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Minion (typeface)
Encyclopedia
Minion is the name of a typeface
designed by Robert Slimbach
in 1990 for Adobe Systems
. The name comes from the traditional naming system for type sizes, in which minion is between nonpareil and brevier. It is inspired by late Renaissance
-era type.
A unique feature is the support of Regular and Display optical sizes in Regular and Italic fonts. Different optical sizes have different stroke contrasts and details, designed to optimize texts for specific applications. Minion Black does not have italic counterpart.
, ligatures, old style figures, and swash
glyphs. There are also fonts for dingbats (Minion Ornaments), and a Black-weighted font (Minion Black Expert). Swash fonts are included for only the 2 lightest font weights.
The family comes with 3 (later 4, which adds Medium) weights each in roman and italic, 2 widths, and 4 optical sizes. The Black weight from Minion Black Expert was not included. Each font includes the expert glyphs and dingbats that were previously found in Minion Expert package (swashes available in italic fonts only), Cyrillic Glyphs from Minion Cyrillic. In addition, the font family supports Adobe CE, Adobe Western 2, Greek, Latin Extended, Vietnamese character sets.
Minion Math comes in 4 weights and in 5 optical sizes. The current version (October 2011) contains about 2.900 glyphs per font. Minion Math had a working title, typoma MnMath. The final form is expected to include all Unicode mathematical symbols and many additional symbols.
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
designed by Robert Slimbach
Robert Slimbach
Robert Slimbach is a type designer, who has worked at Adobe Systems since 1987. He has won many awards for his digital typeface designs, including the rarely-awarded Charles Peignot Award from the Association Typographique Internationale, and repeated TDC2 awards from the Type Directors Club.-...
in 1990 for Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
. The name comes from the traditional naming system for type sizes, in which minion is between nonpareil and brevier. It is inspired by late Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
-era type.
Minion
It comes in PostScript format, and supports ISO-Adobe character set.A unique feature is the support of Regular and Display optical sizes in Regular and Italic fonts. Different optical sizes have different stroke contrasts and details, designed to optimize texts for specific applications. Minion Black does not have italic counterpart.
Minion Expert
Minion Expert is a separate font package that include fonts containing small capsSmall caps
In typography, small capitals are uppercase characters set at the same height and weight as surrounding lowercase letters or text figures...
, ligatures, old style figures, and swash
Swash (typography)
A swash is a typographical flourish on a glyph, like an exaggerated serif.Capital swash characters, which extended to the left, were historically often used to begin sentences. There were also minuscule swash characters, which came either extending to the left, to begin words, or to the right to...
glyphs. There are also fonts for dingbats (Minion Ornaments), and a Black-weighted font (Minion Black Expert). Swash fonts are included for only the 2 lightest font weights.
Minion Cyrillic
Minion Cyrillic was designed in 1992 by Robert Slimbach and was conceived as a non-Latin counterpart to Slimbach’s Minion typeface family. There were no Display-sized fonts, expert fonts, or Black-weighted fonts in this family.Minion Std Black
An OpenType version of the Minion Black font, but includes features found in Expert versions of PostScript Minion Black fonts. In addition, character set was updated to support Adobe Western 2.Minion Pro
An OpenType update of the original family, released in 2000. The font was designed based on Minion MM, but with redesigns, which include slight changes to the selection of instances, and also alteration of font metrics.The family comes with 3 (later 4, which adds Medium) weights each in roman and italic, 2 widths, and 4 optical sizes. The Black weight from Minion Black Expert was not included. Each font includes the expert glyphs and dingbats that were previously found in Minion Expert package (swashes available in italic fonts only), Cyrillic Glyphs from Minion Cyrillic. In addition, the font family supports Adobe CE, Adobe Western 2, Greek, Latin Extended, Vietnamese character sets.
| Optical sizes | Caption | Regular | Subhead | Display |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intended point sizes | 6–8.4 | 8.4–13.0 | 13.0–19.9 | 19.9–72 |
Minion Web
A TrueType version of Minion, designed for screen use. It supports ISO-Adobe character set. Version 1.00 of the font was distributed with Internet Explorer 4.0.Minion Web Pro
An updated version of Minion Web, which supports Adobe CE and Adobe Western 2 character sets.Minion Math
A variant designed by Johannes Küster from typoma GmbH, for mathematical applications.Minion Math comes in 4 weights and in 5 optical sizes. The current version (October 2011) contains about 2.900 glyphs per font. Minion Math had a working title, typoma MnMath. The final form is expected to include all Unicode mathematical symbols and many additional symbols.
Minion in other font families
The Latin Minion glyphs are also used in other Adobe font families, including Adobe Arabic (Arabic), Adobe Hebrew (Hebrew), Adobe Thai (Thai), and Adobe Song (simplified Chinese).Usage
- In 2003, Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
adopted Minion as the typeface for the University logo. - In 2008, Wake Forest UniversityWake Forest UniversityWake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
adopted Minion Pro as its primary serifSerifIn typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface . A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”...
typefaceTypefaceIn typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
as part of its project to update the university's visual identityCorporate identityIn Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
, noting that the font "… exhibits warmth and balance …". - Trinity College Dublin uses the Minion typeface in its logo.
- Robert BringhurstRobert BringhurstRobert Bringhurst is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He is the author of The Elements of Typographic Style – a reference book of typefaces, glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type...
's The Elements of Typographic StyleThe Elements of Typographic StyleThe Elements of Typographic Style is a book by Canadian typographer, poet and translator Robert Bringhurst. Originally published in 1992 by Hartley & Marks Publishers, it was revised in 1996, 2001 , 2002 , 2004 , 2005 , and 2008...
uses Minion as its body face. - Purdue University currently uses the typeface for the body text of all University Business.
- Stieg Larsson'sStieg LarssonKarl Stig-Erland Larsson , who wrote professionally as Stieg Larsson, was a Swedish journalist and writer, born in Skelleftehamn outside Skellefteå. He is best known for writing the "Millennium series" of crime novels, which were published posthumously...
Millennium TriologyMillennium TrilogyThe Millennium series is a series of bestselling novels originally written in Swedish by the late Stieg Larsson. The primary characters in the series are Lisbeth Salander, an intelligent, eccentric woman in her twenties with a photographic memory and poor social skills, and Mikael Blomkvist, an...
was set in this typeface. - ABS-CBN PublishingABS-CBN PublishingABS-CBN Publishing Inc. is a Filipino magazine publisher and a wholly owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation. It is the largest magazine distributor in the country, covering 200 cities and municipalities throughout the Philippines...
's Working Mom was set in this typeface from February 2010-present. - Wolfram Research's MathematicaMathematicaMathematica is a computational software program used in scientific, engineering, and mathematical fields and other areas of technical computing...
software logo uses the Minion Pro Italic face. - John Benjamins Publishing Company sets its journals and books in Minion.
- The trailer for Terrence MalickTerrence MalickTerrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
's The Tree of Life uses this typeface for its credits. - Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 uses this typeface.
- The Ron Paul presidential campaign, 2012Ron Paul presidential campaign, 2012U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas is running for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. Although he was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate, Paul stopped short of a full-fledged candidacy before May 2011. Prior to that, he had only indicated that he...
uses a font in the Minion family for its logo.
External links
- Minion Pro Opticals
- Minion
- Minion Cyrillic
- Minion Expert
- Minion Std Black
- Minion Regular Web
- Minion Web Pro Regular
- TUG2008 contains info on Minion Math
- MinionPro – LaTeX package