Industry: Design

Blanchard Family

A light Clarendon against the tide of bolder and bolder type

Blanchard is a light-weight Clarendon revival designed by Paul Barnes with Tim Ripper, situated in mid-nineteenth-century text typography. It runs counter to the period's prevailing trend toward heavier weights. The family is part of Commercial Type's Classics series, which revives historical typefaces for contemporary use.

Set in Blanchard

Insights

Blanchard represents a minority strand of nineteenth-century type design: light-weight Clarendons made for text rather than display.
Light Clarendons of this kind are identified in the source as precursors to the typewriter faces developed later in the century.
The project sits within Commercial Classics, a structured revival programme, rather than being a standalone release.