OCR-B Series- Type Spec Book

SPECIFICATIONS

OCR-B

TYPE SPECIMEN BOOK

Signature

CONTENTS STRATEGY

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GRIDS

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GRID VARIETIES

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COLOUR PALETTE

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TYPOGRAPHY 16 EXPRESSIVE TYPOGRAPHY

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INDICATORS 22 DESIGN ELEMENTS

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PAPER STOCK

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PRINTING AND FINISHING

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<<TYPE<SPECIFICATIONS<<<<<< S<AFRUTIGER<<ADRIAN<JOHANN<

SPECIFICATIONS

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Strategy This series of booklets was created as a celebration of Adrian Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s OCR-B typeface. This is one of Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest of achievements, that has recieved the least in recognition terms. It is still used quiet extensively, almost 30 years after its creation, but yet it remains always in the shadows of Univers, Frutiger, Avenir, and many other of Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typefaces.

Four booklets have been designed, each one detailing a particular aspect of OCR-B. These include the history, the design and the use of the font, as well as a series of comparisons with other optical charatcer recognition fonts.

The most obvious of uses of OCR-B is that of the passport, so therefore each booklet has been implemented in this format.

Various elements of passport design have been adopted and can be noticed throughout the series, such as the dimensions, rounded corners, identification page layout, and so on.

The original OCR-B typeface has been utilised in many areas throughtout the series, most notably in the booklet titles and headings, but the letterpress version has been given greater influence due to its enhamced legibility and readability.

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Grids MARGINS

Page Size:

136.5 x 186 mm

Top Margin: Bottom Margin: Inside Margin: Outside Margin:

14.55 mm 15.24 mm 15 mm 10 mm

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BASELINE GRID

Body Text Size:

9 pt

Column Grid: Baseline Grid: Gutter:

5x7 10.8 pt 3.81 mm

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Grid Varieties HISTORY

Machine-Readable Typefaces

HISTORY

Initially the shapes of OCR typefaces (optical character recognition) were solely determined by the reading technology of computers. They had to be simplified or stylised.

The only criterion was that of correct recognition.

The ‘first generation’ of stylized machine-readable typefaces included two magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) fonts. MICR Code is a characterrecognition technology used mainly by the banking industry to ease the processing and clearance of cheques and other documents.

The MICR encoding, called the MICR line, is at the bottom of cheques and other vouchers and typically includes the documenttype indicator, bank code, bank account number, cheque number, cheque amount, and a control indicator.

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Spread 1:

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The technology allows MICR readers to scan and read the information directly into a data-collection device.

Unlike barcodes and similar technologies, MICR characters can be read easily by humans.

The numerals face E13B of the American Bankers Association was part of this ‘first generation’. It was based on a matrix of 7 by 10 cells. Another typeface for magnetic readers was CMC7 (Caractères Magnétiques Codés), developed in 1961 by the French Compagnie des Machines Bull. Its numerals and capitals were each constructed using seven strokes of constant weight whereas the counters varied.

In 1961 a committee of the USA Standards Institute (USASI) agreed on the creation of OCR-A as a national standard for machinereaders. This typeface with its still extremely stylized shape based on a matrix of 5 by 9 cells belonged to the ‘second generation’. OCR-A was preceded by fonts from different manufacturers, including Farrington, NCR (National Cash Register) and IBM. Initially it only contained numerals, capitals and a few special characters but was later extended to include lowercase letters as well. Together with OCR-B it was recommended

by ISO in 1966.

Adrian Frutiger’s typeface OCR-B belonged to the ‘third generation’ featuring a look that was more pleasing to the human eye.

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History Booklet Page 12 - 13

DESIGN

DESIGN

SERIFS

VARIATIONS

Adrian Frutiger staunchly refused to introduce any serifs if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Serifs increae the similarity between characters, and are therefore less suitable for machine readers.

But because of the danger of them being confused there was no other choice with certain characters, such as with i j and I.

With the K, the arm and tail don’t come to an acute point on the stem. This has never been done before in any of Frutiger’s many typefaces, but there was no other option technically. If there had been a gap in the centerline, the reader would possibly have read the K as a stroke and a chevron.

The same goes for the Q, in which the tail enters inside the counter in OCR-B, unlike anywhere else in his work.

SIMILAR CHARACTERS Adrian Frutiger made use of the shapes of similar characters to create others. This can be seen clearly in the lowercase q, p, d and b. It almost seems like he designed one single character and then rotated this to create the rest.

The major differences between each letter can be viewed in the ascender/descender lenght. The d and b have a significantly longer ascender than the p and q’s descender.

The curve of the uppercase D almost perfectly traces the curve of a semi-circle.

