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Archive-name: fonts-faq/part4
Version: 2.1.5 See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Subject: 1.26. A Brief Introduction to Typography
Space, time, and bandwidth are too limiting to provide a complete
introduction to typography in this space. I'd be very willing to make
one available for anonymous ftp, if you want to write one, but I'm not
going to write it-I have neither the time nor the expertise. However,
the following description of Times, Helvetica, and Courier will suffice
for a start. For more information, several books on typography are
listed in the bibliography.
Comments by Laurence Penney:
============================
Laurence Penney offers the following description of Times, Helvetica,
and Courier:
Times is a typeface designed in the 1930s for the Times newspaper in
London and is now used widely in books, magazines and DTP. Its design
is based on the typographical principles evolved since Roman times
(upper case) and the 16th century (lower case). It is called a
TRANSITIONAL typeface, after the typefaces of the 17th century which it
resembles. Like all typefaces designed for typesetting large
quantities of text, it is proportionally spaced: the i takes about a
third the width of an M. Personally I don't like Times too much and
prefer the more elegant Garamond and Baskerville, but these will
probably cost you money... Note: The Transitionals came after the Old
Styles (like Garamond) and before the Moderns (like Bodoni).
Helvetica is an example of a SANS-SERIF typeface. These first appeared
in the late 19th century in Germany and flourished in the 1920s and
30s, when they were regarded as the future of typography. It's more a
geometric design than the humanist design of Gill Sans, but less
geometric than Avant Garde and Futura. To my mind it lacks elegance,
and Adrian Frutiger's Univers shows how this kind of typeface should be
done. (Just compare the B, R, Q, a, g of Univers and Helvetica to see
what I mean - and don't you just love Univers's superbly interpreted
ampersand ?!) Helvetica is one of the few fonts that is improved by its
BOLD version.
Another interesting approach to sans-serif is Optima, by Hermann Zapf,
which keeps the stroke-weight variations which sans-serifs usually
reject. Use sans-serif fonts for the same applications as Times, above,
but where you're less concerned with elegance, and more with a
functional appearance - they're generally reckoned to be slightly less
legible than good serifed fonts. They're also very suitable for display
work.
Courier is a typeface derived from typewriter styles. It should ONLY be
used when you want to simulate this effect (e.g. when writing letters
Courier usually appears "friendlier" than Times). Like all typewriter
fonts, it is MONOSPACED (characters all have the same width) and is
thus suitable for typesetting computer programs. However there are
nicer looking monospace fonts than Courier (which has oversize serifs),
that still remain distinct from the text fonts like Times and
Helvetica. A good one is OCR-B, designed by Frutiger. Note that
monospaced fonts are less economical on space than proportional fonts.
[ed: Following the original posting of this message, Laurence Penny and
Jason Kim discussed the issue privately. The following summary of
their discussion may serve to clarify some of the more subtle points.
My thanks to Laurence and Jason for allowing me to include this in the
FAQ.]
-----------------------------
LP-1> The Transitionals came after the Old Styles (like Garamond) and
before the Moderns (like Bodoni).
JK> Not necessarily true! Ideologically, yes, but not chronologically.
I believe, for example, that Bodoni predates New Century Schoolbook or
some such typeface.
LP-2> What I meant by "X came after Y" was "the first examples of X
appeared after the first examples of Y" - it's called precis. Some
people still make steam trains, but you can still say "Steam engines
came before diesels." This is chronological, not ideological in my book.
-----------------------------
LP-1> Another interesting approach to sans-serif is Optima, by Hermann
Zapf, which keeps the stroke-weight variations which sans-serifs
usually reject. Use sans-serif fonts for the same applications as
Times, above, but where you're less concerned with elegance, and more
with a functional appearance - they're generally reckoned to be
slightly less legible than good seriffed fonts. They're also very
suitable for display work.
JK> Slightly? I have several textbooks typeset by utter fools and they
are a pain in the ass (and eyes) to read! Please don't encourage anyone
to use Optima (or any sans serif fonts for that matter) "for the same
applications as Times," which, need I remind you, was designed for
*newspaper* work!!
LP-2> OK, maybe I was a little over-generous to Univers, Helvetica,
etc., but I think variation is extremely important in typography. Have
you ever read the British magazine "CAR" ? That uses Helvetica light (I
think) in a very legible and attractive way, IMO. I agree, though,
Optima is crappy for text, but it's a very valuable experiment and
looks beautiful when printed in high quality for titling, etc. And yes,
*books* in Helvetica are generally awful.
-----------------------------
JK> Serifs have been scientifically shown to be a *lot* easier on the
reader, as they guide the eyes along the lines.
LP-2> In all tests I've seen the serifs have always won the day, but
only with certain seriffed fonts, and fonts like Univers aren't far
behind. The "tracking" advantage for serif fonts is reduced when you're
talking about narrow newspaper/magazine columns.
-----------------------------
JK> You wrote a pretty short and partial history of type. Why ignore
the roots of type (blackletter) as well as the climax (moderns-give an
explanation) and subsequent 'post-modern' revivals?
LP-2> I was just talking about the place the 3 most common DTP types
hold in the history of typography, and a few associated pitfalls. It
wasn't meant as a "history of typography" at all. Please feel free to
provide such a history yourself.
