DIGITAL question.

From: CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com <(CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com)>
Date: Sun May 28 08:11:06 2000

John Wilson wrote:

>Aren't there two different DEC logos anyway? A few years ago when they
>decided it should be magenta and the colors should be fixed regardless of
>what the logo is printed on top of, I thought they claimed that they were
>slightly reshaping the characters too. I can't see the difference but
>that doesn't mean it's not there... Or am I remembering wrong?

I don't think there ever was "a font". I'm pretty sure they just drew
the letters they needed, and in some cases they don't even match on the
same nameplate. Most of the simple characters are purely line segments
and constant-radius arcs, there are obviously some exceptions (the letter
"a" in the "|d|i|g|i|t|a|l|", for example, in one font.)

You can actually see *three* different - but similar - logo fonts in use on
some manuals and equipment. For instance, the purple-and-magenta
PDP-11 nameplates (the kind that go on top of a H960, for instance) have
the top "|d|i|g|i|t|a|l|" in a fairly traditional (but a bit simplistic)
Helvetica-ish font, while the bottom "digital equipment corporation,
maynard, massachussets" is in a font that's more like hand printing, with
some quirky lilts (like the way the top part of the "e" extends way to
the right.)

Then the font used for "decsystem" or "pdp11" is yet a third variation
if it appears on the logo plate. The numerals are done in a particularly
funky manner.

My conclusion is that they just had a draftsman draw the letters as needed,
without any real font steering committee :-).

-- 
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
 Trailing Edge Technology          WWW:   http://www.trailing-edge.com/
 7328 Bradley Blvd		   Voice: 301-767-5917
 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817           Fax:   301-767-5927
Received on Sun May 28 2000 - 08:11:06 BST

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