Multiple master fonts
Encyclopedia
Multiple master fonts are an extension to Adobe Systems
' Type 1 PostScript
font
s, now mostly superseded by the advent of OpenType
. Multiple master fonts contain two or more "masters" — that is, original font styles — and enable a user to interpolate between these masters along a continuous range of "axes." With proper application support, these axes can be adjusted on demand. From one MM font, it is conceivable to create a wide gamut of typeface styles of different widths, weights and proportions, without losing the integrity or readability of the character glyph
s.
For example, the Myriad
multiple master font had two axes: "weight" and "width." This font would include four separate "master designs" of each character: light compressed, light extended, bold compressed, and bold extended. Any weight or width font in between these endpoints can be produced by interpolating between the character outlines of these master designs. The addition of italics requires another four master designs.
Another example is Adobe Jenson
, which supports "weight" and "optical size" axes. This font uses three masters to represent the optical-size axis, designed for 6, 12, and 72 point type, respectively. This allows the common size of 12 points to be optimized, but requires 6 master designs for roman, and another 6 for italic.
and FontForge
can edit MM fonts, and can export into other font formats as needed. Adobe Type Manager
(ATM) is required for MM support on Windows and the "Classic" Mac OS (9 and below).
support for multiple master fonts is offered by the program mminstance, which generates standard PostScript fonts from multiple master fonts. These can then be used in any application that is compatible with standard PostScript type 1 fonts.
, which provides more support for different languages and glyphs, but does not offer the unique continuous controls for character shape. Typically the OpenType versions of old multiple master fonts include a selection of the most commonly used combinations of axis positions.
Multiple master fonts still serve two purposes:
standard or "Pro" formats.
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
' Type 1 PostScript
PostScript
PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...
font
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....
s, now mostly superseded by the advent of OpenType
OpenType
OpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. It was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior...
. Multiple master fonts contain two or more "masters" — that is, original font styles — and enable a user to interpolate between these masters along a continuous range of "axes." With proper application support, these axes can be adjusted on demand. From one MM font, it is conceivable to create a wide gamut of typeface styles of different widths, weights and proportions, without losing the integrity or readability of the character glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
s.
Aspects of multiple master fonts
Where available, most MM fonts support one or two (and occasionally three) of the following variables:- Weight allows the character weight to be modified, typically from light, through regular, to extra bold.
- Width allows the character width to be extended or compressed. Although any font can be compressed or expanded by software, the results from a multiple master font are superior. When a font is artificially expanded, all the features are expanded, including the line weight. This means that vertical strokes will be proportionally thicker than the horizontal strokes, giving an uneven appearance. Multiple master fonts with a width axis are designed to scale appropriately.
- Optical size allows the character shape to be modified based on how large it will appear to the reader. At small sizes, small details such as serifs and thin lines such as stems are typically bolder. The "x-height" (the height of a lower case "x") is also a larger proportion of the total font height, and the characters may be extended slightly. These changes are designed to make small type easier to read. At larger sizes, these details can be finer and the lines more delicate. Note that the optical size is independent from the actual size of the type. It is up to the user to pick the appropriate optical size for the application and viewing environment (for example, a billboard would want to use small optical size even for extremely large text).
- Style, the least used of the multiple master axes, allows any other font property to be continuously modified. One such example is changing the serif style from wedge (triangular) to slab (rectangular).
For example, the Myriad
Myriad (typeface)
Myriad is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly for Adobe Systems. The typeface is best known for its usage by Apple Inc., replacing Apple Garamond as Apple's corporate font since 2002. Myriad is easily distinguished from other sans-serif fonts due to its...
multiple master font had two axes: "weight" and "width." This font would include four separate "master designs" of each character: light compressed, light extended, bold compressed, and bold extended. Any weight or width font in between these endpoints can be produced by interpolating between the character outlines of these master designs. The addition of italics requires another four master designs.
Another example is Adobe Jenson
Adobe Jenson
Adobe Jenson is an old style serif typeface drawn for Adobe Systems by type designer Robert Slimbach. Its Roman styles are based on a Venetian oldstyle text face cut by Nicolas Jenson in 1470, and its italics are based on those by Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi...
, which supports "weight" and "optical size" axes. This font uses three masters to represent the optical-size axis, designed for 6, 12, and 72 point type, respectively. This allows the common size of 12 points to be optimized, but requires 6 master designs for roman, and another 6 for italic.
