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JY&A Fonts started in 1987 when Jack Yan started a design firm with an emphasis on lettering. His passion for hand-lettering for clients soon extended into type design, with the first JY&A typefaces emerging at the end of the 1980s. These were developed into PostScript and TrueType fonts in the 1990s with the release of Yan Series 333, a development of Jack's own lettering style which is one of the more successful marriages of hand lettering and typography. It has been followed by similar fonts from other manufacturers.
JY&A Fonts are known for elegance and restraint.
Jack's popular JY Integrity font followed in 1995, combining interesting
and innovative ligatures. The font was originally intended for QuickDraw
GX. JY Ætna was a revival project
launched the same year. Both had c. 2,800 kerning pairs in
the text fonts, which cemented JY&A Fonts' reputation for designing
typefaces for the discerning user. JY Décennie
and Décennie Express, are intended
for web as well as print usage. JY Comic Pro,
designed by Antonio González de Santiago, shows that JY&A's
reputation for timelessness extends to fun and useful fonts, too.
JY Koliba, designed by Jure Stojan, continues the JY&A Fonts tradition
for the new millennium. OpenType fonts débuted in 2003.
JY&A Fonts' products are sold both online and via a global network of retailers. In Australia and New Zealand, JY&A Fonts is as much a national brand as Linotype is to Europe.
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Greg Bastin
In Greg Bastin’s own words: ‘I’ve always had a strong
interest in art, painting and drawing from a young age. Since school
I've worked as a graphic artist–designer in Melbourne, Australia.
With my painting, I've always had a strong interest in wildlife art,
which led to a greater appreciation of Australiana in general. I started
looking for an “Australian-looking”typeface to complement
the Australiana designs—thought I'd try one based on the shape
of a boomerang! The result is JY Boomerang,
which I think has a distinctly Australian flavour and feel.’
Antonio González de Santiago
A cartoonist who has worked for El Pais, Antonio González
de Santiago developed his comic book styles to complement the Spanish-language
editions of American strips. His first design for JY&A Fonts, JY
Comic Pro, exhibits a fun and free style that is also in keeping
with JY&A's aim of producing timeless and practical typefaces.
Todd Hallock
Todd was born in 1969. He has done projects including technical illustration,
advertising, storyboards for TV commercials, web design, package design,
industrial design, logos and corporate identity designs. Todd founded
Bannigan Artworks in 1998. He designed JY Arts
& Crafts.
David
Philpott
From his Lower Hutt, New Zealand base, David Philpott has worked not
only on JY Circles, his first commercial release,
but on type for a major financial multinational. He has also been pivotal
in getting JY&A Fonts' range ready for the euro in 2002 and has
already seen his work featured in Desktop.
A type whiz as well as an excellent designer, David Philpott is fast
becoming a mainstay in the antipodean type community. He is a graduate
of Massey University.
Jure Stojan
Based in Pesnica, Slovenia, Jure Stojan is the talented designer behind
JY Koliba, JY Raj
and JY Klin. Blessed with an eye for typographic
balance and harmony, his sans serif designs have given the JY&A
Fonts range a European flair.
Jack Yan
Jack Yan is arguably Australasia's best-known and most prolific typeface
designer. His expertise includes type work for multinational corporations,
fonts for campaigns and specialist software. He holds a bachelor's
degree in law and two postgraduate degrees in marketing and business.
He was a co-founder of TypeRight,
is a member of the Australian Graphic
Design Association, a regular correspondent to Visual
Arts Trends, CAP and Desktop,
and consults on branding and identity issues at JY&A
Consulting.
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