A Kittl Remake

Carl Shank • May 17, 2023

A Kittl Remake. One of the claims of the graphical design program, Kittl, is that it saves loads of time and performs admirably well and is easy to navigate. It especially does well with Victorian art, so it claims. I took an idea from The Type Project Book by Nigel French & Hugh D'Andrade in Victorian art and sought to duplicate what I could in Kittl. The results are below. Some explanatory notes are in order.


First, I could have used Adobe Illustrator (which crafted the original piece in The Type Project Book), but I wanted to see how well and how superbly the Kittl program handled the sample piece. I also wanted to see how long it would take me to actually craft the piece in Kittl. While I appreciated the Kittl ease of use, I had to import a lot of the typefaces and elements into the Kittl program to complete the project, and even then there was not a one-to-one match. What Kittl did was allowed me to warp the type easily and quickly, but the real challenges came with the fills and shading requirements. I still was not able to exactly duplicate the Illustrator crafted piece in The Type Project Book. And, it took me a lot of time and effort to actually complete the project in Kittl.


I had to import the typefaces, P22 Victorian Swash, Gothic and Belford. They were not available in Kittl. I also had to import the flowers used in the original project, since they were not exactly available in Kittl. More than that, I had to copy and re-fill the elements used for the flowers from the vintage ornaments package from the Heritage Type Co. What Kittle did do for me is eliminate any background to the imported elements and allow me to vectorize them and then re-color them to match the red colors of the project.


The ornamental swashes were taken directly from Kittl's library, which is fairly extensive, but not exactly like the original ornamentations. All in all I believe the final product looks Victorian and images the original project in The Type Project Book. However, the ability to do in Adobe Illustrator still outshines Kittl in preciseness and adaptability. This result mirrors what I found in an earlier blog ("Digitizing the Past") – closeness but not exact duplication.


See the results below.



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Type After Gutenberg: A Historical Sketch

By Carl Shank • November 8, 2025
What Happened to Type After Gutenberg? A Brief Historical Sketch from 1460-1640 At the end of the 15th century, German printing was at the forefront of a revolutionary transformation in Europe, driven by the invention of the movable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century. This development had a profound impact on culture, education, and the dissemination of knowledge. By the end of the century, Germany had become one of the key centers of printing in Europe, particularly in cities like Mainz, Nuremberg, and Augsburg. Books printed before 1501 are referred to as incunabula. German printers produced a significant portion of the incunabula, with many focusing on religious texts such as the Bible, liturgical works, and theological treatises. Secular works, including classical texts, legal documents, and scientific works, also gained prominence towards the end of the century. German printers played a key role in developing early typefaces. One of the most popular was Blackletter (also called Gothic script or Fraktur), which dominated printed works in Germany during this period. The dense and elaborate script was particularly suited to religious and formal texts. By 1500, there were over 1,000 printers operating in various German cities, making Germany a leading hub for the printing industry. Notable printing centers included: Mainz—The birthplace of Gutenberg’s press; Nuremberg — An important center for both printing and intellectual activity; and, Augsburg—A commercial and printing hub. What is often lost in typographical history in the years closely following Gutenberg are the important printers and typographers in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, England, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Scotland, Mexico, Ireland and the United States who furthered the cause of typography and printed works. This Blog serves as a historical sketch of a number of these important people.

Theology of Type (3): The Twentieth Century (Part 2)

By Carl Shank • November 1, 2025
SWISS TYPE BEAUTY DESIGNERS LIKE JAN TSCHICHOLD were foundational to many of the Swiss design principles. This style evolved from Constructivist, De Stijl and Bauhaus design principles, particularly the ideas of grid systems, sans-serif type and minimalism. Emerging in Switzerland during the 1940s and 1950s, this typography, also known as the International Typographic Style, directly responded to the type chaos of Dada and the stylization of Art Deco. The Swiss style emphasized readability, visual harmony and universality. Clarity, objectivity and functionality were key components. Contributors included Max Miedinger, creator of the Helvetica typeface and Adrian Frutiger, creator of the Univers typeface, both in 1957. The Journey of Helvetica We all use Helvetica. In fact, some say it has been overused through modern years. Helvetica derives its powerful simplicity and display qualities from the 1896 typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk. “The design originates from Royal Grotesk light by Ferdinand Theinhardt who also supplied the regular, medium and bold weights. Throughout the years, Berthold has expanded this extremely popular and versatile family. AG Super was developed in 1968 by Günter Gerhard Lange and is an excellent choice for headlines. In 2001, Günter Gerhard Lange added more weights for Berthold including Super Italic and Extra Bold italic.”[1] “Helvetica is a twentieth-century Swiss revision of a late nineteenth­ century German Realist face. The first weights were drawn in 1956 by Max Miedinger, based on the Berthold Foundry’s old Odd-job Sans-serif, or Akzidenz Grotesk, as it is called in German. The heavy, unmodulated line and tiny aperture evoke an image of uncultivated strength, force and persistence. The very light weights issued in recent years have done much to reduce Helvetica’s coarseness but little to increase its readability.”[2]
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