Image Club
William S. Hammack
advertise 14 pages or so of fonts - at reasonable prices $15 to $75. Has
anyone used their fonts? Any comments?
Illustratr
<wh...@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
Image Club (to the best of my knowledge) doesn't create any of the fonts
they sell. The fonts are acquired from other foundries. They do offer
low pricing; partly because they have a HUGE mailing list. (I beleive
they're part of Adobe). The fonts are quality (okay, I'm biased: my
typefaces "Faces" and "Scat" are supposed to be in next month's catalog).
Best wishes, Laurie McCanna
Jon Pastor
|> "William S. Hammack" <wh...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote in article <8ivF9GW00...@andrew.cmu.edu> :
|> > Today I received in the mail a catalog from Image Club. They
|> >advertise 14 pages or so of fonts - at reasonable prices $15 to $75. Has
|> >anyone used their fonts? Any comments?
|>
Could someone post a phone number, so we other Fontoholics can get a fix?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon A. Pastor pas...@vfl.paramax.com
Aaron Priven
>advertise 14 pages or so of fonts - at reasonable prices $15 to $75. Has
>anyone used their fonts? Any comments?
I am wondering about this too.
I get the impression the fonts are from Letraset, who now owns
ITC. (As I recall.) I would like to be able to buy ITC Stone Sans from
them instead of Adobe and take that to an Adobe-speaking service
bureau. I wonder if this is possible?
It did seem like they were very heavy on the kinds of display typefaces
that aren't usable for more than three or four words.
=Aaron=
--
Aaron Priven; Santa Clara, CA, USA. aar...@netcom.com, aa...@rail2000.org.
"ILLUSTRATIONS -- The scenes that illustrate this book are all about us.
For illustrations, please look closely at real cities. While you are
looking, you might as well also listen, linger, and think about what
you see." -- Jane Jacobs, _The Death and Life of Great American Cities_
Cynical
Bzzzzzt. You're wrong on the first count. ICG indeed produces their own
fonts with a large amount of kerning pairs. Text faces such as Fajita (getting
to be very trendy), Newtron, Republik, Decotura, Architectura and many others
are produced by them.
Just to set the record straight. About a half-year ago, ICG was purchased
by Aldus who in turn was gobbled by Adobe, so, in effect, they are a division
of Adobe. It remains to be seen whether they will carry the Adobe type
library or vice-versa.
ICG is also a font distributor. Although, they currently don't carry Adobe's,
I've seen VGC and ITC fonts in their catalog.
Go out and buy their Type & Art CD. I got mine for about $70 which includes
about $250 worth of quality fonts that you get to choose. Also, any further
purchases nets you discounts with the coupons that came with the CD.
(BTW, I already got ATM 3.01 which came with the standard 35+bonuse+TektonMM
fonts so I'll wait until I can get TOC 4.0 as a PM5 package - e-mail me
if you're curious about the details).
Victor
--
vic...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca STATION z e b r a
victo...@lambada.oit.unc.edu g r a f k DESIGN
http://gpu2.srv.ualberta.ca/~vichan/cyn.html
Disclaimer: This is a spam-free posting.
Dori Nanry
___
X KWQ/2 1.2e NR X PCDOS 6.3 & OS/2: Still keeping you Microsoft free in '94
Aaron Priven
Phone 403 262 8008
Fax 408 261 7013
Orders 800 661 9410
Catalog Requests 800 387 9193
And guess what: imag...@aol.com
Grant D. Hutchinson
(Illustratr) wrote:
> Image Club (to the best of my knowledge) doesn't create any of the fonts
> they sell. The fonts are acquired from other foundries. They do offer
> low pricing; partly because they have a HUGE mailing list. (I beleive
> they're part of Adobe). The fonts are quality (okay, I'm biased: my
> typefaces "Faces" and "Scat" are supposed to be in next month's catalog).
> Best wishes, Laurie McCanna
Hello Laurie,
I would like to correct a couple of things regarding us Image Clubbies up
here in Canada. We actually *do* create most of the fonts we sell. Some of
those font designs are licensed from VGC, ITC, Letraset and others, but we
digitize most of them in house and pay royalties back to the foundries.
You are right in stating that some fonts are acquired from other
foundries, NIMX being the one where your fonts are coming from, and URW
supplies us with some ITC and Letraset releases.
As a note to you, your faces should be appearing in either our February or
March catalogs. Calvin still needs to get the source files up to me. And
yes, we are indeed a part of Adobe now.
Cheers,
Grant Hutchinson
Creative Director
Image Club Graphics
KTinkel
>> I get the impression the fonts are from Letraset, who
>> now owns ITC. (As I recall.) I would like to be able to
>> buy ITC Stone Sans from them instead of Adobe and take
>> that to an Adobe-speaking service bureau. I wonder if
>> this is possible?