Application support
Current application support for these fonts is sparse, if not entirely absent. However, font design tools such as FontLabFontLab
FontLab is both the name of a company, FontLab Ltd, and the former name of their flagship font editor product, now called FontLab Studio. Since the early 2000s, FontLab Studio has been the dominant software tool for commercial/retail digital font development. This is partly because the...
and FontForge
FontForge
FontForge is a typeface editor program developed by George Williams. FontForge is free software and is distributed under the BSD license. FontForge is available for several operating systems and is localized in several languages.- Features :Fontforge supports many font formats, including...
can edit MM fonts, and can export into other font formats as needed. Adobe Type Manager
Adobe Type Manager
Adobe Type Manager is the name of a family of computer programs created and marketed by Adobe Systems for use with their Type 1 fonts. The current version is Adobe ATM Light 4.1.2, available from Adobe's FTP .-Apple Macintosh:...
(ATM) is required for MM support on Windows and the "Classic" Mac OS (9 and below).
Free software
Free-softwareFree software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
support for multiple master fonts is offered by the program mminstance, which generates standard PostScript fonts from multiple master fonts. These can then be used in any application that is compatible with standard PostScript type 1 fonts.
Legacy of multiple master fonts
The multiple master font format has mostly been superseded by OpenTypeOpenType
OpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. It was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior...
, which provides more support for different languages and glyphs, but does not offer the unique continuous controls for character shape. Typically the OpenType versions of old multiple master fonts include a selection of the most commonly used combinations of axis positions.
Multiple master fonts still serve two purposes:
- As the fallback fontFallback fontA fallback font is a reserve typeface containing symbols for as many Unicode characters as possible. When a display system encounters a character which is not part of the repertoire of any of the other available fonts, a symbol from a fallback font is used instead...
format of Adobe AcrobatAdobe AcrobatAdobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
, multiple master fonts are used as a substitute in place of original fonts in the case of missing fonts. Two such substitution fonts are buried amongst the data resources for Acrobat: Adobe Serif MM and Adobe Sans MM. CourierStdCourier (typeface)Courier is a monospaced slab serif typeface designed to resemble the output from a strike-on typewriter. The typeface was designed by Howard "Bud" Kettler in 1955...
is another fallback font family in Acrobat. - As a design tool for creating families of fonts; a font designer can create a multiple master font from a base font design and then offer customers a wide number of font variations by building them from the multiple axes of an MM font. E.g. by creating a light version and a heavy version of their font design someone could create a multiple master font with a weight axis and then offer clients any custom weight they wanted. Adobe and others continue to use multiple master technology in font design.
Commercial
All known commercial MM fonts were released by Adobe, unless specified. While these faces are discontinued, all have since been upgraded to OpenTypeOpenType
OpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. It was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior...
standard or "Pro" formats.
- ITC Avant Garde MM
- Bickham Script MM
- Briem Akademi MM
- Briem Script MM
- Caflisch Script MM
- Chaparral MM
- Conga Brava MM
- Cronos MM
- Ex Ponto MM
- ITC GaramondGaramondGaramond is the name given to a group of old-style serif typefaces named after the punch-cutter Claude Garamond . Most of the Garamond faces are more closely related to the work of a later punch-cutter, Jean Jannon...
MM
- Graphite MM
- Adobe JensonAdobe JensonAdobe Jenson is an old style serif typeface drawn for Adobe Systems by type designer Robert Slimbach. Its Roman styles are based on a Venetian oldstyle text face cut by Nicolas Jenson in 1470, and its italics are based on those by Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi...
MM - Jimbo MM
- Kepler MM
- Kinesis MM
- Mezz MM
- MinionMinion (typeface)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...
MM - ITC Motter Corpus MM
- MyriadMyriad (typeface)Myriad is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly for Adobe Systems. The typeface is best known for its usage by Apple Inc., replacing Apple Garamond as Apple's corporate font since 2002. Myriad is easily distinguished from other sans-serif fonts due to its...
MM - Nueva MM
- Ocean Sans MM
- Penumbra MM
- Reliq MM
- Sanvito MM
- Adobe Serif MM
- Adobe Sans MM
- Tekton MM
- Verve MM
- Viva MM
- Waters Titling MM
Free
- So MM (Apostrophic Labs)
- Booter MM (Apostrophic Labs)
- Impossible MM (Apostrophic Labs)
- Path 101 (Graham Meade)
- Snott MM (Graham Meade)
- Staid MM (Graham Meade)
- (Ray Buetens)
Further reading
- Adobe Developer Resources – Multiple Master Fonts (archived)
- Adobe – Moving from Multiple Master to OpenType
- Myriad Specimen Book, Adobe Systems Incorporated, 1992.
- Adobe Jenson Specimen Book, Adobe Systems Incorporated, 1996.