The Typographic Field Guide: Garamond Edition

The Typographic Field Guide Garamond Edition

Kelsey Negron

The Typographic Field Guide Garamond Edition

Introduction This guide will observe creatures and letters of the old-style Garamond species, or typeface. One thing that defines this typeface is its serifs, or little strokes on ends of the larger strokes.

Other typefaces without these parts are called sans serif typefaces.

Serif

Sans Serif

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Roman

Italic

Varying Stroke

Bold Thick Stroke

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These letters can also come in different sub-species and variations called fonts. The most common ones are Roman (regular), italic (slanted) and bold (thick). Another aspect to look for is a character’s thickness, or stroke contrast, which varies throughout typefaces.

Letters like to make their habitat inbetween special lines. Uppercase letters tend to stay between the cap height line and the baseline, while lowercase letters will comfortably stay between the midline and the baseline.

The space between the two, which also measures the height of lowercase letters, is called the x-height. Some characters need more space, and therefore extend their territory up to the ascender line (like the d) or down to the descender line (like the p).

Now, let’s take a look at the anatomy of these creatures.

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Uppercase A The Garamond uppercase A has a few different parts, including a metal crossbar that goes through the middle. The apex tips the A like a mountaintop, and the thidiagonal paint-like stroke provides extra strength for the creature and visual weight for curious readers who wander upon it.

Shown here is the Garamond A’s flat apex compared to the Futura A’s pointy apex.

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Lowercase B

The Garamond lowercase B loves wearing objects that match its part names. This one has a light blue bowl and a spur from a cowboy’s boot.

The B considers this high fashion.

Typographers don’t know why.

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Lowercase C The Garamond lowercase C isn’t usually too happy. That’s because it always has stress and a teardrop terminal for a nose.

Letters with stress also have a stress axis, which is an invisible line (at an angle of °13 for Garamond letters) that intersects the two thinnest ends of the letter.

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Lowercase E

The Garamond lowercase E is known for having great vision because it has one large eye. On the tip of its tail is a finial, which is sharp and pointy. This makes it useful for protection aganist bigger, more ferocious letters. It’s also great for toasting marshmallows.

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g

g

Lowercase G This Garamond lowercase G has an ear hanging from its top stress. It also has a bottom loop like a lasso and a chain link that connects the top and bottom parts.

The Garamond lowercase G is considered a binocular G. It has two counters and a looped bottom. The other G, a Furuta G, is monocular. It has one single counter.

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Uppercase K

The Garamond uppercase K is an odd creature with a long vertical stem.

Branching from the stem is an outstretched leg and a supporting foot.

Be warned: it might be a little smelly.

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Lowercase N The Garamond lowercase N has a broad top shoulder.

It has an aperture on its inside and curved connections by the serifs called brackets.

Most serifs in serif typefaces have brackets, but there are also some typefaces with flatter serifs that don’t have brackets at all.

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Q

Uppercase Q

Q

One thing that makes this Garamond uppercase Q so unique is its long tail.

Its big round center is also smooth like a kitchen counter.

The Garamond Q’s tail meets right at its bowl, while with other typefaces, it might intersect the bowl.

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S

Uppercase S

The uppercase S is a very curvy creature. Supported by a thick spine in the middle, it also has a beak that hooks at the top.

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Uppercase W

The uppercase W has pointy bottoms like icicles. These appendages are called vertexes. The W also has a limb in the form of an arm, which is diagonally outstretched.

One thing that makes the Garamond W different from other Ws is its overlapped double-v form.

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Ligature

In some cases, different letters mate to create a new kind of letter. This new form is called a ligature. Some ligatures are made for decoration, while others are made to represent specific sounds, like this one. The “Æ” glyph makes a short A sound like in the word “have.”

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Typefaces & fonts used:

Garamond Regular

Futura Medium Futura Bold

Futura Bold Italic 15

CART 218 Typography Fall 2019

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