JK> I think any short list of specific faces is incomplete without
mention of Palatino, the most popular Old Style revival in existence.
LP-2> Do you? To my mind Palatino is grossly over used. You must agree
it looks bad for dense text. It isn't a proper "oldstyle revival" at
all, more of a "calligraphic interpretation" of it. Zapf designed it as
a display face, and wasn't too concerned about lining up the serifs
(check out the "t"). And it just *has* to be printed on 1200dpi devices
(at least) to look good in small sizes. OK then, maybe a short list is
incomplete without a caution NOT to use Palatino...
JK> Also, if this is meant to be a "quick history/user guide for those
fairly new to using fonts on desktop publishing systems," then I would
recommend more directions about the proper uses of certain faces (e.g.,
Goudy for shaped text, Peignot for display *only*) and styles (e.g.,
italics for editorial comments, all-caps for basically nothing).
LP-2> Okay, okay. I was only sharing a few ideas, not trying to write a
book. Surely you agree that the 3 typefaces I chose are by far the most
commonly used and abused these days? I don't think a discussion of
Goudy or Peignot fits in very well here, unless we're hoping to make a
very wide-ranging FAQL. Regarding styles: first, italics are used
principally for *emphasis* (rather than bold in running text); second,
all good books have a few small caps here and there, don't they? - all
mine do...
JK> Sorry if I come across as critical. I think the idea of making a
FAQL is a good one, as is your effort. We just have to make sure it
doesn't give any newbies the wrong impressions and further perpetuate
the typographical morass we're facing today.
LP-2> Sorry if I come across as defensive, but I stand by what I said
and object to the suggestion that I am "perpetuating the typographical
morass". (I don't know if you really intended this - apologies if you
didn't.)
Comments by Don Hosek:
======================
Don Hosek offers the following additional notes:
The "Times" in most printers is actually a newer version of the font
than Monotype's "Times New Roman" which it is originally based on.
Walter Tracy's _Letters of Credit_ gives an excellent history of the
face which was based on Plantin and in the original cutting has metrics
matching the original face almost exactly. Another interesting note
about the face is that it is almost a completely different design in
the bold: this is due to the fact that old-styles are difficult to
design as a bold. Incidentally, the classification of Times as a
transitional is not firm. It likely is placed there by some type
taxonomists (most notably Alexander Lawson) because of the bold and a
few minor features. Others, myself included, think of it as a old
style. The typeface listed in the Adobe catalog as Times Europa was a
new face commissioned in 1974 to replace the old Times (whose 50th
birthday was this past October 3rd).
Hermann Zapf is not particularly pleased with any of the
phototypesetting versions of Optima. As a lead face, Optima is very
beautiful. His typeface "World", used in the World Book Encyclopedia is
one recutting for photocomp which improves the font somewhat. He is on
record as saying that if he had been asked, he would have designed a
new font for the technology.
Subject: 1.27. A Brief History of Type
Thomas W. Phinney contributes the following discussion of the history
of type(1):
Foreword
========
It is difficult to cover all the developments and movements of
typography in a short space. My separation of evolving technologies
from the development of typefaces is an artificial one--designs and the
technology used to create them are not truly separable--but perhaps it
is conceptually useful.
Where names of typefaces are used, I attempt to use the original name:
there are often clones with very similar names.
I shall update, clarify and correct this essay periodically, and will be
happy to credit contributors. I can be e-mailed on CompuServe at
75671,2441 (Internet: 75671.2441@compuserve.com).
Type Technology--The Four Revolutions
=====================================
Gutenberg (ca. 1450-1480) & The Impact of Printing
--------------------------------------------------
Before the printing press, books were produced by scribes (at first,
primarily based in monasteries, although by the 12th century there were
many lay copiers serving the university market). The process of writing
out an entire book by hand was as labor-intensive as it sounds (try it
some time): so much so that a dozen volumes constituted a library, and a
hundred books was an awe- inspiring collection.
This remained true until the invention of movable type, the perfection
of which is attributed to Johannes Gutenberg (although the Chinese had
it several centuries earlier, and a Dutch fellow named Coster may have
had some crude form a decade earlier). Gutenberg, although a man of
vision, did not personally profit from his invention. He worked for over
a decade with borrowed capital, and his business was repossessed by his
investors before the first mass-produced book was successfully
printed--the Gutenberg Bible of 1454, printed in Mainz by Fust and
Schoeffer.
Gutenberg's basic process remained unchanged for centuries. A punch made
of steel, with a mirror image of the letter is struck into a piece of
softer metal. Molten metal is poured into this, and you get type. The
type is put into a matrix to form the page of text, inked, then pressed
into paper.
Within several decades typesetting technology spread across Europe.
The speed with which it did so is impressive: within the first fifty
years, there were over a thousand printers who set up shops in over two
hundred European cities. Typical print runs for early books were in the
neighborhood of two hundred to a thousand books.
Some of these first printers were artisans, while others were just
people who saw an opportunity for a quick lira/franc/pound. The modern
view of a classical era in which craftsmanship predominated appears
unjustified to scholars: there has always been fine craft, crass
commercialism, and work that combines both.
