TRAJAN

TR AJAN everything you need to know about trajan

shaikhah basahai

nastel jo publisher

tr ajan every thing you need to know about tr ajan

1st edition 2015 nastel jo, publisher Š2015 all rights reserved isbn 709-4-3657-3675-4

all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner or the publishers.

printed in jeddah, ksa

everything you need to know about trajan

shaikhah basahai

nastel jo publisher

To the people who will read this book,

i hope that one day i will be able to become your inspiration...

typeface classification

cultural context

designer’s biography

historical link

typaface anatomy

References

XII

tr ajan

what is tr ajan?

Trajan is an old style typeface. It was inspired by the Roman square capitals or in other words Capitalis Monumentalis.

What classifies it as an Old Style, is the very little contrast between the thicks and the thins, as well as its heavily bracketed serifs. It was designed by Carol Twombly in 1989 for Adobe. Since the font was adapted from the Trajan’s column inscription, it exists only in capial forms.

typeface classification

tr ajan

XIV

She is an American typeface designer, who was born in 1959. She has contributed several unique typefaces during her working years in Adobe from 1988 through 1999. Some of the typefaces she designed: Adobe Caslon, Myriad, Rosewood, and most importantly the typeface Trajan. She innovated this typeface from the Roman inscription in the column of Trajan, and she is the first one to create very similar features of the original font to Carol Twombly checking something

the digital world. Carol was the winner of the Prix Charles Peignot, the first woman, and second American to receive this award to a talented designer under the age of 35.

designer’s biography

XVI

tr ajan

Trajan is a very unique font; it is one of the fonts that does not include a miniscule lowercase. The version that the Carol Twombly designed are all in uppercase, however in 2001 Adobe updated Tajan font and called it Trajan Pro, and this version includes a small-cap lowercase, which is a comprising form of a capital that is slightly low in height. Another update in Trajan Pro is adding the bold style to the letters. As you can see the letter H in the word ‘Handglovery’, is what classifies the uppercase letter of Trajan family, and the rest of the letters are what small caps are. The x height and the ascender are both difficult to recognize when there are no lowercase letters.

typeface anatomy The letter Q from the Trajan family has a very unique characteristic. It has a very long swash and this is what makes it different from the other letters, which makes it very attractive when you use this typeface in titles or so. These little details help you in choosing your display typeface, so next time look out for the Q’s in whatever typeface you are using.

8 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

9 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

10 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

11 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

12 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

14 pt

18 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWxYZ

20 pt

25 pt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

30 pt

36 pt

46 pt

56 pt

a b c d e f g h i j k l m no p q r s t u v w x y z

abcdefghij k lmnopqrstuvw a b c d e f g h i jk l m n o p q r s t u

tr ajan

XX

The Trajan design delivers a feeling of grace and position, but at the same time it is very easy to read in distance. It is very popular in Hollywood and it has been used for a huge number of movie titles, like in Titanic, Lincoln, A Beautiful Mind, and so many others.

A Beautiful Mind Movie Poster

cultural context

Lincoln Movie Poster

Titanic Movie Poster

tr ajan

XXII

Thor Movie Poster

Geisha Movie Poster

XXIII

The Official Logo of California State University

tr ajan

The Official Logo of Lawrence University, mark the difference between the uppercase and the small caps

Because Trajan typeface has appeared

Even though it is popular in movie

in most of Hollywood movies, they call

mosters, it is also common in National tel-

it “Trajan, The Movie Font”. It seems to

evisio worldwide like the previous logo of

emerge in every movie posters or on the

the famous animation studio, Pixar. Also,

cover of their DVD’s. It gives a sense of

it has been set for logos of many different

elegance, and catches people eyes. You

universities in the States.

can not pass by these posters without reading them.

I Am Legend Movie Poster

The 1986-1995 Logo of Pixar Animation Studios on their Computer

XXIV

tr ajan

historical link In 100AD, the 13th Emperor Trajan ruled Rome, which is where the font got its name. He was a very talented architect, and honoured by the Romans. They dedicated the famous column Trajan for him, and the column bears the Roman inscriptions of the Roman square capitals. Trajan font design was inspired by their distinctive style and it revived the elongated form of the Roman features.

historical link

tr ajan

XXVI

http://coloringpagesjos.net/407838-roman-numerals-puzzles https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixothings/16530137928/ http://www.nucly.com/thor-posters-review/ http://fontmeme.com/lincoln-font/ http://fontmeme.com/a-beautiful-mind-font/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar http://elillios.com/home/index.php/en/news/current/196-guest-composer-lawrence-university http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_University,_Sacramento http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Twombly http://www.fonts.com/font/adobe/trajan#product_top http://showinfo.rietveldacademie.nl/trajan/ https://hannahloughridge.wordpress.com/tag/gill-sans/ http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/type/pdfs/Trajan-Pro-3-Online-Specimen.pdf http://fontmeme.com/i-am-legend-font/ https://simmonspaul335.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/trajan-font-in-movie-posters/ http://www.codex99.com/typography/21.html http://fontmeme.com/memoirs-of-a-geisha-font/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan_(typeface) http://imgkid.com/trajans-column-inscription.shtml

references

ďżź

this book was designed and printed by shaikhah omar basahai. the text face is avenir roman. the display font is trajan pro. the paper is 300g matte presentation paper. it was bound by zeej press.

designed for latin typography