Typography Research Booklet

INDEX CONTENTS Anatomy of Type Classic/Old Style Blackletter Caslon Baskerville

Modern Style Bodoni Didot Rockwell

Contemporary Style Helvetica Georgia Univers

Anatomy of Type

Johannes Gutenberg 12th Century Classic/Old Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVQXYZ

abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvw xyz

History and Inspiration Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes the entire group of faces is known as Fraktur.

Blackletter is sometimes called Old English, but it is not to be confused with the Old English language, despite the popular, though mistaken, belief that the language was written with blackletter.

The Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) language predates black letter by many centuries, and was itself written in the insular script.

Carolingian minuscule was the direct ancestor of blackletter. Blackletter developed from Carolingian as an increasingly literate 12th-century

Europe required new books in many different subjects. New universities were founded, each producing books for business, law, grammar, history, and other pursuits, not solely religious works for which earlier scripts typically had been used.

These books needed to be produced quickly to keep up with demand.

Carolingian, though legible, was timeconsuming and labour-intensive to produce. Its large size consumed a lot of manuscript space in a time when writing materials were very costly. As early as the 11th century, different forms of Carolingian were already being used, and by the mid-12th century, a clearly distinguishable form, able to be written more quickly to meet the demand for new books, was being used in northeastern France and the Low Countries.

The Aberdeen Bestiary, an early example of black letter from the 12th century

Unique Features

Blackletter Blackletter has a very unique style that consists very contrasting and heavily detailed uppercase letters, very slanting and calligraphic serifs.

Germany continued to use Blackletters until the early twentieth century till 1920’s, then it was considered to be antiquated by German designers and publishers and fell out of favor and was replaced by the “New Typography” of sans serif typefaces. In 1933 Hitler declared the new typography to be un-German and declared Fraktur to be “Volk”, that is the people’s font.

The Nazis continued to use Fraktur extensively until 1941.

Comparision

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1 3

5 2

Blackletter Dampfplatz

1. Blackletter (B) has more elaborated serifs than on Dampfplatz 2. Blackletter has exaggerated tails and terminals.

3. Blackletter has very bold and contrasting detailed letters 4. Blackletter has more stylized serifs 5. The edges of Dampfplatz are more rounded than on Blackletter.. Blackeltter has sharp edges

Usage

A poster made for an antique shop using a combination of Blackletter and Helvetica.

William Caslon 17th Century Classic/Old Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVQXYZ

abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvw xyz

History and Inspiration Caslon’s earliest design dates to 1722.

Caslon is cited as the first original typeface of English origin.

Type historians Stanley Morison and Alfred F. Johnson, a scientist who worked at the British Museum, pointed out the close similarity of Caslon’s design to the Dutch Fell types cut by Voskens and other type cut by the Dutchman Van Dyck.

The founts cut by Caslon and his son, were close copies of the Dutch Old face cut by Van Dyck. These founts were rather fashionable at that time.

The alternative founts they cut for text were a smaller, rather than a condensed letter.

The Caslon types were distributed throughout the British Empire, including British North America. Much of the decayed appearance of early American printing is thought to be due to oxidation caused by long exposure to seawater during transport from

England to the Americas. Caslon’s types were immediately successful and used in many historic documents, including the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

After William Caslon I’s death, the use of his types diminished, but had a revival between 1840–80 as a part of the British Arts and Crafts movement.

The Caslon design is still widely used today. For many years a common rule of thumb of printers and typesetters was When in doubt, use Caslon.[9] Several revivals of Caslon do not include a bold weight. This is because it was unusual to use bold weights in typesetting during the 18th century, and Caslon never designed one. For emphasis, italics or a larger point size, and sometimes caps and small caps would be used instead.

It should be noted, that some revivals have little or nothing in common with the 18th century type cut by Caslon, besides the serifs and the name.

William Caslon’s 1734 Specimen sheet

Unique Features

Caslon Caslon shares the irregularity characteristic of Dutch Baroque types. It is characterized by short ascenders and descenders, bracketed serifs, moderately high contrast, robust texture, and moderate modulation of stroke. The A has a concave hollow at the apex, the G is without a spur. Caslon’s italics have a rhythmic calligraphic stroke. Characters A, V, and W have an acute slant. The italic p, Q, v, w, and z all have a suggestion of a swash.

Comparision

1

3

2

Caslon Belfast Serial

1. Caslon has very sharp edges 2. Caslon has very straight and blunt serifs 3. Caslon and Belfast Serial are almost alike but if you observe closely, the serifs of Caslon are more curvy and straight cut

Usage

A page from a book with a combination of Georgia for the title and Caslon for the body text of the page

John Baskerville 17th Century Classic/Old Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVQXYZ

abcdef ghijkl mnopqrstuvw xyz

History and Inspiration Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville (1706–1775) in Birmingham, England.

Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni & Firmin Didot.

Baskerville’s typeface was the culmination of a larger series of experiments to improve legibility which also included paper making and ink manufacturing.

The result was a typeface that reflected Baskerville’s ideals of perfection, where he chose simplicity and quiet refinement. His background as a writing John Baskerville (1706–1775) Baskerville wanted to improve the types of William Caslon. master is evident in the distinctive swash tail on the uppercase Q and in

the cursive serifs in the Baskerville Italic.

The refined feeling of the typeface makes it an excellent choice to convey dignity and tradition.

In 1757, Baskerville published his first work, a collection of Virgil, which was followed by some fifty other classics.

In 1758, he was appointed printer to the Cambridge University Press. It was there in 1763 that he published his master work, a folio Bible, which was printed using his own typeface, ink, and paper.

The perfection of his work seems to have unsettled his contemporaries, and some claimed the stark contrasts in his printing damaged the eyes. Abroad, however, he was much admired, notably

by Pierre Simon Fournier, Giambattista Bodoni (who intended at one point to come to England to work under him), and Benjamin Franklin.

The Folio Bible printed by Baskerville in 1763

Unique Features

Baskerville The Baskerville typeface is the result of John Baskerville’s intent to improve upon the types of William Caslon. He increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper and more tapered, and shifted the axis of rounded letters to a more vertical position. The curved strokes are more circular in shape, and the characters became more regular. These changes created a greater consistency in size and form.

Comparision

1

2

3

Baskerville Garamond

1. Baskerville has angled strokes than the rounded ones of Garamond 2.The font has more contrasting strokes than Garamond 3. Baskerville has more tapering serifs than Garamond

Usage

A book cover with a combination of Baskerville for the name name of the publishing house and Gill Sans for the name of the book

Giambattista Bodoni 17th Century Modern Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRST UVQXYZ

abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvw xyz

History and Inspiration Bodoni is a series of serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) in 1798.

The typeface is classified as Didone modern. Bodoni followed the ideas of John Baskerville, as found in the printing type Baskerville: increased stroke contrast and a more vertical, slightly condensed, upper case; but took them to a more extreme conclusion.

Bodoni had a long career and his designs evolved and varied, ending with a typeface of narrower underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs, extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes, and an overall geometric construction. Though these later designs are rightfully called “modern”, the earlier designs are “transitional”.

Some digital versions of Bodoni are said to be hard to read due to “dazzle” caused by the alternating thick and thin

strokes, particularly as the thin strokes are very thin at small point sizes. This only occurs when display versions are used at text sizes, and it is also true of much display type that is used at text sizes. Non-dazzling versions of Bodoni that are intended to be used at text size are “Bodoni Old Face”, optimized for 9 points; ITC Bodoni 12 (for 12 points); and ITC Bodoni 6 (for 6 points).

Bodoni admired the work of John Baskerville and studied in detail the designs of French type founders Pierre Simon Fournier and Firmin Didot.

Although he drew inspiration from the work of these designers, above all from Didot, no doubt Bodoni found his own style for his typefaces, which deservedly gained worldwide acceptance among printers.

Facsimile of lines from Dante’s “La Vita Nuova” first published with Bodoni types by the Officina Bodoni in 1925

Unique Features

Bodoni Bodoni had a long career and his designs evolved and varied, ending with a typeface of narrower underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs, extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes, and an overall geometric construction. Though these later designs are rightfully called “modern”, the earlier designs are “transitional”. Some digital versions of Bodoni are said to be hard to read due to “dazzle” caused by the alternating thick and thin strokes, particularly as the thin strokes are very thin at small point sizes.

Comparision

2

3

1 Bodoni Didot

1. Bodoni has more contrast in the thickness 2. The two typefaces have a major difference in the x height 3. Bodoni and Didot have a contrast in the thinness of the their strokes

Usage

A fashion magazine with a combination of Bodoni for the name of the magazine and Helvetica for the magazine captions

Didot Family 19th Century Modern Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHI JKLMNOPQR ST UV Q XY Z

abcdefghijk lmnopqrstuv wxyz

History and Inspiration Didot is a name given to a group of typefaces named after the famous French printing and type producing family. The classification is known as modern, or Didone.

The typeface we know today was based on a collection of related types developed in the period 1784–1811.

Firmin Didot (1764– 1836) cut the letters, and cast them as type in Paris.