To those who have grown up with television, radio, magazines, books,
movies, faxes and networked computer communications it is difficult to
describe just how much of a revolution printing was. It was the first
mass medium, and allowed for the free spread of ideas in a completely
unprecedented fashion. The Protestant Reformation might not have
occurred, or might have been crushed, without the ability to quickly
create thousands of copies of Luther's Theses for distribution.
Many groups sought to control this new technology. Scribes fought
against the introduction of printing, because it could cost them their
livelihoods, and religious (and sometimes secular) authorities sought to
control what was printed. Sometimes this was successful: for centuries
in some European countries, books could only be printed by government
authorized printers, and nothing could be printed without the approval
of the Church. Printers would be held responsible rather than authors
for the spread of unwanted ideas, and some were even executed. But this
was a largely futile struggle, and most such restraints eventually
crumbled in the western world.
Industrial Revolution: Steam, Line-casting & Automated Punch-cutting (start 1870-95; end 1950-65)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazingly, the printing press and the science of typecutting had only
minor refinements from the late 1500s to the late 1800s. Towards the
end of this period, the industrial revolution brought major innovations
in printing technology. Rotary steam presses (steam 1814, rotary 1868)
replaced hand- operated ones, doing the same job in 16 per cent of the
time; photo-engraving took over from handmade printing plates.
Typesetting itself was transformed by the introduction of line-casting
machines, first Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype (1889), and then the
Monotype machine. Essentially, line-casting allowed type be chosen,
used, then recirculate back into the machine automatically. This not
only introduced a huge labor savings in typesetting, (again, on the
order of the 85% reduction in printing time), but also rendered
obsolete the huge masses of metal type created by the previously
existing type foundries.
While typesetting and printing speeds increased phenomenally, so did the
speed of punchcutting. In 1885, Linn Boyd Benton (then of Benton, Waldo
& Company, Milwaukee) invented a pantographic device that automated the
previously painstaking process of creating punches. His machine could
scale a drawing to the required size, as well as compressing or
expanding the characters, and varying the weight slightly to compensate
for the larger or smaller size-- this last being a crude form of the
"optical scaling" done by skilled typographers making versions of the
same font for different sizes. In optical scaling, the thickest strokes
retain the same relative thickness at any size, but the thinnest
strokes are not simply scaled up or down with the rest of the type, but
made thicker at small sizes and thinner at large display sizes, so as
to provide the best compromise between art and readability.
The economic impact of all these advances on the type industry cannot be
overstated. For example, in the United States, the majority of type
foundries escaped a bankruptcy bloodbath in 1892 by merging into a
single company, called American Type Founders (ATF). Ultimately
twenty-three companies merged into ATF, making it far and away the
dominant American type foundry.
Also around this time, the "point" measurement system finally reached
ascendancy. In the earlier days of printing, different sizes of type had
simply been called by different names. Thus, "Brevier" was simply the
British name for 8-point type of any style. Unfortunately, these names
were not standardized internationally; 8-point type was called "Petit
Texte" by the French and "Testino" by the Italians. Such a naming
system also allowed wonderful confusion, such as "English" referring
both to blackletter type, and a 14-point size; "English English" was
thus a 14-point blackletter!
Pierre Simon Fournier had first proposed a comprehensive point system in
1737, with later refinements, but what was ultimately adopted was the
later version developed by Francois Ambroise Didot. This put
approximately 72 points to the inch (and now exactly 72 points to the
inch on most computer- based typesetting systems).
Photocomposition (Intertype et. al., start 1950-60, end 1975-85)
----------------------------------------------------------------
The first photocomposition devices (the French "Photon" and Intertype's
Fotosetter) made their debuts as early as 1944, but didn't really catch
on until the early 1950s. Typeface masters for photocomposition are on
film; the characters are projected onto photo-sensitive paper. Lenses
are used to adjust the size of the image, scaling the type to the
desired size. In some senses this technology was an "improvement,"
allowing new freedoms, such as overlapping characters. However, it
also pretty much eliminated optical scaling (see 2.2, above), because
in the rush to convert fonts to the new format, usually only one design
was used, which was directly scaled to the desired size.
Digital (start 1973-83)
-----------------------
The earliest computer-based typesetters were a hybrid between the above-
mentioned photocomposition machines and later pure digital output. They
each had their own command language for communicating with output
devices. Although these machines had advantages, they also had
problems. None of these early command languages handled graphics well,
and they all had their own formats for fonts. However, some of these
devices are still in service as of 1995, for use in production
environments which require more speed and less flexibility (phone
books, newspapers, flight schedules, etc.).
In the late 1980s PostScript gradually emerged as the de facto standard
for digital typesetting. This was due to a variety of reasons,
including its inclusion in the Apple Laserwriter printer and its
powerful graphics handling. When combined with the Macintosh (the
first widely used computer with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get display)
and PageMaker (the first desktop publishing program), the seeds were
all sown for the current dominance of computer-based typesetting.
Most high-end typesetting still involves printing to film, and then
making printing plates from the film. However, the increasing use of
high- resolution printers (600-1200 dots per inch) makes the use of
actual printing presses unnecessary for some jobs. And the next step
for press printing is the elimination of film altogether, as is done by
a few special systems today, in which the computer can directly create
printing plates.
