ae poeta BE en a pat | 3 DINNER SRRVIOES. ELLEN LUPTON Lag entering Jae A CRITICAL GUIDE FOR DESIGNERS, WRITERS, EDITORS, & STUDENTS h W2nnr, SUITH DRAWING - ROOM PACTS MGTIO Gam ts seater es<< UU BASKERVILLE Designed by John Baskerkuile, 1757 BODONI {| Designed hy Giambattta Bodoni, 1790s svn CASLON Designed by Carol Twombly, 1990, based on pages printed by Wilfiam-Caslon, 1734-70 CENTAUR Designed by Brice Rays, eot2—14 Theil by Fei Wark is based on the fiftcenth-century Than of Endo deg reg. CENTURY EXPANDED Designed by Morris Fuller Benton, 1900 CLARENDON Named for the Clarendon Press, Oxford, who commissioned it in 1845 mn DIDOT Designed by Jonathan Hogfler 1992 the types of Francois Ambros: | FEDRA SANS Designed by Pater Blak, 2001, who was asked ‘a createa de Prostestantized Univers FILOSOFIA Designed by Zuzana Licko, 1996, a revival ofthe types of Bodoni FRUTIGER Designed by Adrian Frutiger, 1976 FRANKLIN GOTHIC Designed by Moni Fuller Benton, 1904 FUTURA Designed by Paul Renner, 1927, who sought on “honest expression of technical processes.” ” GEORGIA Designed by Matthew Carter, 1996, for aispay on seren GILL SANS Designed by Eric Gill, 1928. Ithas been described as Bricain’s Helvetica. wou GARAMOND Designed by Robert Slimbach, 1989, based on pages printed by Clande Garman in the sixicenth cencary GOTHAM Designed by Tobias Frere-sones, 2000, inspired by lettering found at Port Authority Bus Terminal, Nevi York CityEE a a HELVETICA NEWS GOTHIC Designed by Max Miedinger, 1957 Designed by Morris Fuller Benton, 1908 | HOEFLER TEXT QUADRAAT Designed by Jonathan Hoefler . 1995 Designed by Fred Smeijers, 1992 INTERSTATE SABON Designed by Tobias Frere-Jones, 1993, | Designed by Jan Tschichold, 1966, inspired by U.S. hiohway signs inspired by the sixteenth-century types of | Claude Garamond oe a. Designed by Martin Major, 1991 | META aires Designed by Erik Spiekermann, 1991 | THESIS SERIF se Designed by Lucas de Groot, 1994 MRS EAVES Desig Ze 198, TRADE GOTHIC inspived by pages printed by John Basteruile Designed by Jackson Burke, 1948-60, inspired by nineteenth-century grotesques NEUTRAFACE UNIVERS | Designed by Christian Schwarks, House lads 2002, bated on lettering crated byl Richard Neutra in the 1940s and) L Designed by Adrian Frutiger, 1957 (nt VERDANA | NOBEL SagAIARRE cea a for display on screen Designed by Tobias Frere-Jones,1993, sadn 929 ypsby th Dutch ypograrer ws ae eee NH WALBAUM “Futuracockedina dirty pan” Designed by Justus Erich Walbaum, 1800saa BUFO _thinking with A CRITICAL GUIDE FOR'DESIGNERS, WRITERS, EDITORS, & STUDENTS GAP PRENcerow ancurtecrunat.pKess. ew yorkPublished by Princeton Architectural Press 57 East Seventh Street New York, New York 10003, Fora fiee catalog of books, call1.800.7 Visit our web site at ww.papress.com ©2004 Princeton Architectural Press All ights reserved Printed in China 07.06.05 5432 Firstadition No partof this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without witten permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews tvedy reasonable attempt has ben made to ideotify it, Errors or omissions wil be owners of cons corrected in subsequent editions, Libcary of Congress Cataloging, in-Publication Data Lupton, Ellen “Thinking with type 2 erica guide for designees, waiters, editors, & students Fillen Lupton, — ste cin, — (Design briefs) Includes bibliographical references. ISDN F-56898-448+> (alk: paper) 1. Graphie desipn (Iypography) ‘ype and type-founding [Tile I. Series len Lapton ‘Mark Lamste, Princeton Architectural Press Elizabeth Jobson Jennifer Tobias and Ellen Lupton Eric Karnes andl Elke Gasselseder Dan Meyers Scala, designed by Martin Majaor Thesis, designed by Lucas de Groot ete Alan, Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning, Megan Carey, Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Russel Fecnandez, Jan Haus, Clae Jacobson, Naney Eklund Lite, Linda Lee, Katharine Myers, Jane Sheinman, Scott Tennent, Jenifer Thompson, Joe Weston, and Deb Wood of Princeton Architectural Press kevin C. Lippert pdlser, wee ODE MANILA JBRARIES (686.a'—deaaCONTENTS INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LETTER Anatomy Size Classification Famities Big Families Designing Typefaces Logotypes Screen Fonts Blemap Fonts Letter Exercise TEXT Kerning, Tracking Line Spacing Alignment Vertical Alignment Hierarchy Web Hierarchy Web Accessibility Paragraph Exercise Word Exercise Text Exercise GRID Golden Section Single-Column Grid Multi-Columa Grid Modular Grid Grid Exercise Data Tables Data Table Exercise APPENDIX Dashes, Spaces, and Punctuation Editing Editing Hard Copy Easing Soft Copy Proofreading Free Advice Bibliopcaphy IndexPisco i Seiad ise 00 pomen wis ho REAINES THE TE, Seen cul geenra po noane tie gone One Twenty ir enMrs M80 | ERS anneal citenan ‘A woman healthy face buss throng sheet otext, her right Complexion prouing the preduet’s efficacy better than ary rien claim, Both ext and iiage have been dram by hand, reproduced via color Bthography. Printed here at actual size hoon’s saxsanantita. Advertisement Hihography 1885 |INTRODUCTION THE ORGANIZATION OF LETTERS ona blanle page—or screen—is the designer's most basic challenge. What kind of font to use? How big? How should those letters, words, and paragraphs be aligned, spaced, ordered, shaped, and otherwise manipulated? ‘Anyone who regularly and enthusiastically commits acts of visual communication will find something to use and enjoy in this book, which offers practical information within a context of design history and theory. Sore readers will be chiefly interested in the sections that present basic typographic principles in concise, non-dogmatic layouts. Others will spend more time with the critical essays, which look at the cultural frameworks of typography. I decided to create this book because there was no adequate text to accompany my own courses in typography, which I have been teaching at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore since 1997. Some books on typography focus on the classical page; others are vast and encyclopedic, overflowing with facts and details. Some rely too heavily on illustrations of their authors’ own work, providing narrow views ofa diverse practice, while others are chatty and dumbed-down, presented in a condescending tone. 1 sought a book that is serene and intelligible, a volume where design and text gently collaborate to enbance understanding. I sought a work that is small and compact, economieal yet well constructed—a handbook designed for the hands. { sought a book that reflects the diversity of typographic life, past and present, exposing my students to history, theory, and ideas. Finally, I sought a book that would be relevant across the media of visual communication, from the printed page to the glowing screen, Thad no alternative but to write the book myself. Thinking with Type is assembled in three sections: LetreR, T2xr, and GRID, building from the basic atom of the letterform to the' organization of words into coherent bodies and flexible systems. Each section opens with a narrative essay about the cultural and theoretical issues that fuel typographic design across a range of media. The demonstration pages that follow each essay show not just kow typography is structured, but why, asserting the functional and cultural basis for design babits and conventions,‘The first section, zerreR, reveals how early typefaces referred to the body, emulating the work of the hand. The abstractions of neoclassicism bred the strange progeny of nineteenth-century commercial typography. In the twentieth century, avant-garde artists and designers explored the alphabet as a theoretical system, After digital font design became a cottage industry and a mode of underground publishing in the r980s, typography became a natrative form that revived its connections with the body. ‘The second section, TEXT, considers the massing of letter larger bodies. Designers approach text as a continuous field whose grain color, density, and silhouette can be endlessly adjusted. Technology has shaped the design of typographic space, from the concrete physicality of ‘metal type to the flexibility—and constraints—offered by digital media, ‘Text has evolved from a closed, stable body to a fluid and open ecology. “The