1

First printing. Perhaps last.

Summer 2021.
OHno type school by James Edmondson
Oakland, California
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 3

I graduated from TypeMedia¹ in 2014, and a huge

percentage of my experience in this field was
gleaned while studying under Erik van Blokland,
and his rag-tag crew of type design heavyweights

DEPEN D S .
in The Hague, Netherlands. I have been teaching
type design in some way since then. In that time,
I’ve encountered so many of the same questions
students present that are occasionally clear-cut,
and easy to answer, like “Which side is thick on an
A?2” Most often, however, the questions can be
answered differently depending on context. “How
bold should the dot of the i be?” “How wide should
the space be?” “Should I make my descenders
shorter?” The answer is almost always, “It depends.”
“Depends on what?” The answer to that
question is what brings us here, the creation of
a small book. It’s my hope that this book lets
people articulate the correct questions, and a way
to test solutions. Is that a cliché goal for a book?
Well, it depends.

➀ A master program in type design. ➁ It’s the right side.

 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL
A B
WHY ARE
WE HERE?
Bob Aufuldish was my graphic design teacher
at California College of the Arts. Bob is an
accomplished type designer, book designer,
collage-maker, objectively solid dude, and a great
teacher. He began the first day of class with a
simple goal: “This is supposed to be fun.” It is
not my goal that all type designers follow this
objective, but I am convinced of its importance
for the students. It is only through having fun
that we can successfully pick ourselves off the
ground, and recover from all the inevitable fail-
ures a student of type design is bound to expe-
rience. Fun can carry us through the mistakes,
corrections, and myriad versions of one’s first
typeface. Conversely, a lack of fun can expose
type design for what it is: monotonous labor.
More fun increases patience, and more patience
increases quality.
Quality
Fun
Beyond a reason to get out of bed in the morn-
ing,¹ a fundamental understanding of typography
on a micro-level could surely increase one’s skill
in composition, and other macro-level design
exercises. Honestly, I think that’s more of a
stretch. For most folks, some awareness around
type design can make you better at lettering
and drawing logotypes. Even for people that will
never make a typeface, type design education
can facilitate better-informed decisions when
editing or customizing letters. At the very least,
you’ll have something to doodle during meetings.
➀ Just me? ➁ Another analogy I contemplated for this was, “a couple where one person is trying to save for retire-
ment, and the other person is trying to plan a wedding.” ➂ I’m confused.
SKETCH
DRUNK,
EDIT
SOBER
Anything good began as a piece of shit—just
the hint of an idea, with all the sex appeal of a
leftover tater tot. For typefaces, it’s no different.
The best way to evaluate an idea is to 1. Put it
into sketch form, and 2. Look at it, and repeat.
As tricky as it may be, these are two separate
processes, and it’s important not to do them at
the same time. My brain is dumb, and nowhere
near powerful enough for multitasking. It’s like
two people in the same canoe paddling in oppo-
site directions.² As much as possible, separate
the act of judging from the act of creating, so
you can be as free as you want, and edit later.
C
DON’T SHIT
ON YOURSELF
Too often, our inner dialogues during the act
of drawing sound like the rants of an alcoholic
stepdad. What if we reframed them to sound
more like what you would say to your best
friend? What if Bob Ross was in our heads? If
that sounds like pointless babying, consider the
risks you’d be more comfortable taking in an
encouraging environment. After all, the voice in
your head is not you, you’re the one listening!3
5
D E
COMPARE THE
YOURSELF SYSTEM
TO YOURSELF,
BUT AT There are two main groups of rules for the
design of a typeface. First is the architecture.
AGE FIVE The parameters are:
• Construction
• Width
• X-height
Another surefire path to despair is to evaluate • Cap-height
your work against the work of your colleagues. • Descender/ascender length
Type design is not a competition.
Second is the stroke, including the parameters:
But how do we evaluate what’s good? • Weight
Even something as fundamental as the spacing • Contrast
of letters is fairly subjective, so the question of • Contrast type
“is this good?” is deceptively complicated to • Optical size5
answer. That simple fact is a huge reason I don’t
like the idea of design competitions.4 Luckily, The rules of the architecture define a path, and
there are some objective-ish questions we can the rules of the stroke are applied to that path.
compile into a sort of checklist. That’s type design in a nutshell. Pretty simple!
☑ Is weight consistent? There are, of course, stellar examples of dope
☑ Is spacing consistent? typefaces that don’t fit into this framework, and
☑ Is contrast consistent? require one-off solutions for each glyph. This
☑ Are all the letters as interesting as each other? makes the job of the type designer even more
☑ Are any letters appearing taller or wider
than the others?
difficult than it already was. What we are striving
for is a recipe of architecture and stroke that is
☑ Does any glyph impede reading more than
the rest?
so thoroughly defined, there is a point at which
the typeface begins to design itself. The designer
can relax.
Pretty quickly, we start to see a theme:
consistency. Ideally, it doesn’t matter if we’re
looking at a single word, or an entire paragraph—
both things should speak in the same voice. If
that is not the case, the user of the typeface has
to play Russian roulette with the words, head-
lines, paragraphs, or pages they’re setting. That’s
why I’m not super fond of typefaces with a funky
g, or a really wild question mark. These outliers
could be fun to draw, but in a way, they are the
equivalent of an asshole at a party dominating
the conversation, and bumming everyone out in
the process.
➃ And what’s with the entry fees? I mean, I get it, but still. ➄ Don’t worry if you don’t know these, we’ll get into it soon.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 7

cap-height

x-height
why up
kind
come? a what’s
fugl t his?

:(
y with yowza,t
center hat
looks l
ike
dog shi
t!

