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table table of of contents contents 666 Aqua Aqua AquaGrotesque Grotesque Grotesque 12 12 12 Brandon Brandon BrandonGrotesque Grotesque Grotesque 16 16 16 David David DavidCarson Carson Carson 22 22 22 Freight Freight FreightText Text Text 32 32 32 Granville Granville Granville 34 34 34 Omnes Omnes Omnes 38 38 38 Rift Rift Rift 46 46 46 Tiempos Tiempos Tiempos 52 52 52 Bibliography Bibliography Bibliography 54 54 54 Contributors Contributors Contributors 55 55 55 Colophon Colophon Colophon
y? h p ? a r gr o atte p y m it is t t s a e es? h v o i l d r W u y ct o a p Wh m i es it o d w Ho
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Introduction The Merriam-Webster definition of “typography” is: “the work of producing printed pages from written material” or “the style, arrangement, or appearance of printed letters on a page.” How those letters, words, and sentences are styled and arranged affects how they are perceived. Good typography clarifies content, establishes hierarchy, and presents information in a manner that makes it easier to read, and, therefore, to understand. Good typography is good communication: it can start a dialog or advance an idea or make a difference in the world.Typography is also intertwined with our daily lives—we encounter type in everything from the products we buy, the signage around us, the books we read, the news we consume, and the directions we follow. Typography can be beautiful, functional, persuasive, and inviting. It can also fail, especially when there is a disconnect between how the type looks and what the text says.This book is a celebration of typography and typeface design. It is also a creative collaboration among students in Art 338: Typography II at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, during winter quarter 2020. Each student in the class researched a different typeface and contributed the pages in this book that describe and showcase their assigned typeface. The final design reflects the many talents of the students who brought this project to life.
Charmaine Martinez Associate Professor of Design and Type Enthusiast Department of Art and Design California Polytechnic State University
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AQUA
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A SANS-SERIF, GEOMETRIC TYPEFACE Aqua Grotesque is a sans-serif geometric typeface that was initially inspired by popular fonts from the 1940s. It currently exists as a single type family and was created and released by Laura Pol in 2014. It includes a full set of uppercase characters, lowercase characters, numbers, and symbols. Grotesques have a slightly crude appearance and a lot of visual character. These early sans serifs had less polish and more quirkiness than their more clinical and sleek contemporary counterparts, the Neo-Grotesques. Grotesques are usually geometric in design with simple letter
forms and fairly even stroke weights and they are also often bolder and can be used as display type. The grotesque font style has seen an uptick in popularity over the past few years and designers are coming up with new ways of interpreting this older sans serif style. “Readers tend to prefer the informal, human warmth of a slightly imperfect grotesque and at the same time these type styles can appear so elegant and sharp. It’s also a font style that is adaptable through time and can appear vintage or very of the moment, depending on how it’s applied” (Greta P., 2017).
AQUA 9
LAURA DESIGNER. PHOTOGRAPHER. TYPOGRAPHER. CREATIVE. AQUA GROTESQUE • PAGE 5
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Laura Pol is a Cuban graphic designer, photographer, typographer and creative who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She currently leads the design department at the TBWA Media Arts Lab that designs marketing materials for Apple, and in her spare time she leads her own design focused studio, OLIO.
She started her personal design company, OLIO, just a few years after signing on with Apple. She finds that working with a large, high-end company alongside her personal design studio allows her to feed her appetite for both a fast-paced work environment and fulfilling more creative aspirations apart from a corporate brand.
As a child growing up in Cuba, she worked closely with her grandfather who was an architect and gained an appreciation for the satisfaction that comes from bringing designs to life. Laura was first introduced to graphic design in 2011 while she was working in a small print shop and attending school. As soon as she found out that design could be a career, she changed majors and began avidly teaching herself how to use design programs and software.
Although she completed the Advertising and Graphic Arts program at the Miami International University of Art & Design, she is a heavily selftaught artist that has learned most of what she knows from hands-on experience. A talented graphic designer with an eye for photography, Laura’s versatility in the arts has allowed her to focus her efforts and skills on creating everything from full company marketing for a global brand to personal branding for celebrity clients such as Mike Tyson.
She started by taking on small freelance jobs for local clients and her career advanced quickly. Within three years, she was sought out and contracted by Apple’s marketing department and now works with them full time specializing in design strategies and marketing for their brand.
Her advice to other designers is that they should continue to focus on projects that keep them creative and that allow them to experiment outside of their comfort zone.
“I just fell in love with what I did... I got lucky because I was really dedicated to doing what I love” -- Laura Pol 11
TYPEFACE In geometric fonts, basic shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles are used to construct the design of the typeface. Aqua Grotesque’s formal and optical geometric repetition give it a very structured character as well as a modern aesthetic. Grotesque fonts were some of the earliest sans-serif display typefaces. Sans serif typefaces lack the embellishments and strokes that distinguish serif typefaces, thus the use of the French word “sans”, meaning without. Sans serif letterforms often convey a sense
Fig. 1
a
of something that is clean, minimal, or modern. They became increasingly popular in the early 20th century and were called “grotesque” due to their overall rejection of the design elements that made serif fonts look elegant and light. Common elements of grotesque sans serifs are a spurred uppercase G and minimal contrast between strokes. Aqua Grotesque has many notable features that make it an interesting and beautiful display font. It carries a single, consistent stroke weight throughout its letterforms and terminals, and it has a relatively high x-height (figure 2) which helps to make the typeface more visible to the reader at any given size. Display faces that have very large lowercase letters tend to communicate with more clarity and emphasis while smaller text that incorporates larger x-heights have increased legibility and readability.