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Spread 2:

UPPERCASE D

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Design Booklet Page 22 - 23

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ADAPTATIONS FF OCR-F

ADAPTATIONS

FF OCR-F was the first family in a series of “nondesign” typefaces for the FontFont library. Technically oriented faces, such as DIN, Courier, Pica, or OCR-A and OCR-B have never been so much in demand as today.

Poster designers, magazine publishers and art directors love their cold, martial forms.

At the same time, many would like to have a few more weights and a quasi-

proportional version of these faces available. FontFont’s FF OCR-F is a re-working of OCR-B, with two completely new weights – light and bold – and oldstyle figures. The true proportionally-spaced look was created by adapting the typeface to a course grid of about 12 units to the em quad. Characters like m, w and M and W were kept rather narrow, and i and I were allowed to keep their serifs.

The work was undertaken

by Albert-Jan Pool, who also designed FF DIN. He described the context in which he places FF OCR-F as follows: “OCR-B was originally conceived in the late 1960s for ECMA, a European association of computer manufacturers. They had decided on enhancing their minimal standards of resolution and mechanisms of Optical Character Recognition for their machines and software. Until that day, they

ABCDEFGHIJK LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrs tuvwxyz1234567890

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had used OCR-A, a typeface which suited the current practical needs, but only as far as machines were involved. Humans did not quite appreciate OCR-A. Computers as well as the piles of matrix-printed output they produced were far from userfriendly. OCR-B was devised to encourage a greater acceptance of computers. Adrian Frutiger was asked to design a typeface that took full advantage of the new standard. Once being an aesthetic compromise between the reading capabilities of man and machine, OCR-B has in fact come to technically outlive itself.”

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Adaptations Booklet Page 14 - 15

APPLICATION

OCR-B: Graphic Design

APPLICATION

Technically oriented faces, such as DIN, Courier, Pica, or OCR-A and OCR-B have never been so much in demand as today. Poster designers, magazine publishers and art directors love their cold, martial forms.

DADADUM

OCR-B has experienced a resurgence of sorts lately, particularly within the graphic design industry. It makes a good face for advertising that needs a ‘typewriter’, or obvious ‘computer’ look to it, but it has also appeared in numerous poster designs and branding projects of the last few years.

Dadadum is a Swiss contemporary furniture brand created out of respect for and in homage to the functionality, technical expertise and minimalism associated with Swiss design, and that strives to bring out the beauty of each raw material.

BILDMUSEET

RAYMAY DIARY CALENDAR This ultra-compact calendar is the size of a credit card, making it easy to slide unobtrusively into a pocket or even a wallet! The numbers of the calendar’s date range are embossed on its metalliccolored cover, adding to its credit card-like appearance.

Bildmuseet is a centre for visual culture and a museum dedicated to the exhibition of modern international art, architecture, design and photography, as well as retrospectives, and is described as a place for experiences, reflection and discussion.

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Developed by design studio and co-founder Demian Conrad Design, Dadadum’s new brand identity uses Swiss sans-serif typography and a grid based approach that plays with letter space to convey the core values of modularity, playfulness and origin. Based around OCR-B, chosen for its ‘interesting and strong “D” shape’, fixed stroke width, Swiss provenance and what the studio describe as a ‘human touch in a technological world’, the logotype draws distinction and communicative value from its mechanical machine read origins.

Developed by Swedish graphic design studio Stockholm Design Lab, Bildmuseet’s visual identity was designed to reflect its position as an inspiring collaborative art institution where science and art meet.

SDL’s approach embraces a monospaced typographical grid based uniformity using OCR-B.

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Application Booklet Page 10 - 11

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Colour Palette HISTORY The style of this passport is from 1928, the year of Adrian Fruitgers birth. Its colour palette was adopted for the history booklet.

The history booklet includes a brief biography on Frutiger, inlcuding his birth and youth when this passport style was utilised.

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C M Y K

13 38 62 3

C M Y K

42 69 84 63

DESIGN This passport was utilised in Switzerland from 1960 onwards.

Adrian Frutiger was first approached to design the OCR-B typeface in 1963, hence the reasoning why this colour palette is used for the Design booklet.

C M Y K

35 16 37 2

C M Y K

69 54 60 71

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ADAPTATIONS This passport style is from 1967, one year prior to the release of OCR-B in 1968. This is also the year in which OCR-A was released and therefore this colour palette is used in the Adaptations booklet. It is within this booklet where OCR-B is compared to OCR-A, as well as other OCR typefaces.

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C M Y K

38 11 3 0

C M Y K

86 65 39 36

APPLICATION This is the most current Swiss passport and the one in use at the time of Adrian Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death in 2015. The Application booklet highlights the use of OCR-B in this day and age, and appropraitely adopts this modern colour palette.

C M Y K

5 89 84 1

I also utilised 100% black and 100% white alongside this red hue.