:(
baseline

You might expect the crossbar on A to That leaves A feeling really high-waisted, and Another failure of geometry is the stroke Completely even stroke weight would give
hit exactly at the center, but nah… ugly AF. What we want is a balance between weight where joints occur. usa joint that appearsway too heavy!
the top and bottom negative spaces.
:)

x2

=x2

diff
e
Call it water, air, sand, crushed hopes and same rent As,
-
dreams, whatever! The important thing is size ish

AAAA
d sp
that those two negative spaces are visually aces
!
much
close to each other in size. better

I can get carried away with this, but you

AAAA
don’t have to be so dramatic. Important:
joints should thin out a bit, and they don’t
define your contrast. REVIEW

To be honest, I’m usually singing the gospel
of, “it’s not the letters that matter, it’s the
words.” Let’s continue on, and visit some
things about spacing and more macro-level
concepts in a bit.
• Geometry will fail you!
• If it looks wrong, it is wrong.
• A high-waist shouldbe intentional.
• Don’t get stuck with an expensive
car payment!
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 9

Degul
a
is pr r Text
o
be B! ud to

Glyphs should always be proud of what letter

they are! This becomes even more important denotes buttcrack
when designing type for smaller sizes.

can’t even okay

get a finger smart
a
in there can y ss,
ou
expla
i
this? n
:(

right
here

Let’s talk about the most important feature A failure to really dig in to the buttcrack Also, the top bowl is a little smaller, helping If you don’t do that, your B looks weird!
of the letter B: the buttcrack. creates a dark spot, but even worse, it de- the letter stay balanced. We see a similar Almost like it’s going to fall over. Boring!
emphasizes the B-ness. thing on K, S, X, & Z. Let’s move on to the lowercase.
 what the OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 11
heck?
ascender
no with
ot
cap-height An ascender overshooting the cap-height overshoot oversho
lets us differentiate I from l and 1 and
oh great,
so on. And could very well get you laid. Ok,
r
yet anothe maybe not!
t
measuremen
to keep
track of!

REVIEW

• Dig into the buttcrack. First, here’s how C would look compared to I Going a bit above or below the guides com-
• Uppercase top bowl is a little smaller. & H with no overshoots. Because only a tiny pensates for the perceived smaller size.
b has an ascender, or a stem going above • Ascenders are higher than cap-heights. spec of C touches the cap-height and base-
the x-height. But why does it go past the • Invest your savings in low-expense line, it appears ✨optically smaller✨ than
cap-height? ratio mutual fundslike VTSAX. letters that have solid mass at those areas.
more t
shoo
what’s less over
this? overs
hoot

In condensed styles, you need less overshoot,
and in wide styles you need more. Why?
these Because changes in height are more and less
?
obvious, respectively.
Sometimes people ask, “How much over-
shoot is the default amount?” They think
they can trick me into giving them a definite
answer. I can’t and won’t.

sidenote:
tice
did you no
so
there is al
overshoot
ical
in the vert

:)
nment of
alig als:
the C and termin
st for
the paragr
aph not ju

:)
ts,
airpor
below? ta u rants,
res
ers,

:)
comp ut
s
lnesse
and il

:)
? C is a good opportunity to talk about two Moving on, terminals are the beginnings or Sometimes the aperture of C can be quite
is
th terms that make you sound fancy: terminals endings of strokes. The terminals on C relate open, and the terminals can be cut vertically,
d
an
and overshoots. significantly to terminals on G, and S. or at whatever angle your heart desires.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 13

?
ng ng
ri di
oo id
hat’s
wow, t

bo u k
ating.
fascin
on the

is yo
re al ly
my

D re
e of
edg e.

a
h er
seat

Get ready for a deep dive into d most inter- D is a little bit wider than an H, and a little
esting character there is to d-mistify. narrower than an O, and you can see how it’s
basically built outof a vertical and a round.

In many styles — even script — the left of Copying and pasting is not cheating, and is
D is exactly the same as the left of B. an efficient path to a consistent alphabet.

Across all kinds of styles, terminals on C, G,

and S relate in similar ways. How closed or
open are they? Is there a serif? Where’s my
mommy?

← 270 → ← 290 →

REVIEW

• Overshoot round shapes.

• Get your C, G, and S terminals on the so d In letters with contrast, the vertical is
is ente
D d
Lowercase is pretty much the same in sans same page. at t e! thinner than the round at its thickest. Since
th vy i elin
stuff. But in serif typefaces, there is usually • Drink and eat as much as you want he
a
ba
s the vertical is thick for the entire cap-height,
e
anomitted bottom serif. during quarantine. th and the round is thick just for a moment,
you must compensate.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 15
pinche ¡serif
serifita chingon!

:)
:(
↑
191
↓

:)
:(
↑
203
↓

:)
:(
In the lowercase, the d and b look like In other styles, we see that is not the E is full of absolutely wild optical adjust-
mirror images of each other. But don’t case! You must rotate the b for the foun- ments. The crossbar is slightly higher than ass
weak serifs daswhati
mtalkinb
believe everything you see. dation of the q, remove the descender, geometrically centered, because if it wasn’t it baby out
add an ascender, and serifs as needed. would appear to be too low. Isn’t that weird?
In serif land, E has horizontal serifs on the
left, and vertical serifs on the right. Vertical
serifs should follow the weight and width. If
the design is bold and condensed, so should
going
serif ft be the vertical serifs!
f t o the le
of ce nder
as
on the

AFG
afg
note
the l
of a a
serif ck
right
 ther
e!

Imagine writing a cursive d, and the path

your pen would take. That explains the
vertical asymmetry in the round. Finally,
the negative space at the baseline is very
important, so we make it loud and proud.
a 30°
broad nib at
e, contra st
angl
movement
defined by
tion”
or “transla

The bdpq relationship is a holy union, and
those four can be drawn pretty quickly, since
(again) you’re mostly copying and pasting.
REVIEW
In the lowercase, e is a great opportunity to Garamond, Jenson, and many logotypes for
• Copy/pasting is okay! bring up a massively important topic in type German beer employ the conventions of this
• bdpq are related, but not mirror images. design: contrast type. Imagine this e being contrast model.
Rotate, don’t flip. drawn with a broad nib. Most historical type-
• Don’t even think about puttingtomatoes faces with this contrast model keep the pen
in the fridge. held at around 30°.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 17

thin
translation:

d pen nib,
pointe broad ss”
s traigh
t,
agona l stre
held “di
s t
contra
d by
define
ss u re or
pre
an sion”
“exp

The other main contrast model is called But back to the e! Translation and expansion
“expansion” because of how the pointed pen have so many terms attached to them, it can
center
creates a thicker line when more pressure is get really confusing, but the simple trick is
applied. With some exceptions, the thinnest to look for the thins!
point is usually exactly at the top or bottom t
n’
of any round shape. is
is
th lly ing
trast a s
re pri
rse con r e
Bodoni, Didot, and many logotypes for in reve crossbar su mor
, e’s y
fashion magazines and cigarettes make designs nner, an
lly thi
heavy use of expansion. is usua er e simply
th
because fo r more
oom
isn’t r middle
in the
weight
thin expansion:

d pen,
pointe n”
“m der
o

The middle horizontal on F appears to hit right Because F has no horizontal bottom, you can
at the middle, and it does. …On Opposite Day! drop the middle one a bit to equalize the two
pockets of negative space.

