Typeface
AHBZ A PRIMER ON NINE
QUINTISSENTIAL TYPEFACES
Typ Table of Contents
1
Introduction
58 Sabon
6
ITC Benguiat
68 Sabon
16
ITC Century
78
Trade Gothic
pe 24
ITC Lubalin Graph
88 Trajan
32
48
Memphis
Mrs. Eaves
98
108
Univers
Bibliography
Typography: AN INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS TYPOGRAPHY? WHY DOES IT MATTER? HOW DOES IT IMPACT OUR LIVES?
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. 4 TYPEFACE
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 2018. Each student in the class researched a different typeface and contributed the pages in this book that describe and showcase their
CHARMAINE MARTINEZ
Professor of Design at California Polytechnic State University and Type Enthusiast
assigned typeface. The final design reflects the many talents of the students who brought this project to life.
INTRODUCTION  5
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ITC BENGUIAT   7
a Bb Cc Dd
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm N
Mm
d Ee F Mm Nn ART NOU m Nn Oo P Uu Vv ITC Benguiat
is loosely bas upon typefac the 8  TYPEFACE
d Ee Ff Gg
Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
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Ff Gg H nUVEAU Oo P Pp Qq Rr S Ww X ITC BENGUIAT
an overview…
ITC Benguiat is a decorative serif typeface that was designed by and named after Ed Benguiat (“ITC”). It was released in 1977 after three attempts at getting it approved. ITC Benguiat is a “face loosely based upon typefaces of the Art Nouveau period but is not considered an academic revival” (“ITC”). The typeface is characterized by “an extremely high x-height, combined with multiple widths and weights”(“ITC”). We can see this typeface in use as the main titles of the Star Trek films, the TV series Stranger Things, and for the covers of the 1980 Stephen Kings novels (“ITC”).
sed ces of
period ITC BENGUIAT 9
ITC BENGUIAT
how this iconic typeface came to be…
Benguiat himself found some of his rejected designs so attractive that he began to rework the letters and add new ones.
One of Ed Benguiat’s friends needed a logo for his new business but didn’t have enough money to be able to pay someone to do it (“A Rediscovered”). So Benguiat, being the nice guy he was, agreed to create the logo for his friend for free (“A Rediscovered”). The friend, however, was fairly picky about sketches—Beguiat offered up to about 100 sketches before coming up with something the friend liked (“A Rediscovered”).“From the typographical point of view, however, what is more interesting is the fact that Benguiat himself found some of his rejected designs so attractive that he began to rework the letters and add new ones” (“A Rediscovered”). Benguiat’s boss and co-founder of ITC, Herb Lubalin, felt that
10 TYPEFACE
Benguiat may have been wasting his time doing all this work on the side of his actual job, questioning if the sketches would amount to anything (“A Rediscovered”). Despite his boss’s concerns, Bengiat was convinced he was onto something great and submitted a full alphabet of his typeface to the ITC Typeface Review Board (“A Rediscovered”). Unfortunately, the typeface was rejected (“A Rediscovered”). Benguiat was not going to give up that easy—he modified the font and resubmitted the alphabet two more times until ITC Benguiat was approved, and has been a hit ever since (“A Rediscovered”).
EdBENGUIAT meet the designer behind the typeface…
Ed Benguiat was born Ephram Edward Benguiat,
sign director of Photo-Lettering Inc. (“Font”). Current-
on October 27, 1927 (“Ed Benguiat”). He grew up in
ly, Benguiat teaches at the School of Visual Arts in his
Brooklyn, NY and originally wanted to be a jazz mu-
native New York and still holds his postion as design
sician, but didn’t want to turn into an old guy only
director for Photo-Lettering Inc. (“Font”). Benguiat
“playing bar mitzvahs and Greek weddings” so he
is responsible for “over 600 typefaces including Tif-
decided to take up illustration (“Ed Benguiat”). As
fany, Bookman, Panache, Edwardian Script, and the
far as typography goes, Benguiat got his footing in
self-titled typefaces Benguiat and Benguiat Gothic”
that department primarily from his father’s job—the
(“Ed Benguiat”). He has also designed logotypes for
display director of Bloomingdales (Vincent). Because
The New York Times, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, and
of his father’s position, Benguiat was able to use the
the original Planet of the Apes film (“Ed Benguiat”).
brushes and pens that his father had, and eventually
TYPO states: “He is also known for his designs or
went on to design a logo with an alphabet to match
redesigns of the logotypes for Esquire, The New York
(Vincent). He went on to study at Columbia Universi-
Times, Coke, McCall’s, Ford, Reader’s Digest, Pho-
ty, NewYork as well as the Workshop School of Adver-
tography, Look, Sports Illustrated, The Star Ledger,
tising Art, New York (“Font”). In 1953 he became the
The San Diego Tribune, AT&T, A&E, Estee Lauder, …
associate director of Esquire Magazine, and opened
the list goes on and on. You name it, he’s done it”
his own design studio in New York (“Font”). Almost a
(“Ed Benguiat”).
decade later, in1962, he became the typographic de-
ITC BENGUIAT 11
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ITCflVISUAL Be .
The letterforms of the face have a tall x-height and are fairly broad, and in some ways resemble typefaces from the Nouveau era, an art period of the 19th century characterized by natural forms and structures such as the curvy aspects of plants and flowers (“Art”,“ITC”).Typefaces from the Nouveau era had ornamental qualities to them, which ITC Benguiat also features (“A Rediscovered”). “Particularly characteristic of ITC Benguiat are the long and finely extended line terminals that harmonize perfectly with the tapering serifs” (“A Rediscovered”). Alice Vincent, from The Telegraph, puts this into perspective when she writes, “the combination has been described as ‘pure, unadulterated typographic porn’” (Vincent). Alice Vincent went on to interview Ed Benguiat, and he described his typeface in this way: “It merges, it moves in and out, it’s very good. It’s rather pleasing and comfortable too. And yet exciting at the same time. It’s rather appropriate, if I might say. It lends itself to the feeling of the titles, it has a look. It’s like food—it’s hard to describe what something tastes like, or identify a good smell.” (Vincent)
very tall x-height
12 TYPEFACE
Some distinguishing features include the “diagonal bar of the lowercase ‘e’, the extravagant loop of the single counter ‘g’, the slightly curved tail of the ‘k’ and the inward curving arms of the uppercase ‘U’” (“A Rediscovered”). Additionally, the uppercase “A” has multiple ligatures that distinguish this typeface— some common combinations include: AB, AR, AF, and AA (“A Rediscovered”). Furthermore, to make the face more functional and user friendly, Benguiat also created a genuine italics version of the typeface (“A Rediscovered”). Here, in most cases, the uppercase letters take on new, more dynamic and rounded forms while displaying serifs on one side only” (“A Rediscovered”. As with some of the upright variants, the italics version also includes some ligatures, typically featuring the lowercase “f”. Examples include: “fl” and “fi” (“A Rediscovered”).Because of the typeface’s boldness, extenuated by the combination of contemporary qualities with aspects of 19th century type styles, ITC Benguiat is “the perfect choice for setting headlines and producing promotional text” (“A Rediscovered”).
Nfp
L U fi
s enguiat L ANALYSIS ekU
bar of lowercase ‘e’ is diagonal
tail of ‘k’ is slightly curved
arms of uppercase ‘U’ is curved inward
It merges, it moves in and out, it’s very good. It’s rather pleasing and comfortable too. And yet exciting at the same time. It’s rather appropriate, if I might say. It lends itself to the feeling of the titles, it has a look. It’s like food—it’s hard to describe what something tastes like, or identify a good smell.
ITC BENGUIAT 13
ITC BENGU
1 1. Stephen King’s Pet Sematary 2. Choose Your Own Adventure series 3. Stranger Things logo 4. Nier: Automata video game 5. The Smiths Strangeaways, Here We Come Album 6. National Assembly of Quebec logo 14 TYPEFACE
IAT IN USE 2
4
5
3
6
ITC BENGUIAT  15
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ITC Century
ITC CENTURY  17
HISTORY
f
E 18  TYPEFACE
Y
ORIGIN The Century typeface family originated in the nineteenth century where it was used for periodicals, textbooks, and literature (The Century Family). Its original intent was to resolve the legibilty issue that typfaces of that time experienced. The Century typeface family was designed by Linn Boyd Benton in 1894 in collaboration with Theodore L. DeVinne, the master printer at Century Magazine (The Century Family). DeVinne wanted a more legible font than the current Caslon variation they were using (The Century Family). In 1980, ITC Century was created by type designer Tony Stan.