Today, although PostScript predominates, there are a variety of
competing page description languages (PostScript, HP PCL, etc.), font
formats (Postscript Type One and Multiple Master, Truetype and Truetype
GX) computer hardware platforms (Mac, Windows, etc.) and desktop
publishing and graphics programs. Digital typesetting is commonplace,
and photocomposition is at least dying, if not all but dead. Digital
typefaces on computer, whether Postscript or some other format, are
generally outline typefaces, which may be scaled to any desired size
(although optical scaling is still an issue).
There has been considerable economic fallout from all this in
typography. Although some digital type design tools are beyond the
price range of the "average" user, many are in the same price range as
the mid- to high-end graphics and desktop publishing programs. This,
combined with the introduction of CD-ROM typeface collections, has
moved digital type away from being an expensive, specialized tool,
towards becoming a commodity. As a result of both this and the brief
photocomposition interregnum, the previously established companies have
undergone major shakeups, and even some major vendors, such as American
Type Founders, have failed to successfully make the digital transition,
and gone bankrupt instead (although at this time ATF appears to be
undergoing a resurrection). More recently, even major digital type
foundries have-dare one say foundered?-on the shoals of ubiquitous
cheap typefaces (even a licensing deal with Corel Corp seems to have
been insufficient to save URW).
Although there is a new accessibility of type design tools for hobbyists
and professional graphic artists, the decreasing value of individual
typefaces has resulted in a decrease in the number of working type
designers per se (both independents and company-employed).
Type Forms Through the Centuries
================================
One must keep in mind that although typefaces may have come into use at
a particular point in time, they often continued in general use far
beyond that time. Even after the rise of old style typefaces in the
late 1500s, the blackletter type was commonly used for setting text for
several centuries (well into the 1900s in Germany). With later
interpretations of earlier forms being relatively common, the *style*
of a given typeface may belong to a quite different period from that of
the typeface itself! Further, many typefaces have very complex
histories: a type could have been originally designed in metal at one
time, reworked by someone else later, made into a phototypesetting face
by another person, and then later created in digital form by yet
another designer--who might have been working off of any of the above
as the basis of their work.
The classification system used here (old style, transitional, modern,
sans serif, slab serif, etc.) has the virtues of being both simple and
widely used. However, the precision and artistic accuracy of this
system is perhaps dubious: see Robert Bringhurst's Elements of
Typographic Style or his article in the first issue of Serif magazine
for a more thorough system.
In discussing the differences between type, one must refer to a number
of technical terms. For illustrations of these terms, see also the
downloadable graphics file TYPHS_72.GIF or TYPHS300.GIF. The numbers
refer to the dots per inch of the graphic when scaled to a full page:
72 dpi is a low resolution suitable for screen viewing, while 300 dpi
is better-suited to laser printing. With any luck, both should be
available for FTP or download from the same site as this file. If so,
you would be well advised to refer to these pictures for illustrations
of both these terms and the differences between different categories of
typefaces. If you are a newcomer to typography, some sort of visual
reference is essential to understand the differences between fonts
explained here. Your options include: the aforementioned graphics
files; type samples from a book, manual or font vendor's catalog; or
simply viewing or printing out the fonts you have available on your
computer system, if you have a reasonable variety.
Definitions
-----------
Contrast: The degree of difference between the thick and thin strokes in
a font (if any).
Stress (axis): The angle at which contrast occurs, usually ranging from
vertical to a somewhat back-slanted diagonal. This can best be noted by
looking at, for example, the letter "O" and noting if the bottom left is
thicker than the top left, and the top right is thicker than the bottom
right. If this difference exists, the letter has diagonal stress. If
the two halves of the "O" are a mirror image of each other, with the
sides thicker than the top/bottom, then the letter has vertical stress.
If the top and bottom of the "O" are the same thickness as the sides,
there is neither contrast nor stress.
Serifs: Those "finishing strokes" or "fillips" going off the ending
lines of a letter. For example, when the number "1" or the letter "i"
are drawn with a bar across the bottom, the two halves of the bar are
serifs. If the serif is joined to the letter by a slight flaring out,
it is said to be "bracketed."
Early Letterforms
-----------------
Although writing itself can be traced back to several millennia B.C., to
Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions, modern
letter forms have their most immediate heritage in Roman inscriptions
from around 50- 120 AD, such as the one on the base of Trajan's Column
in the Roman Forum (114 AD, digital version by Twombly for Adobe, 1989).
Although early Latin writing was heavily influenced by these chiseled-
in-stone letterforms, over the centuries it evolved into a variety of
other shapes, including uncials and the related Carolingian script. It
is through this period of the sixth to tenth centuries that we see the
development of the lower case (minuscule) letter as a different shape
from the upper case (capital).
Type forms similar to what we now think of as "normal" letter shapes
evolved from the Carolingian (or Caroline) minuscule. The Carolingian
letters are so-called because of their adoption by the Emperor
Charlemagne (late 10th century) as a standard for education. Digital
revivals of these exist, such as Carol Twombly's Charlemagne (1989).