Honestly, it took me so long to fully under-
stand the differences between the two, so
be patient. Figuring this out unlocks a lot
of possibilities and makes you feel like you
could work in any style!
The e contains so much DNA about the ascender
typeface — weight, width, contrast, contrast
type — it’s like a good friend about to give you
some juicy gossip! And you can tell, because
it’s always smiling.

doesn’t have
ipe,
to be a half-p
pipe you can make
REVIEW just a quarter- rif
the right se
wider than
much
e
• Vertical serifs respond to weight and width. the other on
ace
• Type is inextricably linked to calligraphy. due to the sp
available
Thank you, Noordzij!
• Expansion and Translation are the two
main types of contrast.
• I went to middle school and high school Lowercase f has a crossbar that hangs from If you were going to draw a really high-
with Zac Efron. the top of the x-height, and an ascender contrast, translation, serif f, you might
that makes a right turn as it reaches the want to make it look a bit like this.
ascender line.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 19
y
a ver ure!
also apert
os ed
cl

whoa
what
happ
ened
hori to t
is this ok? zont he
wh al?
o
ha a,
p
th pen what
e e
ve d t
rt o
ic
al
?

Be careful to make your f narrow enough
so that it doesn’t collide with anything else.
Alternatively, you can draw ligatures for
all colliding pairs. But type design is about
building a system of players that work in any
sequence. Sometimes ligatures draw too
much attention, and interrupt the reader.
But some people think they’re cute?1
Honestly, I avoid them like the plague.
It occasionally requires some advanced
trickery to get bold fs into a compact form,
but with patience, it’s always possible. And
you’ll always be glad when you don’t have to
builda bunch of stupid ligatures!
REVIEW
Degular has this as an alternate, which can
be read just as easily, but it evokes a different
feeling. Futura and many other geometric
sans opt for this form.
ear
Oddly, G’s salient feature, the horizontal,
turns out to not be necessary in some
humanist designs.

• Lower the crossbar on F.

bowl
• Ligatures aren’t alwaysthe answer.
• A Dyson V7 Animal+ Vacuum changed
my life, and could change yours, too. spine

Lowercase g is just a little o

 that hangs from
the x-height, then an s that grows out like a
weird tail and turns into an 8. And it has an
s ear. g is outrageous in every way, and makes the e
ar
G ha ed elate
this y clos no apologies. can r
r s/r
a ve ure to c/
t
aper

heck
bro, c
g!
out my
’t it e
i sn spin
gnar?! the e
super n relat
ca
to s

G can take many forms in both upper

and lowercase.
Perhaps due to g’s wild nature, students of
type design often take the opportunity to
throw out every rule in the book and make
➀ If you’re a ligature lover, please just go for it. Take my opinions with a grain of salt and ligature it up. the weirdest gs you’ve ever seen.
That’s why I challenge you to make really boring
gs. It’s much harder than making an expressive
g, but not so hard when you can look to your o
and s for some cues and inspiration.
 the three pockets OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 21 crush
ed ho
of negative space & dre pes
ams
are of similar size

a
H is olling a2
ntr
co r!
acte
char a2
+
b2

b2

I often opt for a flat ear, asa sort of nod to

calligraphy, but what’s way more important is REVIEW
the size of the three areas of negative space. But the real beauty of H, is how it defines If you want to figure out how much space
• Prove you can handle a boring g. spacing for the entire typeface. to add before your next stem, you simply
If you crave ✨the ultra boring,✨ the decep- • The three negative spaces ing should repeat the space inside of H.
tively titled “single storey g” is the answer — be similar in size.
but maybe not ina high-contrast serif. That • Our family bought a computer at
ou
wouldn’t be boring enough! Costco in 1996, and returned it every how y
at’s undry
?
see how
many ch so th e fo
year for a decade. th
of nega
tive sp
annels named ng !?
ace are paci
similar
in size for s
? what
a ner
d!!

→ 72 ←
I call this the ”counterspace equals letter- H is a control character, meaning that its
↓ space” rule, and it’s powerful. You find it all characteristics define a lot of the design and
over the place. Script, blackletter, sans, serif, spacing. Other control characters are O (for
69 narrow, wide — this rule doesn’t discriminate! rounds), n (for straights in the lowercase),
and o (for lowercase rounds).

bottom
so the e is
tiv e spac
nega gg er?
ly bi
slight i’m gettin
g
k t
i thin k ou find
this! chec 34 to REVIEW
h
pag e trut
the
out n!
t h/ • Horizontals appear thicker than verticals.
abou
• H can define your spacing.
• During high school, a bacterial infection
spread through the local waterpark. It was
called cryptosporidium, and gave every-
To the untrained eye, H is the definition Human eyes tend to perceive horizontals as h is just an n with an ascender, and we one uncontrollable diarrhea. Now, in every
of remarkably unremarkable. thicker than verticals. Low contrast designs haven’t gotten to n, so I won’t ruin the conversation and news story related to
worth their salt compensate for this by mak- dramatic conclusion! bitcoin, I think of diarrhea.
ing horizontals slightly thinner.
I
OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 23

seri
f
a li s do m
t ake
inte tle bi i
rest t mo t
ing. re
..
appear
the dot
to make t as
e weigh
the sam it a ctually
m,
the ste
ots
oversho

What is there that could possibly be I is so devoid of character, that you have
interesting about this letter? to throw some serifs on it, in particular sans
typefaces, just for legibility. It’s the only
letter that does this.

hat is
s an I t
he re’ extra
anted,
backsl om - heavy,
bott revers
e entry and
bold, c, exit stro
raphi Lowercase i appears humble as well, but usually re kes
callig th in k late to
st, wi ggerat
ed the weight
contra nd exa es
functions as a building block just like its and length
ps , a s tr ok of serifs
tra d exit capital counterpart.
y an
entr

Remember my rant against wild gs? If you

want a wild typeface, make a wild I!