FOUNDRY ITC (International Typeface Corporation) was a type foundry which was created in 1970 by Aaron Burns (Wiki). This company was known for its creation of new type but also its revivals of old types. Usually their revival of type involved increasing the x-height, multiple weights, multiple widths, and unusual ligatures (Wiki).
CREATOR Tony Stan was born in 1917 and is known for his work as a type designer at ITC. The New Yorkbased designer developed different version of fonts like ITC Garamond (1977), ITC American Typewriter (1974), ITC Cheltenham (1975-1978), ITC Century (1975-1979), and ITC Berkley Old Style (1983) (Luc Devroye). Tony Stan also worked at Photolettering Inc. and died in 1988.
ITC CENTURY  19
VISUAL A Based off observations, ITC Century seems to have low to average thick-to-thin contrast so it is not as hard to read in text form like Bodoni or Didot. Compared to Century Old Style, ITC Century seems to be rounder in shape and has more curves on the numbers. ITC Century’s all caps letters all sit on the baseline except for the tail of the ‘Q’ which goes slightly below the baseline. The serif on the ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘h’, ‘i’, ‘j’, ‘k’, ‘l’, ‘m’, ‘n’, ‘r’, and ‘u’ are straight compared to the slant in the Old Style.
Some other things to note from this font is the increased x-height on the ITC version of Century. It helps make the font more legible when it is shrunken down to smaller sizes, however, it also makes it look taller when increased in size (Wiki). Also note that the lowercase ascenders are shortened (Identifont). ITC Century was also designed with an increased x-height but narrowed letter spacing (Fonts).
For lower case type, the curl ending in a ball terminal on top of letter c. Ball terminal on hook of f, ear of g, and tail of j.
For upper case type, the curled tail on the capital R and reflexive curled tail on the capital Q. Prominent top spur on capital C.
For figures, the curl ending in a ball terminal on both tails of 3, and on single tail of 2, 5, 6 and 9.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
20 TYPEFACE
ANALYSIS
J
ITC Century Std ITC Century Std ITC Century Std ITC Century Std ITC Century Std
Century Old Style Century Old Style Century Old Style Century Old Style Century Old Style
K
ITC CENTURY  21
l
IMAGE G 1
3
5
2
P
4
22  TYPEFACE
GALLERY 6
7
8
9
IMAGE GALLERY 1) Algiers - Blood 2) Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla 3) Cornish College of Art - Image Spread 4) Cornish College of Art - Title Page 5) Cornish College of Art - Website 6) The Happy Couple: ITC Century & Futura 7) A Seasoned Super Family: ITC Century & ITC Century Handtooled 8) The Happy Couple: ITC Century & ITC Franklin Gothic 9) The Happy Couple: ITC Century & LinoLetter
ITC CENTURY  23
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ITC Lubalin Graph ITC LUBALIN GRAPH  25
9 7 1
AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOo ppQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZzAaBbCc DdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoppQqR SsTtUuVvWwXxYyZzAaBbCcDdEeFfG HhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoppQqRrSsTtUuVv WwXxYyZz
26 TYPEFACE
Designer Biography
Typeface His
Herb Lubalin (1918-81) was born in New York City in 1918 and has a twin brother and a sister. He was a prominent figure in the development of the Avant Garde Magazine logo and subsequent typeface. He worked alongside Ralph Ginzberg (a radical publisher and author) to produce three significant publications, Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde (Rethinking Lubalin). Lubalin created a typeface specifically for Avant Garde magazine, ITC Avant Garde. It was inspired by Art Deco and the 1930’s Eqyptienne movement. (Typedia) It featured strong geometric letterforms with tall x-heights and consistent line weight.
ITC Lubalin Grap based on the type Garde Gothic by It was redrawn in Di Spigna and Jo full set of glyph by Helga Jorgen Engelmann in 19 Lubalin created a cifically for Avan azine, ITC Avant inspired by Art 1930’s Eqyptienn (Typedia) It fe geometric lett tall x-heights a line weight. The Lubalin Graph w direct response t ITC Avant Garde
74
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*
* ITC
ITC (International Typeface Corporation) was founded in 1973 in Massachusetts and created creative professional fonts for designers throughout the decade. It was founded by Herb Lubalin, Aaron Burns, and Ed Rondthaler. ITC is known for its plethora of popular display typefaces, as well as its new and revival typefaces. The original display fonts were intended for phototypesetting, and now align with the digital age of today. (My Fonts)
Lubalin
story
ph is a typeface eface ITC Avant y Herb Lubalin. n 1974 by Tony oe Sundwall. Its hs was finished nson and Sigrid 992. (My Fonts). a typeface spent Garde magt Garde. It was Deco and the ne movement. eatured strong terforms with and consistent e typeface ITC was born as a to the typeface e.
Graph
Herb Lubalin brings back Art Deco in this Egyptian Slab Serif Typeface. ITC LUBALIN GRAPH  27
Visual Analysis Vertical terminals
90 degre angular
Unbracketed serifs
Relatively tall x-height
Short descenders
Almost perfectly circular counters
The Man in the Yellow Hat told me to tell my favorite movie to the nice zebra named Joe
The Man in the Yellow Hat told me to tell my favorite movie to the
The Man in the Yellow Hat told me to tell my favorite
The Man in the Yellow Hat told me to tell my
The Man in the Yellow Hat told m
The Man in the Yellow Hat
The Man in the Yellow 28  TYPEFACE
Slabs and circles are the bones of this 1970's typeface.
ee, sharp slab serifs Short capital letters and ascenders
The typeface has a dramatically tall x-height compared to its ascenders and descenders and has unbracketed slab serif terminals. The font has almost no contrast in its line thickness. The letterforms are very geometric in form. The bowls and counters are perfectly circular. It has a full set of glyphs and lining numerals. A distinct characteristic of this typeface is the horizontal serif on the lowercase ’t’. There are 5 font weights in its regular width, and 4 weights in its condensed width. (My Fonts)
AaAaAaAa
e.
e nice zebra named Joe.
e movie to the nice zebra named Joe.
y favorite movie to the nice zebra named Joe
me to tell my favorite movie to the
told me to tell my favorite
w Hat told me to tell my ITC LUBALIN GRAPH 29
Example Gallery ITC Lubalin Graph is used in a variety of different ways, from baby food jars and cereal ads, to corporate identities and festival posters. Its geometric and blocky features lend itself to many different kinds of projects.
1 IBM redesign poster series 2 Cherub baby food jar design series 3 House of Cards, stack of artworks packaging design 4 IMB redesign billboard design on IBM office space 5 Brighton Festival Poster 6 Butifarring restaurant branding and menu 7 Kelloggs 1978 breakfast advert design. 8 PBS 1984-89 Identity design, standards manual 8 Re Publica May 1973 poster design. 10 PBS 1984-89 Identity Design, standards manual
30  TYPEFACE
AaBbCcDd EeFfGgHh IiJjKkLlMm NnOoppQq RrSsTtUuVv WwXxYyZz
1
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MEMPHIS  33
MADMEMPHI FOR TYPEFACE DESCRIPTION Characterized as a slab serif typeface, Memphis stands out from the crowd with its geometric design. The typeface was designed by Rudolf Wolf, a German type designer, in 1929 (Shoaf). According to Shoaf, Memphis is one of the earliest examples—following Futura and Erbar—of a geometric slab serif. Wolf designed this typeface for a German metal type foundry named D. Stempel AG (Identifont). This slab serif typeface is most well known for its use as a display typeface because of its bold and geometric appear34 TYPEFACE
ance. Memphis can be found on posters, packaging, advertising, as well as headlines (Haley et. al., 188). Overall, Memphis is a successful typeface that paved the beginning for more slab serifs.
CHARACTERIZED AS A SLAB SERIF
FACE, MEMPHIS STANDS OUT FROM CROWD WITH ITS GEOMETRIC DES
g SLAB SERIF
IS
GEOMETRIC APPEARANCE
TYPE-
M THE IGN.
