Typogr aphy i s a two-di m ensi onal archi tecture, based on experi ence and i m agi nati on,and gui ded by rul esand readabi l i ty.And thi si sthe purpose of typogr aphy:The arrangem entofdesi gn el em ents wi thi n a gi ven structure shoul d al l ow the readerto easi l y focusonthem essagewi thoutsl owi ngdown the speed ofhi s readi ng. H ERM A N N ZA PF
Arm
Cr otch
Counter
X HEI GHT
KERNI NG Stem
Term i nal
Ascender
CAPHEI GHT
BASELI NE
Bowl
Descender
Typography,deri vi ng i tsel f from the Greek root typos & gr aphei n m eani ng drawi ng wi th l etters, i s an art that revol ves around aestheti c representati on of l etterform s that we’ve com e to know from everyday usage. A di sci pl i ne i n i ts own ri ght, the art of arrangi ng l etters on a page fi nds i ts contem porary ori gi ns i n the i nventi on of the Gutenberg press.However,i n the m odern space, pri nted type has to ful fi l lm ul ti pl e rol es overand beyond bei ng used i n books.A m odern type m ust be the carri erof thought,content and em oti on i n brandi ng,way -fi ndi ng,i l l ustrati ons,docum ents, adverti sem ents and websi tes.I ti stherefore i m portantto em brace an ever changi ng worl d and address and expl ore the possi bi l i ti es hel d therei n.
Typography has exi sted as a m edi um runni ng paral l elto ourhi story as a soci albei ng.Com m uni cati on has been a key enabl er i n our soci alevol uti on,onethatconti nuestoi m pactourl i vesi nm oreways than one can count.The conventi on of recorded word has l ed to a prol i ferati on of the habi t of wri ti ng,one that has evol ved i nto the huge typographi ci ndustry we see today.Typography touchesuson a dai l y basi s-i tcarri esi ni tthoughtsand m essages,em oti onsand bel i efs,tradi ti on and cul ture -and can sti rpeopl e to acti on.
“Perfecti oni sachi eved,notwhentherei snothi ngl eftto add,butwhentherei snothi ngl efttorem ove . ” Antoi nedeSai nt-Exuper y
The Swi ss styl e, al so known as I nternati onal Styl e, becam e a fai rl y popul arart styl e that em erged out of the post wararti sti c m ovem ents i n the 1950’ s. Thi s progressi ve, radi cal m ovem ent i n graphi c desi gn i s not concerned wi th the graphi c desi gn i n Swi tzerl and i n parti cul ar,butratherwi th a new styl e thathad been proposed,attacked and defended duri ng the 1920’ si n Swi tzerl and.
The Swi ss styl ei s a schoolof art that l ays em phasi s on attenti on to detai l,craft ski l l s,system s of educati on and techni caltrai ni ng, a hi gh standard of pri nti ng as wel las a cl earrefi ned and i nventi ve l etteri ng.I ti sanauthenti cpursui tforanarti sti cexpressi onthrough m oderni st and constructi vi st i deal s.The arti sti c styl e focuses on the pri nci pl e “form fol l ows functi on”– whi ch fi nds beauty i n the underl i nes ofa purpose,and notbeauty as a purpose i ni tsel f.As a di rectconsequence ofthi s pri nci pl e,m ostofthe Swi ss styl e craft i s devoted to m i ni m alel em ents of styl e,such as typography and contentl ayoutratherthan on textures and i l l ustrati ons.
Ol d -Styl e Type began wi th the desi gn of the punch cutter Fr ancesco Gri ffo who worked for the fam ous Veneti an schol ar-pri nter Al dus Manuti us duri ng the 1490’ s.Gri ffo’ sdesi gnsevol vedfrom earl i eri tal i antype desi gns.Hi s Ol d Styl e capi tal s wer ei nspi red by car ved Rom an capi tal s; l owecase l etters were i nspi red by fi fteenth-centur yhum ani stwri ti ngstyl esbasedonthe earl i er Carol i ngi an m i nuscul e.Ol d Styl el etterform s have the wei ght of rounded form s at an angl e.as i n handwri ti ng.The seri fs are br acketed (that i s,uni fi ed wi th the stroke by a tapered,curved l i ne).Al so the top seri fsofthel owercasel ettersareatanangl e.
