Mainichi Communications Co., Ltd. is a comprehensive service company that proposes new ways of communication, consisting of nine business divisions such as Employment Information Business Division, Publishing Business Division, Education and Public Relations Business Division.
In the publishing division, the editorial chiefs Masaaki Kobayashi and Junichi Kodaira, who are in charge of editing and publishing the Macintosh magazine "Monthly Mac Fan" that was launched in 1993, gave the current DTP environment surrounding the advantages and fonts of LETS. About the story.
Decided to introduce LETS after migrating from Mac OS 9 to X
The biggest points that decided to introduce LETS are price and LETS concept. Although we are a publisher, we are in a position to actually produce it, so naturally we are moving from Mac OS 9 to X in the situation where the DTP environment including so-called publishing is moving in the world. We must move, including the transition of. When considering such a background, I wondered if it is necessary to stick to the fonts that I have used up to now, and I considered whether to adopt "LETS" there. As a result of actual comparison and examination, it was clear that LETS had many advantages.
We have been working in the OCF font environment of other companies for about 10 years since the launch of "Mac Fan", but last year, we finally moved to the CID font environment. Even if it said that it had migrated, it did not mean that everything could be migrated to CID immediately. Next, OpenType fonts are being reserved, but of course the company that publishes Mac magazine either upgrades or purchases a new one, which is inevitable. I don't know how long the transition period will last ...
Just as some magazines were integrated, I was happy with the CID font environment, but I still wanted to use OpenType fonts in the future. However, even if you upgrade the version or purchase with a plus α, a considerable investment amount is required, so in terms of cost, there are practically difficult things. Therefore, as mentioned above, as a result of a comparative examination of the purchase of OpenType fonts of other companies, which has been used for 10 years, and the introduction of LETS, the major deciding factor for the introduction of LETS was the management and cost. In addition to the advantage that all typefaces and all types of formats can be used, even if the Character Sets OpenType fonts advances to Adobe Japan 1-5, 1-6 in the future, "always new versions are automatically provided" = "Version upgrade I am very attracted by the system that "no cost and troublesome procedures are required." Also, all standard required typefaces have been developed into families, and the weights are uniform, so it is very easy to use.
Moving to OpenType fonts in the near future
"Mac Fan" is currently produced in Adobe InDesign 2.0 and CID font environment, but from the issue released at the end of September this year, Mac OS X and OpenType fonts are being prepared while coordinating with business partners such as designers and printing companies. , We plan to make a complete migration to the latest environment such as Adobe InDesign CS. In fact, we plan to produce in the latest environment described above in part from the issue issued at the end of August, and start uploading as PDF / X-1a. I am just beginning to use OpenType fonts, but I do not understand everything yet, but I would like to continue studying in the future so that I can fully utilize the unique features and advantages of OpenType fonts such as glyph switching.
Of course, LETS also includes OpenType fonts, so we solved the problems that had been a bottleneck in the font migration, and we highly appreciate it because we can easily migrate at our own timing.
Vertically typed Western letters and numbers
"Mac Fan" has been renewed as "Mac Fan" since the last issue of last year, by integrating "Mac Fan" which was published twice a month until then and "Mac Fan Beginners". At the same time, we changed the layout of the magazine from horizontal composition to vertical composition, but even after half a year has passed, new issues will come out one after the other, so it is the current situation that the house rules for typesetting have not yet been constructed exactly. In the PC industry, new words and terms centered on European languages are always created, so naturally there are many parts that are expressed in alphabets, but when rotating vertically written Western text or numbers, it is proportional depending on the arrangement and combination of letters. May not clog cleanly. This is especially noticeable when lowercase letters are lined up. Even if they are packed with a certain percentage, they will look different, so it will not look beautiful unless they are manually adjusted one by one. Also, regarding full-width alphanumeric characters, there is an impression that the size is not as uniform as in Japanese as the series gets larger. If these can be solved successfully by improving the functions of fonts and layout software, I think it will be very helpful because it will reduce the work time.
Vertically typed Western letters and numbers
As a request, I would like to have a thick weight of Tsukushi Mincho that can be used in the Heading of a magazine. Also, it is helpful to have an antique body (*). Currently, the cartoon part of the Mac Fan magazine uses InDesign's composite font function to combine Cezanne and Matisse.
Another request is to make the typeface names easy to understand. Fontworks fonts have names of artists such as Rodin and Matisse, and unique font names such as catch fonts that other companies do not have. It may be okay if you get used to it, but it seems difficult to tell whether it is Gothic or Mincho based on the typeface name alone. It is not easy to know which font is used for the page in charge because the staffs are often changed. For App such as Adobe Illustrator where the font name is written in alphabet, it is more difficult to understand and it will take time to search. We hope that the typefaces that will be released in the future such as the new typeface "Tsukushi Mincho" will be easy to understand, such as "Mincho ○○" and "△△ Gothic.
*What is an antique body?
An old-fashioned thick-haired writing brush for hiragana and katakana.
It is often used in combination with Gothic Kanji in comics.
In addition, such a typeface is often called an antique typeface.
Expectation for the spread of LETS in the future
Currently, most commercial magazines are produced under the Mac environment, and I think that the design elements and the attention of the creators are quite large. As the DTP market continues to expand in the future, more and more people will come to understand how the “LETS” system concept makes sense when thinking about what should be given the highest priority. I expect that it will continue.
＜ Editor's note ＞
We were able to hear various stories unique to magazine editing and publishing. LETS operates with the concept of reflecting the voices of members in Products, such as typeface names and new typefaces, so we will continue to strive to respond to the opinions and requests we receive. We will continue to.
Company Info
| Company name | Mainichi Communications Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Head office location | Building No.2, 1-5-13 Kudan Minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
| TEL | 03-3230-3968 |
| Establishment | August 15, 1973 |
| number of employees | 559 (August 2004) |
| Business description | Comprehensive service company that proposes new ways of communication, consisting of nine divisions such as Employment Information Division, Publishing Division, Education and Public Relations Division, etc. |
Note:
The Company Info above was as of the time of the interview. The company name was changed to "My Navi Co., Ltd." from October 2011.
Detail is http://www.mynavi.jp/ Please refer to the.
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