MEMPHIS  35
WHO IS
RUDOLF WOLF? 36  TYPEFACE
GERMAN TYPE DESIGNER, RUDOLF WOLF, WHO WAS THE DESIGNER OF THE POPULAR SLAB SERIF MEMPHIS. HE WORKED AT STEMPEL TYPE FOUNDRY WHEN HE PRODUCED HIS MOST POPULAR TYPEFACE, MEMPHIS (TYPOPHILE).
BIOGRAPHY OF THE DESIGNER Rudolf Wolf was German type designer who was responsible for the type design at D. Stempel AG, a German type foundry located in Frankfurt (“Dr. Rudolf Wolf”– Typophile). As Typophile mentions, Wolf was born in Hechingen, Germany in 1895 and later died by suicide in 1942. Wolf did many great things with his life including receiving a PhD from University of Frankfurt and teaching typography at Stempel (Typophile). One
of his greatest and well-known achievements was his creation of the famous Memphis typeface. In the beginning, Wolf worked as an advertising manager for D. Stempel and then became responsible for the revival of the slab serif collection of the foundry (Consuegra, 1922). Memphis started a trend of worldwide revival of slab serifs in Europe and America (Consuegra, 1930) as these typefaces regained their popularity. MEMPHIS 37
HISTORY OF THE TYPEFACE HISTORY OF THE TYPEFACE The first design of the typeface, Memphis, was by Rudolf Wolf, a German type designer working at the Stempel German type foundry (“Memphis”– Linotype). Wolf first was an advertising manager, then taught typography at Stempel, and lastly worked to revive their collection of 19th century slab serifs. This revival of slab serifs by Wolf, especially Memphis, would eventually lead to a type trend of reviving these slab serif typefaces (Typophile). 38 TYPEFACE
The name Memphis came after the ancient Egyptian capital and was one of the first modern Egyptian slab serifs, according to Linotype. This typeface with its geometric look was categorized as “Futura with serifs” because of both typefaces’ use of geometric shapes within their design (Linotype).
THE USE OF MEMPHIS NUMERALS IN THE BOOK PICTURED (ABOVE). MEMPHIS IN USE ON THE MOVIE POSTER FOR NIGHT MOVES (RIGHT).
Memphis was originally created in 1929 around 100 years after Egyptian slab serif typeface popularity in the 1800’s (“Guide to Typestyles”– Fonts.com). The reason that Memphis was unique was that it was the first typeface that was part of the slab serif revival that happened in the 1900’s, as Fonts.com states. With the revival of slab serifs, Memphis was ahead of the pack because of its legibility and effectiveness as a display typeface. Linotype discusses how Memphis, as a result of this typeface’s success, led many others type designers to revive slab serifs worldwide. Memphis in particular provides the “clarity of a sans serif with the readability of a serif” (Linotype), and is highly recommended for small blocks of text rather than large bodies of text.
Currently, Memphis is associated with Linotype foundry as a font. Linotype has many different successful fonts, including Helvetica and Avenir (Linotype). This font foundry has been proven to produce quality fonts for over a century, according to Linotype’s website.
EXAMPLE OF MEMPHIS IS USE. STEEL FURNITURE AD IN ARCHIV FÜR BUCHGEWERBE UND GEBRAUCHSGRAPHIK, NR. 11/12, 1929 (SWISS SPECIAL EDITION). 40 TYPEFACE
HERMES LOGO WITH ITS USE OF A MODIFIED MEMPHIS MEDIUM TYPEFACE
MEMPHIS  41
THE SERIF ON
A
THE CAPITAL A IS
HORIZONTAL AND UNBRACKETED,
A CLOSER LOOK AT MEMPHIS VISUAL ANALYSIS The typeface, Memphis, can first be identified because of its distinct appearance as a slab serif. In addition, this typeface sets itself apart from other typefaces by drawing upon geometry (Haley et. al., 188). As Haley et. al. mentions, some of the shapes found within Memphis are perfectly round and circular, leading Memphis’s classification as a geometric slab serif (188). The roundness and circularity of letterforms can be found within the lowercase letters such as g or p which demonstrate these characteristics. 42  TYPEFACE
In addition to this, another noticeable characteristic that Memphis has is within the capital A. According to Haley et. al., the serif on the capital A is horizontal and unbracketed, which is a distinction of slab serifs (188). The only uppercase letter in Memphis that breaks this is the uppercase Q. Unlike the uppercase A, the Q breaks the horizontal with the obtuse tail angle (Haley et. al., 188). One other way to identify Memphis can be through its lowercase r. This identifying element is
Q
A through its ear which is simplified into a circle (Tam, 10). In addition, according to Tam, the use of a single storey a and g is another way to be able to identify this slab serif typeface (10). As a slab serif, there are some things that set Memphis apart from other slab serifs. The use of a monolinear stroke is something that is unique to Memphis as an Egyptian slab serif (Tam, 10). There are parts in which the stroke appears to look thinner, but these are optical adjustments to maintain a consistent look,
THE ONLY UPPERCASE LETTER IN MEMPHIS THAT BREAKS THIS THE UPPERCASE Q.
as Tam mentions. In addition, Tam suggests that Memphis has hints of influence from Futura with popularity of modernism in design (10). Memphis, as an Egyptian slab serif, was a typeface that was different from slab serifs previously produced in the 1800’s.
MEMPHIS  43
A BCDE FG H OPQ R S T U V abcdefghijklmno
MEMPHIS Memphis LT Std Light
MEMPHIS Memphis LT Std Light Italics
44  TYPEFACE
HI JKLMN VWXYZ pq r s t uvwx yz
MEMPHIS Memphis LT Std Medium
MEMPHIS Memphis LT Std Bold
MEMPHIS  45
MASTERFUL MEMPHIS WITH MEMPHIS’S ROUND AND PERFECT CIRCLES USED WITHIN ITS LETTERFORMS, A VIEWER CAN SEE HOW MEMPHIS CAN BE CALLED “FUTURA WITH SERIFS”
46 TYPEFACE
CONCLUSION Memphis, as a typeface, has hints of geometry that lend itself to excellent use in display text. With Memphis’s round and perfect circles used within its letterforms, a viewer can see how Memphis can be called “Futura with serifs” (Linotype). In addition, as an slab serif, Memphis was the first of a revival of slab serifs during the 19th century (Identifont) and was the catalyst of slab serif popularity. The versatility of Memphis can be found in the typeface’s many uses including advertisements to packaging. The legibility of the typeface makes it easy to read and eye-catching as display text. This typeface would be excellent in projects such as book covers in which there is not a lot of body text. In addition, Memphis could also be excellent in something (such as a menu) in which legibility is needed, but there is more of a need for more warmth than a sans serif typeface. Memphis is an extremely successful and versatile slab serif that set the bar for the beginning of slab serif revivals.
MEMPHIS 47
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Mrs. Eaves
MRS. EAVES  49
19
History Designed by Zuzana Licko in 1996, Mrs Eaves is a
Baskerville increased the contrast between thick
revival of the Baskerville typefaces. Baskerville
and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper and
was designed by John Handy in 1750s. Mrs. Eaves
more tapered, and shifted the axis of rounded let-
was released by Emigre, a type foundry run by
ters to a more vertical position (Phinney). In 1757,
Licko and husband Rudy VanderLans. It has been
John Baskerville in Birmingham, England designed
joined by an ‘XL’ version for body text, as well as
this transitional serif typeface. It was revived in 1917
Mr. Eaves, a sans-serif companion(Lupton,65).
by Bruce Rogers for the Harvard University Press
Licko set out to create a typeface inspired by the
and released by Deberny & Peignot, after falling out
traditional typeface but her main objective was to
of use with the onset of the modern typefaces. In
create a softer, more open typeface. Baskerville is
1923, Baskerville was again revived in England by
classified as a transitional typeface, intended as a
Stanley Morison for the British Monotype Company
refinement of what are now called old-style
as part of its program of revivals (Dr. Johnson).
typeface (Baskerville,125).
