Iowan Old Style BT
Bitstream · John Downer · 1990
John Downer's robust old style text serif drawing on Jenson and Griffo revivals, with a larger x-height and tighter fit than its historical models.
About
Iowan Old Style BT is John Downer's 1990 text serif, modelling its proportions on earlier revivals of Nicolas Jenson and Francesco Griffo while improving them for contemporary use: larger x-height, tighter letterfit and reproportioned capitals for better display at small sizes. A Titling variant with cap-only characters and ornamental elements arrived in 2002. Apple later adopted Iowan Old Style as a system font.
Classification
Contemporary text design modelled on revivals of Jenson and Griffo with enhanced proportions: larger x-height, tighter letterfit, reproportioned capitals. A Titling cap-only variant was added in 2002.