Fig. 2 Cap height x-height Baseline
Counter
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Terminals
The counters of each letter are formed with geometric shapes and are consistently designed which creates a strict, universal feel (figure 1). The apex and vertex of the characters are also geometric and come to a clear point without extending past the ascenders or descenders.
Apex
A c F h K n Q s V x 0
a D f I k O q T v Y 1
b E g J l P r U W w y Z 2 3 B d G i L o R t
C e H j N p S u X z 4
Ascenders
Aa Bb Qq Descenders
AQUA GROTESQUE • PAGE 9
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DESIGNER’S BIOGRAPHY
Photo of Hannes von Döhren, Typeface designer
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Hannes von Döhren was born in Berlin, Germany in 1979. Von Döhren studied graphic design and worked at an advertising agency that is based in Hamburg. He is the creator of many different type families, the most successful one being Brandon Grotesque. From a young age Hannes Von Döhren has had a passion for letters which lead him to establish the type foundry now known as HvD in 2008. Hannes von Döhren says that his and the foundry’s driving force is the act of creation itself. At the foundry the team works together with clients, agencies, and experts. The goal of the type foundry is to produce a body of work that displays a balance between professional and playful. In 2011, von Döhren received the Certificate of Excellence in Type Design from the Type Directors Club of New York. ✦✦✦
THE STORY BEHIND
This typeface was designed by Hannes Von Döhren in 2009 and released in 2010 through the Berlin–based type foundry called HvD fonts. The spacing and kerning was completed by Igino Marini of iKern. The typeface was created to resemble geometric sans serif typefaces that were popular in the early twentieth century, or more specifically in the 1920s and 1930s. While Futura was the more well-known typeface during this time period, Brandon Grotesque was based more on Erbar. The typeface was then adjusted for improved legibility and it was optically modified. According to the designer, this typeface was designed to not only have a functional look, but also to have a warm feel.
There were six weights created including thin, light, regular, medium, bold, and black. Further, italic versions for each of the later weights has also been created. So, the typeface is easily adaptable for display text or body copy. In contrast to the typefaces of the 1920s and 1930s that this typeface was based on, these letters have soft edges, a small x-height, and high ascenders which leaves a bold yet handmade impression. Currently, this font seems to be more widely used on the web and seldom used in print. While Brandon Grotesque can be functional for
body copy, Brandon Text is now available as a suitable alternative for body copy because it is slightly tighter and has a larger x-height. This typeface is fairly new so there is not a lengthy history, however, since 2010, the uses range from the corporate font for Comedy Central to other promotional materials such as event posters. Also, Brandon University recreated their school’s logo and used Brandon Grotesque.
BRANDON GROTESQUE
✦✦✦
“ Letters are like
sculptures — if you look at them carefully you can see the beauty in every detail.”
— Hannes von Döhren
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Thin Italic
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Light Italic
Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk
Regular Italic
Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp
Medium Italic
Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv
Bold Italic Black Italic
Ww Xx Yy Zz 123456789
A CLOSER LOOK AT BRANDON GROTESQUE The x-height is fairly small which allows for flexibility and legibility, however; a version of Brandon Grotesque called Brandon text was created to be even more legible for body copy. While the ascenders are high compared to many typefaces, the cap height is the same as the ascenders.
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Ascender
x-height
Descender
CMYKrgb
Brandon Grotesque was designed for support with ligatures such as the letters “fi,” as well as monospaced figures and alternate characters, and it has a true italic to go along with each of the six weights. Brandon Grotesque as a whole is a contemporary sans serif typeface. While it is very geometric, the characters are slightly and subtlety rounded which was meant to give the typeface an approachable feel. Some of the spurs such as those of the letters “u,” “n,” “b,” “d,” and “q” taper off slightly, although for the most part, the strokes of each character have an even width across as single stroke. Some notable aspects of Brandon Grotesque include the two-story “a” and “g” as well as the rounded tittle on letters such as the lowercase “i” and “j”.
Mean line
Baseline
Further, the lowercase “g” has both a link and an ear. The counter in letters such as “O,” “Q,” and the lowercase “A” in the black weight is a perfect circle, and most other apertures are nearcircular. With some typefaces, you cannot tell the difference between the number one, and the letters “L” and “I.” With Brandon Grotesque each of these characters differs slightly so one can easily differentiate them. The numbers of this typeface are not considered old style figures, as they share the same baseline as the rest of the characters. ✦✦✦
Brandon Grotesque in Use 17
David Cars THE PROCESS
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ABOUT THE TYPEFACE
To understand the excitement of this design, one must first understand who David Carson is. Carson was late to the game of Graphic Design as he had gone to college to study Sociology. His work was something the world had never seen before, and he was known for his daring use of typography. People criticized his work for its lack of legibility, but he was able to achieve something greater than legibility: The letterforms had emotion and spoke to the audience before it was read. He challenged every rule of typography and focused on telling a story through unconventional design. His key to success was designing for himself and sticking to his sense of design. Massimo Vignelli of Vignelli Magazine describes that, “Styles come and go. David’s design is a language, not a style,” (“David Carson &...”).