By the fifteenth century, italics also existed, in the form of a cursive
script which had developed in Rome and Florence. However, italics at
this time were a completely separate entity from the upright
letterforms, as they remained in the early days of printing.
Blackletter
-----------
The first printed types exemplify what most people think of as medieval
or "old English" lettering, with ornate capitals, roughly diamond-shaped
serifs, and thick lines. As a group, these typefaces are called
"blackletter." They evolved from the Carolingian by a gradual movement
towards narrowing and thickening of lines.
The general sort of blackletter used by Gutenberg in his first Bible is
called textura (a shareware digital version of Gutenberg's bible face is
available, called "Good City Modern"). The other sorts of blackletter
are fraktur, bastarda and rotunda. Probably the most common blackletter
revival typefaces in use today are Cloister Black (M.F. Benton, 1904,
from J.W. Phinney) and Fette Fraktur.
It is worth noting that although these typefaces seem very hard to read
to us today, this is due as much to familiarity as to any objective
lesser clarity. Fraktur was in use in Germany well into the 1900s,
though it was gradually being superseded by Roman typefaces. The Nazis
at first fostered a return to Fraktur, then outlawed it as a "Jewish
typeface" in 1940.
Studies from mid-century found that people can read blackletter with a
speed loss of no more than 15%. However, there is subjectively more
effort involved. Blackletter is today most appropriate for display or
headline purposes, when one wants to invoke the feeling of a particular
era.
Old Style Typefaces: Centaur, Bembo, Jenson, Garamond, Caslon
-------------------------------------------------------------
E.P. Goldschmidt, as explained by Stanley Morison, claimed that "the
supersession of black-letter was not due to any 'technical advance,' it
was the visible expression of a changed attitude of mind." The
Renaissance was typified by an obsession with things "classical," in
the Greco-Roman sense, which had major implications for typography. The
neo-classical letterforms were somewhat more condensed than the
Carolingian shapes, but much rounder and more expanded than the
blackletter.
Old style type is generally considered "warm" or friendly, thanks to
its origins in Renaissance humanism. The main characteristics of old
style typefaces are low contrast with diagonal stress, and cove or
"bracketed" serifs (serifs with a rounded join to the stem of the
letter). The earliest (Venetian or Renaissance) old style typefaces
(originally 15th-16th Century) have very minimal contrast, and a sloped
cross-bar on the lower-case "e." One such is Bruce Rogers' Centaur
(1916), based on Jenson. Similarly, Monotype's Bembo (1929) is based on
the work of Francesco Griffo, circa 1499.
Italics at this point were still independent designs, and were generally
used completely separately; a whole book could be set in italics.
Probably the most famous italic of the period is Arrighi's (1524),
which may be seen today as the italic form of Centaur. Likewise, the
italic form of Bembo is based on the italic of Tagliente (also 1524).
Later or baroque old style type (17th Century) generally has more
contrast, with a somewhat variable axis, and more slope of italic. The
most common examples are the types of Garamond and Caslon, many variant
revivals of which exist in digital form.
Transitional Type: Baskerville, Fournier
----------------------------------------
"Transitional" type is so-called because of its intermediate position
between old style and modern. The distinguishing features of
transitional typefaces include vertical stress and slightly higher
contrast than old style typefaces, combined with horizontal serifs. The
most influential examples are Philippe Grandjean's "Romain du Roi" for
the French Crown around 1702, Pierre Simon Fournier's work circa 1750,
and John Baskerville's work from 1757 onwards. Although today we
remember Baskerville primarily for his typeface designs, in his own
time people were much more impressed by his printing, which used an
innovative glossy paper and wide margins.
Later transitional types begin to move towards "modern" designs.
Contrast is accentuated, and serifs are more flattened. Current
examples of such are based on originals from approximately 1788-1810,
and are dominated by British isles designers, such as Richard Austin
(Bell, 1788), William Martin (Bulmer) and Miller & Richard (Scotch
Roman).
For currently available examples of transitional type, there are many
types which bear Baskerville's name, descending from one or another of
his designs. Less common today is P.S. Fournier's work, although
several versions of it are available in digital or metal form. Although
Scotch Roman has been a very common face in metal type usage since
Monotype's 1920 revival, it is not a common digital face. Bell, on the
other hand, is included in a Microsoft Font Pack, and Bulmer has
received more attention since its revival by Monotype in late 1994.
Modern Type: Didot, Bodoni, Walbaum
-----------------------------------
"Modern" typefaces are distinguishable by their sudden-onset vertical
stress and strong contrast. Modern serifs and horizontals are very thin,
almost hairlines. Although they are very striking, these typefaces are
sometimes criticized as cold or harsh, and may not be quite as readable
for very extensive text work, such as books.
A number of designers, perhaps semi-independently, created the first
modern typefaces in the late 1700s and early 1800s. One of the first,
and ultimately the most influential, was Giambattista Bodoni, of Parma,
Italy. Ironically, historians of type often relate the development of
the "modern" letterforms to a then-current obsession with things
Roman--in this case the strong contrast and sharp serifs of classical
Roman inscriptions. Although similar interests
Today, the most common "modern" typefaces are the dozens of
reinterpretations of Bodoni's work (which itself evolved over time).
