Overdressed is based on a face designed by Ed Benguiat for his phototype work in the mid-twentieth century. As with most of Benguiat’s designs, there is a strong reference to earlier type designs with a remarkably quick and often humorous hand. It has a fun, circus-like look of the mid-to-late 1800’s.

Download a PDF spec-sheet to view and print.

Beatty’s effort was to repeat the attitude in his translation to electronic format. All translations carry more of the translator than one might wish. In all of Beatty’s translation work, he tried to stay as true to the original as possible.

Letter spacing can only be determined from examples of original typography, and this is valid only if the translator is sure how the original was set. Word spacing was never designed by the original type designers for this was left to the discretion of the type setter. Since both the basic letter spacing and word spacing must be made a part of an electronic typeface, these choices are made by the translator.

Few early designs in lead type or photo type had all the characters required for an electronic typeface. This forces the translator to design these extra characters to be as harmonious with the original designs as possible.

As you can see from the example, you can layer the lowercase on top of the uppercase for a vibrant two-tone look.

 $19. A small price to pay for such typographic excitement. I mean, really now. It’s not a face you’ll see every day. Or even use everyday. But that’s because it’s special. Can you spell “Special?” I knew you could. Can you click on the “buy” button? I knew you could.