third section, Gx1b, looks at spatial organization. Grids underlie every typographic system. In the early twentieth century, Dada and Futurist artists attacked the rectilinear constraints of metal type and exposed the mechanical grid of letterpress. Swiss designers in the 19408 and 19508 cxcated design's first total methodology by rationalizing the grid. Their work, which introduced programmatic thinking to a field governed by taste and convention, remains profoundly relevant to the systematic thinking required when designing for multimedi Throughout the book, examples of design practice demonstrate the elasticity of the typographic system, whose rules can all be broken Finally, the appen pix contains handy lists, helpful hints, dire warnings, and resources for further study, ‘This book is about thinking with typography—in the end, the emphasis falls on with. Typography is a tool for doing things with: shaping content, giving language a physical body, enabling the social flow of messages. Typography is an ongoing tradition that connects you with other designers, past and future. Type is witl you everywhere you go—the street, the mall, the Web, your apartment. This book aims to spesk to, and with, all the readers and writers, designers and producers, teachers and students, whose work engages the ordered yet unpredictable life of the visible word. 8i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS nvxer, Lam indebted to my teachers AS A DESIGNER, WRITER, AND VISUAL T at the Cooper Union, where I studied art and design from 1981 to 1985. Baclc then, the design world was rather neatly divided between a Swiss inflected modernism and an idea-based approach rooted in American advertising and illustration. My teachers, including George Sadek, William Bevington, and James Craig, staked out an odd place between those worlds, allowing the modernist fascination with abstract systems to collide with the sir nge, the poetic, and the popular The title of this book, Thinking with Type, is an homage to James Craig's primer Desigiting with Type, the utilitarian classic that was our text book at Cooper: Ifthat book was a handyman’s guide to basic typography, this one is a naturalist’s Geld guide, approaching its subject as an organic system that is more evolutionary than mechanical. What I really learned from my teachers was how to think with type: how to use visual and verbal 1age to develop and deliver ideas. As a student, discovering typography lang was finding the bridge connecting written language to visual art ‘To write my own book for the twenty-first century Uhave had to educate myself all over again, In 2003 | enrolled in the Doctorate in Communications Design program at the University of Baltimore. There | have worked with Stuart Moulthrop and Nancy Kaplan, world-class scholars, critics, and designers of networked media and digital interfaces. Their nfluence is seen throughout this book. My colleagues at Maryland Institute College of Art have built 4 distinctive design culture at the school; special thanks go to Ray Allen, Fred Lazarus, Elizabeth Nead, Bernard Canniffe, Jennifer Cole Phillips, Rachel Schreiber, and all my stuilents, past and future. My editor, Mark Lamster, has kept this project alive and conscious across its seemingly endless development. | also thank Eric Karnes and Elke Gasselseder, Kevin Lippert at Princeton Architectural Press, Timothy Linn at Asia Pacific Offéet, William Noel at the Walters Art Museum, Paul Warwick Thompson and Barbara Bloemink at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and all the designers who shared their work with me. learn something every day from my children, Jay and Ruby amazing Miller farnily. My friends— and fom my parents, my twin, and the Jennifer Tobias, Edward Bottone, Claudia Matzko, Dar and Joy Hayes—sustain my life. My husband, Abbott Miller, is the greatest designer I know, and | am proud to include him in this volume. ie Alexander,Mierer Sacre MhAger fee} 2 (Aceon tomeeh Moy Pot en mantis scayoon began desigring thet ith this napkin sketch made on a ra 6. The typefce was released by FontSiop sketches and prototypesLETTER‘TYPE, SPACES, AND LEADS 3lll 1436 auu-queap itasillisd tanta bow noftos-rit ied intrefatitty fregem peut debomoty LETTER THIS Is NOT A HOOK ABOUT FONTS. [tis a book about how to use them “Typefaces are an essential resource employed by graphic designers, just as glass, stone, steel, and countless other materials are employed by architects. Graphic designers sometimes create their own fonts and custom lettering, More commonly, however, they tap the vast library of existing typefaces, choosing and combining them in response to a particular audience or situation. To do this with wit and wisdom requires knowledge of how— letterforms have evolved. Words originated as gestures of the body. The first typefaces were and why- directly modeled on the forms of calligraphy. Typefaces, however, are not bodily gestures—they are manufactured images designed for infinite repetition. ‘The history of typography reflects a continual tension between the hand and the machine, the organic and the geometric, the human body and the abstract system. These tensions, which marked the birth of printed letters over five hundred year ago, continue to energize typography today. Movable type, invented by Johannes Gutenberg, in Germany in the carly fifteenth century, revolutionized writing in the West. Whereas scribes had previously manufactured boolss and documents by hand, printing with type allowed for mass production: large quantities of letters could be cast bled into “forms.” After the pages were proofed, from a mold and as corrected, and printed, the letters were put away in gridded cases for reuse. Movable type had been eniployed earlier in China, but it had proven less useful there, Whereas the Chinese writing system contains tens of thousands of distinct characters, the Latin alphabet translates the sounds of speech into a small set of maarks, making it well-suited to mechanization, ide manuscript as its model. lackletter,” he Gutenberg’s famous Bible took the hane Emulating the dense, dark handwriting know reproduced its erratic texture by creating variations of each letter as well as numerous ligatures (characters that combine two or more letters into MAMTG HA 4 single form). iacob-3 ang ape: ULSAN ogy vests th Lele sfinos-cundam vatkanmes GUEIND ji Ato Wile: mils a Tageis eramt-parulys 5 00) ov crpie Devon Wew York ki Writing Resear: Wring $k, 1996; Londow: Phaidon, mugoree Dugetiteaprinas Panu) 5+icotas sso fam printing pes in Venice. His Jers tial tes transition fom thick to thin rele the path of a ‘rondnibbed pen > euit dicitur frater mar lord, yet thechirchemal e errme | 14. Vans foe WCE SOT Gover vee ilosappellatur mariti the iii welds, and how! “= ted the design | ramen i i that istowete, of thathe ori: i: rateizappellantut qu tod ce ehathe cometh t= mitini fratrum 8 mal in thoffyce of the chisel “7°”. atrueles matrum fratt tynges yee pee Aan ‘6fobrini ex duabus ed one Perey & that tbe ne . causeoft 01 _ tafuncin antiquisau peo ce; fie Serio Lorem ipsum dolor si Lorem ipsum dolor sit | cENTaUn, designed from vo tog by Brace reutr fs designed bythe ypographer, teacher, ad theorist crit Noontzij, This liptlly constructed fo, designed inthe 999, As Noord explains Jenson to talian jeshion (somewhat rounder, sme / luctu ‘ © tortor egest, consectetuer adipiscing ¢) consectetuer adipiscing ws deies Integer pharetra, nisl « Integer pharetra, nisl u 2 ullamcorper, att luctus ullamcorper, aus “82 ante, ve] tortor egestas ante, vel f sé se Adee joo neque. N pede urna ac neque. M ts monet ac mi eu purus tincidt ac mi eu purus tincide tae cn pede urna : vanum laboraverunt Lorem ipsum dolor < si Dominus custodie consectetuer adipisci istra vigilavit qui cos! Integer pharetra, nis num est vobis ante lt ullamcorper, augue t tgere postquam sede ante, vel pharetra pec imanducatis panem neque. Mauris ac mi m dederit dilectis sui tincidunt faucibus. P | ALMLIVXTA LXX dignissim lectus. Nun ofc as wel as their gothic (rather than humanist origins scat was inreduerd in 1998 by the cd she German lets Dutch typegrapher Martin Majoor. Although tt lighter), and dhs Phis thoroughly contemporary iyseface hax created roman