Mrs. Eaves Baskerville 50 TYPEFACE
996
Mrs. Eaves Roman Small Caps Mrs. Eaves Roman All Petite Caps Mrs. Eaves Roman petite caps Mrs. Eaves All Small Caps Mrs. Eaves Roman Lining Mrs. Eaves OT Bold Italic Mrs. Eaves OT Roman Mrs. Eaves OT Bold Mrs. Eaves OT Italic
Emigre released its revival of this typeface
sizes in other digital revivals of Baskerville,
named for Baskerville’s wife, Sarah Eaves.
and restoring some of the feeling of letterpress
when flatness of offset lithography in compari- printing’s unpredictability. To compensate for son to letterpress printing, and the resolution
this and create a brighter-looking page, Licko
of set devices and on-screen display one can
lowered the x-height, reducing the amount of
see Mrs. Eaves’s traditional roots set in a more
space taken up by ink on the page. Issue 38, The
effective style for modern readers. The over-
Authentic Issue, saw the first extensive use of
all stroke weight of Mrs Eaves is considerably
Mrs Eaves in Emigre Magazine (Lupton, 65).
heavier than most other revivals, countering the often anemic reproduction of smaller point
MRS EAVES 51
Designer
Zuzana Licko
Zuzana Licko was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Licko came to the United States when she was a child, along with her family. She studied architecture, photography and computer programming before earning a degree in graphic communications at the University of California at Berkeley (Rubenstein). When she started her university education, her goal was to earn a degree in architecture, but she changed to a visual studies major because she believed becoming an architect was too similar to going to business school (VanderLans,10 0). While at Berkeley, Licko took a calligraphy class, which was her least favorite because she had to write with her right hand even though she was left handed. This experience influenced her when she started working on type design, which
was
more
comput-
er-based (VanderLans,102).
In
the mid-1980s, Licko and Vander Lans founded Emigre Graphics.
Emigre logo 52  TYPEFACE KELSEY MCGINNIS
Emigre magazine was created in
1984. This magazine distributed original fonts under the direction of VanderLans, its edtor (Rubenstein). Licko was responsible for many successful Emigre fonts including: Filosofia, Mrs. Eaves, Modula, Citizen, Matrix, Lunatix, Oblong, Senator, Variex, Elektrix, and Triplex to name a few (VanderLans,102). The invention of the Macintosh computer allowed Licko to experiment with typefaces and create new visual language within her fonts. As technology advanced, Licko moved from bitmap fonts to high resolution designs and based the newer designs on the ones initially created for dot matrix printers (Coles).
Portrait of Zuzana Licko and VanderLan
MRS EAVES  53
Vig gsual Ana Baskerville and Mrs. Eaves have lowercase g with its open lower counter and swashlike ear.
Q Q CC Both the roman and italic uppercase Q have a flowing swash like tail.
The uppercase C has seri
In comparing Mrs. Eaves to monotype Baskerville, one sees several differences that are immediately noticeable. Mrs. Eaves has wider characters, stronger hairlines, heavier serifs, and, in the case of the italic, truncated entry and exit strokes(pothooks)(Shaw). The wider character proportion is Licko’s means of retaining a sense of “over all openness and lightness” despite the reduced stroke contrast (Shaw). However, ”[i]n order to avoid increasing the set-width” as a result of this wider character proportion, Licko “reduced the x-height, relative to the cap-height.” Consequently, Mrs. Eaves has the appearance of setting about one point smaller than the average typeface (Shaw).
54 TYPEFACE
alysis
C W W GG
ifs at top and bottom.
There is no serif at the apex of the central junction in uppercase W.
Cap Height
X- Height
Baseline
Uppercase G has a sharp spur suggesting a vestigial serif.
Fancy Stem
Ascender
Terminal
Ligature
Bowl
Serif
Descender
Ligature
Ascender
Finial Spine
MRS EAVES  55
01
01
Source: https://chemoton.wordpress.com License: All Rights Reserved.
02
Source: http://books.simonandschuster.biz © Scribner. License: All Rights Reserved.
03
Source: http://www.weightymatters.ca License: All Rights Reserved.
04. Mrs Eaves typeface. Book cover “The Magic of Saida” by M.G. Vassanji.
05. Source: https://www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Steve and tagged with “warnock”. License: All Rights Reserved.
06. Source: http://www.ellijot.de Designed on behalf of artur.kommunikationsdesign, photo by www.kathreinerle.de. License: All Rights Reserved.
06
02
03
04
05
U KY S
x
J
QN E 58  TYPEFACE
Z
U
x
R
Optima
OPTIMA  59
Optima is Prime
AN INTRO TO THE TYPEFACE
Hermann Zapf designed Optima in the early 1950s, and it was released by a German foundry in 1958 (Linotype). It can either be considered a humanist or roman style typeface based on its character because it has no serifs. It is more commonly referred to as roman style. The family contains 15 different weights and variations. Instead the strokes widen into stroke terminals without becoming a serif. The typeface recalls classical ideals, and updates them in a more modern way. He used the Golden Ratio as a measure for the proportions of the characters. Zapf designed Optima to be used for both body and display text. Optima is most notable for being used on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. (“Herman Zapf”).
60 TYPEFACE
a
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Nn Oo Pp Qq R
The quick brown fox The quick brown
az
e Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv
x jumps over the lazy dog. fox jumps over the lazy dog.
REGULAR
EXTRA BLACK
OPTIMA  61
Typeface History In 1950, Zapf visited the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy where he was inspired by the floor tiles to make early sketches of what would become Optima. The inscriptions on the floor tiles were cut in approximately 1530 (Lawson 327). Because Zapf did not have any paper on him at the moment, it was sketched out on 1000 lira bank notes. The bank notes later became the foundational sketches of Optima. The initial typeface was cut by the D. Stempel AG typeface foundry in Frankfurt, Germany. It wasn’t until 1958 that the typeface became available to the public, because of the long process of metal cutting at that time (“Optima® Font Family Typeface Story”). Two years later, it was produced as a Linotype typeface. Zapf consulted Monroe Wheeler of the Museum of Modern Art after creating a draft
of the typeface, and Wheeler suggested to adapt Optima to be used as book text, which Zapf agreed with. Zapf’s key aim in designing Optima was to avoid the mundane nature of capital letters being square in shape. He wanted to name the typeface “New Roman” but others who worked on it strongly encouraged him to name it Optima (“Optima”). Optima was not the first roman typeface without serifs, but is notably the most popular. In the 1960s and ‘70s, many graphic designers considered Optima to be one of their favorite typefaces, and was considered one of the most attractive of that time (“Optima® Font Family Typeface Story”). In the late 20th century, Zapf would go to the Linotype studios to help adapt his typeface to the most recent digital technology, specifically the Open Type format. L: ZAPF’S ORIGINAL SKETCHES OF OPTIMA 1952 R: HERMANN ZAPF
62 TYPEFACE
Hermann Zapf Zapf is a type designer recognized for creating Palatino and Optima. He was born in Nuremberg Germany in 1918. During his photo-retouching apprenticeship in 1934, he developed an interest in the work of Rudolf Koch, a typographer and calligrapher. Zapf taught himself calligraphy from books. In the mid ‘30s he started working for a type foundry in Frankfurt called D. Stempel AG where he designed his first fraktur typeface called Gilgengart. In World War II, Zapf served for the German army, making maps, yet afterwards returned to working for D. Stempel AG as artistic director. Zapf’s calligraphy skills were very impressive, which allowed him to teach calligraphy at a school in Offenbach, and later transcribe the Preamble to the
United Nations Charter in four different languages (“The Life Story of Hermann Zapf”). Since the 1960s Zapf transitioned into designing fonts in computer programs. He continued helping Linotype adapt the typeface to modern technology throughout his later years. While his career began in Germany, he eventually moved to the United States to teach at universities, and continue working. Zapf also did book design for Hallmark Cards . He married a talented fellow calligrapher and typographer, Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, with whom created “the most creative multimedia agency in the world” (Weber 6). Other prominent typefaces Zapf has made include Zapfino, as well as Zapf Dingbats.