One of the most successful reinterpretations is the 1994 ITC Bodoni by
Stone et. al., featuring three different optical sizes. Although little
is seen of Didot, a reinterpretation by J.E. Walbaum (ca. 1800) sees
occasional use.
Sans Serif & Slab Serif
-----------------------
These type forms made their first appearances around 1815-1817. Both are
marked by simpler letterforms with (usually) relatively uniform stroke
weight, lacking significant contrast, often geometric in underlying
design.
The earliest forms of sans and slab typefaces tended to be heavy, often
monolithic, display faces, but there quickly evolved a wide range of
styles. Although the earliest designs are not much used today, their
descendants are common enough.
Sans Serif (a.k.a. Gothic or Grotesque)
.......................................
Sans serif letters have no serifs, as the name suggests. The low
contrast and absence of serifs makes most sans typefaces harder to
follow for general reading. They are fine for a sentence, passable for
a paragraph, but are difficult to use well in, say, the text of a book.
The terminology of sans serif types can be confusing: essentially,
gothic or grotesque are both generic names for sans serif (although
Letter Gothic, confusingly, is more of a slab serif type).
In sans serif faces, the italics are often, although not always, simply
a sloped (mechanically obliqued) version of the roman letters, making
them totally subordinate to the roman.
By far the most common sans is Helvetica (1951, Miedinger), despite
being abhorred by many typographers. Helvetica does have the advantage
of coming in a huge range of weights and widths, which makes it
versatile, and its ubiquitous character makes it easy to match. Other
general-purpose sans serifs include Univers (Frutiger, 1952+), Arial
(Monotype), Franklin Gothic (M.F. Benton, 1903) and Frutiger (Frutiger,
1975).
Sprouting from the Art Deco movement in the 1920s and 30s (see Art
Deco), radical geometrical shapes began to be used as the basis for
sans serif designs.
There are a few other common sans faces which do not fall cleanly into
the above categories. Eric Gill's 1928 Gill Sans has an almost
architectural quality, and its greater contrast and humanistic design
makes it better-suited than most sans serif typefaces to setting bodies
of text. The same can perhaps be said of a number of late 20th Century
humanistic sans faces (see below)
Slab Serif (Egyptian)
.....................
These faces have block-like rectangular serifs, sticking out
horizontally or vertically, often the same thickness as the body
strokes. There is some debate about the origin of slab serif
typefaces: did they originate by somebody adding serifs to a sans face,
or were they conceived independently?
But even if they had a separate genesis as a family, it is certainly the
case that many of the most common and popular slab serif forms have been
created by adding slab serifs to sans faces by the same designer (e.g.
Adrian Frutiger's 1977 Glypha from his Univers, Herb Lubalin's 1974
Lubalin Graph from his Avant Garde). Other slab serif faces include
Berthold City (Trump, 1930), Memphis (Weiss, 1930), Serifa (Frutiger,
1968) and Silica (Stone, 1990).
The Clarendons or Ionics are an offspring of the slab serif typefaces in
which the serifs are bracketed. These are often used in newspaper work,
because their sturdy serifs hold up well under adverse printing
conditions. The most famous member of this sub-family is Century
Schoolbook (M.F. Benton, 1924-35).
Decorative & Display Type
-------------------------
Fat Faces
.........
The "Fat Face" types were an offshoot of the moderns, intended for
display purposes (that is, to be attention-getting for use in large
sizes, particularly advertising). The first such types appeared from
1810-1820. They further exaggerated the contrast of modern typefaces,
with slab-like vertical lines and extra emphasis of any vertical
serifs, which often acquired a wedge shape. Bodoni Ultra, Normande and
Elephant are all examples of fat face types which are closely based on
early to mid-19th Century originals, and are available in digital form.
Wood Type
.........
Wood type answered some of the needs of display advertising during the
industrial revolution. It derives its name from the fact that instead of
being made of metal, the type is carved from wood, cut perpendicular to
the grain. It is distinguished by strong contrasts, an overall dark
color, and a lack of fine lines. It may be unusually compressed or
extended. Many wood types have an "Old West" feel, because they are most
strongly associated with America in the 1870-1900 period. Some of the
wood types most widely available today are those in an Adobe pantheon
released in 1990, which includes Cottonwood, Ironwood and Juniper
(Buker, Lind & Redick).
Script, Brush, Italic & Freehand
................................
Script typefaces are based on handwriting; but often this is handwriting
with either a flexible steel nib pen, or a broad-edged pen, and is thus
unlike modern handwriting.
Some common scripts based on steel nib styles include Shelley (Carter,
1972), Coronet (Middleton, 1937-38), and Snell Roundhand (Carter, 1965,
based on Snell ca. 1694).
Script faces based more on the broad-edged tradition include the
contemporary Park Avenue (Smith, 1933).
There are also monoline scripts, which lack significant contrast in the
letter strokes. One such is Freestyle Script.
Brush typefaces look as if they were drawn with that instrument, which
most of them were, at least in the original design from which the
metal/film/digital face was created. Some of them resemble sign-painting
lettering, such as Balloon (Kaufmann, 1939), Brush Script (Smith,
1942), and Dom Casual (Dom, 1952).