type.” geome serif and rational, anos moduler forms, i reflects the calligraphic origins of ‘ype, sen in letersi 0.Sed ne forte tuo atrea Hic fimor eft ipfis N on adeo leniter noft ‘vt meus oblito pulh £ Tlic phylacides inn Non potuit cas inn ed cxpidus ils ati sthefftis antiquan I llic quicquid evo fe Traiat ey iti litto 1 lic foymofie uenian Qitas dedit arzuni, Quarum nulla tie fi Gration eo tellus F Quiannis te longe re; Cara tamen lachry Ronen tle yes dese for Alive Moni, 61500, They ave enced as wo separate pices Je08 1ANNON Roma end alc types “frie Imprinerie Royale, Pais, 62, coordinated into a arg type fry, comme fay devia remarqué,"S, Augu. $06 ftin demande aux Donatittes en yne fem- Frombg, of roman type, see Gerrit lable occurrence : Quay done ? lors gue Sail Yori HUMANISM AND THE BODY In fifteenth-century Italy, humanist writers and scholars rejected gothic scripts in favor of the lettera antica, a classical mode of handwriting with wider, more open forms. The preference for lettera antica was part of the Renaissance (rebirth) of classical art and literature. Nicolas Jenson, a Frenchman who had learned to print in Germany, established an influential printing firm in Venice around 1469. His typefaces merged the gothic traditions he kad known in France and Germany with the Italian taste for rounder, lighter forms. They are considered among the first—and finest—roman typefaces. Many fonts we use today, including Garamond, Bembo, Palatino, and Jenson, are named for printers who worked in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, These typefaces are generally known as “humanist.” Contemporary revivals of historical fonts are designed to conform with modern technologies and current demands for sharpness and uniformity Each revival responds to—or reacts against—the production methods, Drinting styles, and artistic habits of its own time. Some revivals are based ‘on metal types, punches, or drawings that still exist; most rely solely on printed specimens. Htalic letters, also introduced in fifteenth-century Htaly (as their ame suggests), were modeled on a more casual style of handwriting While the upright humanist scripts appeared in prestigious, expensively produced books, the cursive form was used by the cheaper writing shops, whete it could be written more rapidly than the carefully formed leitera antica, Aldus Manutius was a Venetian printer, publisher, and scholar who used italic typefaces in his internationally distributed series of small, inexpensive books. The cursive form saved money because it saved space. Aldus Manutius’s books often paired cursive letters with roman capitals; the two styles still were considered fundamentally distinct In the sixteenth century, printers began integrating roman and italic forms into type families with matching weights and xcheights (the height of the main body of the lowesface letter). Today, the italic style in ‘most fonts is not simply a slanted version of the roman; it incorporates the curves, angles, and narrower proportions associated with cursive forms 1 the complex origins Ses deter nie funni de parler? teferituredu grand Dien $2, 88 Beate Marks, 2000), he ancouver: Hartley and tras lifras,enblions none comment neue anions sinptist —(Vaicower ate an seeLoren | 16 argued that designed meet sere shold Eeenfors fo reflect te ideal se printing press human boy, Reguading the eter A, he wrote: of Louis XIV. Inst by royal commit he erost-strke cowrs the man's ong of Simunrni designed his lelters on w finely meshed generation 0 signify that Movksy and Chestty grid. & royal pee (rosin du rei uss thea fare required, before alee, in those who seek éreate by Philippe Grandjean, base acquainsance with wllshaped letters.” Simonneau’s engravings By WILLIAM CASLON, S Pp E G I \ ABC gene mss By JOHN BASKERVILLE cache Res pier AB ce D quemad fin, "vi" Am indebted to you for two if toe ABCDEF “#""!""" Tetters dated from Corcyra. Comin, 08 al He aimed to supa Cas by erating fed ltrs with mare void contrast, Lapefces in eighteentiecentury Brylane wid crisp. upright ‘between thick and thin clemers. Wires sharacters that apes ds Robert Cason’ eters were widely wsed in is Wm Line Aight has writen asheroe work was denounced by any ef Mis ‘more modeled and tes writen ‘ontemporaries ax amateur and extremist an Renata AUSTERLITI ssiidhcacaicitts A GALLIS E MAXI in GermanyENLIGHTENMENT AND ABSTRACTION Aabcdef Renaissance artists sought standards of proportion in the idealized human body: The French designer and typographer Geofroy Tory published a series Sy RB ofiagrams in 1529 thet linked the anatomy of letiers to the anatomy of man. A new approach—distanced from the body—would unfold in the age of scientific and philosophical Enlightenment. ‘A committee appointed by Louis XIV in France in 1693 set out to construct roman letters against a finely meshed grid, Whereas Geofioy Tory’s diagrams were produced as woodcuts, the gridded depictions of the 2) romain du roi (king's alphabet) were engraved, made by incising a copper ZCC, plate with a tool called a graver. The lead typefaces derived from these =~“ Jarge-scale diagrams reflect the linear character of engraving as well as the GG Seni attinde of the king’s committee AB 6g Engraved letters—whose fluid lines are unconstrained by letter- f press's mechanical grid—offered an apt medium for formal lettering NOP 2 Engraved reproductions of penmanship disseminated the work of the great cightcenth-century writing masters. Books such as George Bickham's The Universal Penman (1743) featured roman letters—each engraved as @ ckonce BicKast, 174. unique chavacter—as well as lavishly curved seripis, papers 2 Eighteenth-century typography was influenced by new styles of “alow tad handwriting and their engraved reproductions. Printers like William Caslon in the 1720s and John Baskerville in the 17508 abandoned the rigid nib of humanism for the flexible steel pen and the pointed quill, jristraments that rendered a fluid, swelling path, Baskerville, himself a master calligrapher, would have admired the thinly sculpted lines that ig books, He created typefaces of such appeared in the engraved writi sharpness and contrast that contemporaries accused him of “blinding all his admirer Benjarnin * the Readers in the Nation; for the strokes of your letters, being too thin and Fonkln. forthe fallleter see narrow, hurt the Eye.” To heighten the startling precision of his pages. : eee ree, Baskerville made his own inks and hot-pressed his pages after printing. Fe (locos Paden ‘The severe vocabulary of Baskerville was carried to an extreme by Miller Linied, 975). 68. Giambattista Bodoni in Italy and Firmin Didot in France at the turn of the es ay a ae nineteenth century. Their typefaces—which have a wholly vertical axis, extreme contrast between thick and thin, and crisp, waferlike serifs—were Se (Vancouver: Haley and Marks 1992, 1997) the gateway to a new vision of typography unhinged from calligraphy. “This accusation was reported to Baskerille ina letcr from, The romain du roi was designed not by a typographer but by a government committee consisting of two priests, an accountant, and an engineer. Robert Bringhurst, 1992P.VIRGILITI MARONIS BU COLILG «4 ECLOGA I. cui nomen TITYRUS. . Meuisoeus, Tityrus. 1TvRE, tu patule recubans fub tegmine fagi Silveftrem tenui Mufam meditaris avena: Nos patrie fines, et dulcia linquimus arva; Nos patriam fagimus: tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra 5 Formofam refonare doces Amaryllida filvas. T. O Meliboee, Deus nobis heec otia fecit: Namque crit ille mihi femper Deus: illius aram Sepe tener noftris ab ovilibus imbuet agus. Ille meas crrare boves, ut cernis, et ipfium 10 Ludere, que vellem, calamo permifit agrefti ‘M, Non equidem invideos miror magis: undique totis ‘Ufque adeo turbatur agris. en ipfe capellas Protenus weger ago: hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco: Hic inter denfas corylos modo namque gemellos, 15 Spem gregis, ah! filice in nuda connixa reliquit, Scepe malum hoc nobis, fi mens non leva faiffet, De ceelo tadtas memini praedicere quercus: Sape finiftra cava priedixit ab ilice comix. Sed tamen, ifle Deus qui fit, da, Tityre, nobis. 20 T. Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Melibece, putavi Stultus ego huic noftrae fimilem, quo fepe folemus Paftores ovium teneros depellere foetus. Sic canibus catulos fimiles, fic matribus haedos A Noram;viet (L517) Book page 1757 Printed by John Baskerville ‘The mpefces ate Joh ashen the eighteens century uve rear ble— ave socking in tei day for tet sharp, upright forms and sab canta between tick fand hin elemen's In action oa rman it fre, ths page ulin talc eapials lage sale copitls gererously Tesespacd), smal capitals {sled io coordinate with Tosrcase text), and noting or ldstyle numerals (designed With axis descentes, and 4 anal boy height io work + wit lowras characters), cine (rcv) Book page, 801 Pane by Fics Dio Taisen Die fant rnc eer or struct aid severe shan those Of teri wi ee Vinee ef ont tak feta oti i Mili piven ond pirates cle he sling pies mer,” ot pages are reproduced fiom Wilian Dana Orcuth, 1m Questo he Perec Beek (aw Yer: bie, Brow and Company, 1926); margins are LA THEBAIDE, ou LES FRERES ENNEMIS, TRAGEDIE. ACTE PREMIER. SCENE L JOCASTE, OLYMPE. socasrE. Tus sont sortis, Olympe? Ah! mortelles douleurs! | Qu’'un moment de repos me va coiter de pleurs! Mes yeux depuis six mois étoient ouverts aux larmes, Et le sommeil les ferme en de telles alarmes! Puisse plutdt la mort les fermer pour jamais, Et mempécher de voir le plus noir des forfaits! Mais en sont-ils aux mains?At10 oer as Morning: | k QUANTITY OF OL Saile.“-. ing the remi typ 3 2k of the Seb veo an ort ae ion on single page exaggerate the polavizaion (J. Boulb of eters into thick an XGYPCIAN, or lab, ypefices cor inet ” refine deta toa oo bcaatg, Such yp i | ae = NRE | slab serifasits its on wright fonts olen sewed bn the sind mass, Iroc in 86, eth center fo comey ths set sy donc vali: aber raphical de REL f ‘My person was hideous, my stature gigantic, What did this mean? Who was I? What was 2. ‘Accursed creator! Why did you create a monster so hideous that even you turned away from mein disgust? Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1831 WLMONSTER FONTS Although Bodoni and Didot fueled their designs with the calligraphic practices of their time, they created forms that collided with typographic tradition and unleashed a strange new world, where the structural attributes of the letter—serif and stem, thick and thin strokes, vertical and horizontal stress—would be subject to bizarre experiments. In search of a beauty both rational and sublime, Bodoni and Didat had created a monster: an abstract and dehumanized approach to the design of letters. With the rise of industrialization and mass consumption in the nineteenth century came the explosion of advertising, a new form of communication demanding new kinds of typography. Big, bold faces were designed by distorting the anatomical elements of classical letters, Fonts of astonishing height, width, and depth appeared—expanded, contracted, shadowed, inlined, fattened, faceted, and floriated. Serifs abandoned their role as finishing details to become independent architectural structures, and the vertical stress of traditional letters migrated in new directions. ITT? T THUTPITW Te TTTy sau ‘ARON TATIN(ANTIQUE TUSCAN as ‘pe historian Red Roy Lead, the material for casting metal type, is too soft to hold its shape at large pelt ene suulied sizes under the pressure of the printing press, In contrast, type cut from the mechanized devs 4 could be printed at gigantic scales, The introduction of the combined sieges tha seed to fracien gecaciler pantograph and router in 1834 revolutionized wood-type manufacture. vanity fdiplay eves in “The pantograph is a tracing device that, when Tinled to a router for carving, the nnetscoth entry Thiago sows haw the basi guar se forsale yin or This mechanized design approach treated the alphahet as a flexible slab was ut, pinched system divorced from the calligraphic tradition. The search for archetypal, ples, ond cet spe z Jovspuaegfonanen perfectly proportioned letterforms gave way to a view of typography as an Seb ueeiranjorned elastic system of formal features (weight, stress, stem, crossbars, serifs, fom caligrephic end- angles, curves, ascenders, descenders). The relationships among letters in a stokes int independ : : ee Seat’ font became more important than the identity of indivitiual characters. old be fee adjusted allows a parent drawing to spawn va ith different proportions, weights, and decorative excresences For extensive analysis and examples of decorated types, see Rob Roy Kelly Ameria Wood Type: 1828-1900, Notes on the Evolution of Decoraval and Large Leters [Sew York: Da Capo Press, 1969), Sce also Rusti Melean, “An Examination of Egyptians,” Texts on Type: Critical Writings ow Typqgraph ed, Steven Heller and Philip B, Meges (New York: Allworth Press, 2001), 70-76,nn . ‘ ; | | | | DURYEA'S (MFORTED: . Lithographic trade card, 1878 4 nineteenth century stimulated urban space, eve, a mia is { . shown pasting a bill in flagrant . ee eee | aoe neo aan. oa i ap strc en | : aimize the sate of the lees None. Although the yp the as atic and | in she spe cemcere aFULL MOON, ST. MICHAEL?S ~ TEMPERANCE AND | EXCURSION BELLE! To Osbrook and Watch Hill, ' Ce a ieee a aeee GOETH STOFFREFORM AND REVOLUTION Some designers viewed the distortion of the alphabet as gross and immoral, tied to a destructive and inhumane industrial system. Writing in 1996, Edward Johnston revived the search for an essential, standard alphabet and warned against the “dangers” of exaggeration, Johnston, inspired by the nineteenth-century Aris and Crafts movement, looked back to the Renaissance and Middle Ages for pure, uncorrupted letterforms. Although reformers like Johnston remained romantically attached to history, they redefined the designer as an intellectual distanced from AD z ps L 1B) society, striving to create objects and images that would challenge and Hite revise dominant habits and practices 13 Bae ‘The avant-garde artists of the early twentieth century rejected Spins a Sosceadome| historical forms but adopted the model of the critical outsider, Members of the De Stil group in the Netherlands reduced the alphabet to Iowan jouxsrow bua! perpendicular elements. At the Bauhaus, Herbert Bayer and Josef Albers ths 90g: of een” 1 oe cg ental constructed alphabets from basic geometric forms—the circle, square, and Imcrpins Whe dering triangle—which they viewed as elements of a universal language of vision. omnecil splay letering, ‘Such experiments approached the alphabet as a system of abstract See catent relationships. Like the popular printers of the nineteenth century, avant- Inpro garde designers abandoned the quest for an essential, perfectly shaped alphabet, but they offered austere, theoretical alternatives in place of the solicitous novelty of mainstream advertising. Assembled, like machines, from modular components, these experimental designs emulated factory production. Yet most were On Butas see Chrisopiner produced by hand rather than as mechanical typefaces (although many Parke, Paul Remmer The sit gre now available digitally). Futura, designed by Paul Renner in er Ne Na gs, _ 1927, embodied the obsessions of the avant garde in a multipurpose, gf) On icesperimensl cornmercially available typeface. Although Renner rejected the active iypeiceseftie 1920sand movement of calligraphy in favor of forms that are “calming” and abstract, Feu fen he tempered the geometry of Futura with subtle variations in stroke, curve, and proportion. Renner designed Futura in numerous weights, viewing Typo (London: Hyplien Press, 003). 