What it had to solve
Fit more stock listings onto a smaller page than the Journal's Helvetica Condensed allowed: in Frere-Jones' words, the two halves of the brief contradicted each other.
The idea
Exaggerate each letter's most distinctive feature and cut notches at stroke joins so ink spreads into them, keeping 5.5-point letters legible on smudgy newsprint.
How it works
Frere-Jones amplified the 'essential gesture' of each glyph, such as the long leg of the capital R, and carved ink traps into the smallest cut, MicroPlus. A Standard cut followed, and in 2016 Retina was released commercially with versions for screens.
What it did
Retina became a classic of small-size type; in 2016 it got its first retail release from Frere-Jones' new foundry, with screen versions hinted to the pixel grid.
Background
In 2000 type designer Tobias Frere-Jones created Retina for The Wall Street Journal. The Journal planned a redesign that shrank the page while adding more stock listings, and wanted something better than Helvetica Condensed. Frere-Jones recalled that the two parts of the brief effectively contradicted each other.
His approach was to find each glyph's 'essential gesture' and amplify it: a capital R's leg extends further than typographers consider appropriate, and a capital G's curve ends sooner. The idea was to give every letter the best argument for being read as that shape. The smallest cut, MicroPlus, was designed first and has notches carved out of the letters as ink traps, wells for excess ink on newsprint, which make it look lumpy at large sizes.
A Standard cut commissioned by the Journal in 2005 drops the notches. Frere-Jones released Retina commercially in October 2016, the second release of his foundry Frere-Jones Type after Mallory, with the outlines adjusted to a pixel grid for screens. WIRED notes ink traps echo earlier solutions, CBS 36 in 1968 and Bell Centennial in 1976.
Why it lands
The brief demanded more content on a smaller page while outperforming Helvetica Condensed.
Making every letter as different from the others as possible suits how readers first recognise letters, a Microsoft reading researcher told WIRED.
Notches act as ink traps so spreading ink fills them instead of blurring letters at 5.5 point.
The design came from years of experimental type exercises Frere-Jones began as a student at RISD.
What you can take
When a constraint cannot be met by making things bigger, make each part more distinct from the rest: legibility at small size comes from contrast between letters.
Since then
Retina was released at retail in 2016; WIRED reported it works best in print below 9 point, and on screen up to 16 point before the notches show. Frere-Jones admitted MicroPlus looks like total chaos if set large, so the Standard cut exists for headlines and body copy.
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