Futura "Pro" (OpenType) from Adobe?

[_geertdeg_]

Don't know if this is the right forum to post.
I wonder if Adobe will ever release a multilangual "Pro" version of their Futura font as they did with the absolutely beautiful Myriad Pro?

[_Adam_Twardoch_]

Judging from their doing so far, I doubt it. Until now, Adobe have only released OpenType Pro versions of Adobe Originals typefaces, i.e. typeface designs that were designed exclusively for Adobe.

Futura is a typeface design now owned by Fundición Tipográfica Bauer, so it is not an Adobe Originals typeface. You might inquire the trademark owners about their plans.

Another problem is that currently, there are numerous separate digital cuts of Futura available, with varying character sets. I think this can best be viewed at
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/ftbauer/futura/familytree.html

The Futura version from URW++ has the most extensive character set (Western, CE, Cyrillic, Greek), but frankly speaking, the non-Western versions are designed very poorly. The Cyrillic and Greek cuts are just barely usable: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/futura/t-book/

The Adobe/Linotype cut available now in OpenType as Futura Std has a nice basic design but no multilingual extensions or small caps. The same applies to the Bitstream cut. The Elsner+Flake cut has CE characters.

A fairly recent Futura ND version
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/neufville/futura-nd/
has small caps and partly CE characters, but still no Greek or Cyrillic characters.

Really well designed Cyrillic Futura can be found at ParaType:
http://www.paratype.com/pstore/charset.asp?scode=PT_FTR45 (by Vladimir Yefimov). But then again, this cut is not part of the Adobe Type Library.

So the general point is that there are many versions of Futura, with different digitizations and proportions. Well-designed multilingual character sets and other sets such as small caps are available, but in different versions made by different companies (for example, ParaType has Cyrillic but no small caps, Neufville has small caps but no Cyrillic). Merging such character sets would probably involve complicated remastering and licensing issues.

The bottom line is: if anybody were to release "Futura Pro", it would most likely be Neufville Digital: http://www.myfonts.com/foundry/neufville/

Talk to them!

Regards,
Adam

[_geertdeg_]

Thanks for all this excellent info!