253-45. his fonts a painterly tool for constructing a page in shades of gray. ‘The calming, abstract forms of those new typefaces that dispense with handwritten movement offer the typographer new shapes of tonal value that are very purely attuned. These types can be used in light, semi-bold, or in saturated black forms, Paul Renner, 1931ee. oer Se ee NEU JLphwber Pek oweswnt exouwe presented this eanned version ofa Garamond ain contrast i his oa naw aioe, whose frms ace he prided sarc othe rev mana nica ceetad ‘oarzerslution fos for stip seers and printers in 195. Tse ons have since Ine nero into Eig’ tes Lo-Res fom fly, sige fr prvi and gtd vei See Rudy VandetLans and Zuzana Licho, fig: Graphic Design inv the Dig! Real: (New York ‘Yan Nostrand Rein, £993} ‘TYPE AS PROGRAM Responding in 1967 to the rise of electronic communication, the Dutch designer Wim Crouwel published designs for a “new alphabet” constructed from straight lines. Rejecting centuries of typographic convention, he designed his letiers for optimal display on a video screen (CRT), where curves and angles are rendered with horizontal scat lines. In a brochure promoting his new alphabet, subtitled “An Introduction for a Programmed Typography.” he proposed a design methodology in which decisions are rule-based and systematic. Jbcdegdht 4jELanopqr Fuuurys 4 In the mid-1980s, personal computers and low-resolution printers put the tools of typography in the hands of a broader public. In 1985 Zuzana Licko ‘Degan designing typefaces that exploited the rough grain of early desktop systems. While other digital fonts imposed the coarse grid of screen displays, and dot-matrix printers onto traditional typographic forms, Licko embraced the language of digital equipment. She and her husband, Rudy VanderLans, cofounders of Emigre Fonts and Emigre magazine, called thernselves the “new primitives,” pioneers ofa technological dawn, Emigre Oakland [Ielll By the early rggos, with the introduction of high-resolution laser printers and outline font technologies such as PostScript, type designers were less constrained by low-resolution outputs. The rise of the Internet as well as cell phones, hand-held video games, and PDAs, have insured the continued relevance of pixel-based fonts as more and moe infgrmation is desi ‘d for publication directly on screen, Living with computers gives funny ideas, Wim Crouwel, 1967rerten | 28 CURATOR: JOSEPH WESNEF Linda Ferguson Steve Handschu JamesHay Matthew HollandSCU! PTUR! Gary Laatsch =F-Brian Liljeblad PTURE | 5 Dora Natella © Matthew Schellenberg | Cy) Richard String S Michell Thomas mi | Robert Wilhelm | pening Recep tion: Friday June 8,5:308:30 pm Cc aS < ew etroit Focys Gallery 4 Ee Beaubien, ThirdFloor TROIT, MIC HIGAN 48 226 Hours:Noon to6 p nJVEDNESDAY - SATURDAYasrrea | 29 : TYPE AS NARRATIVE In the early 19908, as digital design tools began supporting the seamless reproduction and integration of media, many designers grew dissatisfied | with clean, unsullied suirfaces, seeking instead to plunge the letter into the harsh and caustic world of physical processes, Letters, which for centusies hhad sought perfection in ever more exact technologies, became scratched, bent, bruised, and polluted Template Gothic: flawed technology Barry Deck's typeface Template Gothic, designed in 1990, is based on letters drawn with a plastic stencil. The typeface thus refers to a process that is at once mechanical and manual, Deck designed Template Gothic while he was a student of Ed Fella, whose experimental posters inspired a generation of digital typographers, After Template Gothic was released commercially by Emigre Fonts, its use spread worldwide, making it an emblem of “digital typography” for the r9gos. Dead History: feeding on the past P, Scott Makela's typeface Dead History, also designed in 1990, is a pastiche of two existing typefaces: the traditional serif font Centennial and the Pop classic VAG Rounded. By manipulating the vectors of readymade fonts, Makela adopted the sampling strategy employed in contemporary art and music. He also referred to the importance of history and precedent, which play a role in nearly every typographic innovation. CcNdEeFfGg HhilifjKk “The Dutch typographers Erik von Blokland and Just van Rossum have combined the roles of designer and programmer, creating typefaces that ‘embrace chance, change, and unceztainty. Their 1990 typeface Beowulf was the first in a series of typefaces with randomized outlines and programmed behaviors. ‘The industrial methods of producing typography meant that all letters had to be identical... Typography is now produced with sophisticated equipment that doesn't impose such rules. The only limitations are in our expectations. Exik van Blokland and Just van Rossum, 2000ee BACK TO WORK Although the 1990s are best remembered for images of decay, typeface designers continued to build a repertoire of general purpose fonts designed to comfortably accommodate broad bodies of text. Rather than narrate the story of their own birth, such workhorse fonts provide graphic designers with flexible palettes of letterforms coordinated within larger families, { . | Mrs Eaves: working woman Zuzana Licko, fearless pioneer of the digital dawn, produced historical revivals during the 1990s alongside her experimental display faces. . Her 1996 typeface Mrs Eaves, inspired by the eighteenth-century types of John Baskerville (and named after his mistress and housekeeper Sarah Eaves), became one of the most popular typefaces of its time Quadraat: all-purpose Baroque Designed in the Netherlands, typefaces such as Martin Majoor’s Scala (used for the text of this book) and Fred Smeijers's Quadraat offer crisp interpretations of typographic tradition. These typefaces look back to sixteenth-century printing from a contemporary point of view, as seen in 1992, the Quadraat family has expanded to include sans-serif forms in numerous weights and styles. Gotham: blue-collar curves In 2000 Tobias Frere-Jones introdiiced Gotham, derived from letters found at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City, Gotham expresses a no-nonsense, utilitarian attitude that persists today alongside the aesthetics, of grunge, neofuturism, pop-culture parodies, and straight historical revivals that are all part of contemporary typography. When choosing a font, graphic designers consider the history formal qualities. their decisively geometric serifs. Introduces of typefaces and their current connotations as well as th “The goal is to find an appropriate match between a style of letters and the specific social situation and bedy of content that define the project at hand. There is no playbook that assigns a fixed meaning or function to every typeface; each designer must confiont the library of possibilities in light of a project’s unique circumstances.| mer _Amhemt is aretiable ype family initially designed for the Nederlandse Staatscourant, the daily newspaper of che Dutch state. Tthas a roman, jtalic ane matching smal eaps, lining figures, non-tining figures and. scheight lining figures in four weights. As well as thaci has two weights of Fine’ titling vatiats in roman and italie. Amber is available in Truetype and PostScript formats, for both PC and Mae platforms. OpenType is du in February 2004. Website 04 nl publishers: Feed Smmeijers and Rely This Flash-based Web ligt aye four allows wsers to test fonts on the fy The designers lawcihed ser own “label” af eating fonts uc for Font Shop p tne played here is He typeaee2. fon hat hs projective memory tht reminds yout ay 3.4 lon vith ane 4. font whan aft aam 6, font without tempora etlcton, without tino an apolitical font, ont tt ei 8,» font unaffected by the force of grovity an the weight! ran 130, ¢ Marshal MeLahon font that stubborly poise dn ae 12a font that takes advantage ofa that pron eteg 22, font that es something other thn sit on He a6 nahin 33. font withthe cpa to bse wih 14,» recombinant font — every lttrforn the unruly child ofa praditable itm 35, font that sounds a oda 36, font that wats a U7 font that tan a 10, font that responds and reset to the meaning i amie ne 18, font shat assumes the inoligece #8 20. font that might sense your level of alist, fet 21a font prone to sudden cbse i 22, a font that exceeds the ypc 28,3 font whose patents are FatherTim and te ahh 24. a ambient fom, 2 font kaPada efates to uller imperatives or cummands rote fort fip-syching fox, 2 fort without a vole of its own it sens wile speak soa toggles lertlesely between langues efor ing font Pent that overs, fold, performs, evel, and passos enay bot something other than 2 recording at event every tine you “play” it han eta a 8 ty Fees canada va. ber hao san ee ben Daresskin,. isthe distance frem the baseline tothe The cap height of a ypefaes etermines ils point sin Some elements may extend slightly bore weap height the reweate nf the height rain body ofthe ow (or the height ofa lowercase enclding is ascenders nd ddscenders body Inoue bids lomo write wing ruled paper tha divides, teers exaelly in lf most types are