David Carson is a ransom typeface inspired by the one and only David Carson. Designed by Iordanis Passas in 2017, this typeface encompasses the grunge aesthetic of the 1990s and Ray Gun magazine. David Carson was the art director of Ray Gun and his use of experimental layouts and breaking the rules of typography led to exciting designs. Iordanis Passas has created a few other grunge typefaces, but this one is unique as it pulls directly from a collection of David Carson’s works.
Iordanis Passas embodies a lot of David Carson techniques within his own works such as breaking the grid and using typography as graphic elements. Both designers engage their audience with their unconventional layouts that focus on making the elements speak to the audience. Although Iordanis Passas published this typeface in 2017, the original design is pulled from David Carson Design archives. Passas collected works from David Carson’s most influential designs and extracted different letters, numbers, and ligatures to create a unique character set. This typeface pays a tribute to David Carson and each character within the set has its own voice.
son
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Designer Bio
Iordanis Passas is from Athens, Greece and was born in 1986 (“IP Art [Iordanis Passas].�). After spending time in London pursuing his degree at the University of the Arts London, Passas accumulated an impressive portfolio working in the design industry. Before becoming a Graphic Designer, Passas experimented with writing code and fell in love with designing UX and UI. He has also received awards for branding and identity, has been featured on the AIGA member gallery for his typography, and has worked with clients in designing book and editorial layouts. A lot of his clients hire him for his daring style that is reminiscent of David Carson’s works. Throughout his career he has noted the importance of staying true to his own style regardless of whether or not the majority of people will gravitate towards it (Passas). After all, if people continue to hire him for his style, he must be doing something right!
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Visual Analysis
H a 22
Character set
The Ransom note effect is a juxtaposition of many typefaces, and it is inspired by ransom notes that used cutouts from magazines and newspapers to form a message (“Ransom Note Effect.”). Because David Carson is a Ransom Typeface, none of the letterforms follow the rules of typography such as consistency between x-heights, meanlines, descenders, ascenders, cap heights, etc. Some of the letterforms are uppercase, while others are uppercase. Some are made up of thin lines, while others are filled in completely. They all vary in sizes and the letter “l” is the only one that is slanted. The number “6” is the only number that is spelled out as “six.” Although there are a variety of styles, there is a repetition of styles throughout the character set which creates visual cohesion. The typeface also uses a mixture of serif and sans serif letterforms. The overall design is exciting in the way that the letterforms can become graphic elements; it is meant to be a display typeface used for titles and larger type. Because every letter comes from David Carson’s works, it is easy to tell that the letterforms were all designed by one artist. It’s paradoxical in the way that the lack of order creates an order in its own way.
AB h i pq wx 3 4
C de j kl r st y z 567
f m u 1 8
g o v 2 9 23
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JOSHUA DARDEN TYPE DESIGN Joshua Darden was born and raised in suburban Los Angeles. Joshua published his first typeface at the age of 15. He spent the next ten years of his life as an assistant for typeface development and worked for a wide range of commercial clients. Darden even worked briefly with other famous designers like David Carson. His Brooklyn based studio was established in 2004 and since then he has had the opportunity to be a guest lecturer and type critic for a number of colleges and art schools across the nation. Joshua Darden has also taught at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts.
FREIGHT FREIGHT TEXT TEXT Freight Text is a serif typeface designed by Johsua Darden in 2005 for the Brooklyn based Darden Studio type foundry. Frieght has an extensive family with many different versions available for use which makes it versatile and capable of resolving many typographic challenges. Freight has five different weight iterations ranging from light, book, medium, bold and black. Each weight comes with its own set of italics and small caps. Freight Sans, Freight Display and Frieght Big are some of the additional members of this type family. Freight also includes micro and macro versions of the typeface which makes it useful for body text and display.
a vast and versatile superfamily 25
*
At
the age of 15 Johsua Darden had already designed his first typeface.This was the beginning of a lifelong passion for typography and design that would land him at the helm of his own type studio. Brooklyn based Darden Studios was founded by Johsua Darden in 2004. Darden Studio is a small collective of designers and typographers who share an affinity for contemporary design aesthetics. Their extensive client list ranges across all forms of industry from advertising and marketing to consumer goods, retail, media and technology. Darden studios has created a wide variety of distinct typefaces like Birra, Corundum, Dapifer, Freight, Halyard, Jubilat and Omnes. Mr. Darden’s vision is upheld by the current CEO Joyce Ketterer who took over in 2019. The Frieght font family comes with four distinct members: Freight Sans, Freight Text, Freight Big and Freight Micro. The Freight Text font is easily legible and ideal for applications of lengthy text. Freight Text lends itself nicely to publications like newspapers, books and journals.
