[XeTeX] Correct LaTeX-logo – how?

Adam Twardoch list.adam at twardoch.com
Mon May 8 18:59:07 CEST 2006


Taking the risk of stating the obvious, I'd like to point out that any 
geometric manipulations with letterforms such as scaling, skewing or 
mirroring are clearly inferior to properly-drawn typographic shapes.

Here is a comparison of the XeTEX "logo" with a reversed E drawn in 
simplistic broad-pen geometric letterforms:
http://www.twardoch.com/via/tmp/xetex.png

The form above shows a geometrically mirrored E from the same type while 
the form below shows a properly-drawn "reversed E". Neither simple 
mirroring nor a 180 degree rotation of the E can produce a proper 
"reversed E" -- the shape simply needs to be drawn by the type designer 
to produce a satisfactory result. Of course, in some specific typefaces, 
the reversed E produced through mirroring will not be as strikingly bad 
as shown here, but the principle remains.

The same applies to a LaTeX "logo" that uses a down-sized "A" from the 
same font. I shall remark that I find the over-complicated LaTeX "logo" 
a typographic humbug anyway, and find the idea of putting logos into 
body text ill-minded anyway, but if you desperately want to do that, at 
least consider using a size-reduced "A" that would be more 
typographically suitable. This could be the small-cap A from the same 
typeface (slightly reduced), a small-cap or the uppercase A from a 
smaller optical size of the same typeface (e.g. from Minion Pro Caption 
if your main text is in Minion Pro Text) or a small-cap or uppercase A 
from a slightly bolder style from the same family (i.e. from the Medium 
style if your main text uses Regular).

Regards,
Adam


-- 

Adam Twardoch
http://www.twardoch.com/

When J. Robert Oppenheimer said "I am become death, the destroyer 
of worlds", he was not referring to the atomic bomb. He was 
referring to the Chuck Norris halloween costume he was wearing.



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