OPTIMA 63
Visual Analysis
Optima is based on roman style typography, but has modular style strokes and is a sansserif. It keeps the proportions of a Roman serif typeface and updates it (“Optima”).The strokes vary in width, yet their wide terminals do not turn into serifs. Its characters are wide and full-bodied, and slightly calligraphic in their varied stroke-width. Characters such as the v and the u have a rounded bottom, and most feet of the strokes have concave edges. The descenders on the letters all utilize the concave rounded edge as well. The x-height is average to tall. The visual appeal to Optima is it’s neutrality and grace, while still carrying the 64 TYPEFACE
classic qualities of a roman typeface. It fits in a happy medium between serif and sans serif, making it a great typeface to use for body text, headings, as well as display, which is exactly what Zapf intended for (“Optima”). Zapf used the Golden Ratio to proportion the characters, “lowercase x-height equaling the minor and ascenders–descenders the major” (Lawson 329). Although the stroke width varies on the letter forms, the middle stems such as on the capital E have the same width as the top and bottom stems. Zapf also utilizes a double story lowercase a and g typical of
Cia o flared stroke endings
round tiddle
moderate x-height
slight right stress
cupped terminals
roman styles. The uppercase M is splayed, which occupies a wider area than say the narrow F. The counters of the O and Q have wide counters. As seen in the o theres a slight right slant to the strokes of the typeface. The black and extra black weights of the typeface have
a slightly higher thick to thin contrast of their strokes. The capitals of Optima “follow the proportions of the Trajan Column inscriptions” dating back to A.D. 113 (Lawson 329).
OPTIMA 65
1 2
3
1. VIETNAM VETERANS WALL, WASHINGTON D.C. 2. ROMANCE JOURNAL #1 “EMOTIONS”, 2017 3. AESOP WEBSITE, 2018 4. DOMUS DANICA LOGOTYPE, 1965 5. PONTIAC SUNFIRE CONCEPT CAR, 1990 6. ESTEE LAUDER ADVERTISING
66 TYPEFACE
6
5
4
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QNE
Z B 68  TYPEFACE
x
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Z
Sabon
SABON 69
Sabon’s History 70 TYPEFACE
Garamond, but not quite As a typeface, Sabon was designed by Jan Tschichold in the period of 1964–1967, and released simultaneously by the Linotype, Monotype, and Stempel type foundries (“Sabon”). It was based on a specific type sheet designed by Claude Garamond that Tschichold acquired (“Sabon Font Family Typeface Story”). It was commissioned by a group of German printers who wanted a unified font that would look the same whether it was set by hand, or by a Monotype or Linotype machine (“Sabon”). While sansserif type was highly in fashion at the time, they wanted something that resembled old-style type, specifically Garamond and Granjon (“Sabon”). The primary requirement was that all of the characters, whether roman or italic, must have the same width, to create this unified feel (“Sabon”). Over time is has been used in several bibles and other religious text, and has most recently been notably used in the early 2000s as Stanford’s official typeface, and has been slightly modified for use in Vogue and Esquire’s headlines (“Sabon”).
As a font, Sabon was revived in 2002 as Sabon Next, by Jean François Porchez, a French type designer and founder of the type foundry Typofonderie (“Jean François Porchez”). It includes versions in both roman and italic, in six different weights (Strizver). The primary difference between Tschicold’s original design and Prochez’s revival is the proportions of the italics in comparison to the roman (“Sabon”). Originally, Tschicho designed the italics of Sabon have the same width as the rom (“Sabon”). However, Porchez t an approach that is more tr tional in typography, and mad the italics more condensed in their width, in comparison to the romans (“Sabon”).
2
Sabon vs. Garamond Sabon vs. Garamond
e ns old to mans took radide
1
3
1: Jan Tschichold’s original drawings for Sabon, 1965 2: Sabon Next, font designed by Jean François Porchez
4
3: A comparison of Sabon (right/top) and Garamond (left/bottom) 4: Claude Garamond, designer of Garamond, inspiration for Sabon
SABON 71
Jan Tschichold 72 TYPEFACE
The most influential type designer of his time* Jan Tschichold was born in 1902 in Germany to a sign painter father, and was trained in calligraphy (McLean 8). He worked closely with fellow typographer Paul Renner, before feeing to Switzerland during the rise of the Nazi party (“Jan Tschichold - Typographic Genius.”). He was a strong advocate for modern, sans serif type, inspired by the Bauhaus (McLean 7). In 1928 he published The New Typography, which was revolutionary for its modern graphic design and strict
1
rules, while condemning all typefaces that weren’t sans serif (Flask). This was deemed a threat to German heritage by the Nazi party, who seized much of his work and briefly jailed him before he fled (“Sabon”). He spent 1947–1949 in London at Penguin Books, standardizing the process of creating covers (“Jan Tschichold - Typogr Genius.”). Over his lifetime he w eral more highly influential bo typography and design, and tau tured around the world (“Jan - Typographic Genius.”). Over strict advocacy for modern, design loosened, and he designed an old-style, serif typeface insp Claude Garamond—released in (Flask). In 1974, Tschichold p away in Switzerland, leaving an iconic and deeply influential mark on typography to this day (“Sabon”).
1: Early sketches of Penguin logo, later adapted by Jan Tschichold in 1949 2: Jan Tschichold, typographer and designer of Sabon
2
g the raphic wrote sevooks about ught and lecTschichold r time, his sans-serif d Sabon— pired by n 1967 passed
*According to himself SABON  73
Sabon is a serif, old-style typeface (“Sabon”). It has a low thick-thin contrast, and the serifs are bracketed (Strizver). Both of these features are typical for old-style type (Strizver).
Diagonal intersecting strokes instead of an apex in W
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss
Double storey a in romans
Low thick to thin contrast, seen in all letters
Teardrop terminals, as on y
Wait, they’r Sabon Roman
W IDT 0 74 TYPEFACE
1
2
Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz Bracketed serifs, as on h
Tall crossbar, small counter, as on e
Single storey a in italics
re the same Sabon Italic
Sabon Bold
TH? 3
4
5
6
Sabon Bold Italic
Sabon was designed in roman, italic, bold, and bold italic. Unique to Sabon is the relationship of proportions between the roman style, and the italic style (“Sabon”). While italic style is usually designed to be condensed in comparison to the roman style, Sabon’s italics are the same width as their roman counterparts (“Sabon Font Family Typeface Story”).
7
8
9 SABON 75
3
1 4
2
76  TYPEFACE
5
7
1: Still Such Artwork published in 1992. 2: In the Power of Painting Artwork published in 2000. 3: America through the Eyes of German Immigrant Painters Artwork published in 1975. 4: Sacred Bones Records Artwork published in 2008. 5: Iiris Viljanen — Kiss Me, Stupid & 7 More Solo Piano Pieces Artwork published in May 2016. 6: The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne Artwork published in 1999.
Sabon in Use
6
7: The Kitchen A participatory restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. 8: manualbiography: typography workshop Artwork published in 2010. 8
SABON 77
U KY S
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Q
E
Z BD 78  TYPEFACE
N
x
R Trade Gothic
TRADE GOTHIC  79
80  TYPEFACE
Trade Gothic is a grotesque typeface originally designed by Jackson Burke in 1948 for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. It follows after the design of other similar gothic typefaces by Morris Fuller Benton from the early 20th century (“Trade Gothic Next�). It can also be used on packaging, advertising, and layout design, and seems especially popular in heavier weights or all-caps, as well as condensed versions. Designers have used Trade Gothic for years as a sturdy typeface that draws attention and helps communicate important information, whether that be a newspaper headline or a bold statement in an advertisement. Adjustments have been made to the typeface over the years, such as eliminating inconsistencies and adding additional styles to give the typeface even more versatility.
TRADE GOTHIC  81
History Jackson Burke created the typeface in 1948, but continued to add different weights and styles up until 1960 (Tselentis, 180). Originally the typefaces were only condensed versions and simply called “Gothic” followed by an identifying number. The regular proportions were added to the group of typefaces and the name “Trade Gothic” came about a few years later (“Trade Gothic Font Family Type Story”). Its original use was predominately for newspapers and advertisIn 2008, Akira Kobayashi and Tom Grace, ing. Since its creation in the mid 20th century, working for Linotype, were commissioned to Trade Gothic has been used regularly by graphadjust the typeface and eliminate ic designers and has worked well for pubsome of the irregularities. This crelications such as brochures, magazines, ated a newer version called Trade and books, particularly for headers Gothic Next. The original typeface or sections that need to be emphawas updated to make it more consissized. It is considered an Amertent and have better attention to detail. ican Gothic typeface because The refinements to the typeface included it belongs to a specific sans redesigning overall spacing and kerning serif genre, not referring between letters, as well as modifying certo gothic in the sense tain details such as the letters’ terminals of a historical period and stroke endings (“Trade Gothic Next”). or to Blackletter This update created a cleaner and well-de(“Trade Gothic signed font that can be used in both web and Next”). print design, and is still a popular choice for advertising and headers in newspapers and magazines.