Freight Sans is suitable for jobs involving text or display. Freight Sans comes equipped with a variety of text options such as roman and italic characters, small caps, italic small caps and old style characters. Freight Sans also features five weights. Freight micro was designed as a solution to the challenges slab serif fonts face in print and on screen. Micro works well in the smallest of point sizes as well as in larger displays. Freight Big is a perfect typeface for headlines but can also be used for text. Freight has a uniquely bold appearance that blends nicely with other members of the Freight family.
TYPE STORY 27
Freight Text is a vast and versatile superfamily typeface. This contemporary typeface has only been available for fifteen years yet it continues to grow in popularity due to its suitability for handling many typographic challenges. Freight comes in serif, sans serif, display and text. Here we will analyze the core anatomy within this typeface to help you better understand the elements at work in a well designed letterform Freight Text has a large x-height for its lowercase letters which come close to the cap height of its uppercase letters. Freight Text has moderate sized serifs that maintain consistent width. The counter in Freight Text letters can be both rounded and elliptical depending on the letter. In the lowercase letter g we can see the top counter is elliptical yet much more rounded than the lower counter at the bottom. The bowl of Freight Text letterforms is of consistent width where it attaches to the letter’s stem and grows in width as it curves around, as we can see in the lowercase letter a. The ascenders and descenders of Freight Text are equal in length. The ascenders extend beyond the cap height and the descenders reach below the baseline a measure of half the x-height. The rounded terminals of Freight Text is uniform among letters such as the lowercase a and lowercase r. The spine of the lowercase letter e is proportionally balanced against the transitional thinness as the letter curves and reaches its finish.
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FREIGHT ANATOMY
ABCDEFG HIJKLMN O P Q R S T UVWXYZ abcdefgh ijklmnopq rstuvwxyz Serif
Bowl
Ascender
Freight Terminal
Counter 29
Granville Description Granville is a modern sans-serif typeface. It was designed by a graphic designer named JeanBaptiste Levée of French Production Type, founded by Levée. Granville’s design has a strong contrast in its strokes. However, unlike other thick-thin sans-serifs, the letters remain sturdy enough at small sizes to allow Granville to work as a text face. Granville has six styles: Light, Light Italic, Regular, Regular Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. Granville is very prominent in editorial designs, signs, and posters.
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The Story Behind Granville Granville was created in 2015 for French Production Type. Production Type is based in Paris, France and is an online distribution of type for designers and active font users for industrial or luxury applications. Production Type was developed in 2014 and is currently a very important and influential digital type design agency. Granville is a well harmonized sans serif typeface. This typeface is known for having a very visible contrast between thick and thin strokes. The high thick to thin contrast fonts started to be outdated and replaced by the more modern san serifs in the 20th century, until Jean‑Baptiste LevÊe designed Granville, a stylish, contemporary typeface. This typeface family was created for versatility purposes. Granville is built on hairline cross bars and thick stems. Granville’s italic similar to a script font. There is still a high contrast in the letters, but it is more flowing and graceful.
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JeanJean-
Baptiste Baptiste Levée
Bibliography Bibliography Jean-Baptiste Jean-Baptiste Levée Levée was was born born in in MontMontSaint-Aignan, France in 1981. Levée Saint-Aignan, France in 1981. Levée first first went to Estienne School and studied visual went to Estienne School and studied visual communications. communications. At At the the school school he he joined joined the the DSAA typographic creation which sparked DSAA typographic creation which sparked his his love love for for typography. typography. Levée Levée graduated graduated from from Estienne Estienne in in 2004. 2004. Levée Levée later later took took lessons lessons and learned design from Franck and learned design from Franck Jalleau, Jalleau, Michel Michel Derre, Derre, Margaret Margaret Gray Gray and and Sébastien Sébastien Morlighem. Morlighem.
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When When Levée Levée finished finished schooling schooling completely, completely, he started working as a he started working as an an assistant assistant for for a famous famous French French graphic graphic designer, designer, Christophe Christophe Badani. In 2004 to 2006 he Badani. In 2004 to 2006 he started started worked worked as as art director of the music label, Ambroisie. In art director of the music label, Ambroisie. In 2006, he took a role as a French representative 2006, he took a role as a French representative in in the the International International Typographic Typographic Association, Association, and later became and later became Vice Vice President President of of the the International Typographic Association International Typographic Association a a year year later. later. In In 2010 2010 Levée Levée and and other other artists artists like like Bruno Bernard, Stéphane Buellet and Patrick Bruno Bernard, Stéphane Buellet and Patrick Paleta Paleta developed developed the the Bureau Bureau des des Affaires Affaires Typographiques which was the Typographiques which was the first first French French collaborative collaborative digital digital foundry. foundry.
A A couple couple years years later later Levée Levée left left the the Office Office of of Typographic Affairs to focus on his Typographic Affairs to focus on his personal personal work. work. While While focusing focusing on on himself himself Levée Levée launched his own digital foundry. launched his own digital foundry. Production Production Type, for Levée Levée to to Type, which which became became a a place place for explore and show off his talent of design and explore and show off his talent of design and typography. typography. Levée Levée is is the the creator creator of of numerous numerous typefaces as well as works typefaces as well as works for for several several magazines Liberation, magazines and and newspapers newspapers like like Liberation, Vanity Fair, Fair, Sciences Sciences & Vanity & Avenir, Avenir, and and Trax Trax.. Levée a hundred hundred typefaces typefaces Levée has has designed designed over over a for industry, films, fashion and media for industry, films, fashion and media and and is is currently creating and teaching other currently creating and teaching other young young artists. artists.
