Avant Garde Gothic Alternates Are Back
ITC Avant Garde Gothic’s alts are a trademark of ’60s and ’70s design, but have seen a huge resurÂgence of late. Maligned by some, sought by many, Herb Lubalin’s logo-turned-typeface has become a go-​to font for hipsters and fashion mags the world over. Thanks to our partner, Elsner+Flake, The Avant Garde ligs and alts are now back in digital form. Now you too can combine ‘P’ and ‘R’ in a most unnatural way. Yum.
Here are some more examples of designers who have fallen victim to the charms of the Avant Garde alterÂnates and ligatures:
Release announcement in our February Newsletter »
The rest of the Avant Garde Gothic family »
Jürgen Siebert (of FontShop Germany) on Avant Garde »
Alex White on Avant Garde »
UPDATE
By using the new ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro and its built-​in OpenType ligatures and alterÂnates you have a far easier access to all the specific possiÂbilÂities than using a separate font.
But this new release comes with a caveat: The italics in this version are simply-​slanted obliques, so if proper italics are more important than access to alts and ligs, the savvy shopper should still choose the E+F version.
ShareThis10 Comments:
Are the metrics from these alternate ligatures compatable with ITC’s Avant Garde? Or do have to buy E+F versions to be consistant?
Mike - This Alternate family was designed to be used with the Scangraphic SH version of ITC Avant Garde Gothic, so that’s the only version I can confiÂdently recommend without tweaking.
Thank you so much for the rapid response. I’m glad I asked the question because there is so much disparity amongst foundrys. Take garamond for instance. Everyone make this typeface yet there are all incomÂpatable with each other.
I’m not rich. So I have to choose the best iteraÂtions from the best foundries otherwise I’ll be stuck with collection of bad type that I can’t use.
While I’m here, I need to say that I find it odd that the most excepÂtional aspect of the Avant Garde family are the AlterÂnates. Why is it that ITC has neglected this typographic gem? It’s not even on their own website!
As cited in your graphic examples, the AlterÂnates have a relevance and an edge that other face cannot approach.
Mike
I’m looking for a font similar to Avant Garde Gothic, that has a weight between extra light and book. Any ideas?
Here are a few ideas, Kate. The Light weights of Futura, Proxima Nova, Avenir, and Futura Maxi.
Now I have a question regarding these. The images uptop in your post, what is the font used along with the alterÂnates? I viewed the complete set of the alterÂnates and the letters don’t look like that. I’m specifÂiÂcally asking about the Dominant and Edge Dark images.
Hi Kay. Some of these ligature samples were custom made by the graphic designer, not all come directly from the font.
What is the closest font one can find to Avant that is free?
Century Gothic, but don’t come crying afterÂwards that it doesn’t look that good. ;)
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I’m lovin’ all these new Avant Garde alterÂnates. But don’t you think that it is odd setting a book about Kubrick’s archives with it? I mean, didn’t he have a profound obsession with Futura? Yes, I know that the two are similar, and I know that Avant Garde just oozes 70s hipness, but still… I would have spec’d Futura here. Or?