modernization & production

MODERNIZATION & PRODUCTION 44

When thinking about the way art has evolved from the Renaissance to 2019, it is evident that there has been constant evolution in terms of style, medium, and ideals. Yet, the typographic designs that emerged out of Venetian printing have continued to remain the same to this very day. In fact the very type on this page is called "Adobe Jenson Pro"; It is based off the work of Nicolas Jenson and is often used by many designers today.

Although technology has advanced and society has adapted new methods of production, many of the typefaces we use today remain rooted in the same design developed in the 15th and 16th centuries. That being said, while it is easy to argue that the typefaces we see on our computers are not designs made by the exact hand of Nicolas Jenson or Aldus Manutius, it is worth noting the extreme care that modern type foundries put into maintaining the integrity of the original typography.

“Revival type” is the term modern designers use to refer to digital typefaces that have been inspired or recreated from the past to work in digital formats. While the process of designing typefaces today is not nearly as variable, time-consuming, or labor-intensive as it was during the Renaissance, it is still a very delicate art that requires a unique sense of precision. Furthermore, the process of reviving a typeface is an incredibly complex process that entails extended periods of research along with ample technical skills, as designers try to retain as much of the original design possible. When edits are made, they call for much deliberation and are implemented with the utmost intentionality. Type design is among a very few art forms that go to such extreme lengths to preserve historical aesthetics.

EARLY TYPE DESIGN

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The punch cutter carves a letter on the end of a steel bar of a fixed width. The bar is then plunged into a square of softened copper creating a hollow pit of the letter form called a matrix ( acts as a mold for the type that is cast from lead).

To help speed up the typecasting process, Gutenberg invented the “hand mould” also known as the hand casting instrument. The contraption consists of two pieces of wood that held a rectangular metal tube in place.

The matrix would then be inserted into a slot at one end and molten lead would be poured into the opposite end. When the instrument was opened again, a letter cast in lead was ready to be used. Since the matrix could be reused, this process would be repeated multiple times so that there were enough letters for each word on a page.

After the letters have been created, a typesetter slides each letter onto a board to form each sentence and adds in blank strips of lead to adjust the line spacing and margins until a mirror image of the page layout has formed on the board.

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Next, printers ink would be rolled onto a goose skin-covered bag stamp that is repeatedly beaten onto the letters to ensure the ink has been properly applied to the metal.

Once the type has been inked, a piece of paper is pinned in place on a separate leather-covered board that aligns the paper in place.

Another wooden board hinged to a leather board comes down over the paper, leaving only the area where the text is to be printed exposed, which ensured the paper did not get ripped or smeared.

The boards are then folded over the slate of type and slid into place to get pressed.

Finally, a lever is pushed to lower a rectangular weight over the boards, which presses the type against the paper.

TYPE DESIGN TODAY

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Most typeface designs begin on paper and are sketched, traced, and refined as many times as the designer feels necessary.

The final sketch is then scanned at a high resolution and traced over with digital software such as Adobe Illustrator, FontLab, or RoboFont.

Typefaces are then printed out to see how the typeface looks in print.

Refinements made on the computer.

Repeat previous four steps until complete.

After the main roman typeface is created, the type expands into a family as the designer creates a series of weights for the type. The weights dictate the boldness of the typeface and weights can range from hairline (being the lightest), thin, light, roman, book, medium, semi bold, extra bold, and black.

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After weights are created, designers will also create a set of widths such as: ultra condensed, condensed, wide, and extra wide.

Depending on how much effort one wants to put into the typeface, one might then create symbols, character for other languages, swashes, or ornaments.

Once all the designs have been created, the design is then compressed into a file and sold through the foundry's website.

GLOSSARY 44

ASCENDER: Lowercase letters such as ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘h’, ‘k’, and ‘l’ are all ascenders. This is because the main body of the letters extend above the X-Height.

BASELINE: The Baseline is the imaginary line on which most letters and other characters sit.

BLACKLETTER: Used to define scripts and types of the gothic period. These typefaces are usually heavy, geometric, and condensed.

COLOPHON: Tailpiece, Summary, or printer's device at the end of a printed book that gives details about where and how the book was made.

COUNTER: Counters are found in letters that have enclosed or partially enclosed areas of white space.

DESCENDER: Descenders are the opposite of ascenders. Ascenders go above the x-height while descenders go below the baseline.

DROP CAP: A large initial capital letter inserted into a deliberately indented space at the beginning of a page or a chapter.

FOLIO: A book or pamphlet consisting of one or more full sheets of paper, on each of which four pages of text are printed, two on each side; each sheet is then folded once to produce two leaves.

FOUNDRY: The workshop or studio where typefaces are made.

GLYPH: An individual character from a typeface.

GOTHIC: Originally meant to describe barbaric art of northern and western Europe.

HUMANIST: Typography that relates to the Renaissance period.Italic: In typography and calligraphy, letters which are cursive in character, often forward sloping and condensed. Originally they were stand alone typefaces used to preserve page space. Now they are supplementary types, providing emphasis or contrast with roman text setting.

KERNING: The spacing between individual letters of a word.

LEADING: Originally, extra strips of metal (lead alloy) inserted between lines of type to increase interlinear space. Now leading refers to the spacing between each line of text.

LIGATURE: The character that is formed by the combination of two letters linked together such as fl or fi.

MATRIX: A mould usually made of copper, created from the strike of a punch. The matrix is inserted into the adjustable mould, and enables the casting of type.

MOULD: A piece of equipment used to cast metal type, while maintaining consistent body size, and allowing for different widths for individual letters like i (the narrowest letter in the alphabet) and w (the widest letter in the alphabet).

OCTAVO: Books or pamphlets consisting of one or more full sheets of paper on which 16 pages of text are printed, then folded three time to produce eight leaves.

PUNCH CUTTING: The craft of cutting letter punches in steel as the first stage of making metal type. Cutting punches and casting type was the first step of traditional typesetting.

QUARTO: A book or pamphlet consisting of eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves.

ROMAN: In typography, the name given to typefaces which were derived from Humanist minuscules (lowercase letters) of the 15th century. Now used to denote upright, seriffed type.

SANS SERIF: A Sans-Serif generally refers to a category of typefaces that have been designed without a Serif and contain no embellishments.

SERIF: A stroke attached to or extending from the open ends of a letter form is known as the serif. Serif also refers to the general category of typefaces that have been designed with this feature.

TERMINAL: A terminal is the end of any stroke that doesn’t include a serif, but instead includes ball terminals and finials (curved or tapered in shape).

TRACKING: The spacing between characters in a complete section of text instead of between only two consecutive characters.

VELLUM: A type of paper often used for books and manuscripts and made from calf skin.

X-HEIGHT: The height of a typeface’s lowercase letters (disregarding ascenders and descenders) that rest on the Baseline.