Arial Narrow Different Type Font than Arial???

[Guest]

We have a client who restricts our use of fonts, specifically stating that all use "must be 10 point or larger Arial or Times New Roman font type." We frequently use Arial Narrow when developing complex graphics and tables for this client but were recently advised that Arial Narrow is 'another type of font' and unallowable per their instructions. An ongoing (and costly) discussion is taking place.

I always thought that Arial Narrow was a subset of the Font Family Arial. Have I been wrong all these years and must now confess my ignorance???  And are Font Families different than Font Types?

Please help answer this question as resetting everything (and we do not use Arial Narrow in body text for those of you freaking out) will be nightmare as we have page restrictions in this 300 page document also. My thanks in advance is somebody can explain it in a way that even an engineering group could understand. Gofigyyer [who still can't believe I couldn't answer this question after all these years ;-)].

[Guest]

Your problem is bureaucracy, and neither typography, technology, nor

design.

There is no precise, unquestioned, mathematical definition of what

constititutes a 'font family'. Fonts do have a 'family name' as one of

the many internal names, but how fonts within such a family relate to

each other varies depending on the operating system and the

application. You can do diffeent things within a family depending on

whether you're working on a Windows PC, Linux, or a Mac OS, and

depending on whether you're application is by Microsoft or Adobe or

some other vendor. Font "type" has no particular meaning at all

beyond its use in English Fonts can have weights, styles, panose id's

encodings, and a host of other ways to differentiate them.

If you had 1,000 different Arial fonts, you could consider them all

one family OR each one a completely separate family - both

artistically and technically.

- Herb

[Guest]

We are windows based and use Adobe CS3. Ohmigosh...it is clear as mud 🙂 Based on the responses, I think the answer may then lie with asking our client, in a very delicate manner so as not to have them think that WE think they're idiots, if arial narrow is included in their idea of an arial 'type' font and pray to the typography gawds that they answer to the affirmative.

Thanks for your response.

[Thomas Phinney]

In general use in typography and graphic design, "font type" would be an odd phrase, and would likely be taken as a synonym for "font format" rather than "typeface" or "font family." People outside the industry sometimes use "type font" to mean something in the general area of "typeface" or "font," but as far as I'm concerned, even "type font" is essentially an undefined term.

So, at the first approximation, the "spec" has a bit of gibberish here.

But even if we assume that something reasonable was meant, whether Arial Narrow is in the same grouping as Arial depends very much on how you've defined that grouping. Personally, I'd assume from the context that "font type" meant "typeface." I certainly agree that the four style-linked members of the Arial Narrow group are members of the same typeface as the rest of Arial, as would most graphic designers and typographers.

See also my survey on usage of font terms around family/typeface/etc: http://www.thomasphinney.com/2009/04/font-terms-survey-results/

Cheers,

T

[Guest]

Thank you for your personal opinion. It helps and your response also may help me in 'phrasing' my question to the client in such a way so neither of us appear to be idiots. Fabulous survey and comforting to know that I'm not the only one confused. Hope you're well healed and enjoying your new job.