the second, third or fourth floors of the parking structure. Do not park on the first floor. The Campus Center Building is southwest of the parking structure.

 

 

Farthest Attendee

 

The bona fide LAIDUG member who travels the farthest specifically to attend the meeting will receive her or his choice of any one deal at MightyDeals up to $50.00. You  need to prove to us that you traveled farthest to attend this meeting. Having recently moved to the area from somewhere else won't cut it. Be prepared to show us indication of your current residence—perhaps a driver's license or a utility bill. Decision of the administrators of the Los Angeles InDesign User Group is final.

 

 

Raffles

 

LAIDUG meetings are free. The group is supported by raffles of donated prizes. No one is required to participate in the raffles. Raffle tickets are: 1 for $3, 2 for $5, 5 for $10, 11 for $20, 24 for $40, 32 for $50 and 65 for $100. All major credit cards are accepted.

 

 

Special Raffle Prize

 

Dell E5400 14.1" laptop computer with Intel C2D P8400 and 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive, Windows 10. Microsoft authorized refurb sold by Fry's Electronics.

 

 

Raffle Prizes

 

 

 

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