Ballade Family - Free Gothic Script Fonts by Dieter Steffman
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TrueType & OpenType font formats, multilingual, hand-printed Gothic Blackletter script typeface (3 fonts: v. 1.000 2002; initial release).

These are free fonts (never to be sold) released for public use by Dieter Steffmann. Fonts are OK for commercial use, even as a web font. No derivatives are allowed.

A FREE FONT FAMILY
The authoring artist, Dieter Steffmann, has very little restrictions on the use of his free fonts (so, personal/commercial/charity work is OK, and you may use it as a #webfont, too), EXCEPT that he maintains his full Copyright worldwide, and therefore these fonts should not be modified or otherwise used to create a derivative font, and that the fonts should never be sold. The fonts in this archive are offered 'as is' without any warranty. This has been a quick synopsis on authorized use, more info is given under the DETAILS section, below.

This Ballade typeface is a bold, hand lettered, medieval gothic blackletter print script with 3 styles, the regular solid bold, an outlined contour, and a shadow font; "Ballade" (plain bold solid font), "Ballade Contour" (a compressed solid font with an outline) & "Ballade Shadow" (hollow outline font with a pronounced underneath shadow offset to the right & down).

This typeface offers 255 characters (by my count) in each font and they support 47 Latin based written languages. The original was "Halbfette Ballade" ('Half-fat Ballade'), a font created by Paul Renner in 1937. The font was then digitized and hinted by Dieter Steffmann, Kreuztal, in 2002, as 'Ballade' in a 3 font family. It was further updated, apparently to accomodate PDF imbedding, as "DS Ballade" typeface with two fonts (a 'regular' bold and a 'shadow regular') in 2012 (the updated DS Ballade typeface archive link is listed in the ARCHIVE ORIGINATION section). However, this original Ballade digital font family includes the font "Ballade Contour," an outline accented compressed version of the solid bold font that does not exist in Dieter's "DS Ballade" updated typeface.

The Basic Latin bank offers 94 characters, Latin-1 Supplement has 95, there are 11 characters in Latin Extended-A, Latin Extended-B letter set has a single scripted f character, there are 9 Spacing Modifiers, 4 Greek & Coptic, 17 General Punctuations, a ligature in Currency Symbols, the TM sign is 1 of 3 characters in Letterlike Symbols, there's 11 Mathematical Operators, 15 Mathematical Operators, 1 geometeric shape and there is an extra dash, and 2 ligatures in the Private Use Area.

These fonts are extremely well crafted handprinted Blackletter scripts sporting calligraphic curves and vertical accent strokes with subtle inked serifs acting as a trailing pen-stroke flair in a seemingly hand-inked Gothic typeface.

This set of fonts/webfonts currently comes in TrueType and OpenType font formats; the TrueType fonts are the 3 files with the *.ttf file extensions, while the OpenType fonts use the *.otf extensions.

LAYERING/BACKFILLING
I would like to note that the Ballade typeface fonts, Regular & Regular Shadow, seem to occupy the same relative space. In the provided character set previews, I used a 50 pt font size for sampling each of the fonts and they occupied the same space on the canvas. Usually, a shadow font uses more space for each character. This means that this particular typeface has the added bonus of allowing a layered or backfilled effect for graphic designers if desired, by duplicating the finished text and changing the font to the other style. This allows the much easier ability to layer in colors, instead of rasterizing the text and painting each character with a fill. Unfortunately, the Contour version of this font is a bit more condensed and doesn't share this advantage with either of the others.


ARCHIVE ORIGINATION:
This distribution archive has been updated with the font format archives (from both the TTF & T1 versions) downloaded from Mr. Steffmann's official font catalog archive and updated with documentation and a new preview image by Doug Peters of Symbiotic Design for Font-Journal. It's been checked and validated as the most recent known available version (as of March, 2021). This text document has been created specifically for distribution with this font archive as a factual document to protect all parties. Any updates to this font or its distribution archive can be found at the same dedicated Font-Journal URL for this distribution archive given a couple of paragraphs below.

This archive has been enhanced with this note as a means to document the great works Dieter Steffmann has contributed to the world. This is done in the hopes that he will always be credited for his wonderful gifts to humanity, as many of his original distribution archives lack any documentation what-so-ever (the license was given on the web page it was downloaded from, but then the license can be lost when a designer has a lot of fonts). Hopefully, it will also serve to help protect his work from modifications and derivatives.

This archive can be found at the following dedicated URL on Font-Journal.com:
https://www.font-journal.com/fonts/10882/ballade_family.php

The new 2012 archived distribution zip package of the DS Ballade typeface was updated with documentation and images today (Saturday, March 27th, 2021) and uploaded to Font-Journal, as well. It is still available on Font-Journal at:
https://www.font-journal.com/fonts/13618/ds_ballade_family.php

Please note that Dieter Steffmann has a great many free downloadable typefaces available at Font-Journal. To view all of his fonts that I have added to the font repository so far you can search his name (or use the URL below):
https://www.font-journal.com/search.php?d=1&q=Dieter+Steffmann

Note however, that Mr. Steffmann created a large volume of free fonts (over 600). I have much to do to include and document each one of his fonts (both the ones I will add and the older ones that have previously been archived before I started documenting each one).