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Visual Analysis Granville is known for extreme contrast with strokes and changes of weight within just one character. Granville’s strokes gently turn and swell throughout each letter. Granville’s italic has a distinct personality of its own, but does not stray too far from the original font. In Granville’s uppercase “H’’ there is a much higher emphasis on the stems than the crossbars in the letter. Also in Granville’s “H” it has a relatively wide proportion to its body. Granville’s “C” has an equal weight for the top stroke and the bottom stroke. Granville has terminals that are cut at a 90 degree angle. Granville’s “C” has a very tight curve to it.
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Granville’s lowercase “s” balances its space for the curve of the spine of the “s”. The terminals yet again are cut off and curved in and the small tails curl upward. The “s” has a thick spine. Granville’s lower case “f” is very unique. There is a hooking effect in the curve of the “f”. This arch is created to give it more room to breathe. In Granville’s lower case “e” it is thick on the cruse and get thin right at the terminals. Granville has a certain old yet modern feel to it. It gives a harsh contrast between the characters with each letter having a unique characteristic to it.
H
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Omnes designed by Joshua Darden. Omnes is an extremely versatile, elegant and simple sans serif and can be used for many purposes as it has a wide array of weights available. It is capable of displaying a loud, bold presence as well as being refined and composed in its lighter weights. It has sixteen total styles, eight different weights paired with an italic version of each weight. This range of styles and weights gives Omnes the power to draw different feelings and moods while still upholding a consistent personality in its family. This font also pairs very well with other fonts as its personality doesn’t overpower them.
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The Story Behind the Typeface Omnes was originally released in 2006 but expanded in May 2018 with new widths of SemiCondensed, Condensed, and Narrow. Two more extensions, Cyrillic and Arabic, were published in January of 2019. It was initially created as the typeface for a national retail chain brand before becoming more available to the public. Darden Studios prides itself on creating fonts that can be used by more than just themselves so using and downloading Omnes is very accessible to everyone. Its non-geometric, curved forms pay homage to round Grotesque fonts in the 19th century that were featured in the visual style of the Bauhaus. The influence of the Bauhaus is very apparent in the visual appearance of the typeface in subtle ways. It plays with the concepts around geometry, cleanliness and based on elementary shapes. Omnes was created for “no-nonsense” editorial work as well as in a variety of other contexts and purposes. For example, Omnes was used in the 2009 monthly magazines, Tennis, which covers most of the important news from the world of tennis. With its variety of weights, it was used on the cover as well as the medium weight for smaller sized text in the interiors of magazine spreads. Its large family of weights and styles gives it the adaptability to be used in logos, titles, body copy, headers and much more.
Good typography withstands the whims of fashion. It is aware of its time and place but functioning far into the future.
Darden Studios The typeface Omnes was created by type designer Joshua Darden along with the members of his type studio. Darden Studios, based in New York, seeks typography that is intentional in its contemporary technical and design expectations. It is made up of a group of individuals started by Joshua Barden and continued by Joyce Ketterer. Many of the members work on multiple projects at a time but use the studio as a base. “We pursue typography that is the result of earnest inquiry, suited to contemporary technical and design expectations, and rooted in the values and practices of five centuries of typefounding” (Darden Studios). In creating their fonts, they want other people to use and experience their typefaces not just themselves. They believe that “Good typography withstands the whims of fashion. It is aware of its time and place but functioning far into the future” (Darden Studios).
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A CLOSER Typeface Analysis Omnes is versatile and flexible due to its range of weights and physical attributes. The nonitalic, regular weights have a vertical stress and an overall consistent stroke width. The heavy weights have inflated letterforms and feature exaggerated crescent terminals. The middle weights are useful for text and have very similar features to the heavy weights. The lighter weights express a sense of poise with and get down to a hairline of 0.5 points. Overall, the strokes of the typeface end in rounded edges and are not very angular. When typesetting, Omnes tends to be set wide which is great for taking up space like in headers or titles but sometimes isn’t as ideal for other occasions like body text. Since the Omnes styles were wide, Darden Studios also released a condensed version of the typeface. The font pack also includes many features and options such as Superscript figures, multiple forms of letters, Inferior figures and Ordinals. It is popular due to the letters having accents that are subtle and unexpected curves. Although mostly rounded, Omnes does have some geometric cues like in the terminal of the “j” in the middle weights. Most of the terminals are rounded, rectangular edges but with some of the terminals they have a hard edge on one side and a round edge on the other. The lowercase “g” is notable as the ear extends and stands out in attention. In the italics, there is a subtle curve at the end of some of the strokes that is incredibly smooth. Many of the joints are also not completely rounded or angular but somewhere in between. The thickness of the strokes overall are consistent and have little contrast.
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R
Hero image from Powershop UK’s recruitment page.
Sophisticated. Youthful. Urgent. Simple. Approachable.