not designed tha ‘inp. The s-height usually pics lightly more than half ofthe cap height The bigger the slcght if rlavon 10 the op high, He higge he eters of test, the greet density occurs benveen the baseline and the top of the sig af eaptal fete sate uascuine is where all the letersi. This isthe most stable axis along a line of test, and it 1 crucial edge for atigning text with images or with other tex Hey, look! They supersized my x-height. ANATOMY The cures atthe bot leters such as 0 0F¢ ang slghly below the bosline Goma an sericolons also ne Ifa bypfice were not positioned this wy rons the ba it would appear to leser prevariousy lacking a sense of physical grounding Two Blacks of text sashace Here, 14/18 Sol Gigpl ype withSIZE sz points equal pea 0 fsa inch B Go-vorer Seats A aypefce is measured fiom the top ofthe capital letter othe . hottor of the lowest descend, plus a sal buf space. > tn mca type the point size is the height of he rp lug, & WIDE LOAD The st wih is the body ofthe eter pls the space hese i TIGHT WAD “The leer in the condense version of the peice fui narrawer et with WIDE LOAD TIGHT WAD ‘SYPE eRIME: The proportions of the letters have beer Aigiall disiored in onder to create wider Lerten /demonstiations 36 HeiGHer Attempts to standardize the measurement of type began in the eighteenth century. The poiit system, used to measure the height of a letter as vel as the distance between lines (leading), is the standard used today. One point equals 1/72 inch or 35 millimeters. Twelve points equal one pict, the unit commonly used lo measure colurnn widths. "Typography also can be measured in inches, millimeters, or pixels, Most software applications Tet the designer choose a preferred wnit of measure: picas and points are a standard default. B picts ~ 8p 8 points ~ p8, 8 pls 8 picas, 4 points ~ 84 point Helvetia with 9 points of ine spacing = 8/9 Helvetica wiorit A letter also has a borizontal measure, called its et width, The set width isthe body ofthe letter plas a sliver of space that protects it from other letters. The width of a letter s intrinsic to the proportion of the typeface. Some typefaces have a narrow set width, and some have a wide one You can change the set width of a typeface by fiddling with its horizontal or vertical scale This distorts the proportion of the letters, forcing hheayy elements to become thin, and thin elements to become thick. Instead of torturing a letterform, choose a typeface with the proportions you need, stich as condensed, compressed, or extended. eu atester 37 srr sexta J24nC INTHISTATE REGULAR sa-s1 voDoNt pasr mes RAVES Do I look fat in this paragraph? These ltrs areal the same pont size, but they have diferent heh line weights, nd proportions. ‘When two typefaces are set in the same point size, one often looks bigger than the other. Differences in xheight, line weiglit, and character width affect the letters’ apparent scale, nice x-height Abe iavirica 4S-rt oes zavus Every typeface wants to know, *Do | look fat in this paregraph? It's all a matter of context. ‘Afont could look perfectly sleek on screen, yet apoear bulky and oul of shape in print. Some typefaces are drawn with heavier lines than others, or they have taller x-heights. Helvetica isn't fat. She has big bones. g)ta mewveriea Every typeface wants to know, "Do | look fat in this paragraph?” It's all a matter of context. A font could look perfectly sleek on screen, yet appear bulky and cout of shape in print. 13/r4 univerica Mrs Foves, designed by Zirzane Licko in 1996, rejects the awenith-cemtury appetite for supersized sight. The ft, inspire! by the tighteentheconnany desig’ of Jol Baskerville Isnamed afer Sarah Faves, Baskervil's mises, housekeeper, and collaborator The coupe ved together for isteen years fore naerying in 176. Bigger steghis, introduced inthe weet century, mate fonts loo larger hp muaximazing ‘he aren within the overall point size, Every typeface wants ¢o know; "De [look fat in this paragraph?" It's all matter of contest, A font could Took perfectly sleek on screen, yet appear bulky and out of shape in print. Some typefaces are drawn with heavier Lines than thoes or have taller x-heights. Mrs Eaves has a low waist and 2 small body. Every typeface wants to know: "Do I look fat in this paragraph?” It's all a matter of context. A font could look perfectly sleek on sereen, yet appear bulky and out of shape in print, Mri Eaves has a low waist and a small body. 1aftg mes Raves “The dfaal type size in many software applications is 2 ps Althougl his generally creas readable type on sreen displays, spt tex! pe usual looks big and horsey on a printed poe. (22 pls isa good size fr children's books) Sizes beweew 9 and 11 {is are common for printed text. This caption is 7.5 ps| Revolvéta = 2aCLASSIFICATION The rama fypseces of fifeenth ara sists centuries ulated lasicalellgraphy Sabore was design by Jan Thi (on the sisseeetecentury Iypefces of Clauie Garamond. ld in 1986, base LAa ese typefces have sharper seafi ad more wetical ais han basanites, When the ons of Joh Baskerile were introduced in the midghtcenth tre tr sherp forms nd igh conirast were considers shocking TYPE CLASSIFICATION A basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a s to that of art history. Hureanistletterforms are graphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional their own craft analogon closely connected to call heritage for and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic, These three main, groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods in art and literature, Historians and critics of typography have since proposed more finely grained schemes that attempt to better capture the diversity of letterforms. Designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have continued to create new typefaces based on histori unser typeces became ‘minh jn th tent cent Gil Sans, disigned by Fre Git jn ag28, has humanist claaracteites. Note she sal, tng counter in the leer, ‘ara the calligraphic variations inline wight, characteristics. Heltica, designed by Max Mielnger in 195 the words most widely used Iypefces. ts uniform, upright character makes it similar to transitional seri letrs, These fons are also refer to at ‘ony rus sans eri? Aa ‘The ypfaces designed by Ginmbrtista Bod’ in the av eth eniuries are radically abstract "Note he thin, senight sei ‘ass and shaep contrast eighteen ad ely nin Fron thick to thin stro Aa Nutnerowe bold dl decor fnpefaces were introduced i the for use in ints we nineteenth cont adverisng. gyi heavy, abi serif a Some sansseif ype are but sound geaette formes ny Futura, designed bp Pat Renner in 1937, the Os are eet circles, and the peaks ‘fhe & and M are sharperrr 43, Sabon 14:rr saB0N Baskerville gee DASKERUTLLE Bodoni 14:P1 noDoN Clarendon srr ctanennow Gill Sans yer ont sans Helvetica lant xeiverrea Futura rqere voruns This is not a book about fonts. It is a book about how to use them. Typefaces are essential resources for the graphic designer, just as glass, stone, steel, and other materials are employed by the archivect 9/12 sanon is is not a book about fonts, It is a book about how to use them. Typefaces are essential resources for the graphic designer, just as glass, stone, steel, and other materials are employed by the architect. 9/12 naskenvitin ‘This is not a book about fonts. It is « book about how to use them, Type sssential resources for the graphic designer, just as glass, stone, steel, and other materials are employed by the architect 95/12 wopont ao0x ‘This is not a book about fonts. It is a book about, how to uso them. Typetaces are essential resources: for the graphic designer, justas glass, stone, steel, and other materials re employed by the architect Bjia clAwENDON GAT ‘This is nat a book about fonts. Ic is 2 00k about how to use them. Typefaces are essential resources for the graphic designer, just as glass, stone, steel, and other materials are employed by the architect. _ 9/12 GIut sans REGULAR This Is not a book about fonts, It is a book about how to use them. Typefaces are essential resources for the graphic designer, just as glass, stone, steel, and other materials are employed by the architect. 