82 TYPEFACE
Jackson Burke, Type Designer
Jackson Burke was born in San Francisco in 1908 and attended University of Oregon and UC Berkeley for college. In 1946 Burke designed books for the Stanford University Press, then went on to work as the director of typographical development for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company of Brooklyn starting in 1949 (“Jackson Burke, Designer of Type”). Some other accomplishments of Burke include developing the TeleTypesetting System for magazines and creating some fonts for Native American languages. Along with Trade Gothic, he also created Majestic from 1953 to 1956 and Aurora in 1960 (Devroye). Jackson Burke was also an art collector and
acquired many Japanese works with his wife. He died in 1975 at age 66. (“Jackson Burke, Designer of Type”). The foundry, Linotype, was founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1890 as the Mergenthaler Linotype Company (“Linotype History”). Akira Kobayashi is currently the type director for Linotype and monitors the look and quality of typefaces, creates his own typefaces, and makes digital versions of classic type families, as seen in his redesign of Burke’s typeface (“Akira Kobayashi”).
TRADE GOTHIC 83
Typeface Analysis Trade Gothic designed in 1948 includes light, regular, and bold, with oblique and extended styles as well. Trade Gothic has narrower letterforms than most sans serif typefaces, which allows for more characters to fit across a line (Tselentis, 180). Like other modern gothic typefaces, this sans serif font has little contrast in stoke weight. This typeface is used often for headlines and advertisements because it is very strong, sturdy, and robust. It stands out and fills space well, making this typeface a good choice for editorial layout design. It is generally seen paired with a serif typeface. Trade Gothic is most visually similar to Morris Fuller Benton’s typeface, News Gothic, which was developed in 1908. Trade Gothic has some defining characteristics such as the shifted joint seen in the K and uppercase R, and the extention of the lower portion of the C past the upper terminal (Tselentis, 180). Jackson Burke’s original typeface has some irregularities and characteristics that made the type family less cohesive overall, however this lack of unity and the variation in widths and weights within the type family has been appealing to designers (Tselentis, 180). Some of the irregularities across Burke’s type family include differing angles at stroke endings for the condensed versions, as well as inconsistencies in line weights of characters (“Trade Gothic Next”). Another issue with the type I noticed was the change between the regular and bold, with a much more square design for bolded uppercase letters.
84 TYPEFACE
k C
The leg of the k does not meet up with the stem
The stroke endings of curved letterforms end at an angle
Trade Gothic Light Trade Gothic Light Oblique Trade Gothic Regular Trade Gothic Bold Trade Gothic Bold Oblique Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20 Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20 Trade Gothic Extended Trade Gothic Bold Extended
Trade Gothic TRADE GOTHIC  85
Trade Gothic in Use Trade Gothic has been widely used since its creation in the late 1940’s as it proved to be a favorite among designers in the realm of advertising and print publications. It has been used internationally as a strong and robust typeface, and the redesign in 2008 has given it even more versatility and popularity, while also increasing the use of the font in web design. Trade Gothic is a great choice for packaging design, posters, web page headers, print ads, and magazine section headers and pull quotes. It would also work well for book covers and signage due to its simplicity and timelessness.
Designed by Raewyn Brandon and Matias Corea, the 99U Conference incorporated Trade Gothic as the primary typeface.
86  TYPEFACE
Q
1. Trade Gothic used on a wedding invitation. Designed by Lucas Campoi. 2. Nike uses Trade Gothic as one of the main typefaces in their branding, especially used on their website.
3. Levi’s website features Trade Gothic in both headers and descriptions. 4. Branding and food packaging featuring Trade Gothic in bright orange and all caps. 5. Packaging design with Trade Gothic as the dominant typeface on the label for Galipette Cidre.
TRADE GOTHIC  87
S
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N
EZ
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Trajan
TRAJAN  89
His
&
History The origin of the Trajan typeface comes from Roman letterforms, capitalis monumentalis, which use geometric shapes such as squares, triangles, and circles to create the architectural details of letters at the base of the Trajan column in Rome (Poulin 25). Roman letterforms were used in town squares for signs, branding, as well as other identifying markers throughout the old capital for visual communication. These Roman inscriptions were designed using serifs due to the tools masons used to prevent their chisels from slipping when working with stone (Poulin 30). Over time little has changed for classical Roman letterforms as designers such as Bruce Rogers, who designed Centaur, Louis Hoell who designed Bodoni, have put their authentic variation on the typeface. In 1989-1990, Carol Twombly introduced the letterforms directly based off the inscriptions on the Trajan column into the Adobe Systems and continued its relevancy in the design field.
90  TYPEFACE
story Bio
&
Biography Born in 1959 in Massachusetts, Carol Twombly attended and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. She studied under Charles Bigelow and after graduation started at the Bigelow & Holmes studio (Stock Allen). Although Carol Twombly’s design career was relatively short, beginning in 1984 with the release of Mirarae, her first typeface, and ending with Adobe Systems in 1999, she designed eight typefaces, co-designed one, and oversaw the creation of nine others (Shaw 87). When compared to other 20th-century designers from the metal era, Twombly de-
signed more typefaces than Bruce Rogers, Jan Tschichold, Paul Renner, Max Miedinger, Oswald Cooper, Rudolph Ruzicka, and Roger Excoffon among others (Shaw 88).Twombly joined Adobe Systems in 1988 and her insight for type helped transition photo-composition to digital composition and transition bitmapped fonts to vector based fonts.
TRAJAN  91
Type Type Design Analysis
tr ajan When observing the letterforms of Trajan, they closely paraphrase the source. The conversion from stone to a typeface required a less heavy letterform ‘N’, a bolder ‘S’, and more prominent serifs (Meggs 542). Trajan is an uppercase typeface with a moderate to low thick to thin stroke contrast with a wide set width. This construction provides white space between each letterform, improving legibility from long distances and when used in a smaller point size. The wider set width, additional white space between each character, and uppercase letterforms are why Trajan is known as a display typeface. Unlike most typefaces which are measured by x-height, due to its all uppercase construction, Trajan is measured by baseline to cap-line. A special characteristic that can be used as an identifier for Trajan, is the Swash found on the letter ‘Q’. 92 TYPEFACE
A A
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
J N K Q Fig. 6
Fig. 3
Fig. 1 Uppercase letterforms with a moderately thick to thin stroke contrast.
Fig. 4
Fig. 2 (Golden Rule), to create the Bold Roman letterform ‘A’.
Fig. 3 Method of geometric construction using uppercase Roman letters.
Fig. 4 Linear lines, squares, circles, and triangles were used to construct the symmetrical set-width. Fig. 5 A specialized characteristic of the letterform ‘Q’ is the Swash on the tail.
Fig. 5
Fig. 6 Circles to measure out the fillets of the letterform ‘N’. TRAJAN 93
Galle Gallery Fig. 1
Fig. 3
Fig. 1 Trajan’s column. The inspiration of Carol Twombly’s Trajan typeface design for Adobe Systems. These letterforms were traced digitally into the Adobe Systems to create the typeface Trajan.
Fig. 2 Inscriptions were designed using serifs due to the tools masons used to prevent their chisels from slipping when working with stone.
Fig. 3 Examples of geometric design with the use of the (Golden Rule) to create Roman letterforms that inspired Trajan. Fig. 4 Typeface design Latin Modern Roman by the GUST e-foundry 2008. Serif with a look of antiquity and sophistication, modeled after Roman letterforms and TRAJAN. Fig. 5 Example of Trajan being used to communicate honor, power, and integrity on a court house. 94 TYPEFACE
Fig. 5
ery Fig. 2
Fig. 6
TRAJAN  95
96  TYPEFACE
And best type goes to… Just a couple of cameo appearances by Trajan over the years. A couple of duds, but an Oscar worthy typeface overall.