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RIFT
A SCI-FI INSPIRED, GEOMETRIC, SANS-SERIF
The typeface Rift is a tall, geometric, sans serif and is available in many unique styles. It was designed in 2016 by Mattox Shuler, who runs Fort Foundry. The typeface is rooted in the square-sans genre and its bold shape is great for titles. Rift is ideal for font pairing because of its wide variety of styles. It comes in 5 weights with corresponding Italics and Soft styles. Its stylistic alternatives offer a more playful tone and its tabular figures are perfect for vertically aligning numbers. Another fascinating aspect of Rift is that is free and can be used for both personal and professional needs. Though the typeface is originally influenced by the Sci-Fi genre, the end result was a very versatile and contemporary typeface.
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d h l p t x
a e i m q u y
b f j n r v z
c g k o s w 41
The idea behind creating Rift was originally based in the design of a board game called Control. The game consisted of Sci-Fi themes and time-travel motifs so the inspiration for this typeface came from titles and lettering on old, campy Sci-Fi posters. From this vision came the tall, geometric typeface built for the game’s logo and cards. It has a charming personality and also has great legibility, perfect for titles and text at medium to large sizes. Its tabular numbers are perfect for tables and large lists of numerical information. Rift also creates an interesting rendition of a square-sans typeface with its Soft version. The soft, rounded edges of Rift Soft create an unusual juxtaposition with its tall, rectangle shaped letter forms. In addition, Rift offers a set of alternate letter forms with more curvature. These alternates can completely change the tone of the typeface, playing up its versatility. Rift took heavy influence from the square-sans genre of typography. This genre is characterized by typefaces with a box-like appearance and structured character. They are generally based on grotesque characteristics (think, Helvetica!) but intentionally square normally curved strokes. Many square-sans typefaces, like Rift, are only made with capital letter forms. Overall, they are designed with mostly straight lines, have very little curvature, and have symmetrical and architectural qualities. Often, square-sans typefaces can be hard to read but, in Rift’s case, the tall X-height has been paired with a very appropriate width, creating a great sense of legibility.
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RIFT IN USE
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ABOUT THE DESIGNER
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MATTOX SHULER The designer behind the typeface, Rift, is none other than Mattox Shuler, founder of Fort Type Foundry. Schuler was never formally trained in design, rather he studied Marketing at the University of Georgia. He got his start in designing typefaces after working for a website that published articles and he was in dire need of typefaces for the titles. Schuler says he finds a lot of inspiration from old packaging and signs he finds in antique stores. Shuler’s type foundry, Fort, was created as a side-project in 2013 with the release of his typeface Bourbon. It quickly became a full time project for Shuler as each typeface he released made their way to the “Hot New Fonts” list. Since its conception, Fort has released 14 different typefaces. The inspiration behind Fort comes from building forts as kids and filling those places with creativity, exploration, and fun. Fort wants to take those values into creating type. Recently, Shuler has began adding other designers to the Fort team because “building Forts is always more fun with friends.” A few of Fort’s most notable clients are Netflix, Trader Joes, Taco Bell, and Marvel Studios.
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TYPEFACE ANALYSIS Rift is most notably a tall, square sans-serif with great legibility at medium to large sizes and on wide screens. This legibility is mostly due to its somewhat generous relationship between width and height. The typeface is very rectangular with quick rounded corners. Many of the letter forms appear to be almost horizontally symmetrical. Some examples of this would be the C,D,H, and X. When looking at each letter, it is noticeable that the feet and terminals of letter forms are flat and perfectly horizontal. Another trait that characterizes Rift as square-sans is that all the letter forms sit even on the baseline and there are no ascenders. There are also no descenders, with the exception of the tail on the Q. Another distinct characteristic of Rift is that the W joins with a pointed apex, instead of with crossing V’s. One letter form that is particularly odd is the K. On the K letter form, the leg extends out of the arm instead of the stem which is interesting because it is the only letter where the strokes do not meet at a perfect point. Rift is available in 5 weights and has an italics version for each. The weights range from light to bold, allowing Rift to fill many different typographical needs. Rift also is available in a Soft version. This version is basically the same as regular Rift, except the feet, terminals, and ends of each letter are rounded instead of a flat. The end stroke of the letter forms still are very horizontal, but their sharp corners have been rounded. Another difference between Rift and Rift Soft is that the tail on the Q is much shorter in the soft version. Rift Soft also comes in 5 weights and their italic versions. Another quirky trait about Rift is that it offers 9 stylistic alternatives. These alternatives include an A, N, R, M, W, G, Q, Y and a ligature of A and E. All of these alternate letters are more rounded versions of their original counterpart. These letters took the sharp angular lines of the originals, and turned them into more box-style, vertical letters with quick curves. Most of them appear to be based off the original letter O. Another interesting characteristic about these alternate letter forms are that the M, N and Y appear to be in lowercase form but still sit at the same x-height as the rest of the alphabet.
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corners This example shows the curves on the corners of Rift’s letter forms. It also shows the rectangular shape of the letters, and emphasizes how the rounded corners interact with the very straight lines.
terminals The top example of Rift shows how the terminals of letter forms end at a sharp horizontal line. Below, is an example of Rift Soft’s more rounded version of the terminals.
x-height This example shows how Rift has a consistent x-height. There are no ascenders and descenders, with exception of the Q. It also illustrates how many of the letters are horizontally symmetrical.