In a word, no. You're confusing the license-owner - ITC (which is indeed
owned by Letraset [which is itself owned by Esselte], and has been for
years) with the font manufacturer or foundry.
Adobe's Stone fonts are also not identical to Image Club's; if some of the
printer font *names* happen to be the same (which can happen through
accident) you could get a real mess if you tried to compose pages in the
Image Club fonts and then sent the job to an imagesetter with the Adobe
fonts at the RIP.
To add to the confusion, the Stone fonts sold by Agfa, Linotype, Monotype,
and Prepress Solutions (ex-Varityper) are identical to the Adobe fonts.
Letraset hasn't done the Stone fonts - these appear to be home-grown Image
Club products.
One personal comment about Image Club fonts: I've bought half a dozen
packages over the years, and think they are poorly made in general.
In particular, i
ts ITC Modern was the *only* Type 1 font I've ever purchased that was
completely unusable. It didn't replicate the design faithfully, for
starters. Stem weights were unequal, the angle of inclination of the
heavy italic was off, some of the curves were visibly flattened at 60
point, and there were other defects as well. I needed 7 characters, but
had to buy the family from another vendor in order to get them (making the
total cost of those 7 characters some $300+ as these were the days when
you had to buy full sets).
The people there are really nice and helpful and the service is fabulous
(I understand why Aldus bought them for the mail order business). But
unless their type-rendering practices and processes have changed
dramatically in the past couple of years, I wouldn't expect to get
professional-quality fonts from Image Club.
Kathleen
Bob Long
KłIn article <aaronrpD...@netcom.com>, aar...@netcom.com (Aaron
KłPriven) writes:
Kł
Kł>> I get the impression the fonts are from Letraset, who
Kł>> now owns ITC. (As I recall.) I would like to be able to
Kł>> buy ITC Stone Sans from them instead of Adobe and take
Kł>> that to an Adobe-speaking service bureau. I wonder if
Kł>> this is possible?
Kł
[much deleted, all talking of Image Club]
KłThe people there are really nice and helpful and the service is
Kłfabulous (I understand why Aldus bought them for the mail order
I agree that the people are (mostly) "really nice" but disagree about
the "fabulous" service. In my admittedly minority opinion it is
terrible. They seem utterly disorganized and even unwilling to comply
with U.S. rules while doing business in the U.S.
wdvorak
are not up to the same standards as the more expensive Adobe, Monotype or Bitstream
fonts. Occasionally there will be a glitch to remind you that the font
was a bargain. But for all but the most demanding work, the fonts will
be fine. Phone sales people have been GREAT and service is excellent.
Their catalog also has very useful application notes and a large collection
of clipart and photo images.
I would not expect to buy a font such as Stone from Image club and be able to take it to
a printer without finding problems. Since Image Club generates their own
version of the font, spacing and kerning as well as letter size most
likely will not be the same as the equivalent Adobe font.
Last time I ordered from Image Club I asked whether they would eventually
offer the Adobe type library (since they were purchased by Aldus which
was purchased by Adobe). This is apparently not planned for any time in
the near future
Jon Pastor
|> I would like to correct a couple of things regarding us Image Clubbies up
|> Cheers,
|>
|> Grant Hutchinson
|> Creative Director
|> Image Club Graphics
Since nobody else mentioned this, I would like to call everyone's attention to
a couple of lines from the header of this message, particularly the last:
Grant D. Hutchinson
In article <3ctkrb$k...@newsbf01.news.aol.com>, kti...@aol.com (KTinkel) wrote:
> But unless their type-rendering practices and processes have changed
> dramatically in the past couple of years, I wouldn't expect to get
> professional-quality fonts from Image Club.
Our type rendering practices *have* changed since the first massive font
digitizing project back in 1989. The fonts that you mentioned, ITC Modern
and the ITC Stone families, were part of that original project. Any font
the we have released since 1991 has been up to the high standards that our
users expect, with full character sets, improved metrics, larger kerning
tables and so forth.
We are gradually going back through the library and improving the older
typefaces (btw, most type foundries do this on a regular basis) by either
redigitizing to current standards, or replacing them with higher quality
existing outlines from providers like URW.
In article <9412190...@njia.com>, bob....@njia.com (Bob Long) wrote:
> They seem utterly disorganized and even unwilling to comply
> with U.S. rules while doing business in the U.S.
Bob, I am curious (and I am sure our customer service and operations
people would be as well) as to the particulars of this statement. If there
is anything that can be improved upon in the way of service, relations or
business practices, let us know. Disorganized? Possibly at times, aren't
we all. Unwilling? I would hope not. Forward some specifics and let's see
if the issues can be addressed.
In article <1994Dec19....@VFL.Paramax.COM>, pas...@vfl.paramax.com
(Jon Pastor) wrote:
> Since nobody else mentioned this, I would like to call everyone's attention to
> a couple of lines from the header of this message, particularly the last:
>
> Sender: use...@adobe.com (USENET NEWS)
> Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> ==============||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This shouldn't be too much of a surprise. After all, Image Club was
purchased by Aldus, which in turn was assimilated by Adobe. We are indeed
a wholly owned subsidiary of Adobe Systems, Inc., operating in Canada.