Brushwork can also be the basis for script, as with Present Script
(Sallaway, 1974) and Mistral (Excoffon, 1953)
Although modern typography typically relegates the italic to a second-
class citizenship subordinate to the roman, there are still some italic
typefaces designed as such in their own right. The best known is
doubtless Zapf Chancery (Zapf, 1979). Others include Medici Script
(Zapf, 1974) and Poetica (Slimbach, 1992).
Art Nouveau
...........
The late Victorian era, from 1880 to World War I, was characterized by
this ornamental style of art, with its organic, asymmetrical, intricate
and flowing lines. This "Art Nouveau" (French, meaning "new art")
produced similarly distinctive typography, which saw a revival during
the 1960s.
There are a fair number of digital revivals of art nouveau faces,
although few are widely used. Some of the more common digital art
nouveau typefaces are Arnold Boecklin (Weisert, 1904), Artistik,
Desdemona, Galadriel and Victorian.
Art Deco
........
If Art Nouveau was about finding beauty in organic intricacy, Art Deco
was perhaps about finding beauty in geometric simplicity. First
appearing in the 1920s and 30s, Art Deco made a comeback in the 1970s
and 80s as well.
Almost by definition, Art Deco meant sans serif type. The most common
such face is Avant Garde (1974, Lubalin), which is striking but hard to
read at length. A more graceful geometric sans is Futura (Renner,
1927-39). There are also more quirky faces in this category, such as
Kabel (Koch, 1927-30). A recent popular Art Deco display face is ITC
Anna (1991?).
Synthesis
---------
Many of the most interesting typefaces of the twentieth century does not
fit any of the above categories, or at least not easily. The reason is
that they reflect not merely a single style, but cumulative experience,
and the merger of different styles. This is perhaps true even of that
most mundane of typefaces, Times New Roman (Lardent/Morison, 1931),
which has old style, transitional and modern elements.
Synthesis and Serif Type
........................
Although there are many practitioners of this synthesis, the most famous
is Hermann Zapf. His Palatino (1948) and Zapf Renaissance (1987) are
modern typefaces with the spirit of Renaissance letterforms. Melior
(1952), Zapf Book (1976), and Zapf International (1977) all reflect an
obsession with the super-ellipse, a rectangulated circle, as the basis
for letter shapes.
There have also been many modern revivals of old style which, while
close to old style in spirit, are not direct revivals of a specific
original, and show modern influences in the proportions or
lettershapes. These include the Granjon-inspired Galliard (Carter, 1978)
and Minion (Slimbach, 1989).
Synthesis and Sans Serif Type
.............................
After 1950, many designers began to explore a wide range of starting
points as the basis for sans serif designs. Aldo Novarese's Eurostile
(1964-5) takes sans serif forms and distorts them towards square and
rectangular shapes. Zapf's 1958 Optima is a masterful blend of sans
serif shapes with Roman and calligraphic influences. Shannon (Holmes &
Prescott Fishman, 1981) is a sans serif based on celtic manuscript
proportions. Several designers have reinterpreted ancient Greek
lettering for a modern sans serif alphabet: most popularly Carol
Twombly's Lithos (1989), and most recently Matthew Carter's Skia GX
(1994). Koch's Neuland (1930?) has a rough-hewn strength. Hans Eduard
Meier's Syntax (1969) is one of the earliest sans typefaces which
clearly echo renaissance roman letterforms. More recent sans faces
often draw on a humanistic background, from Spiekerman's Meta to
Vereschagin's Clear Prairie Dawn.
"Grunge" Typography
...................
The most recent typographic wave is one which has sometimes been called
grunge typography, after the musical movement originating in Seattle.
Although it is far too early to judge the ultimate impact of grunge, I
see the form as the merger of the industrial functionalist movement
called Bauhaus (contemporary with Art Deco, named after the
architectural school) with the wild, nihilistic absurdism of Dadaism.
Grunge, like many typographic/artistic movements before it, is a
rebellion; but this rebellion denies not only the relevance of anything
previous, but sometimes even the relevance of legibility itself, in the
belief that the medium *is* the message.
As grunge type designer Carlos Segura of T-26 says, "Typography is
beyond letters. Some fonts are so decorative, they almost become
'visuals' and when put in text form, they tell a story beyond the
words-a canvas is created by the personality of the collection of words
on the page."
Grunge typefaces and typography are seen in magazines such as RayGun.
Some examples of grunge typography are the work of Barry Deck (Template
Gothic, Cyberotica, Truth), Nguyen's Droplet, Goren's Morire and Lin's
Tema Cantante.
Sources
=======
Published Sources:
------------------
Although much of this information is based on prior knowledge, I also
actively consulted the following publications:
Bauermeister, Benjamin. A Manual of Comparative Typography. Van
Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, NY: 1988. ISBN 0-442-21187-2.
Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style. Hartley &
Marks, Vancouver, BC: 1992. ISBN 0-88179-033-8. The modern classic in
the field.
Byers, Steve. The Electronic Type Catalog. Bantam Books, New York:
1991. ISBN 0-553-35446-9.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change.
Cambridge University Press, New York: 1979. ISBN 0-521-29955-1.