In monospace typefaces (where This is even more dramatic in italics,

each glyph occupies the same where there are no serifs, only entry and
horizontal space), i has to really exit strokes.
stretch out to fill the space.

to
m has few
r a REVIEW
poo ifice fit
r le
sac fs to , whi
i n
ser space lin i • If you want a weird design, make a bizarre
the hil
s c ss I or i, let that modular piece ripple
i i t cla
i rs through the system.
f
But I is significant as a building block. The • Listen, I like IPAs as much as the next
reason is because the vertical stroke of I person, but to be honest, I’m kinda over
immediately echoes through a type system it. I’m moving on to drinking nothing but
in a pretty gnarly way. German wheat beers this summer. Prost!
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 25

s
ule
ing r
c g
spa ythin e j
r
eve nd th
u
t a aro
wha m
tea !
this yer
look
just pla
s li
a sl ke
ight
bent ly
I!

The lowercase has the same Sometimes, especially in trans-

issue, a quarter turn is all you lation designs, j curves even
need! less than that!

e
and th
dot is
y
exactl
me
the sa
as i

the
j fr
Futu om mon
ra o
can space
j
str really
why is the etc
h o
dot off center? ut

lue.
no c

It’s ridiculous that J qualifies as a letter. And other times, the descender
on j doesn’t even curve at all,
and it remains perfectly legible
the more of a turn J
makes,
in text.
the larger the gap wil So make your J and j a team player!
l be
Monospace J and j have space to fill, so
s those can go nuts (like in Vulf Mono). But
ze thi
minimi for the most part, I think we should save
try to po ssible
h as
hat as muc our half-pipes for the X-Games.
a J t a
m a ke s
pipe
half-
g t he
bi at
m
botto bates
r REVIEW
exace ssue
h is i
t
vely
massi • J and j only need a little turn.
• Spacing is the most important thing
in type, and life in general.
• My daughter has just surpassed her father
in intelligence and social awareness.
It’s also annoying because it creates a large It might not bother us in light styles, but She’s two.
pocket of whitespace when it falls in the when things get really bold, spacing needs
middle of a word. to tighten up (counterspace equals letter-
space) and gaps stick out like a sore thumb.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 27

here the
waist wa
s
↓ raised to
→ 72 ← minimize
70 this area

l
agona
In all sorts of styles, we look for a way to op di
gon
al ss the t t even
e dia hickne equalize the three negative spaces. ’
doesn o connect
th e t t

KKK
ok y have yles
str lightl n ome st
s tha in s
is r
nne al
thi vertic
the

K K KK
We already know that horizontals appear
heavier than verticals. The same is true
(albeit less so) for diagonals.

KKK
space
the bottom oooooooo
is slightly big time
the
bigger than bummer
and the
top,
e
right is th
all
biggest of

But the real secret to a successful K is the If you’re not careful about how the diagonals
careful consideration of the three pockets of join, you could end up with a K that has a
negative space. bulky joint, and the negative spaces all out
of whack.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 29
this
…but it voids like
quicks and
same gets worse! are
make the ls
for eyebal
effort to
the
balance
e negative
thre
spaces
ugh,
this
space
is
like suuuu
this per
avoid ue annoy
ing
lag
usual
ly no the p
serif
on th
left e
of th
botto e
m dia
gonal

In the lowercase, k is very similar to K, but For some reason, it’s extremely common Ls huge negative space makes it a pain In TypeMedia, I learned that difficult combi-
has an ascender, and the right doesn’t go for students to let ks top diagonal extend for spacing. nations are not the exception, they should
beyond the x-height. beyond the x-height. I have no clue why. be treated like the rule.
make ’em loud
and proud!
sidenote:
me of
i admit so
in
the notes
ons
these less
e base d on
ar
ve
my subjecti
taste
opinions &
e
— but ther
a
is usually
r it,
reasons fo
i swear!
and t
hat
reaso
n
is us
ually
spaci
ng

K is really tricky, and can be extremely frus-
trating. Just like every glyph, attempting a bold
version can help stress test your solutions, and
refine your system. Now go work on a bold, k?
For this reason, an L that is relatively narrow We can do a pretty gnarly job of filling the
REVIEW creates the fewest spacing problems. L can space if you have serifs to play with.
get narrower than you might think without
• The secret that unlocks a good K and k impacting legibility.
casual
is the careful consideration of negative & fanc
y!
space.
• The right of k lives within the x-height,
and doesn’t ascend.
• Remember that life is a journey, and know
how much I love you.

r
supe
y!
fanc

In script, the capitals have all sorts of y

sl
options for how fancy they get, but the l es
rt y!
basic architecture remains the same. fo
ef fanc
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 31
the grotesque:

top
y h
iall toot
e ssent r,
e
l is a lett ugh
thro
half ipples
r e
and rcas
lowe
the

In the lowercase, ls exotic form will blow

your mind.

om h
tt et M has three pockets of negative space that
se Often, adding a curve at the baseline aids in bo te
ten u
an of the differentiation of I, l, and 1. look very much like the teeth of a vicious
you c p one nt
a com ut
l as ende rs, b the humanist:
animal biting down.
or asc or m,
f s f
n thi
not i
obvi! w the
see ho are
ttom teeth
bo hei ght?
me the geometric:
the sa
e
e slop the two
and th lag bottom
f
of the
quite teeth now
can be touch,
er ent
diff but they
are still
the same
height!
REVIEW

• Try making an L that is a bit narrower

In serif styles, l has a serif placement very
similar to 1, so having a higher ascender than
your figures helps out when writing down
wifi passwords.
than you might think.
• Differentiate your I, l, & 1.
• The Ernie Ball logotype is tied with the
House Industries logotype for the greatest
of all time.
In humanist designs, sometimes we see On occasion, in some geometric sans, the
sloped stems. This helps balance out the vertex in M doesn’t hit the baseline. This is
sizes of the three teeth. also the case in monospace styles because
it allows for a more narrow form.
 here OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 33
no serifs
)
(usually

Beastly

in
thin

th
th

thick
ic
k

Actually, even when everything changes, the

rules still apply. REVIEW

• Make the bottom teeth the same height

Keeping the bottom teeth the same height in M.
helps in pretty much every style. Also, • In m, a middle stem that goes halfway, or
the contrast goes thin, thick, thin, thick. any bonus serifs, are heartbreaking.
• Pop quiz! Is Beastly expansion or
oh god translation?
make it
the stuff stop!!
nightmares
of
are made

are
thes
the e
same
?