Aaron Priven
>Our type rendering practices *have* changed since the first massive font
>digitizing project back in 1989. The fonts that you mentioned, ITC Modern
>and the ITC Stone families, were part of that original project. Any font
>the we have released since 1991 has been up to the high standards that our
>users expect, with full character sets, improved metrics, larger kerning
>tables and so forth.
But it sounds like what you're saying is that if I'm planning on using
a service bureau, I should get ITC Stone Sans from Adobe instead of
from you. Too bad -- Stone is $96 off the Monotype CD, and only $75
from you. Plus it was my main reason for considering your CD, which I
probably won't buy now.
Oh well. If I need "New Geneva Nine" I know where to go.
Jon Pastor
|> In article <1994Dec19....@VFL.Paramax.COM>, pas...@vfl.paramax.com
|> (Jon Pastor) wrote:
|>
|> > Since nobody else mentioned this, I would like to call everyone's attention to
|> > a couple of lines from the header of this message, particularly the last:
|> >
|> > Sender: use...@adobe.com (USENET NEWS)
|> > Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
|> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|> > ==============||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|>
|> This shouldn't be too much of a surprise. After all, Image Club was
|> purchased by Aldus, which in turn was assimilated by Adobe. We are indeed
|> a wholly owned subsidiary of Adobe Systems, Inc., operating in Canada.
Not a surprise, but someone had put a "(?)" after a statement suggesting an
affiliation with Adobe in a previous post.
Bob Long
GDłRebuttal time!
[omissions]
GDłIn article <9412190...@njia.com>, bob....@njia.com (Bob Long)
GDłwrote:
GDł> They seem utterly disorganized and even unwilling to comply
GDł> with U.S. rules while doing business in the U.S.
GDł
GDłBob, I am curious (and I am sure our customer service and operations
GDłpeople would be as well) as to the particulars of this statement. If
GDłthere is anything that can be improved upon in the way of service,
GDłrelations or business practices, let us know. Disorganized? Possibly
GDłat times, aren't we all. Unwilling? I would hope not. Forward some
GDłspecifics and let's see if the issues can be addressed.
Earlier this month I had a very long call from someone who represented
himself as an Image Club executive and was calling to inquire about my
complaints. I can't rehash nine months of hassles here, as I did on
that phonecall, but one of my ongoing complaints is that, the last time
I checked, the Federal Trade Commission (whose rules have the force of
law in this country) required that when a back-order condition exists
the vendor must make monthly reports to the customer to 1) remind the
customer of the outstanding order, 2) offer an estimated delivery date,
and 3) give the customer an opportunity to cancel the order if that
information is unsatisfactory. During the eight months from the time I
ordered the PC Art & Type Vendor (February, promised for March delivery)
until I actully received it (in October), not one notice came from Image
Club. Even the sleaziest of mail order vendors I've dealt with
otherwise has honored this requirement--with one exception: Adobe!
In view of multiple postings I've seen, in various fora (okay,
Philistines, forums), praising Image Club's service, I can't believe
that Image Club is as dishonest as it appeared to be in my case. That's
why I conclude that the problem must be disorganization instead. And
the more I think of it (though it is now settled, it rankles still), the
more I imagine that it's a question of a well-oiled system that does an
excellent job of dealing with all normal contingencies but chokes on
abnormal ones. From the system's point of view, my order may have been
abnormal in the following ways: I ordered a product that, as it turned
out, would not be delivered until seven months after the announced
delivery date (but so did a lot of others); I didn't realize until after
the order had been placed that I qualified for the free update, so the
order that already had been entered had to be altered; I made the
mistake of asking what I should do with the unopened and obsolete Mac
A&TV I had bought earlier, and the sales representative made the worse
mistake of saying I should return it and, perhaps worse still, agreeing
that I could return it to Wisconsin instead of Alberta. It was all
downhill from there, with ever more convoluted circles of confusion.
But part of the problem probably is, as I told the fellow who called, an
incompatibility of mindset between IC and me. All those complicated
special "deals" drive me crazy. I like to know what is being offered
and at what price; studying all the fine print so often turns out to be
a waste of time that I resent any company that expects me to do so.
Furthermore, I consider IC's advertising to be somewhat misleading. The
first couple of catalogs, I actually believed that all those people
shown above samples of work done with IC materials were the ones who had
done the work and for real clients. Then I looked more closely. I've
felt cheated ever since. And the outrageous kerning of the fonts in the
general catalog makes some of them unrecognizable. Only an ad agency
would squash the characters together so promiscuously. The fonts look
entirely different in the Typeface Catalog (but when are you going to
correct the ITC Century Book and ITC Century Book Italic?).
Well, I feel a *little* better...