Penumbra type family missing

[billl14480416]

I was able to access and use it a month ago. I search for it now in Adobe Fonts and nothing appears. It does not say that Penumbra was discontinued. During the interim I had switch from using a Mac to a PC. I no longer have access to the Mac files.

[J E L · Accepted solution]

Hi @billl14480416, you are right, looks like Penumbra is no longer offered through Adobe fonts. Apparently, it was associated with Adobe at some point in the past, as it's listed here for sale under Adobe fonts:

https://store.typenetwork.com/foundry/adobe/series/penumbra. 

Also, I note that the site is selling some of the same Adobe fonts that are now offered via Adobe subscription:

https://www.myfonts.com/collections/adobe-foundry.

@Molly Doane is that allowed? Are they an authorized distributor of Adobe fonts? Can you tell us if Penumbra could be offered again via subscription? Thanks!

[Bobby Henderson]

Penumbra was an Adobe Originals typeface back in the 1990's. Not only that, Adobe released a Type 1 Multiple Master version of Penumbra that had at least two variable axes. One of the axes was for weight. It had another axis to transition from serif to sans serif with flare and semi-serif settings in between.

The OpenType Variable font format has ressurrected some of Adobe's previous T1 MM fonts. It would be nice if Adobe did the same thing with Penumbra.

[J E L]

@Bobby Henderson, you are amazing with your font history! What other fonts have two variable axis with one to transition from serif to sans serif and semi-serif? I don't believe I ever used Penumbra before, but now I want it, too. It's only an uppercase font, though, right?

[Bobby Henderson]

I think I'm only "amazing" with my font history because I'm getting older and lived through a lot of that history. I can't think of any variable fonts currently available that have the ability to transition from sans serif to serif like the T1 MM version of Penumbra.

Penumbra is indeed an uppercase-only typeface. It has a pretty clean and even elegant quality to it. I think Penumbra can be a pretty good alternative to Trajan. By the early 2000's I was getting sick and tired of seeing Trajan used on so many movie titles. I'd be walking through a video rental store (remember those?) and see Trajan popping up on so many packages. I rarely saw Penumbra used. "The Da Vinci Code" comes to mind.

By the mid 2000's it seemed like the movie marketing departments started moving beyond Trajan. They shifted to over-using typefaces like Gotham.

[billl14480416]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. I ended up purchasing the one style/weight of Penumbra I needed from My Fonts. It solved the problem but it's disappointing that I could access the entire family one week and then be cut off completely from it without warning.

[J E L]

You're welcome, @billl14480416, and thanks for telling me about Penumbra. I hope it gets back to Adobe one day as it's a really nice font!