Pura
PURA by Clara Milla
FONT ANATOMY OF THE SOURCE FONT
high x-height
Capital height Ascender line
x-height
Baseline
Pur
Descender line
No serifs
Low contrast in letters like the u and r
Source font: Myriad Pro by Adobe by Robert Slimbach & Carol Twombly in 1992
yto cut off diagonal
Overshoot of rounded letters
no diagonal stress
UPPERCASE LETTERS
A B C D E FGHIJ KLMNO PQRSTU VWXYZ
LOWERCASE LETTERS
abcde fghij klmno pqrstu vwxyz
NUMERALS
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 @
8 9
DIACRITICS, PUNCTUATION, SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
àáäèéòóöùúü
. : ; ',
?!?! (){}[] @&ۤ#* + -/ <>
P
P U R I T
U
R E
Y
FORM
S
EVOLUTION Myriad Pro
nmhru
Pura
BRUSHES
BRUSH 2 -180째, 23%, 9,5 pt
BRUSH 1
-180째, 30%, 7,6
BRUSH 3
-130째, 30%, 8 pt
BRUSH 4
0째 , 30 %, 8pt
FONT SIZES IN USE
LESS IS MORE Which is better: a barroque overloaded complex design? Or something simpler more austere? Industrial designer and architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe‘s answer was: less is more. This famous motto has managed to implant from the very first decades of the twentieth century the idea of simple things being better than complex ones
With almost a century of time since designers of many areas adopted that modern motto it is curious that we continue to reproduce it even when our very own daily reality proves it wrong. What is ornamented and what is complex are part of human creation probably in the same proportion than what is austere and what is simple. Give it yourself a try. Choose any space you have nearby and make an inventory of how many things are simple and how many are complex and then ask yourself if the latter ones would really improve if they were like the former. Maxims mottos dogmatic conceptions... At certain times these can be useful to fight other previously installed canons. For example in the times of van der Rohe of the Bauhaus the governing canon imposed the flourish. The motto less is more represented a crippling blow to the creators‘ style of that time and managed to pull them out of their confinement. It gave place to a new aesthetic as dogmatic as the previous one and in total consonance with
a new need for programming object obsolescence and renovation imposed by the economical system that started to settle in the world: industrialized products consumption economy. Although it is true that the motto less is more proved to be useful for many years during this time professions devoted to design have evolved so much. Designers no longer work blindly. We have knowledge empirically proved by infinity of projects for over a century. Before starting a job we define with the client a specific and unique program of needs for each project that determines among other things when simplicity is convenient and when complexity is free of dogmas and marketer mottos.
24 pt
14 pt, 16 pt
10 pt, 12 pt
7 pt, 8 pt Today, less-is-more has evolved into a worldwide movement based in conscious minimalism that is tied to social and environmental responsibility. The economic kerfuffle of 2008 was instrumental in making people differentiate between their needs and wants, and helped to further the belief that a more restrained form of consumerism could actually be psychically liberating. Two other mega-forces the green movement and what could perhaps be called “global sensibility” also blossomed over the past decade, creating an ideal cultural climate for the philosophy of less-is-more to thrive.
FONT SIZES IN USE
Have you wondered who originally said Less is more“? t‘s said by the painter Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), in Robert Browning‘s 1855 poem by that name. “ He‘s addressing his beautiful, but somewhat stupid
and apparently unfaithful young wife, Lucrezia, for whom he abandoned an important painting commission and--some have said--his true calling.
...I could count twenty such ... Who strive ... To paint a little thing like that you smeared Carelessly passing with your robes afloat-Yet do much less ... --so much less! Well, less is more, Lucrezia: I am judged. There burns a truer light of God in them, In their vexed beating stuffed and stopped-up brain, Heart, or whate‘er else, than goes on to prompt This low-pulsed forthright craftsman‘s hand of mine. Their works drop groundward, but themselves, I know, Reach many a time a heaven that‘s shut to me, Enter and take their place there sure enough, Though they come back and cannot tell the world. ... Somebody remarks Morello‘s outline there is wrongly traced, His hue mistaken; what of that? or else, Rightly traced and well ordered; what of that? Speak as they please, what does the mountain care? Ah, but a man‘s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what‘s a heaven for? ...
TYPOGRAPHIC SCALE
72 pt
Dan Flavin
6o pt
Donald Judd
48 pt
Robert Morris
36 pt
Sol Le Witt
3o pt
Carl Andre
24 pt
John McCracken
nivalF naD dduJ dlanoD sirroM treboR ttiW eL loS erdnA lraC nekcarCcM nhoJ
FONT ANATOMY
Cupped Serif
Ascender x-height
Baseline Descender
cut off diagonally
Teardrop
Maxima Bracked Serif with rounded angles
Bilateral serif
P u r a i s a H u m a n i s t ty p e f a c e c h a r a c t e r i z e d by i t s i r r e g u l a r s e r i fs a n d for m s , t h at g i ve s i t i t s l i ve l y l o o k . T h e contrast of the bracked Serifs on the groundline, which are symmetrical, and the irregular cupped serifs on the x - h e i ght a n d t h e a s c e n de r l i n e , i s wh at fe atu r e s my font . Similar weight of stem and serif
low contrast shoulder
alysmus Ball terminal bracketed
asymetrical serif for the a and u
FONT CHARACTERISTICS
nmh Cjstg ae x-height Serif diagonal cutted for the letters n m h
Irregular teardrops and ball terminals
AIJMN Cupped Serif
ball terminals
Baseline serif:
x-heigth&Ascender
FONT CHARACTERISTICS
To give the over all look of my font a clear recognition value, i added the diagonal cut on the lowercase letters. The diagonal cuts the serif on the x-height. The angle of the cut varies slightly in between the letters.
The bilateral bracked Serifs on the groundline give the letters the stability that they need in order to balance out their lighter look on their upper part.
The ball terminals distinguish in between the different letters. They adapt on the weight over the letter form.
FONT RELATIONS
ec opb ijlf
diagonal stress with medium contrast. Irregular ball terminals as an main characteristic of the font
low vertical stress for the letters b d o p q.
Balance of the weight of the stem and the serif. Combination of a bracket serif with a cuped serif.
Independent letters
a f g q
Teardrop and asymetrical serif
rounded ear to balance out the weight of the ball terminal bracket
Teardrop and bracket serif for the crossbar
diagonal cutted ear for the q
Faculty of Design and Art Free University of Bolzano - Bozen WUP 2020/21 Typeface designed by Clara Milla Prof. Antonino Benincasa Andreas Trenker Emilio Grazzi Font created with Illustrator & Fontself