TypeBank / ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

TypeBank and the ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

Enfour published TypeBank's Japanese typefaces from 1995: the first CID font package and, in 1999, the first embeddable third-party CID fonts.

At a glance

Enfour was the publisher of TypeBank’s Japanese typefaces for the Macintosh. The TypeBank Professional Font Series of July 1995 was the world’s first CID font package, and ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION TypeBank 01 of February 1999 was a third-party world first: CID fonts that can be embedded in PDF. The collection grew to the full 23-typeface TypeBank family, with glyph switching, kerning, and the Adobe-Japan1-2 character set, and Enfour sold it until March 2003, when TypeBank continued it in OpenType.

Key facts

Designer	TypeBank Co., Ltd.
World firsts	First CID font package (1995); first embeddable third-party CID fonts (1999)
Family	23 TypeBank typefaces (Mincho, Gothic, Maru Gothic, Yokobuto Mincho, Calligra Gothic, and more)
Latin design	Akira Kobayashi
Formats	ATM sfntCID; PostScript OCF and CID
Enfour sales ended	March 2003

Part of

Typography

Every Enfour product line in one place: gaiji fonts, edit kits, TypeBank, kana, Comic-Font, screen fonts, FONT1000, and the support archive.

Editorial note: the following romanisations are best readings from the Japanese originals and are awaiting confirmation: 行成 read as Kozei (could be Yukinari); 林隆男 read as Takao Hayashi; Calligra / Caligra Gothic spelling.

Historical product information from Enfour’s original Japanese font site, translated into English. Prices, addresses, and ordering details from the period are omitted.

In this product line

TypeBank and the ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION: products and resources

TypeBank / ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION TypeBank 01

ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION TypeBank 01 (Feb 1999) packaged 16 TypeBank Mincho, Gothic, and Maru Gothic typefaces as PDF-embeddable CID fonts.

TypeBank / ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION TypeBank 02

TypeBank 02 (May 1999) added seven new typefaces, including Midashi Mincho, Classic Mincho, TV Mincho, and Gothic SL, as embeddable CID fonts.

TypeBank / ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION TypeBank 03 and 04

TypeBank 03 and 04 offered TypeBank 01 and 02 typefaces individually, so designers could license just the faces they needed.

TypeBank / ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

TypeBank Professional Font Series

The TypeBank Professional Font Series (1995–1996) was the world’s first CID font package: TypeBank and Ajioka kana fonts in Naked CID and OCF.

TypeBank / ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION

Typeface Laboratory: TypeBank's Design Concept

TypeBank’s five-part essay on Japanese type design: what a typeface is, design elements, digital fonts, the family concept, and TypeBank faces.

Details

Background

TypeBank and the ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION: etctb (original Enfour artwork)

We cared about features as much as about the typefaces themselves.

Full support for the latest CID features

ATM fonts use the latest CID font format (sfntCID). Glyph-variant switching and proportional (kerned) setting data are built into the fonts, so these features work in applications such as Illustrator and PageMaker. Conversion to outlines in Illustrator and similar applications is of course supported.

The first fully original design

A complete family

Latest formats

Peace of mind with OCF printers

PostScript printer fonts include both OCF and CID, selected automatically or manually to suit the printer. OCF also outputs glyph-switched data, so OCF printers without CID support give the same results as CID printers.

TypeBank and the ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION: kirikaeok (original Enfour artwork)

USB floppy drive support

The installer floppy works with USB floppy drives, so iMac and new Power Macintosh G3 models without a built-in floppy drive can install too. Installation is easy from CD-ROM.

TypeBank and the ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION: usbok (original Enfour artwork)

Tested USB floppy drives: Panasonic SUPER DISK LK-RM734UZ; Imation SUPER DISK SDD-120USB MAC; Yano Electric UFD-01, UFD-02, UFD-03, UFD-04.

Packages

Package	Type	Typefaces

Element codes: M = Mincho, YM = Yokobuto (horizontal-heavy) Mincho, G = Gothic, RG = Maru (rounded) Gothic, CG = Caligra Gothic, CLM = Classic Mincho Weight codes: SL = Super Light, L = Light, R = Regular, M = Medium, DB = Demi Bold, B = Bold, DE = Demi Extra Bold, E = Extra Bold, H = Heavy, U = Ultra

PDF embedding

TypeBank and the ENFOUR TYPE COLLECTION: pdfok (original Enfour artwork)

System requirements

Sales will end for these four products:

Enfour will continue to support current users of the Enfour Type Collection. If you bought the Enfour Type Collection and have not received details of the preferential offer, please contact Enfour.

February 18, 2003 — Enfour, Inc.