letter | 57
monthly calendar, 1892
The charming numerals in this
calendar don’t line up into neat
columns, because they have
varied set widths. They would
not be suitable for setting
modern financial data.
retina, designed by Tobias Frere-Jones, 2000, was created for
the extreme typographic conditions of the Wall Street Journal’s
financial pages. The numerals are designed to line up into
columns. The different weights of Retina have matching set
widths, allowing the newspaper to mix weights while
maintaining perfectly aligned columns. The notched forms
(called ink traps) prevent ink from filling in the letterforms
when printed at tiny sizes.
123
modern numerals are designed to sit in columns as well as rows