His brother, Pierre Didot (1760–1853) used the types in printing. His edition of La Henriade by Voltaire in 1818 is considered his masterwork.

The Didot family’s development of a high contrast typeface with an increased stress is contemporary to similar faces developed by Giambattista Bodoni in Italy. Didot is described as neoclassical, and is evocative of the Age of Enlightenment. The “Foundry Daylight” version of Didot was commissioned and used by broadcast network CBS for many years alongside

its famous “eye” logo. While the network’s use of Didot with its logo is not as prevalent as it once was, it is still a common sight. The Style Network uses a bold weight of Didot in its onair identity and the News Gothic font too. Pierre Didott (1760–1853) Didot is described as neoclassical, and is evocative of the Age of Enlightenment.

Several revivals of the Didot faces have been made, most of them for hot metal typesetting. Like Bodoni, early digital versions suffered from a syndrome called “dazzle”–the hairline strokes in smaller point sizes nearly disappearing in printing. Among the more successful contemporary adaptations are the ones drawn by Adrian Frutiger for the Linotype foundry, and by Jonathan Hoefler for H&FJ. Both designs anticipate the degradation of hairline in smaller point sizes by employing heavier weighted strokes in the smaller point sizes.

A fashion magazine using Didot for the name of the magazne

Unique Features

Didot

Didot has Amazingly light slab serifs. Has a spur Kind of object in a lower case ‘t’ and has a very stark contrast between thick and thin strokes.

Comparision

2

1

3 Didot Baskerville

1. Angular serifs than compared to baskerville 2. Not very tapering lowercase ‘t’ like baskerville 3. More Thicker and curvy spurs

Usage

An album cover with a combination of Didot for the album name and Cinnamon Cake for the name of the album and other text

Frank Hinman John Baskerville Pierpont 17th Century 20th Classic/Old Modern Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS T UV Q XY Z

abcdefghijkl mnopqrstuv wxyz

History and Inspiration Rockwell is a serif typeface belonging to the classification slab serif, or Egyptian, where the serifs are unbracketed and similar in weight to the horizontal strokes of the letters. The typeface was designed at the Monotype foundry’s in-house design studio in 1934. The project was supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont. Slab serifs are similar in form and in typographic voice to realist sans- serifs like Akzidenz Grotesk or Franklin Gothic. Rockwell is geometric, its upper- and lowercase O more of a circle than an ellipse.

A serif at the apex of uppercase A is distinct. The lowercase a is twostory, somewhat incongruous for a geometrically drawn typeface.

Because of its monoweighted stroke, Rockwell is used primarily for display rather than lengthy bodies of text.

Rockwell is based on an earlier, more condensed slab serif design called Litho Antique. The 1933 design for Monotype was supervised by Frank Hinman

Pierpont. The Guinness World Records used Rockwell in some of their early1990s editions. Informational signage at Expo 86 made extensive use of the Rockwell typeface. Docklands Light Railway also used a bold weight of this typeface in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

The New York Times uses a similar typeface, Stymie Extra Bold, for the headlines and some other typographical uses in its Sunday magazine. The letterform of Stymie Extra Bold’s lower-case “t” is highly geometrical, whereas Rockwell’s Extra Bold has a rounded letterform. The ascender of the Rockwell “t” is also cut at a sharp angle not to be found in the Stymie typeface. The CW television network has used Rockwell in its on-air identity since 2009 in addition to Avant Garde Gothic.

The Charlotte Hornets used a variation of Rockwell called Rockwell Condensed for its logo and uniform typefaces.

The famous caomputer hardware company uses the Didot typeface

Unique Features

Rockwell

There is no contrast between vertical and horizontal strokes. Has a very thik slab or egiptian serifs.

The end portions of lower case c, e, g and top portion of t is slightly slanting.

Comparision

3 1 2

3

Rockwell Bodoni

1. No contrast between vertical and horizontal strokes 2. Upper- and lowercase O more of a circle than an ellipse 3. More Thicker slab serifs than of bodoni.

Usage

A beer can with a combination of Rockwell for the name of the beer and Helvetica for the subtitle

Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffmann 20th Century Contemporary Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHI JKLMNOPQR STUVQXYZ

abcdefghijkl mnopqrstuvw xyz

History and Inspiration Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with the successful AkzidenzGrotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, its design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk.

The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage.

Neue Haas Grotesk into a larger family.

In 1960, the typeface’s name was changed by Haas’ German parent company Stempel to Helvetica (meaning Swiss in Latin) in order to make it more marketable internationally.

