Date: 1985
Designer:
Zuzanna Licko
Foundry:
Emigré
Location:
California, USA
Current equivalent:
Emigré Lo-Res Nine
See also:
Emigré Lo-Res Collection; Emperor, Universal, Emigré and Oakland
Technologies:
Postscript
Famous for:
First grid-based design for a postscript typeface.
Applications: Onscreen and Multimedia
Ubiquity:
Average use
Category:
Sans Serif Bitmap
Stress: Vertical
Serifs: Sans Serif
Design history:
One of the earliest Émigré 'Lo-Res' styles, and now known as Lo-Res Nine, Oakland is based on a 72 pixel per inch grid. This was the same resolution as the early Apple Macintosh screen. Licko went on to design thirty six typefaces and win numerous awards. Named for a district of San Francisco, this font found immediate success with the new wave design that propelled postmodernism in America, largely as a result of Émigré's determination to provide a platform for debate in their eponymous magazine. Oakland has a two pixel stem to two pixel counter ratio and is available in four different 'sizes'; six, eight, ten and fifteen-pixel capital heights.
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