Sometimes, we see students pulling crazy And other times, even crazier shit like this. Even the most basic N has some
ass shit like this. interesting subtleties.
Adob
the e Je
dead try to get nson
: fl
g negati ve
h, for e iveaway top
e to
solid re
ference at
ahh t xpans
ion spaces clos for a cl
assical
e ze serif
swe the same si translat
ief ion face
rel
dead
give
for away
tran
slat
ion smaller

thin
no
f!
seri
th
ic
thin

ted
k
bigge
r poin

An expansion m has branches that grow In translation, branches join in a more per- To answer that question, we have to go Also, check out how the construction
vertically out of stems. pendicular fashion. When contrast models back in time! Taking a look at Jenson, we makes a discrepancy in the size of the
change, we see things like joints change, but see some interesting details. negative spaces.
the same rules apply.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 35

it erifs
a b r ior s ton!…
id e nter
w i
row a
can g

100

qu

ab
it

su
e

rd
th
a b

ly
i

ic
nar t
row

th
er

ic
k
86

The same inconsistencies between the top In really heavy designs, I love making the n determines the spacing for the lowercase.
and bottom joints occur in sans land, and serifs huge, so negative space is minimized. In italics, the n is useful for even more
again, it results in a slightly larger bottom letters than in romans.
…but ext
negative space. This always makes a shape erior se
can’t, a rifs
feel balanced. s they
push the
surround
letters ing
away
pace =
s counters
f ha sp ace all
stuf letter
old alics
and
b
ght! erspace day in it
e ti t
to b se coun space!
u r
beca s lette
l
equa

Just look at the ridiculous number of letters

that share some anatomy with n. For
this reason, some folks find italics easier for
their first design.
sure er
make ett
just iddle l
m y
my h the al l
ero! ptic e
is o e middl
t h
in

REVIEW

• The diagonal in N is heaviest, and the

But counterspace = letterspace fails often.
Now, we are on to the bedrock of type When type is really light, without serifs,
design: the lowercase n. intended for huge sizes, or all of the above,
we have to space tighter. That’s when we use
the three-at-a-time rule.
bottom space is bigger.
• n determines spacing, and much of
the alphabet.
• Counterspace=letterspace fails on
occasion.
• French cleats are a fantastic storage
system for garages and workshops.
Flexible, adaptable, modular, and DIY.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 37 ah, just
a quick
thin rotation
, then
it’s beer
-thirty
for me!

remember remember
n? ion?
expansio translat
it’s the it ’s the
contrast contrast
sed sed
thin model ba model ba
oad
on the on the br
pen
pointed nib

For expansion, the O is thinnest And for translation, you might think you
at 12:00 and 6:00. could simply rotate the counter to get your
thins in the right spot, right?

in
th

uhhh, lo
oks how
rcle e’s on
like a ci her slati works
n
to me… tra ally
u
act thin

O is another control character, meaning it Not so fast! That strategy, while getting the
lays the foundation for the typeface’s design thins in the correct place, ignores the way
and spacing. The first thing to notice about lower the broad-nib creates contrast.
c
le gonna ase isn’
O is that it’s not really a circle. circ ned in minds blow any
t
ut li
pointy o for here
do ts n
m pariso
co rif by
Source Se r
translat
ion k Grießhamme
ion Fran
ans
exp
ty
in
po

ty
oin
p ah, much
better

nobody
says
e”
pointy “dircl
Even the most “geometric” typefaces do But then you could say, “um, I’m seeing a lot Here’s a typeface that contains elements
Here’s an actual circle. Do you notice how it a little optical adjustment to get the O to of typefaces that contain elements of both of both contrast models. They are called
looks a bit pointy on the extremes? A bit like appear more round. expansion and translation! What are these “transitional” or “hybrid,” and really, it’s nbd.
a diamond and a circle combined. A dircle. jabronis doin’?”
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 39

supe
r bi
supe g bo
r lo w
w wa l/
mia ist
mama is a
this pace
s
big
me
g
ul a
t
se ra
ri
f
Using both of these moves to extreme
The higher the waist of P, the more awkward degrees makes for funky-looking Ps, but
it will appear next to letters like T and V they space much easier.
that have large areas of negative space on
the bottom left.

O is not just a letter, it’s a building block REVIEW

that defines what all the round parts of your
typeface will be, so take your time, and don’t
(bl)O it!
if
ser
• O is just a tiny bit more square than
a circle.
• In expansion, the thinnest parts are at
12:00 and 6:00. In translation the thin
placement relates to the pen angle.
• I was recently spooked by a rat that
presumably lives in my garage, and is
presumably, also a freelance designer.

serif
slig
h
bigg tly
er s
erif

The P seems simple enough, and it really is, P usually has a bigger bowl than R, because Because we have plenty of room for it, the
pretty much. it has no leg occupying the bottom negative bottom right serif on P can get pretty big.
space.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 41
O
joint
dicular
negative a perpen nslation way
ra
space is the t
to do it Avenir

al
gradu
hing
branc ist
assic mal
is cl ini
an sion m
exp the
???

