Algerian (typeface)

Algerian
Category	Serif / Display
Classification	Decorative
Designer(s)	Alan Meeks and Philip Kelly
Foundry	Scangraphic
Date released	1988

Algerian is a decorative serif digital font family, originally produced in the early 20th century by British foundry Stephenson, Blake and Co.^[1] The design for the typeface is owned by Linotype, while the name 'Algerian' is a trademark of the International Typeface Corporation.

Algerian appears in the Stephenson, Blake & Co. 1907 type specimen book on page 142, with the Algerian font as used today as the small caps lowercase to a more decorative uppercase set of initials. The solid black version of Algerian appears on the same page under the name of Gloria, with a separate shadow layer face available.^{[citation needed]}

Algerian (regular) was created for Scangraphic at Letraset. Algerian Condensed was created by the Linotype library designer Alan Meeks.

URW's 1993 version of the Algerian font was one of the default fonts supplied with Microsoft Office from 1993 onwards,^[1] and has been characterised as an overused font.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Originally, the Algerian font only had capital letters, but in 2005 Michael Hagemann of FontMesa added lowercase letters to produce Algerian Mesa (as seen in the image).^[5]

In 2017 Hagemann expanded the Algerian font family to 144 styles, introducing new bold, light, outline and open faced weights including italics. This new version was released by Fontmesa under the name of Tavern.

In March 2020 FontMesa releases two more weights in the Algerian font design under the name of Tavern, extra bold and black weights have been created making this a five weight font family with 192 styles.

Also in March 2020 FontMesa released a weathered rough edged version of Algerian under the name Bay Tavern with an alternate version called Bayside Tavern, together they add another 144 font styles to the family.

Algerian has been most notably used as the typeface in the logo of Patrón tequila since 1989.

In September 2020 FontMesa released a Mexican style version of Algerian under the name Taco which is a multi layered font family including 20 styles.

In December 2023 Michael Hagemann of FontMesa type foundry created a rounded edge version of Algerian, released under the name Algerian Rnd, this greatly expanded the usability of the original design.

References

^ ^a ^b "Algerian font family". Microsoft Typography. Microsoft. 20 October 2017. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
^ "Blog posts documenting inappropriate usage of Algerian". Archived from the original on 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
^ "Article about most overused fonts, including Algerian". Archived from the original on 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
^ "Article about bad fonts, including Algerian". Archived from the original on 2024-05-22. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
^ "MyFonts". April 21, 2005. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-29.

[MSTypography-1] "Algerian font family". Microsoft Typography. Microsoft. 20 October 2017. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.

[2] "Blog posts documenting inappropriate usage of Algerian". Archived from the original on 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2009-05-23.

[3] "Article about most overused fonts, including Algerian". Archived from the original on 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2024-09-20.

[4] "Article about bad fonts, including Algerian". Archived from the original on 2024-05-22. Retrieved 2024-09-20.

[5] "MyFonts". April 21, 2005. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-29.

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