I tal i cl etterformssl anttotheri ght.Today,weusethem pri m ari l y forem phasi s and di ffer enti ati on.W hen the fi rst i tal i c appeared i n the 1500,i t was used as an i ndependenttypestyl e.The fi rsti tal i c char acters were cl ose-setandcondensed;therefore,Manuti uswasabl e to getm ore wor ds on each l i ne.Som e i tal i c styl es are based on handwri ti ng wi th connected str okes and are cal l edscri pts.
Duri ng the 1700s,typestyl es gr adual l y evol ved fr om theOl dStyl etoModern.Typefacesfrom them i ddl eof the ei ghteenth centur y, i ncl udi ng those by John Basker vi l l e, are cal l ed Tr ansi ti onal . The contr ast between thi ck and thi n strokes i s greaterthan i n Ol d Styl e faces.Lowercase seri fsare m ore hori zontal ,and the stress wi thi n the rounded form s shi fts to a l ess di agonalaxi s.Tr ansi ti onalchar acters are usual l y wi der thanOl dStyl echar acters.
The fi r st Sans Seri f typestyl e appeared i n an 1816 speci m en book of the Engl i sh type founder W i l l i am Casl on I V.The m ost obvi ous char acteri sti c of these styl esi s,asthenam ei m pl i es,theabsenceofseri fs.I n m any sans seri f typefaces,strokes are uni form wi th l i ttl e or no contr ast between thi ck and thi n strokes. Stress i s al m ost al ways verti cal . Many sans seri f typefaces are geom etri ci n thei rconstructi on;others com bi nebothorgani candgeom etri cqual i ti es.
I n 1815, the Engl i sh type founder Vi ncent Fi ggi ns i ntroduced sl ab-seri f typestyl es under the nam e Anti que.Atthatti m e,there was a m ani a foranci ent Egypti an arti facts,and othertype founders adopted the nam e Egypti an forthei rsl ab-seri fdesi gns.These typestyl eshave heavy squareorrectangul arseri fsthat areusual l yunbr acketed.Thestr essofcur vedstrokesi s often m i ni m al .I n som e sl ab-seri f typefaces, al l str okesarethesam ewi dth.
Late i n the 1700s,typefaces term ed Modern evol ved from Tr ansi ti onalstyl es.Thesetypefaceshaveextrem e contr asts between thi ck and thi n strokes.Thi n strokes are reduced to hai rl i nes.The wei ghtstress ofrounded char acteri sverti cal .Seri fsarehori zontalhai rl i nesthat joi nthestemsata ri ghtangl ewi thoutbr acketi ng.The upper case wi dth i sr egul ari zed:wi de l etters such as M andW arecondensedandotherl etters,i ncl udi ngP and T areexpanded.Modern-styl etypefaceshavea strong geom etri c qual i ty projected by ri gorous hori zontal, verti calandci rcul arform s.
Thi ssansseri fcl assi fi cati ondoesnotrel atetocal l i gr aphyi nany m anner.They m ai ntai n fai rl y uni form shapes and proporti on wi th l ow stroke contr ast.The x-hei ghti s usual l yl arge al m ost three fourth of the Capi tall etters.The appear ance of round shapesi sovalthanperfectci rcl e.
Thi s sans seri fi s hi ghl yi nspi red from Akzi denz Grotesk whi ch m akes i ta m ore m odern and r ati onalsuccessor.The l i nes and strokes are up str ai ghtcom pl i m ented by hori zontalterm i nal s. The round shapes are ci rcul ar.I tem erged i n 1950’ s whi ch was al sotheem ergenceofTheI nternati onalTypogr aphi cStyl e.
Thi s sans seri ffi rstappeared i n earl y 20th centur y.The hi gh strokecontr astandhavi ngopenform sthatl eadeyehori zontal l y, thi ssansseri fpossesscal l i gr aphi cchar acteri sti cswhi chm akes i tbestforreadi ngl ongpar agr aphsandal soatsm al ltextsi ze.
Fi rstappeared i n 1920’ s,geom etri c sansseri fcan be greatfor headl i nesbutare l essthan i dealforbody textbecause ofthei r constructi onchar acteri sti cswhi charem oreofm onol i nearl i nes and ci rcul arorsquare shapes.Thi s can m ake them ver y col d andcl i ni cali nappear ancebutal soqui etsi m pl e.