TRAJAN 97
U KY S
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Q
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U
x
R Univers
UNIVERS  99
history of univers
When foundry Deberny & Peignot was lookin
face they sought out Adrian Frutiger because
serif with a modern sleek design. Adrian drew
he was working on in college at Zurich (Guar imal and streamlined much like the Avenir typeface he designed previously but wanted a more universal appeal for publication. When the editor of Typographic Monthly magazine, Rudolf Hostettler, took notice of the typeface and utilized it throughout his magazine in 1961 (Osterer, 88) and that was when it took off and gained recognition in the graphic communication industry.
It’s numerous amount of styles and easy legibility in long body text made it one of the most used typefaces not only for magazine and newspaper publications but made it useful for corporate identity materials because of it’s sleek modern design. Due to the numerous amount of use it was getting from companies publications all over it helped save the foundry from going under which in turn helped save engravers jobs (Osterer, 95). Soon the foundry Deberny & Peignot expanded over to Monotype
which later converted to Linotype who added more weigh to sixty three different weights to choose from. It was also
varying weights with a numerical system, Univers 55 bei in down in numerical number depending on it’s weight.
100 TYPEFACE
ng for a type designer to create this unique type-
e he was already known for Avenir, a similar san
w inspiration from is old sketches of a typeface
rdian). He wanted the typeface to be very min-
hts to the typeface, totaling up the first typeface to classify it’s
ing the “regular” and going up
UNIVERS 101
From all these experiences the most important thing I have learned is that legibility and beauty stand close together and that type design, in its restraint, should be only felt but not perceived by the reader. 102  TYPEFACE
ADRIAN FRUTIGER Adrian Frutiger was born in Unterseen, Bern, Switzerland in 1928. He grew up in a farming community which is where he learned the basic values of craftsmanship and attention to detail while working on his family farm. He applied those skills and craftsmanship when he went away to school to study type design. He relates laborious farm work and attention to detail to his craft when making letter forms (Guardian). Frutiger studied type setting at Kunstgewerbeschule, school of arts and crafts in Zurich where he excelled in craft and form. He was recognized at his school for his western letter forms and his wood engravings. Those particular designs gained the interest of type foundry Deberny & Peignot where he designed his first typeface Ondine Script which was popular with Chinese menus for it’s oriental connotation. Later in 1953 he was given the task to design the multifaceted typeface Univers. He went on to design many other sans serif typefaces such as Avenir, Vectora, Herculanum and Risticana. Frutiger contributed greatly not only to the world of typography with his versatile typefaces he designed but helped aid in providing typefaces that graphic designers could love and appreciate. He died in September 2015 and was survived by his son.
UNIVERS  103
WEIGHT Analysis THE SANS SERIF WORKHORSE One of the most unique features of the Univers typeface is that it was designed to have a multitude of weights. When it was first designed by Frutiger and the Deberny & Peignot foundry it originally consisted of twenty one different weights. When the foundry merged with Linotype the number of weights and styles offered began to grow resulting in sixty three total. Another unique factor when it comes to Univers is that the weights and styles are classified by number so that the lower the number the skinnier the weight. Having so many options led to it's great success of being a versatile typeface.
104  TYPEFACE
UUU UUU UUUUU UUUU UUU UUUU UUUU
character analysis ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Some identifying characteristics of Univers are it’s double story lowercase “a” as well as it’s squaring of round corners. When compared to it’s similar counterpart, Helvetica, it has more stroke
The legs and diagonal meet together at the stem at a perfect angle
Ki aG
modulation and it’s “G” lacks a spur (Christensen). In the letter “K” the leg and diagonal meet directly at the center of the stem.
The ascenders and descenders of the lowercase letter forms are relatively short compared to it’s total x-height. Another distinguishing factor is that the width of each character, especially the “w” are wide rather than condensed. As compared to Fruitger’s other
lowercase i's tittle is a sqare shape rather than a circle
typeface, Avenir, the tittle of the “i” and “j” are
lowercase "a" con-
capital "G" lacks a
square rather than round like in Avenir. Univers
sists of a double
spur and curves at a
also has a clear distinction between it’s num-
story letterform
sharp angle
bers such as “1” having a flag and it is much less rounded making it clear and easy to read.
UNIVERS 105
1
4
2
5
UNIVERS ON DISPLAY
106  TYPEFACE
3
6
1 Bruno Pfäffli’s diagram that shows the relational system of the 21 styles of Univers.
2 First artwork of Univers 55 for Deberny & Peignot, 1953/54, the curves are rounder and smoother in the finished versions.
3 Series of posters designed by Max Rompo in 2013
4 Poster designed by Hans-Rudolf Lutz in 1975 of Karl Marx using only the typeface Univers in different weights to create his portrait.
5 Gallusplatz, Switzerland street signage designed by TGG Hafen Senn Stieger.
6 Emil Ruder designed all the covers of the 1961 run
for the Claypole Jazz Festival. Both Univers and
of Typographische Monatsblätter (TM magazine) with
Univers Ultra Condensed are used in the series.
some variant of Univers, repeating this pattern by increasing and decreasing point sizes. UNIVERS 107
Bibliography BENGUIAT “A Rediscovered Classic in the Style of the Art Nouveau Era: ITC Benguiat.” Font News, LinoType, www.linotype.com/ fr/7006/itc-benguiat-gothic.html., Accessed 18 February 2018 “Art Nouveau.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau., Accessed 18 February 2018 “Ed Benguiat.” Ed Benguiat—The Type Directors Club, The Type Directors Club, www.tdc.org/awardwinners/ed-benguiat/., Accessed 18 February 2018 “Font Designer – Edward Benguiat.” Lino Type, Monotype, https://www.linotype.com/fr/1515/edward-benguiat.html., Accessed 17 February 2018 “ITC Benguiat.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITC_Benguiat., Accessed 17 Feb. 2018 Vincent, Alice. “Stranger Things: Meet the Design Genius behind TV’s Most Talked about Title Font.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ on-demand/0/stranger-things-meet-the-design-genius-behind-tvs-most-talked-ab/. Accessed 18 February 2018
CENTURY “The Century Family.” The Century Typeface Family., showinfo. rietveldacademie.nl/century/visuals.html. February 22, 2018 “Century Type Family.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_type_family. February 22, 2018 Devroye, Luc. “Tony Stan.” Tony Stan, Luc Devroye, 21 Feb. 2018, luc.devroye.org/fonts-26225.html. February 22, 2018
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Friedlander, Joel, et al. “The Century Typeface: An American Original.” The Book Designer, Portmanteau Designs, 24 Sept. 2015, www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/11/the-century-typeface-an-american-original/. February 22, 2018 Haley, Allan. “Type Classifications.” Fonts.com, www.fonts.com/ content/learning/fontology/level-1/type-anatomy/type-classifications. February 22, 2018 “International Typeface Corporation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ International_Typeface_Corporation. February 22, 2018 Strizer, Ilene. “Anatomy of a Character - Fonts.com.” Fonts. com, www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/ type-anatomy/anatomy. February 22, 2018 “ITC Century® Font Family Typeface Story.” Fonts.com, www. fonts.com/font/itc/itc-century/story.
LUBALIN GRAPH Shaughnessy, Adrian. “Rethinking Lubalin.” Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design, vol. 21, no. 83, 1 Jan. 2012, pp. 48–52., www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-2742137051/rethinking-lubalin. Accessed on February 24, 2018 My Fonts. ITC Lubalin Graph. https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/ itc/lubalin-graph/. Accessed on February 25, 2018 My Fonts. ITC. https://www.myfonts.com/foundry/ITC/. Accessed on February 25, 2018 Tony Di Spingna. About. http://tonydispigna.com/about.php. Accessed on February 25, 2018
MEMPHIS Consuegra, David. Classic Typefaces: American Type and Type Designers, Version 1, Allworth Press, 10 October 2011, Google Books: https://books.google.com/books, Accessed 20 February 2018. Haley, Allan, et. al. Typography, Referenced: a Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography, Rockport Publishers, 1 February 2012, Google Books: https:// https://books.google.com/books, Accessed 19 February 2018. “Memphis”, Fonts.com: www.fonts.com/font/linotype/memphis/ story, 2018, Accessed 20 February 2018. Shoaf, Jeremiah. “Memphis”, Typewolf: www.typewolf.com/siteof-the-day/fonts/memphis, 2018. Accessed 20 February 2018.
scholor, http://www.swosu.edu/administration/osp/news/ activity-fair-11/2011-abstractbook.pdf. Retrieved February 20, 2018. Heller, Steven, and Philip B. Meggs. Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography. New York: Allworth, 2001. Print. Lupton, E. Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editers, and Students. New York, Princeton Architectural Press.2004 Lyons, Martyn. (2011). Books: A living history. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Publications. pp. 111 Phinney, Thomas. “Transitional & Modern Type Families”. Graphic Design & Publishing Center. http://www.graphic-design.com/typography/design/transitional-modern-type-families Retrieved Febuary 19 2018.