ve
Q boils down to 2 components: the O, and It’s amazing how you can put nearly
ati
neg e the diagonal/squiggle/swash/magnifying anything in the bottom right, and have no
c
spa glass handle/tail/chingadero. Component trouble reading the Q.
1 has limited options, but the options for
The lowercase p looks so similar to the The bowl of p is vertically symmetrical component 2 are infinite. Vulf
uppercase, but the key differentiation is in expansion, but translation shows a big Mono
Italic
the way the bowl connects. difference top to bottom.
Traj
ol an
ooo co
quite
nice

f
howof
the s
G
the O

t by In English, the Q is
ie
Messer arr lay almost always followed by
by H sp on r-
Inga Pl
önnigs Di cks lte h a u, so you might think, “Well, I can just Depending on how expressive the rest
Ja owa aug make that tail as long as I want! After all, of the alphabet is, you can try some fun
Sh van it’s insanely long in Trajan!” solutions.
Ca

On occasion, in translation italic designs, And in expansion italic, we sometimes

y
we get to see this cool form of p with see this lovely form that also features ur
e nt rik
C E
the stem overshooting the x-height, and the overshooting stem. P and p are not me
s by nd
an entry stroke leading into the bowl. so stale after all. Ea ern kla
d o
Mo Bl
n
va

REVIEW

• P relates strongly to R, but has a bigger
bowl.
• The construction of p depends on the
contrast model.
• I bought 12 pairs of socks, and feel like
a totally new person.
But Trajan was designed without a lower-
case, so there was no risk of the tail colliding
with a descender. For most designs, a mod-
est Q can still be quite attractive and legible.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 43

not too
much
going o
n
it’s ju up here
st a d
with th
e stem
moved d
own!

tty
pre ic
bas

q belongs to the bdpq group, and the In serif land, the q usually has nothing
R’s g
agbdpq group in italic. on the top right, and a normal serif at the o
the l t
descender. ook!

a bor
what ing q
whoa s is a
hell i happy
the ing? q
th
this
R has it all: a vertical, a round, a diagonal,
and a certain je ne sais quoi that makes all
letters want to be R, and all punctuation
ther
e
want to be with R.
are
many
vari
atio
on t ns
he
umbr
ella
form
of q
Somewhere along the line, we must While it’s a quaint form, it probably does more to
have been taught to make out qs distract and mess with spacing than aid legibil-
like this. Maybe elementary school? ity. So mind your ps and qs, and keep ’em boring. make ’m
y, i
two thes
e hunn be
s a
volu imilar gonn use
me, , ca
bott the late t a
o o
a bi m just we g ic jam
REVIEW t bi raf f
gger t

owever freakish or fancy your Q tail is,

• H
it should relate to the general concept of
the family.
• 
Lowercase q has a normal descender. No R is similar to many letters like A, E, H, etc, Sometimes we see this bummer version of
need to get cray. in that we try to balance the size of the top R. I think it looks too close to B, and too bold
• 
I’m sorry to report I got pranked today. and bottom negative space. in the connection.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 45

r
bigger lle
sma

usu
love a
a little ser lly no
l ong way if
goes a of
t
com
i
the he lef ng
lightly dia t o
(still s gon f
y th o...) al
fugl serif
chingon REVIEW

• Make your R proud to be an R!

• Make your r narrow, but still proud to be
Miniscule edits to thin out the joint, and add Comparing these two, it’s easy to see how an r.
a bit more diagonal, help tremendously. In most cases, there are four serifs on R. the r is derived from n, so I always make • Ignore me and form your own opinions
my n first. whenever you want.

you
have
atte infi
mpts nite
get to
it r
a co ight
mput with
er

In expansion, the bottom right serif can turn the

into an exit stroke that relates to a and t. ne”
“spi

except i
n monosp
the leak ace,
y faucet
is easil r
y avoide
d

o
jumb
this of
ke t
poc
tive
to parap nega ll
hrase ce wi n
Erik van s pa
uneve
te
Blokland crea in
, all ure
r has to text
do is s
not be i word

Similar to j, f, and others, rs curve only I had some tough teachers in school that It has been said that a sign painter might only
needs to make a quarter turn! This can help would draw water droplets coming out of r really nail one or two Ss in their entire career.
spacing a lot. with this form. Their critique was indelibly That’s why I wholeheartedly prefer the extremely
scorched in my mind. low-risk, low-stakes, and low-fumes world of type!
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 47
flip
horizo
ntally
...
??
hoot
o overs
n

t
thinnes
in the t in
spine?? thickes
hor he spi ne
i t
ser zont vert
ifs al ical
?? seri
fs

nd
...a cally
er ti
v
il e
wh
draw
When drawing the s, make sure you flip it you
Here’s an S that is really blowing it. And now here’s that same S with those backwards, upside-down, and back again,
issues resolved. while you measure and evaluate in context.

Lots of times, especially in italics, the lower- REVIEW

case s has different terminals than the
uppercase. I could talk all day about S/s, but • S/s are almost always thickest in the
that’s good for now. middle of the spine.
Here are two rule-breaking Ss with a thin • Flip an S/s every direction while you
spine. They get away with it because they draw.
are reverse contrast. • My dream car is a 2013 Toyota Sienna
with under 50,000 on the odometer.

so much
for “co
equals untersp
letters ace
pace”

two op big!
tions
for te
rminal
in Obv s
iously
g! e!
bi hug

T is another letter like A, V, Y, and L (etc) This is particularly problematic when trying
As we’ve previously mentioned, Ss terminals And now that I think about it, it’s a feature where legibility depends on huge pockets of to achieve tight spacing, for instance in a
echo through many of the letters. that goes way beyond just that. negative space on the outsides of the shape. super bold design.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 49
ns
combinatio
“difficult ted as the
trea
should be e exce ption.”
as th
rule, not like a
—Erik van Blokland this looks
l deal , but it
smal
a lot
matters

serio
usly.

no joking!

a wider seri
this is fs at the
tter bottom are The top of t isn’t a normal ascender, it is
little be an option
in some
much shorter. sans st
All we can do is make T a little narrower. The For the seriffed T, you can make those top yles
you can
bar
above quote from Erik van Blokland blew my vertical serifs quite big. They do a good job cross get awa
y
mind when I heard it, and it is some of the best of filling in space! with th
e
“jesus
and most succinct advice on spacing out there. t”

pt
ri
serif

sans
oing

sc
’s g
what re??
e
on h

x-height
The seriffed version of t doesn’t even have In almost every style, the crossbar hangs
serifs! And look how short it can be. Wow, from the top of the x-height.
that’s short.