Harper, Laurel. "Thirstype: Quenching a Type Craving" in How: the
Bottomline Design Magazine, vol. 10, #1, Jan-Feb 1995. Although not
usually a thrilling magazine, had several pieces on typography in this
issue (see Segura, below).
Letraset Canada Limited. Letraset Product Manual. Letraset, Markham,
Ontario, Canada: 1985.
Meggs, Philip B. "American Type Founders Specimen Book & Catalog 1923"
in Print Magazine, vol. 48 #1, Jan-Feb 1994. Contains some interesting
info on the effects of industrialization on the type industry.
Sutton, James & Bartram, Alan. An Atlas of Typeforms. Percy, Lund,
Humphries & Co., Hertfordshire, UK: 1968. ISBN 1-85326-911-5.
Morison, Stanley & Day, Kenneth. The Typographic Book: 1450-1935.
University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 1963.
Segura, Carlos & Nelson, Lycette. "Typography in Context: Never Take a
Font at Face Value" in How: the Bottomline Design Magazine, vol. 10,
#1, Jan-Feb 1995.
Tracy, Walter. Letters of Credit: a View of Type Design. David R.
Godine Co.: 1986.
Updike, Daniel Berkeley. Printing Types: Their History, Forms & Use.
Harvard Press: 1962.
Zapf, Hermann. "The Expression of Our Time in Typography" in Heritage
of the Graphic Arts. R.R. Bowker Company, New York: 1972. ISBN
0-8352-0213-5.
Personal Contributions:
-----------------------
In addition to written sources, which are identified above, I would like
to thank the following for their helpful comments and corrections (any
errors are, of course, my responsibility): Robert Hemenway, Mary Jo
Kostya, and Dan Margulis
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Version 1.02 14 Apr 1995
This is Info file compfont.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the
input file FAQ.texinfo.
Subject: 1.28. The Role of National Orthography in Font Design
This article was constructed from postings by Anders Thulin, Charles A.
Bigelow, and "fieseler" from Jan 1994.
An open question: what role does national orthography play in the
asthetics of a given font?
Given that uppercase letters occur more frequently in German than in
English, are German font designs better for typesetting German (because
the designer is more concious of the relationship between capitals and
lowercase)? Similarly, are French designs better for typesetting French
because the designer is more atuned to the appearance of accents?
Speaking of accents, there are apparently fonts in which the dots over
the "i" and "j" are not at the same height as the dieresis over
accented vowels. (Does anyone have an example of this?) Surely this is
an error that a designer accustomed to working with accented letters is
unlikely to make?
Subject: 1.29. Interesting Fonts
There's no end of interesting fonts, so this is really just a catch-all
category.
Highway Gothic
==============
Kibo (James Parry) provides the following discussion of Highway Gothic:
Highway Gothic is The Font Company's name for their interpretation of
the font used on most official road signs in the United States. (The
Font Company added a lowercase to most styles.)
I don't think it has an official name. There is a government
publication which shows the fonts (revised in the seventies to make the
heights metric); I got a copy of it once, from a library specializing in
transportation, and digitized Series E(M) (normal-width bold caps with
lowercase, the only USDOT font with lowercase) for a special project. I
don't think the specs have changed since the seventies.
Besides E(M) with lowercase, there is a slightly lighter alphabet
without lowercase, and three condensed styles. I recall there was also
a set of really distorted letters for use in painting vehicle lanes,
plus a few symbols for bike paths etc. The alphabets included letters
and digits only--any periods or hyphens you see on signs are apparently
unofficial.
Where can I get extravagant initial caps?
=========================================
Don Hosek writes:
I doubt that most decorated initials can be made to work in the type 1
format because of their complexity. Color only makes things worse.
One of the best choices for medieval and renaissance decorated alphabets
hasn't been mentioned yet: BBL Typographic (they have an ad on p. 39 of
Serif 1). A demo disk is available for \$10, B&W alphabets are \$50 each
and full color alphabets are \$60.
BBL Typographic
137 Narrow Neck Road
Katoomba, NSW 2780
AUSTRALIA
011-61-47-826111
011-61-47-826144 FAX
also distributed by:
Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies
LN G99
State University of New York
Birmingham, NY 13902-6000
I know the work only from the Serif ad, but it's gorgeous there (even
nicer in color, although they decided not to spend the extra money for
color in their ad... only a select few in Katoomba & Claremont have seen
the ad in full color). Of course Serif-related disclaimers apply.
Jon Pastor contributes:
Check out the Aridi initials, color EPS initials, available on the
Monotype CD (and, presumably, on the Adobe CD as well, although they
don't advertise this; Monotype did, in a recent mailing).
To which Don Hosek amends:
The Aridi initials are part of the Type Designers of the World
collection and are available on the MT CD but not the Adobe CD. Adobe
has their own line of decorated initials available on their CD. Also
see the catalogs from FontHaus, FontShop and Precision Type.
If you want something really unique, why not hire a calligrapher. It
may be cheaper than you think.
Robert Green adds:
Although they might not be on the Adobe CD, the Fall 1994 Font &
Function advertises an Adobe "Initial Caps" collection of decorative
initial caps designed by Marwan Aridi.
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