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Typography OCR-B

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 Size:

56 pt, 40 pt, 24 pt, 14 pt

Propriety:

OCR-B is the original typeface on which this series of booklets is based.

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OCR-B LETTERPRESS

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 Size:

72 pt, 36 pt, 25 pt, 10 pt, 9 pt

Propriety:

The letterpress version of the OCR-B font, also created by Adrian Frutiger, was utilised to increase the legibilty and readability of the text.

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FRUTIGER LIGHT

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 Size:

9 pt

Propriety:

A clean, sans serif typeface was required to accompany the unique OCR-B font.

Frutiger Light was chosen as to not overpower OCR-B, but also as it is the font used in all current Swiss passports.

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DOT MATRIX

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 Size:

48 pt

Propriety:

This dot matrix font was aqcuired to represent the perforated text found within international passports.

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Expressive Typography APPLICATION 08

OCR-B: Banking & Postal Frequently, the OCR-B font is used in the field of banking and postal to print rows of data called a codeline. This frequently appears on bank cheques and credit card imprints, as well as serial tracking labels.

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The lines of text found on this spread, as numerals in the OCR-B typeface, relate to the rows of codeline used within the banking and postal service industries. The text has been spread horizontally across the page to highlight the swift pace of a bank or post office, and the movement of cheques, credit cards and packages within these establishments.

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APPLICATION

Terminator Salvation Terminator Salvation is the fourth installment of the Terminator film series., released in 2009. Directed by McG, it stars Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. It is a post-apocalyptic film set in the year 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet machines and humanity.

Karin Fong and her creative team at Imaginary Forces worked on the title sequence for Terminator Salvation. They were asked to develop not only the main titles, but also the language of “machine vision”, the point of view of the machines.

“ So,

everytime you see something through a machine’s eyes, it’s treated in that way. Back in the original Terminator these [images] would be tinted red and have a grid and have maybe some DOS language. We had to update that using technical references of today’s machines and technology. “ - Karin Fong

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The right page of this spread highlights the ‘machinevision’ that is referenced in the corresponding paragraph. It relates to the work that must be conducted by computers to distinguish letters from each other, in order to read text.

Within the spread, every character must first be scanned by the reader in order to read the text, just as the Terminator itself conducts a scan of each item. The original title credits of Terminator Salvation were used to create this spread.

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Indicators PAGE NUMBERS

The style of the page numbers have been directly adopted from the current Swiss passport, although edited to utilise the OCR-B typeface. This design element is spread throughout the entire series of booklets.

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DOT MATRIX FONT

Within each passport, the individuals identification number is perforated into the pages. This elements of passport design has been recreated within my series of booklets. Each booklet has its title clearly stated on the outer edge of the page, and help the reader identify which booklet they are reading.

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Design Elements WHY FOUR BOOKLETS?

To tell the story of OCR-B, four chapters were required, focussing on various aspects of the typeface. It was decided that the chapters would become four individual booklets to keep the flexibility and thin profile of an original passport.

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BOOK DIMENSIONS The dimensions of an original passport are 91mm by 124 mm. It was vital to maintain these exact proportions, and therefore the booklets are exactly 1.5 times the scale of a regular-sized passport.

Booklet Dimensions 136.5 mm x 186 mm

Original Passport 91 mm x 124 mm

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ROUNDED CORNERS

The edges of each booklet, icluding the cover and the inside pages, have been clearly rounded. This was created to resemble the aesthetic of a international passport.

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HAND-STITCHED BINDING

Many passports are hand-stitched, with the cover then wrapped around the inside pages. This exact technique has been utilised for each individual booklet.

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IDENTIFICATION PAGE

The contents page within each booklet has been designed with the style of the passport identification page in mind. It includes the lines of text, which always makes vast use of the arrow glyph, to identify the individual booklet, as well as a glossy surface similar to that found in a passport.

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PERFORATED TEXT

The introduction page of each booklet features the dot matrix font in a perforated format, as it would be in an international passoprt. This was achieved by hand piercing each individual hole of the text with a sewing needle.

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Paper Stock FRONT COVER The front cover of each booklet was printed on a 300gms uncoated paper.

A hard back cover was avoided for the simple fact that the flexibility of a passport was still required for each booklet.

A heavier paper stock was therefore utilised.

This assisted in protecting the inside pages, as well as adding a bit of rigidity to the overall booklet.

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INSIDE PAGES The inside pages of each booklet were printed on 170gms uncoated paper.

An uncoated paper stock was chosen to resemble the paper stock found within a passport. This paper needs a bit of texture and tooth to it so that the ink of a travel stamp can be applied with ease.

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Printing & Finishing Printing: Hacketts Digital

17 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2.

D02 DF78 Machine:

Indigo Printer

Binding and Hand-Stitching:

Aoife Tobin

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OCR-B