ot a
still, n
mal a scender
nor

ion
ans
exp

REVIEW

Here’s a big idea: whenever you’re not sure
Now it’s time to address one of the most about the conventions in a particular contrast
common mistakes among all students of model, just check out some references. You
type and lettering. aren’t stealing, you’re building upon hundreds
of years of history.
• Tricky pairs are the rule, not the exception
to the rule.
• t is shorter, and has no serif up on top.
• I always try to cover each letter in
7 diagrams, and it always takes 9.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 51

Sans
Zangezi s by
i a Petrova Albertu
by Dar
thol d Wolpe
Ber
a tru
e g!

Respecting that tradition aids in legibility, In some classical designs, uppercase U takes
as most folks have been reading Us with a form very similar to the lowercase. We
contrast their whole lives. even see this on the Trajan Column.
U is
so
simpl
e,
what
could
possi
bly ate
go wr apes rel
ong? these sh

this
s
one’ !
razy
c

I don’t have to even tell you the most com- In sans land, the u is just an upside down n. But in the serif form, we see that u is no
mon mistake found on U. It rears its ugly Isn’t that crazy? longer an upside-down n.
head on hand-lettered sandwich boards the
world over.
Zang
ezi
Dari by
a Pe
trov
a

very o
it’s tant t
r
im po w ni
vertica
ls are thro
U has not nu s
, bo
? thic k
ticals, any
fs here REVIEW
er
two v h seri
’re bot that
so they ht? negati
rig
thick, space
ve • Uppercase U is usually thick on the left,
is hol and thin on the right.
y
• u is an upside-down n in sans, but slightly
different in serifs.
The notorious double-thick U. It is as prev- Hundreds of years of tradition say that (in • Loretta was obsessed with Frozen, then
alent as it is hideous. It will never die — only typefaces with normal contrast), the right That’s all I feel compelled to say about u. Frozen 2, then Coco, and now Trolls.
regenerate in a slightly different form. side of U is treated as a thin. It is a humble little creature. Respect it, and I think all four are fantastic cinematic
it will respect u. achievements.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 53
ht here to
added weig
e shape
balance th

I can get carried away with the opposite

strategy: making the interior serifs huge, and
exterior serifs tiny. This allows for tighter
spacing while maintaining drama.
y!
fanc
ooo

What could we say about an upside-down A th

i
without a crossbar? ri n on
gh t
t
si he
de

occasi
onal Trajan
serif

e t
no se tt oo
rif Historically, V had some large li sh
tex a er
ver
exterior serifs, and the interior ones ov For the script V, the entry stroke relates to
Well, it’s not always an upside-down A. were a bit smaller. Trajan lets these the same one used in a lot of other places.
V doesn’t have serifs on the bottom, shapes overlap. I say why not?!
or vertex.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL Messer by 55
Inga Plön
nigs probably
ershoot?
why no ov rifs here are
the se us clearl
y
because th
gether,
closer to ig ht
the x-he
defining

mor
ngl

l
mor

ica
e a
e a
REVIEW

e v

ert
ngl
mor
• V has no serif on the bottom.

e v
ert

e
• The script V uses some existing anatomy,

mor
ica
copy/paste!

l
• In five years of teaching workshops and
classes, there have been almost zero
The lowercase v is a scaled-down version. jerks. People that want to learn about type If any part of the W is pointy, overshoots help In order to make W/w space a little nicer, we
So easy. and lettering are 99.9% chill. to maintain optical alignment. can make the outside strokes a bit more verti-
cal, and the inside strokes at more of an angle.
a V in
there is
back ground for
the
compar ison

Let’s face it, the W should be called a At its most basic form, we see even in a serif
“double-V.” That’s what it looks like, and (in this case slab) version, the form is made
that’s how it is built. up of two narrow Vs.

apex

And if all else fails, just throw your I into REVIEW

Sometimes the two Vs overlap in a more
dramatic fashion.
the blender and see what happens!
• The W is two Vs.
When you need to make the most narrow W • There are lots of options, but none of
possible (for instance, in a monospace), you them include serifs at the bottom.
can make the apex quite short. • Today I bought my dream car. Do you
remember what it is?
 y
OHNO TYPE SCHOOL tin 57
eeny much
t

s
r
bigge

ke
ro
st
a
tr

d
x- e

re
g
hu

pe
ta
n
eve a
not e to s

l
s u
clo inuo mu

al
c
con
t sm h
e al
lin le
r

But if that’s our only move, a bold X begins Call it “cheating,” “trickery,” “black magic,”
y
to look fugly very quickly. or “witchcraft.” The point is we have to do
el r
iv some interesting moves to balance the sizes
ept ette all these
c
de ex l moves are
in
of the top/bottom and left/right negative
a l the name of
o mp equalizing spaces.
c four negati the
ve spaces
in X

this was
ts er a tricky
hi igh glyph
h
ts r to figure
hi owe out, but
l what the
hell else
nuous
conti was i do
in?
li e
n

Sometimes, the simplest things can be the Whenever drawing really bold slab shapes,
most complicated. In high contrast designs, the main diagonal I just draw the serifs first, and worry about
might need a continuous throughline, but in how they’ll all connect later. This is espe-
uhhh yeah
, one that case, we can offset the other diagonals. cially helpful on X.
would ex
pect that
because
it’s true
s
hape
milar s
si

y/
cop te/
s
pa le/
sca ust
adj get
to s guy
thi

One would expect that X is constructed Lucky for us, lowercase x is just a scaled- The translation x can have top right and
from two intersecting diagonals. down version of the capital. bottom left terminals that relate to the r
and s, etc.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL r 59
le or
al
sm teri s
ex rif
se

ury Modern
Eames Cent
n Blokland
by Erik va

ger
lar fs
eri
REVIEW s
n
dow f
e i
her want
• X is only as simple as two lines intersect- yo u
ing each other in really light styles.
• Cheating, or bending the rules of geometry
in favor of optical harmony, is the name of
the game.
This is also true for expansion, but the italic • I can’t stop watching my CNC cut things, When we get very bold, we can drop that
expansion x can take one of the coolest which negates all the time saved by having joint even lower! In fact, we have no choice.
forms out there, and remain perfectly legible. a robot do the work. For the script Y, the form
relates to the lowercase italic form.