S
S
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THE TIEMPOS COLLECTION “The Tiempos Collection is a hardworking, modern serif family for editorial typography.” — Kris Sowersby (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Design Information”).
The Tiempos Collection of typeface families, released in 2010 (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Headline Fonts”), includes a fine, headline, and text-based version, each maintaining incredible legibility at their respective sizes, and keeping the elegance of a serif typeface. The Tiempos collection updates the workhorse functionality of Times New Roman and Galaxie Copernicus, becoming a new option for people who don’t want to sacrifice functionality for beauty,
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both in body text and headlines. Specifically for Tiempos Fine, being released a little later in 2018 (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Fine Fonts”), this family takes the functionality of the stability of Tiempos Headline and increases the contrast between the thick and thin lines to create an even more elegant headline typeface, (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Design Information”).
THE TYPEFACE STORY
Behind the Tiempos Collection, the story begins with the need for a workhorse typeface in redesigning a Spanish newspaper, in hopes of optimizing the word per page count without overcrowding the page with text or sacrificing legibility. This led to taking the newspaper ’s current typeface at the time, Galaxie Copernicus, and creating one which would meet the newspaper ’s goals. Originally, the new typeface was going to be within the same family or collection of Galaxie, but as it was being designed, it became too distinctive to be called under the same parent name (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Design Information”). When looking for inspiration, the type foundry, Klim, used Galaxie Copernicus and Times New Roman, two time-proven typefaces for newspapers. In relation to these two inspirations, they both were inspired by Monotype Plantin; the creation of Tiempos looked back to Monotype Plantin as the parent typeface of its two other inspirations, acknowledging the history of where their typeface was originating from. For the choice of Times New Roman, Klim Type Foundry found inspiration here because of the typeface being such a classic choice with the functionality it holds for as a newspaper typeface. It has incredible functionality and legibility for use in a newspaper, but over the years has become overused (Village: Tiempos Fine). Hence,
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the combination of Times New Roman and Galaxie Copernicus in creating the form of Tiempos Text and Headline. The Tiempos Fine family, created eight years after the original collection (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Fine Fonts”), increases the line width contrast of Tiempos Headline to enhance the elegance of the typeface for the editorial team at National Geographic Magazine. Tiempos Headline had the aesthetic and functionality the team was looking for but lacked the elegance they wanted to portray with a typeface, and so Tiempos Fine was created and added into the collection.
THE DESIGNER
Kris Sowersby is the mind behind the Tiempos Collection. He has been creating award-winning typefaces since 2007 (“Klim Type Foundry: About”) after opening Klim Type Foundry in 2005 (Thomson). Sowersby is a self-taught type designer, falling in love with type early in his designing career. In an interview with Eye Magazine, he describes his love of type: “At design school I became enamoured with typography. I loved the simplicity of its raw state – arrangements of black and white space on the page,” (Thomson). Both Sowersby and Klim Type Foundry are from New Zealand, which influences their typefaces and their business model (Thomson). As a type foundry, they have won awards for typefaces that express a relationship between national identity and design, as well as creating custom typefaces for many New Zealand Organizations. As for their approach to their community, they also support New Zealand nonprofits that benefit the New Zealand community and the environment, (“Klim Type Foundry: About”).
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“I loved the simplicity of [typography ’s] raw state – arrangements of black and white space on the page,”
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VISUAL Differences between Galaxie (grey) and Tiempos (black).
Tiempos Text Regular Italic. Entry and Exit points of the letterfroms
Lowercase Z, Tiempos Headline Family. Medium weight, regular style (left) and italic style (right).
Lowercase Z, Tiempos Headline Family. Medium weight, regular style (left) and italic style (right).
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ANALYSIS Since the inspiration of this typeface comes from newsprint, the differences between Tiempos and Galaxie Copernicus enable Tiempos to be a more workable typeface. At the same point size as Galaxie Copernicus, Tiempos’ “cap-height, ascenders and descenders are shorter, allowing for tighter line spacing without crowding,” (“Klim Type Foundry: Tiempos Design Information”). This particular aspect of Tiempos text allows for a higher word count in newsprint per column without overcrowding the page with text.
Sowersby describes the influence of Times New Roman as it relates to his design of Tiempos: Times has a certain British sleekness to it, a nice mix of smooth curves and sharp points,” (Thomson). This is notable in the comparison between the entry and exit points in the Italic letterforms for all the families, where the entry stroke is a flag, the exit point contrasts with its curve (Village: Tiempos Fine).
Although, the sharp edges become a much more noticeable feature when in its regular style. The curves of the letterforms turn characteristically blunt. Here is a comparison of the lowercase Z from the Tiempos Headline family. Although the curves and edges are highly contrasted between these styles, the same personality is still present, with the bifurcated bracketed slab serifs.
Between the families themselves, going from fine to medium, the contrast of the stroke line weight goes from high to low depending on its purpose as a display typeface or body copy. Looking closer at the uppercase T of Tiempos Fine and Headline, the serif style changes as well to allow for the higher contrast for the display typeface; in Tiempos Fine, the serifs are more characteristically transitional, versus Headline which continues the bracketed slab serif of the original collection.