Helvetica is among the most widely used sans-serif typefaces. Versions exist for the following alphabets/scripts: Latin, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu, Khmer and Vietnamese. Chinese faces have been developed to complement Helvetica.

When Linotype adopted Neue Haas Grotesk (which was never planned to be a full range of mechanical and hot-metal typefaces) its design was reworked. After the success of Univers, Arthur Ritzel of Stempel redesigned

Lot of brands using the Helvetica typeface

Unique Features

Helvetica

Helvetica has a tall x-height, which makes it easier to read in smaller sizes.

It is two-storied a (with curves of bowl and of stem). narrow t and f. It has a square-looking s, bracketed top serif of I and rounded off square tail of R.

Comparision

1

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3 Helvetica Arial

1. Helvetica and Arial almost look alike with some minor changes. Helvetica has a thinner stem than Arial 2. Helvetica’s ‘t’ has no cuts at the top unlike the Arial’s ‘t’ 3. Helvetica’s ‘a’ has a curvy and tappering terminal.

Usage

An advertisement about a sumeer sale with a combination of Helvetica and Myriad Pro

Matthew Carter 20th Century Contemporary Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVQXYZ

abcdefghijkl mnopqrstuvw xyz

History and Inspiration Georgia is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1993 by Matthew Carter and hinted by Tom Rickner for the Microsoft Corporation, as the serif companion to the first Microsoft sans serif screen font, Verdana.

Microsoft released the initial version of the font on November 1, 1996 as part of the core fonts for the Web collection. Later, it was bundled with Internet Explorer 4.0 supplemental font pack.

Georgia is designed for clarity on a computer monitor even at small sizes, partially effective due to a large x-height.

The typeface is named after a tabloid headline titled “Alien heads found in Georgia.”

The Georgia typeface is similar to Times New Roman, but with many subtle differences: Georgia is larger than

Times at the same point size, and has a greater x-height at the same actual size; Times New Roman is slightly narrower, with a more vertical axis; and Georgia’s serifs are slightly wider and have blunter, flatter ends. Georgia incorporates influences from Clarendon-style typefaces, especially in b, r, j, and c (uppercase and lowercase).

Figures (numerals) are an exception: Georgia uses text (old-style) figures whereas Times New Roman has lining figures.

Harvard University’s website using Georgia

Unique Features

Georgia

Georgia has a greater x-height. Georgia’s serifs are slightly wider and have blunter, flatter ends. Georgia incorporates influences from Clarendon-style typefaces, especially in b, r, j, and c (uppercase and lowercase).

Comparision

3

1

2

Georgia Garamond

1. Georgia and Garamond are quiet similar. The strokes have a slight difference in thickness 2. Georgia has a bigger x height.

3. Georgia has straigt serifs while Garamond has them at slight angle

Usage

A daily newspaper with a combination of Georgia for the name of the newspaper and Helvetica for the headlines

Adrian Frutiger 20th Century Contemporary Style

Glyphs

ABCDEFGHI JKLMNOPQ RSTUVQ XYZ abcdefghijk lmnopqrstu vwxyz

History and Inspiration Univers is the name of a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954. Originally conceived and released by Deberny & Peignot in 1957, the type library was acquired in 1972 by Haas. Then transferred into the D. Stempel AG and Linotype collection in 1985 and 1989 respectively upon the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) acquisition and closing.

Univers is one of a group of neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces, all released in 1957, that includes Folio and Neue Haas Grotesk (later renamed Helvetica). These three faces are sometimes confused with each other, because each is based on the 1898 typeface Akzidenz- Grotesk. These typefaces figure prominently in the Swiss Style of graphic design.

Different weights and variations within the type family are designated by the

use of numbers rather than names, a system since adopted by Frutiger for other type designs. Frutiger envisioned a large family with multiple widths and weights that maintained a unified design idiom. However, the actual typeface names within Univers family include both number and letter suffixes.

Currently, Univers type family consists of 44 faces, with 16 uniquely numbered weight, width, position combinations.

20 fonts have oblique positions. 8 fonts support Central European character set. 8 support Cyrillic character set.

The famous company Apple uses the Univers typeface for the keyboard

Unique Features

Univers

The dot for the lowerscase ‘i’ is not circular.

The upward and downward ends are perfectly horizontal and the tight and left ends are perfectly vertical.

Comparision

2

1

Univers Helvetica

1. Reletively larger thickness of stroke than Helvetica 2. A little smaller x-height than Helvetica

Usage

A shop banner with a combination of Univers for the name of the store and Bodoni for the name of the owner of the store on the banner

Researched by

Researched by AkankshaNegi Negi Akanksha