s its
it ha
he r’s
mot
nals
diago

Y is simply a V that hopped on top of an I in

s
some sort of typography based cheerleading arent
y’s p
joi
scenario.
n
geo t in joint
a
met ower
mid r
dle ic lil l
and i
ts
fathe
r’s
desce
nder
l lil
smal
er
bigg
x
r
li all

le
sm

hu
ge
l

ge
al

x
l

hu
li
sm
er

When the joint (or crotch? sorry) of Y hits Lowercase is a bit like a v and a j made
right in the middle, the letter appears a little sweet, sweet love, conceived, and gave
high-waisted. birth to a y.
 OHNO TYPE SCHOOL 61

Coop
e
Blac r
k
esn’t have Ital
this part do ic
t the baseline!
to hi

ois
des B ey
Mara
ham Bradl
y G ra
b

ond
Garam

The serif Z has perfect pockets of negative But don’t let my bias towards hefty serifs sway
space for the serifs to grow to extreme, your personal taste. Just look at these little
But often, for italics, lowercase y is more dastardly lengths. These space fillers help chunkers by Graham. They fit perfectly with
like u and j. especially in bold designs. the rest of the players, and are quite cute.

Actually, italic y takes all sorts of crazy REVIEW

forms. Cooper Black Italic relates a lot to
what Garamond does. This is type design
in a nutshell—an understanding of the
classics gives you a framework to play a
new game on top of it.
• Y is similar to a V and I, and y is similar
to a v and j, or u and j.
• Referencing classics is always a nice idea,
even for the crazy new things that might
appear to be unrelated.
• I am going to take a break after Z, but I x-height
still want to do some numbers, punctua-
tion, and more letters.

wo
w,
a
zn wha
oo t
zf
es
t!

getti
ng th
weigh e
t of
diago this
nal r z
takes ight nty
time e poi
th

Z is last in the alphabet, and it’s also the In some geometric and certain humanist In sans designs, the lowercase z is just a
letter I usually design last—perhaps because designs, the Z can get pointy. It would prob- scaled down version of the capital.
diagonals are tricky and annoying. ably match some other points, and we don’t
usually see this in grotesque sans.
 Messe OHNO TYPE SCHOOL dern 63
r by y Mo
Inga Centur lokland
Plönn s
ings Eame ik van B
r
by E

CONGRATS!
You have survived 26 letters, about 200 diagrams,
and even more stupid jokes. I’ll get around to the
heavy numbers and punctuation (accented glyphs? ding-
ntals
horizo
bats?) someday, but for now, maybe it’s nice to do

YOU MADE IT
a quick review on the whole thing.
light
nal
diago

This part is crazy: the lowercase z occasion-
ally takes an unexpected reverse contrast
form. This is actually closer to what the pen
creates naturally.
But the italic z for expansion serifs gets one
of the most delightful forms in the entire
alphabet. We can see how it relates to the
bottom of 2.
HAVE SOME
REFERENCE
With hundreds of years of type history to rely
on, there are probably some typefaces that are
both well-drawn by a legit type designer, and
similar enough to your design that you can steal
some ideas in a healthy way.

Aye
r C ATTEMPT
MULTIPLE
by u
Mig rsive
uel
Rey
es

Often I get the question, “What’s your favor-
ite letter to design.” That’s tricky to answer.
Roman or italic? Bold or light? Expansion
or translation? At this point, the person who
Next time, I’ll just say “lowercase italic
z.” That’s probably a nerdy and verbose
response, but it’s truly an awesome form,
fun to draw, and challenging to solve.
VERSIONS
For every successful glyph, there are at least a
few iterations that weren't quite as successful.
Testing out variations in context is the only way
to declare a real winner.

HAVE
asked is no longer remotely interested. Uppercase still sucks tho.

A GOOD
REVIEW

ake your time when figuring out the

• T
TIME
weight of the diagonal of Z.
• 
Lowercase z has many more interesting If you’re ever hating the initial sketching
options than you might think. and drawing of a typeface, maybe a little
• 
I sharted on the first day of high school. soul-searching is in order. Do you have a solid
concept? Or are there too many good ideas
floating around? The beginning should be fun.
If you’re hating the last 10-50% of finishing
a typeface, good! You’re supposed to!
 65
In no way do I intend the rules contained in
this book to be the ultimate authority on type
design. They are simply the things I found
myself saying over and over to students during
my limited teaching career. I fantasized that
maybe if I wrote them down and formatted
them into a digestible format, I wouldn’t have
to say them anymore. That, of course, didn’t
turn out to be the case, but nonetheless, we
can reference the result: 26 letters covered in
enough detail to make you wonder, “Do I really
want to do this?”

For this publication I am indebted to: Martin Grasser, who

funded the project, Carina Huynh, who designed this book,
and Tânia Raposo, who edited all the content. Of course, I
must thank all of my teachers, co-teachers, and students
I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with over the years.
Personally speaking, type design has always been a refuge
and source of calm. For like-minded folks seeking peace
in controlling what we can, it is my goal that this book can
help. If it doesn’t, I suggest therapy.

—James Edmondson, Summer 2021

k
efaces in this boo
most* of the typ otype.co
chased at ohn
can be pur

d here:
can be foun
*the others
aytype.com
Harriet: ok pe.com
Ayer: commercialty
usei nd ustries.com
: ho
ury Modern n.com
Eames Cent is: roxyboxe
Mara des Bo fu tu refonts.com
ngezi:
Messer & Za : adobefonts
.com
f & Trajan
Source Seri nt s. com
Albertus: fo
should we continue? numbers? punctuation? let us know!
web: ohnotype.co
instagram: @ohnotypeco

© 2021 OHno Type Company