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Bibliog Shea Brooking: Tiempos Village: Tiempos Fine, vllg.com/klim/tiempos-fine. Thomson, Mark. “Eye Magazine.” Eye Magazine | Feature | Reputations: Kris Sowersby, www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article
reputations-kris-sowersby.
“Klim Type Foundry · About.” Klim Type Foundry, klim.co.nz/about/. “Klim Type Foundry · Tiempos Design Information.” Klim Type Foundry, 13 Nov. 2019, klim.co.nz/blog/
tiempos-design-information/.
“Klim Type Foundry · Tiempos Fine Fonts.” Klim Type Foundry, klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/tiempos-fine/. “Klim Type Foundry · Tiempos Headline Fonts.” Klim Type Foundry, klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/tiempos-headline/. Kainani Gruspe: David Carson “David Carson & Brand Acumen Studios.” Brand Acumen Studios, Brand Acumen Studios, 2019, brand-acumen-studios.com
david-carson/.
“IP Art [Iordanis Passas].” IP Art, Luc Devroye, School of Computer Science, McGill University, luc.devroye.org/fonts-65210.html.
Passas, Iordanis. “Stories Collective // The ‘Ugly’ Design i LOVE to Make!” LinkedIn, LinkedIn, 5 July 2016, www.linke
din.compulse/stories-collective-ugly-design-i-love-iordanis-passas?trk=portfolio_article-card_title.
“Ransom Note Effect.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Oct. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransom_note_effect. Angela Gunness: Granville “Granville.” Production Type, www.productiontype.com/family/granville. “Production Type: Useful Typefaces with an Edge.” Fontstand, fontstand.com/articles/production-type. Shoaf, Jeremiah. “Granville Font Combinations & Free Alternatives · Typewolf.” Typewolf, www.typewolf.com
site-of-the-day/fonts/granville.
Joey Marshall: Brandon Grotesque “Brandon Grotesque Font Combinations & Free Alternatives · Typewolf.” Typewolf, www.typewolf.com/site-of-the-day/fonts/
brandon-grotesque.
“Brandon Grotesque Font Family.” Fonts.com, www.fonts.com/font/hvd-fonts/brandon-grotesque. “Brandon Grotesque.” HvD Fonts, 20 Feb. 2020, www.hvdfonts.com/fonts/brandon-grotesque. Font Family Page, www.myfonts.com/fonts/hvdfonts/brandon-grotesque/.
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graphy Natalie Mitchell: Rift “About.” Fort Foundry, fortfoundry.com/pages/about. Admin. “Rift Font Free Download.” Graphic Design Fonts, Admin, 5 Aug. 2019, graphicdesignfonts.com/rift-font/. Dafont. “Rift Font Family.” Dafont Free, 22 Apr. 2019, www.dafontfree.io/rift-font-family/. Fulmer, Addy. “Typography 101: All About Sans Serifs.” Typography 101: All About Sans Serifs, www.tpisolutionsink.com/
printing-company-blog-waltham-ma-/typography-101-all-about-sans-serifs.
“Interview: Type Designer Mattox Shuler.” Treehouse Blog, 22 Oct. 2017, blog.teamtreehouse.com/
interview-type-designer-mattox-shuler.
“Rift.” Fort Foundry, fortfoundry.com/pages/rift. Allison Munden: Aqua Grotesque Chapman, Cameron. “Understanding the Nuances of Typeface Classification.” Toptal Design Blog, Toptal, 11 Oct. 2018, www.
toptal.com/designers/typography/typeface-classification.
P., Greta. “What Are Grotesque Fonts? History, Inspiration and Examples.” Creative Market, 21 Aug. 2017, creativemarket.com/
blog/grotesque-fonts.
Pol, Laura. “About.” Laura Pol, 2014, www.pollaura.com/about. Rudolph, Jonathan. “013 - Laura Pol Talks About Freelance And Working With Apple.” Listen Notes, 13 Feb. 2019, www.listen
notes.com/podcasts/creatives-radio-by/013-laura-pol-talks-about-u93-gGN_JUp/.
Ian Myers: Freight Text Pro “Members of the Studio:” Darden Studio About the Studio Comments, www.dardenstudio.com/studio, Accessed March 1, 2020 “Freight Text Font Family Typeface Story” Fonts.com. https://www.fonts.com/font/garagefonts/freight-text/story, Accessed
March 1, 2020
Megan Steiger: Omnes “Omnes.” Darden Studio : Omnes™, Darden Studios, www.dardenstudio.com/typefaces/omnes_pro. “Omnes in Use.” Fonts in Use, 2020, fontsinuse.com/typefaces/19/omnes. Maria, Jason Santa. “About Face: Omnes.” The Typekit Blog, 1 Aug. 2011, blog.typekit.com/2011/08/01/about-face-omnes/.
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Designers.
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Shea Brooking
Natalie Mitchell
Kainani Gruspe
Allison Munden
Angela Gunness
Ian Myers
Joey Marshall
Megan Steiger
Type Guroor is published in 2020 by Angela Gunness. Font that are incorporated are Barlow and Playfair Display. See contributer page for all designer who collaborate on Type Guroor.
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ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor.
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