8/ia nenvericn wecuLan ‘This is not a book about fonts. It's @ book about how to-use them, Typefaces are essen‘ial resources for the ‘araphic designer, just os glass, sione, slee, and other materials ore employed by the architect. 8.5/1 euTURA 00% CLASSIFICATION Selecting eype with ‘wit and wisdom rexqires Knowle fof how and why Jerertorms evolved 79 Selecting type with ‘vit and sso raguces kaowledge fofhow and why Jederforms evolved, 7i9 Selecting type with wit ad wisdonn requires knowledge sf wa why leteriornsexabed 2519 Betesing typ wit requlres knowledge 619 Selecting ype wt cand wisdom quires iowledge cof how and wy Iowertors eve 79 Solcing ype wie swt and wisdom Foquitos krowedge of Ionoroms vole 619 Selecting ype with wit one wisdom recpires knowledge of how on why letererms exch. 65/9uervow |44 | EMCSWEENEY’S| i || i i il 1 |! \\ \| KNOW THEM. REMEMBERING! i} KNOW THEM aeyOuR | 1 i} TENT TALK! WEAK otthinG Ms} | CARRY IT.canav i REMEMBERING | KEEP IT SWEET. FYouMUST =F4 we j SOR TOuTATE REMEMBERING! | MORE rorYOUR wale And yet: F SAKE 7H49 THEIRS i) EFFLORIESCENCE Do yon sense it? CANADA | LATE SUNACER 5.00 US, EARLY FALL | sain | 2°02) 6surrren | 45 FAMILIES ‘The idea of organizing typefaces into matched Jamilies dates back to the sixteenth century, when Adobe Garamond wns designed by Robert Slimbac in 1988 printers began coordinating roman and italic faces. ‘The concept was formalized at the tum of the twentieth century ‘The roman font is the core or spine from which a family of typefaces derives. The roman form, also called “pla” or “raglan” the standard, upright versian ofa aypoce. 1s ypeallyconceined fs the parent of larger far Iralic forts, which are based on cursive writing, have forms distinct from roman. ‘The aie form i no simply a mechanically danted version of the roman: i154 separate typefice. Note thatthe leer a has a diferent shape bn the roman and italic variants of Adobe Garamond, GHT THAT IS SIMILAR TO the lowercase X-HEIGHT. ‘Small aps (raptals) are designed to integrate with a Kine of ext, where flsize capitals would stand out aura, Small capitals tre light taller than the height ef owwrcase liters SMALL CAPS HAVE A IE. pone CANAMOND EXPERT {SMAIE CAPS) Bold (and semibold) typefaces are used for emphasis within a hierarchy. Bold versions of trtonal text fonts were aden the twenties entury 20 met the need for emphatic fons. Sansseri fries fle iclide a broad range of weights (thin, bold, back, et.) Bold (and semibold) typefaces each need to include an italic version, too. “The typefive designer tries to make the Bold versions et somitar in conteat to the rena, without making the overall form 00 heavy. The eoyters need to stay clear and ope. at smal sizes, fining (123) and non-lining (323). Lining muoneral oecrpy waiforne units of horizontal space, 80 tat the numbers li up wher used fn tabulated columas, [Nondining numerals abs called “ext or “ld syle” numerals, have a small body size plus ascenders ad descnsers so tat they rns wel oa ine wit lowercase eters A fill type family has ewo sets of numerals A ape family can Br faked by santing; or inflating, or SHRINKING letters. Theide, ungnly Pade around the Thee sirunken firms ofthe slowed le, tee eters versions offilsize ees look fred’ fel nt and dail caps repay dna unnatural sand stare.BIG FAMILIES THESIS FAMILY arrrer | 46 Designed by Luas de Grool, LucesFos, 1994 “Thesis one ofthe worlds langst type fnalies, This is not a book about fonts. It is a book about how to use them. Typefaces are essential resources for the graphic designer, just as glass, stone, steel, and OTHER MATERIALS ARE EMPLOYED BY THE ARCHITECT, SOME DESIGNERS CREATE their own custom fonts. But most graphic designers will tap the vast store of already existing typefaces, choosing and combining each with regard to the audience or situation. Selecting type with wit and wisdom requires knowledge of how and why letterforms have evolved. The history of typography reflects a continual tension between the hand and machine, the organic and geometric, the human body and the abstract system. These tensions MARKED THE BIRTH OF PRINTED LETTERS FIVE CENTURIES AGO, AND THEY CONTINUE TO energize typography today. Writing in the West was revolutionized early in the Renaissance, when Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable type in Germany. Whereas documents and books had previously been written by hand, printing with type mobilized all of the techniques of mass productionever [47 Interstate Light Interstate Light Compressed Interstate Light Condensed Interstate Regular Interstate Regular Compressed Interstate Regular Condensed Interstate Bold Interstate Bold Compressed Interstate Bold Condensed Interstate Black Interstate Black Compressed Interstate Black Condensed Design hy Tobias Foreones, Font Burean, 1903 ann ppp Scala Scala Sans Scala Htalic Scala Sans Italic Scata Caps SCALA SANS CAPS Scala Sans Bold Scala Sans Bold Scala Bold Martin Mjor’s Scala, sa ivouphout his hoo, SCALA L CRYSTAL, SCALA JEWEL DIAMOND Majoors dog above SCALA JEWEL PEARL SCALA JEWEL SAPHYR shows bow she serif and sans senor have a conson BIG FAMILIES Settee meoee pete ae , Ft ag eae SpE Ul | Rjcie ea Vester ‘uns conceived asa total system fom i in A traditional roman book face typically group consisting of roman, italic, small ‘aps, and possibly bold and sernibeld (cach with an italic variant). Sans-serif famili weights and sizes, such as thin, light, black, compressed, and condensed. In the 1990s, many type designers created families that include both serif has a small family—a “mix ofien come in many more and sans-serif versions. Small capitals and nondining numeral traditionally reserved for serif are inchided in the sans-serif versions of Thesis, Sea and many other bigDESIGNING TYPEFACES ‘EABCDEF G H IJ KL M Zcerren | 49 BEDE Castaways Drawing and finished type, 2001 Ast and type directigm: Andy Cruz “Types design: Ken Barber Font engineering: Rich Rost House Industries CCutouny ifm a series of digit fonts based on commercial signs Las Viges, The original signs were created by ftering avtsis who worked by hand te make som graphs ud lgos, House Industries sa digo ype joundey that creates types inspired by popular ceaure eed design history. Designer Ken Barber mnakis onc drawings by hand ad then digitizes the oalins, MN@ST DESIGNING TYPEFACES albeecalikkun ECSEL For more than five hundred years, typeface production was an industrial process. Most type was cast from lead until the rise of photo typesetting in the 1960s and 1970s; early digital typefaces {also created in that period) still xequited specialized equipment for design and production. It was not until the introduction of desktop computers that typeface design became a widely accessible field. By the end of the twentieth century, digital “type foundries” had appeared around the globe, often run by one or two designers Producing a complete typeface remains, however, an enormous task. Even a relatively small type family has bundreds of distinet chat each requiring many phases of refinement. The typeface designer must also determi is to be spaced, what software platforms it will use and how it will fnction in different sizes, media and languages, show a fontLocoTyrEs werran | 52 Ingerieubiro Infermations- und Funct Johannes Hubner Tel 0361-4272181 Ngee Identity program, 1998 Banaustrafe 21 01109 Oresdon woes the etter H as at the mark hannes-huebner de Hitbner =x annes-huebnerdeLocoTyPEs LoGoTyrEs use typography or lettering to depict the name of an organization in a memorable way. Whereas some trademarks consist of an abstract symbol or a pictorial icon, a iegotype uses letters to create a distinctive visual image Logotypes can be built with exist or with custom-drawn letierforms. Modern logotypes are often designed in different versions for use in different situations. A logotype is part fonts an overall identity program, which the designer logotypes, 2003 Designer: Anton Ginzburg “These logotypes fora fashion i lexan manier, Writing the museum sein Moran St the ae wile an element of 2004 Designers: Abbott Miller and Jeremy Hoffman, Pentag 1 reference tothe work of Isamte Noguchi tamesake ofthe Noguchi Museum, Te concave sqare coordinates wih the typefce Balance hic also hae satBITMAP FONTS terre | 56 | bitmap fonts are designed for digital display, fitmap fonts are designed