Perhaps Dieter Steffmann didn't include documentation in his distribution archives since he made them freely available to the public without much restriction on regular use and the license was specified on the download page. But then the license gets separated from the archive and as a designer myself, I like to retain proof that a free font I downloaded is as such (a free font with its conditions of use). It will take me a while, but I will be working to get them all updated with a text sample gif & documentation, eventually. Still, it's going to take a long time, as I administrate Font-Journal as a free online font repository and cataloged font archive only in my spare time, currently without assistance.


Dieter Steffman
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Is a widely talented, retired typographer living in Duetschland (AKA: Germany). Specifically, he lives in the township of Kreuztal in the Siegerland region of DE (DE is the country code abbreviation for Germany). He started computing on the Amiga (as did I). He currently has some health concerns that he shares on his Wordpress blog. He enjoys web administration, photography and hiking, now. He also posts some great photos. Dieter is also quite active on Twitter and maybe Facebook. Dieter Steffman's business alias is "Typographer Mediengestaltung" and he created hundreds of fonts between 2000-2013 that are now available free.

Birthday:
September 3rd

Email:
dieter@steffmann.de

Website:
http://www.steffmann.de

1001 Fonts has cataloged 357 of his over 600 free typefaces:
https://steffmann.1001fonts.com

Twitter Feed: @DieterSteffmann
https://twitter.com/DieterSteffmann

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dieter.steffmann

This font family's official archive was originally downloaded from:
http://moorstation.org/typoasis/designers/steffmann/

The Original Specific URL is:
http://moorstation.org/typoasis/designers/steffmann/samples/b/ballade.htm

...but that archive lacks the inclusion of documentation and a simple preview gif. As I prefer to keep that the license info, documentation and a preview image are both included with my archives so that as a designer I can always reference this information should I require it (such as when some scammer comes along and pretends the font is theirs and threatens a fake 'Copyright infingement' shake-down law suit simply hoping to scare out some money from the ignorant or disorganized).

Therefore, I have included the online text sample GIF and created a new character set PNG image for this very archive, while adding this text documentation which includes the license info and a quick history lesson so that it is not lost (as in typical Font-Journal fashion for new font additions).

This journaling methodology gives professional graphic designers and marketers an easy way to prove that a typeface is free and OK for commercial use, as well as learn a little of the history about the author, if they want, without too much trouble. All they have to do is keep the original archive somewhere (in case the website goes offline when the Google server monopoly on internet infrastructure dependency takes the world's internet down again). I recommend keeping the archive in a local directory on your computer as well as online with the hosting account directory for any website you use it on as a webfont.


DETAILS
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The original typeface design was "Halbfette Ballade" ('Half-fat Ballade'), created by Paul Renner, 1937.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
Ballade...
Copyright (c) Typographer Mediengestaltung, 2002. All rights reserved. Halbfette Ballade geschaffen von Paul Renner, 1937. Digitized and hinted by Dieter Steffmann, Kreuztal.
Ballade Contour...
Copyright (c) Typographer Mediengestaltung, 2002. All rights reserved. Halbfette Ballade geschaffen von Paul Renner, 1937. Digitized and hinted by Dieter Steffmann, Kreuztal.
Ballade Shadow...
Copyright (c) Typographer Mediengestaltung, 2002. All rights reserved. Halbfette Ballade geschaffen von Paul Renner, 1937. Digitized and hinted by Dieter Steffmann, Kreuztal.

TERMS OF USE:
By using this font you hereby agree to the terms of this license agreement as put forth in this document.

CONDITIONS OF USE:
Personal use is allowed.
Charity work is allowed.
Commercial use is allowed.
No derivatives are allowed.
-This means that you may not edit the font, modify the glyphs, extend the font character sets, or change the reserved font name using the source font file.

CONVERSION:
You may convert this font for use in other formats, or for use on other device platforms, so long as the font remains intact and is not modified or otherwise altered in any way, such as changing the reserved font names or altering any individual glyphs.

AS-IS DIGITAL SOFTWARE:
The included font(s) is/are distributed 'as is' without any warranty. Neither the author of this typeface, nor any distributing party, shall be held liable for any damage derived from using this font (family).

DISTRIBUTION:
You may redistribute this font, unchanged, preferably in its original archive as freeware, but the font may not be modified and you may not sell it, nor are you allowed to include it in any font archive, collection, distribution CD or DVD that is sold for monetary gain or bartered (keep it free). Any means of benefitting from the distribution of this archive is strictly forbidden. On distribution websites, this font must be available to all visitors for no charge, this includes sans membership fees or subscription requirement.

This font may not ever be sold or published in any form without the expressed written permission by its respective author, Dieter Steffman.

EMBEDDING:
The included font(s) may be embedded into any application such as a website, home page, PDF document, or mobile device app, independent of the number of the application users, as long as the application itself does not intend to distribute the font file(s) independent of its proper distribution archive.


FJ, Me and My Stuff...
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I also design fonts myself. I am setting up LastNational.com to feature some of the fonts I have created, but as of this writing & updating this archive, I'm still working on that website updated. Still, you can find most of them on my Font-Journal.com font repository, if you look me up:
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