Novus Si m pl ex i s a typeface i nspi red by the Swi ss desi gn m ovem ent. W i th a gri d based desi gn rel yi ng on strong geom etri c shapes,i t bri ngs bal ance to the l etter form s, bri ngi ng i ni t a contem porary character wi th understated si m pl i ci ty and el egance.I tai m sto presenttexti n a conci se and rem arkabl e m anner.I ti s to be understood that i na wri tten text,the typeface m ust never detract attenti on from the body copy i tsel f,and the onl y transgressi on a font m ust be al l owed to have i s to ai d the reader’ s eyes i n readabi l i ty and com prehensi on.Much l i ke a wi nd to the sai l s,i t shoul d be nondescri pt,a si l ent spectator,m erel y ai di ng i n m ovem entofthe spread ofthe page.
TheCapi tal saredesi gnedona 4x6 gri dand l owercase gl yphs on a 3x4 gri d,retai ni ng the pri nci pl es from i ts i nspi r ati on yetm aki ng i tdi sti ncti n term s ofdesi gn.
AdobeI l l ustr ator
Adobe I l l ustrator i s one of the fi nest softwares for drawi ng vectorgraphi cs whi ch m akes i ta very i m portant toolfordesi gni ng fonts as wel l.I t pl ayed very essenti al rol e i n the desi gn process of Novus Si m pl ex. Al lthe gl yphs were drawn on gri ds i ni l l ustratorbefore exporti ng them to FontLab Studi o.
FontLabStudi o
Gl yphs can be desi gned i n FontLab Studi o as wel l,but what m akes i t prom i nent i si ts kerni ng features.There are vari ous fontgeneratorsoftwares butfontl ab stands out because of i ts si m pl i fi ed UIand userfri endl y tool s. I l l ustrator m i ght have desi gned the font but fontl ab i s the software that has bought Novus Si m pl ex to l i fe.
A fontofthe Real i stnature,the i dea behi nd Novus Si m pl ex has been to create a font that represents the sam e i deal s as those thati nspi red the cl assi cs we know today,such as Hel veti ca,Uni vers and Meta.Every typeface i s a product of i ts envi ronm ent,and i s a cl ear depi cti on of the era i t was created i n.Descendi ng from the m echani zed typeface i ndustry,Hel veti ca has “the shape of steam engi ne boi l ers and cast i ron m achi nery”(Ni ck Shi nn).A typeface that seeked to create a sense of neutral i ty i n the post warera even i ni ts appearance,i ti s therefore by no chance that the ti mi ng ofi ts rel ease was i nstrum entali ni ts wi despread popul ari ty and use.Al ternatel y,Uni vers,on the otherhand has,what Zapf term s as the “supercurve”of the CRT and the TV screens.Thi si s m ore obvi ous i n Fruti ger’ s ori gi nal drawi ngs of Uni vers. More recent devel opm ents i n type desi gn take thei rsources from other,m ore recent m edi a thatare l ess fi nel y spaced than pri nt.
I ti s essenti alto em br ace evol vi ng technol ogy,and adapt exi sti ng tr adi ti ons and pr acti ces to the new envi ronm ent.Thi si s al lthe m ore i m portant i n the current day and age whi ch has seen such r api d technol ogi call eaps,chal l engi ng ever y par adi gm that we’ ve com e to know.W i th fonts today requi ri ng wi despread appl i cati ons,not the l east of whi ch bei ng both pri nt and web di spl ay use,i ti si m portant to keep these concerns i nmi nd whi l e seeki ng to present the m ost fundam entalactknown to m an.
http: / /sl owl i t. wordpress. com/ http: / /typophi l e. com/node/33301 http: / /www. codex99. com/typogr aphy/124. htm l http: / /typoretum . co. uk/woodentypes/the-pri nti ng-press/ http: / /cobytype. bl ogspot. com/2010/10/hi stor y-of-typogr aphy. htm l http: / /www. webdesi gnm ash. com/desi gn/typogr aphy-desi gn/thehi stor y-of-typeface/ http: / /havi ngal ookathi stor yofgr aphi cdesi gn. bl ogspot. com /2012/03/ m echani zati on-of-typogr aphy. htm l