for digital display at @ specific size, Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size, Bitinap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. nig, 1085 imigre, Enyperr, Onan, ane Univeral fon fi Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at 2 spec ze. Bitmap forts are designed for digital display at specific size, Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at specific size. Bitmap fonts ere designed for digital display at a specific size. Designed by Chester for Thirsty Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. Bitmap fonts are designed for digital display at a specific size. gital display at a specific size. j | i | | | Bitmap fonts are designed for Serr ree conronare: Designed by ) These fonts are designed himedia acdhoring applicationwerren| 57 BIMAY FONTS ate built out of the pixels (picture elements) that structure a screen display. Whereas a PostScript letter consists ofa vectorized culling, a bitmap character contains a fixed number of rectilinear units that are either “on” or “off.” Outline fonts are scatable, meaning that they can be reproduced in a high-resolution medium such as print at nearly any size. Outline fonts are offen hard to read on screen at small sizes, however, ‘where all characters are translated into pixels. (Anti- aliasing can make legibility even worse for small text) Ina bitmap font, the pixels do not melt away asthe letiers get bigger. Some designers like to ‘exploit this effect, which calls altention to the letters’ digital geometry. Pixel fonts are widely used in both print and digital media 8px Corporate 16,, Corporate _24,. Corporate 32,.Corporate A bitmap ft i designed to be wsed at a spelfic sce, sce as 8 pivels, becouse ts Beaty is precisely ‘ensructed out ofsereen units, bitmap font Sul be display on screen in ver mules of fits root size (enlange Sp type 106,24. 32. and soon) BITMAP FONTS IBDEKHPHDEL NLTHOF & LEE SSTAALSTRART 15-8 1011 JK FANSTERDAH 22/05/03 13812 it 0000 #009 BED.L VERZENDKOST.. 42.50 TVPOGRAFIE 6.00 TPOSRAFIE 16.50 TWPOGRAFIE 19.50 ‘TPOGRAFIE 3.5 TYPOGRAFIE 5.35 TUPOGRAF IE 32.00 TUPOGRAFIE 59.00 ‘TPOGRAFIE TWPOGRAFIE ‘TPOGRAFIE TYPOGRAF IE TVPCIBRAF TE SUBTOTAL BTW LaAG Faogssnss eSussgs STUKS RT Sz0.15 OOK ANTTOUARTAAT TTEL!020-6205960 FAK#020-6393274 xiner & ire Receipt, 2003 ‘This cash register reel, primed ih abana fr, Isfama design and typegraphy bookstre tn Amsterdam. (The author fst ie debt from this sansaction.)LETTER EXERCISE a Create a prototype for a bitmap font by designing letters on a grid of squares. raditional letterforms with rectilinear a a elements. Avoid making detailed “staircases,” which are just curves and back to the t9tos and 192¢s, when avant- ea ners mnade experimental pefaces out of simple geometric parts The project also zeflects the structure of 7 digital technologies, from cash register receipts and LED sighs to on-screen fon a a a display, showing how a typeface functions as a system of elements Esumples of tude work from Manan ttitute Colege af an Hi“Typographic installation in Grad Central Station, New York City 995 Designer: Stephen Deyle Client; The New York State Division of Women Sponsors: The New York State Division of Women, the Metopolitan Thansportation Authority, Revlon, and Merrill LynelyTEXText | 62 Poster, 1996 Designer: Hayes Henderson Basher then represent cierspace asa ethereal grid, the designer has ased blotches of everdapping tex to build an tins, oops baTEXT LETTERS GATHER INTO WORDS, WORDS BUILD INTO SENTENCES, In typography, “text” is defined as an ongoing sequence of words, distinct shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called the “running comprising the principal mass of content. Also known a text,” itcan flow from one page, columm, or box to another, Text can be viewed as a thing—a sound and sturdy object—or a fluid poured into the containers of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood. ‘As body, text has more integrity and wholeness than the elements that surround it, from pictures, captions, and page numbers to banners, butions, and menus. Designers generally treat a body of text consistently letting it appear as a coherent substance that is distributed across the spaces ofa document. In digital media, long texts are typically broken into chunks that can be accessed by search engines or hypertext links. Contemporary designers and writers produce content for various contexts, from the pages of print to an array of software environments, screen conditions, and digital devices, each posing its own limits and opportunities, Designers provide ways into—and out of—the flood of words by breaking up text into pieces and offering shorteuts and alternate routes through masses of information. From 4 simple indent (signaling the entrance to a new idea) to a highlighted link {announcing a jump to another location), typography helps readers navigate the flow of content. The user could be searching for a specific piece of data or struggling to quickly process a volume of content in order to extract elements for immediate use. Although many books define the purpose of typography as enbancing the readability of the written word, one of design’s most humane functions is, in actuality, to help readers avoid reading.ul Earn atts ate carLommes quetimenctomin: qurambulancin ufts th ores Manetrm mann amar cabis:tramfteztenenbr e _ tonarenafatem omiabedreby Uh aT filros filtomnm mov qucentext | 65 Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galazy (Foronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962). (On ie future of {intellectual property, see Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: How Big Media ses Tetnatgy andthe Law to Lack Downs Calin anid Contr Creativiny (New York: Penguin, 2004} ERRORS AND OWNERSHIP ‘Typography helped seal the literary notion of “the text” as a complete, original work, a stable body of ideas expressed in an essential form. Before the invention of printing, handwritten documents were riddled with errors. Copies were copied from copies, each with its own glitches and gaps. Scribes devised inventive ways to insert missing lines into manuscripts in order to salvage and repair these laboriously crafted objects, Printing with movable type was the first system of mass production, replacing the hand-copied manuscript. As in other forms of suring its correctness, and mass production, the cost of setting type, running a press drops for each unit as the size of the print run increases, Labor and capital are invested in tooling and preparing the technology, rather than in making the individual unit. The printing system allows editors and authors to correct a work as it passes from handwritten ‘manuscript to typographic galley. “Proofs” are test copies made before final production begins. The proofteader's craft ensures the faithfulness of the printed text to the author’s handwritten original Yet even the text that has passed through the castle gates of print is inconstant, Each edition ofa book represents one fossil record of a text, a record that changes every time the work is translated, quoted, revised, interpreted, or taught. Since the rise of digital tools for writing and publishing, manuscript originals have all but vanished. Bleetomie sedlining-is replacing the bieeoglpphics of the-editor On-line texts can be downloaded by users and reformatted, repurposed, and recombined. Print helped establish the figure of the author as the owner of a text, and copyright laws were written in the early eighteenth century to protect the author's rights to this property, The digital age is riven by battles between those who argue, on the one hand, for the fundamental liberty of data and ideas, and those who hope to protect—sometimes indefinitely— the investment made in publishing and authoring content. A dlassic typographic page emphasizes the completeness and closure of a work, its authority as a finished product. Alternative design strategies in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries reflect the contested nature of authorship by revealing the openness of texts to the flow of information and the coxosiveness of history. ‘Typography tended to alter language from a means of perception and exploration toa portable commodity. Marshall McLuhan, 1962