Typetease: a graphic design and typography humour

“A humorous take on the ongoing battle between serif and sans-serif.�

SERIF..

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SANS SERIF..

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One of the most ancient yet popular disputes in the history of typographic history, which type is undoubtedly better?

The Serif or the Sans Serif.

Here’s a new approach that defines this never ending battle; Informative and humorous this booklet will tickle ur funny bones and turn the cog wheels in your brain.

Divided into three seamless sections: An introductory phase Basic differentiations Anecdotes, wit and humour

Every type has one ..

Every typeface has one ..

Every font has one ..

A PERSONALITY

A Bodoni MT

THE SERIF MAN

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Berlin Sans FB

THE SANS SERIF MAN

What

DO

Letters

eat

for BREAKFAST ?

K e r nflakes

THE SERIF TYPE By definition, serifs are the small lines or strokes at the ends of the main strokes of the letters in a particular font.

Sometimes, serifs are also descriptively explained as “hooks” or “little feet” at the ends of the vertical and horizontal strokes of a letter.

A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface or serifed typeface. Some typography sources refer to serif typefaces as ‘Roman’.

The Origin of the Serif (1968)

by Father Edward Catich, explains the broadly accepted origin of the Serif type.

He proposed that the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiseled into stone.

THE SAN SERIF TYPE

V The battle has begun

S

Defining and Differentiatin

In typography, a sans serif, san serif or simply sans typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called “serifs” at the end of strokes.The term comes from the French word sans, meaning “without”. Before the term “sans-serif ” became common in English typography, a number of other terms had been used such as gothic, which is still used in East Asian typography and seen in font names like Century Gothic.

The first sans-serif types were developed in the 18th century. They became popular in printed media in the early 19th century, at first under the term grotesque, as the omission of serifs was a significant departure from hundreds of years of tradition in printed text. The term sans-serif was first employed in 1832 by Vincent Figgins.

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DISCRIMINITION OF TYPEFACE

REJECTED One things for sure, when it comes to type faces, love definitely isn’t blind !

Discimination at it’s very best!

Ew! Gross. You’re not my type!

Hey baby girl! Want to go out with me?

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After a long day at work, Garamond and Arial walk into a bar to get some drinks: I’m feeling a bit BOLD today. How about some Whisky on the rocks?

GA

ARIAL : Bartender! Can I get some drinks for my friend and myself over here.

BARTENDER : Sorry sir, We don’t serve your type here. However, your friend is welcome to stay!

WHAT ARE BABY SANS SERIF’S TAUGHT IN SCHOOL

?

1

CHAPTER ONE

Like all children, Sans serif kids also learn their very first lesson on good manners and basic rules to follow: Here’s a preview:

tie Cross your T’s

Dot your I’s

Loop your E’s

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Mind your P’s and Q’s

Cut off your serifs

2

CHAPTER TWO

This chapter teaches all baby sans serif’s action words and verbs: Bite, Chew, Cut, Shoot etc.

Here’s a brief preview of the chapter.

AA BITE THE SERIF’S

SHOOT THE SERIF’S

VOILENCE KNOWS NO LIMITS WHEN IT COMES TO TYPEFACES

PRESIDENTIAL

FONTS

FONTELECTION

Serif and Sans Serif both have had a president of the USA rooting for their family. Will this battle ever end?

Baskerville for Benjamin President Franklin vouches for a controversial font design by John Baskerville London, 1760

Benjamen Franklin who owned a successful printing business was an admirer of Baskerville. They had met in Birmingham in 1758, and returned to the US with Baskervilles’s work, popularising it through its adoption as one of the standard typefaces employed in all federal government publishing. ‘‘In vain I endeavoured to support your Character against the Charge; he knew what he felt, he could see the Reason of it, and several other Gentlemen among his Friends had made the same Observation.” , an extract from Benjamin’s letters to John Baskerville.

To be continued..

GOTHAM says Obama Just like the man’s philosophy, clear and precise, is his choice of font.

London, 1760

Throughout the 2008 presidential race, Barack Obama was effusively praised for the consistent, compelling visual identity of his campaign. The keystone of his identity was a typeface called Gotham, a fresh, clean-lined sans-serif designed

by Hoefler + Frere-Jones. Gotham was originally commissioned by GQ magazine, which requested a design “that would look very fresh, yet very established, to have a credible voice to it.”

The fact is, Gotham worked out well for Obama. Designers were soon hailing the font as the hottest font of 2008, and people began to recognize it as ‘The Obama font.’

To be continued..

0

When defined, the small decorative flourish at the ends of the stroke, in an alphabet make it a serif font. The lack of these decorative flourishes represent a sans serif font. Now the question arises, going by the definition, how does one identify which type family does ‘O’ belong to ? Do the serif and sans serif families fight over the rights to this letter?

FONT USED : Bookman Old Style

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HOW DO WE IDENTIFY

There is a simple solution to this dilemma. Most serif fonts have a non-uniform stroke, that is contrasting between thick and thin.

Whereas, serif characters mostly have a set stroke width. So ‘O’ really isn’t quite that controversially active, if you just think about it!

TYPOGRAFUNNY

HAHAHA A collection of jokes, anecdotes, witty humor and more.

Typographic jokes about seif and sans serif fonts that sure will tickle your funny bones.

Atleast we’re funny, hilarious jokers!

J

J Pfft! Yeah.. you sure are comic, sans!

T T WHAT! But I’m Times New Roman!

We are modern, new-age and in with the times!

SCORE

11

The first half of 20th century is the end of the Modern era, the moment when revived typefaces were found in the typography mainstream. But it was also the time when a completely different font design was booming, the Sans Serif.

Actually, it is amazing that the simple idea of dropping serifs at the ends of strokes didn’t occur to the great many typographers who experimented with their shapes and sizes so much. In part, it is due to the inertia of scribes’ tradition who, with their quills, simply could not produce a reasonably clean cut of a stroke.

But the biggest part of the serif persistence was, of course, due to plain habit. When the first examples of sans serif fonts finally appeared, they seemed so controversial that the first name given to them was grotesque. However, the Sans serif are considered newer and more versatile as compared to the serif fonts. SO WHICH TYPE IS BETTER?

Baskerville and Arial meet at a party. This is how the two ladies conversation goes on: I’ve been maintaining my shape for years now, narrow and curvacious in all the right places. But look at you Arial! You’re FAT!

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ?

I’M NOT FAT... I’M BOLD!

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SERIF : The stroke widths contrast between thick and thin in an alphabet.

SANS SERIF : A uniform stroke width is usually maintained throughout the letter.

“

They say the best font choices are the ones where readers dont notice the font, but rather the message.

- Somebody famous

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So, what are you saying?

That we are useless!!LD!

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“It’s an on-going, everlasting, never-ending, infinte battle. Or is it ?”