“Stempel”, Fonts by Designer/Publisher, Identifont: www.identifont.com/show?079, 2018, Accessed 19 February 2018.
Rubenstein, Rhonda. “Zuzana Licko.” Eye magazine No. 43, Vol. 11, Spring 2002 http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/reputations-zuzana-licko. Retrieved Febuary 19, 2018.
Tam, Keith. “Geometric Slab serifs of the 1930’s”, The Revival of Slab serif Typefaces in the 20th Century: pp. 10–11, Keith Tam: http://keithtam.net/documents/slabserif.pdf. Accessed 19 February 2018.
Shaw, Paul. “Baskerville Revisited.” Print, vol. 50, no. 6, Nov/ Dec96, p. 28D. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9612240711&site=ehost-live. Retrieved February 19, 2018
“Dr. Rudolf Wolf ”, Typophile: www.typophile.com/node/18600, 2000–2016. Accessed 20 February 2018.
VanderLans, Rudy, Zuzana Licko, Mary E. Gray, and Jeffery Keedy. Emigre: Graphic Design into the Digital Realm. London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1994.
MRS. EAVES Baskerville, John (1758). Preface to Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained. Birmingham: John Baskerville, for J & R Tonson. Coles, Stephen. The Font Feed. September 29, 2005. http:// fontfeed.com/archives/an-interview-with-zuzana-licko/. Retrieved Febuary 17,2018. Dr. Johnson, Jason. “Eighteenth Annual Student Research and Scholarly Activity Fair Tuesday, April 12, 2011” Google
OPTIMA History of Graphic Design. The Age of Info: The International Style, “Hermann Zapf.” www.historygraphicdesign.com/ the-age-of-information/the-international-typographic-style/254-hermann-zapf. Accessed 26 February 2018. Lawson, Alexander. Anatomy of a Typeface. David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc, Jaffrey, New Hampshire 1990.
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“Optima.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Optima. Accessed 26 February 2018. “Optima Family.” Lintoype, www.linotype.com/1348248/optima-family.html. Accessed 26 February 2018.
“Sabon Font Family Typeface Story.” Fonts.com, Monotype Imaging Inc. , www.fonts.com/font/linotype/sabon/story. Accessed 21 February 2018. “Sabon in Use.” Fonts in Use, FontsInUse, fontsinuse.com/typefaces/97/sabon. Accessed 21 February 2018.
“Optima® Font Family Typeface Story.” Fonts.com, Monotype Imaging Inc., www.fonts.com/font/linotype/optima/story. Accessed 26 February 2018.
“Sabon.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabon. Accessed 21 February 2018.
Weber, Andreas. “Hermann Zapf Remembered: Mastery through Precision and Passion.” Seybold Report: Analyzing Publishing Technologies, vol. 15, no. 11, 08 June 2015, pp. 2-7.
Strizver, Ilene. “Guide to Typestyles: Old Style Typefaces Fonts.com.” Fonts.com, Monotype Imaging Inc., www. fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/type-families/oldstyle. Accessed 21 February 2018.
Weber, Bruce. “Hermann Zapf, 96, Dies; Designer Whose Letters Are Found Everywhere.” The New York Times, 9 June 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/arts/design/hermannzapf-96-dies-designer-whose-letters-are-found-everywhere. html. Accessed 26 February 2018.
TRADE GOTHIC
Zapf, Hermann. “The Lifestory of Hermann Zapf.” Linotype Font Feature - The Lifestory of Hermann Zapf, www.linotype.com/1494-12710/new-developments.html. Accessed 28 February 2018.
SABON Flask, Dominic. “Jan Tschichold - Typographic Genius.” Design Is History, Designishistory.com, www.designishistory. com/1920/jan-tschichold/. Accessed 21 February 2018. “Jan Tschichold - Typographic Genius.” Retinart, Retinart.net, retinart.net/artist-profiles/jan-tschichold/. Accessed 21 February 2018. “Jean François Porchez.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Fran%C3%A7ois_ Porchez. Accessed 21 February 2018. McLean, Ruari. Jan Tschichold: A Life in Typography. Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. Accessed 21 February 2018.
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“Akira Kobayashi.” FontShop, Monotype, 2018, www.fontshop. com/designers/akira-kobayashi. Accessed 19 February 2018. Devroye, Luc. “Jackson Burke.” Type Design, Typography, Typefaces and Fonts, luc.devroye.org/fonts-25454.html. Accessed 20 February 2018. “Jackson Burke, Designer of Type.” The New York Times, 2 June 1975, www.nytimes.com/1975/06/02/archives/jacksonburke-designer-of-type-mergenthaler-aide-dead-collected. html?_r=0. Accessed 20 February 2018. “Linotype History.” Linotype, Monotype GmbH, 2018, https:// www.linotype.com/49-19653/history.html. Accessed 17 February 2018. “Trade Gothic Font Family Typeface Story.” Fonts.com, Linotype, www.fonts.com/font/linotype/trade-gothic/ story. Accessed 17 February 2018. “Trade Gothic Next.” Linotype, Monotype GmbH, 2018, www. linotype.com/5737/trade-gothic-next.html. Accessed 17 February 2018.
Tselentis, Jason, et al. Typography, Referenced: a Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography. Rockport Publishers, 2012. OneSearch. Accessed 17 February 2018.
TRAJAN Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest. com/lib/calpoly/detail.action?docID=693176. Accessed 20 February 2018. Richard Poulin, Graphic Design and Architecture, A 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World, illustrated, reprint, Rockport Publishers, 2012.
UNIVERS “Adrian Frutiger obituary; Swiss typeface designer who created many influential sans serif faces including Univers, Frutiger and Avenir.” Guardian [London, England], 5 Oct. 2015. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib. calpoly.edu/apps/doc/A430789777/AONE?u=calpolyw_ csu&sid=AONE&xid=f1c91584. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018. Christensen, Thomas. “The Typehead Chronicles: Univers.” Right Reading, www.rightreading.com/typehead/univers. htm. Osterer, Heidrun, et al. Adrian Frutiger - Typefaces: the Complete Works. Birkhauser Publishers, 2014. Google Books: https:// https://books.google.com/books. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Shaw, Paul. “The Reluctant Type Designer.” Print, vol. 71, no. 2, Summer2017, pp. 86-87. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=123491146&site=ehost-live. Accessed 20 February 2018. Shaw, Paul and Caitlin Dover. “TYPECASTING.” Print, vol. 55, no. 1, Jan/Feb2001, p. 16. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4507199&site=ehost-live. Accessed 20 Ferurary 2018. Simpson, P. (2010, 12). “Lore of the Letter: A-Z.” Printweek, 7-8. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.lib.calpoly.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.calpoly.edu/ docview/847841574?accountid=10362 Stock-Allen, N. “Carol Twombly:” Her brief but brilliant career in type design. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press. (First ed.), 2016.
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Contributors BOOK DESIGNED AND WRITTEN BY: Ally Millard WITH CONTRIBUTORS: Lauren Kuntz ITC Benguiat Garrett Lew ITC Century Lauren Marshall ITC Lubalin Graph Lani Masamoto Memphis Kelsey McGinnis Mrs. Eaves Ally Millard Optima Pamela Moidel Sabon Kendra Oliver Trade Gothic Kirk Reed Trajan Darlene Uribe Univers
114  ALLY MILLARD