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ROCKWELL ROCKWELL
ROCKWELL
ROCKWELL AN ESSAY ABOUT ROCKWELL TYPEFACE, ITS EVOLUTION, USE AND MORFOLOGY. Lola Salmerón
CONTENTS
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ROCKWELL’S GRANNIES
1. Rockwell’s Grannies 2. Standard Line Type 3. And how is she? 4. Rockwell, a type has born 5. Some glyphs 6. Rockwell in use 7. Conclusion 8. Bibliography
1817
The history of Slab Serif typefaces dates back to the 19th century, in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, appearing for the first time in a catalog of the English founder Vincent Figgins under the name Antique.
‘The history of Slab Serif typefaces dates back to the 19th century’
Later, the founder Robert Thorne called them Egyptians, a name by which they are also known and that perhaps had to do with the interest that the discoveries made in Egypt had in people at that time. Between the end of the 1830s and early 40s they were used to highlight some words in the body of texts. The need to print new content quickly and legibly forced type foundries to create new fonts that were simpler, or with a structure that generated little problems
when printed. The types made by Bodoni and Didot were adapted to the new trends of industrialization by converting thin lines into thick lines, reducing the contrast of the line to better support the demands of printing and to prevent printing errors. At this time, the production of posters and advertising works was in full swing and therefore typography had to adapt. Its use is not only to be appreciated in artistic manifestations or books, but it has an informative and, above all, an advertising mission.
‘The Slab Serifs were generally carved in wood’ For this reason, these types of fonts are not used for body text, only in large size lettering, expressing clear and precise messages with the objective of getting the eye’s attention. These types of letters are generally reminiscent of old Western movie
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posters. The Slab Serifs were generally carved in wood, unlike other fonts that were normally carved in lead or other metals. Wood was not easy to carve when making the smallest details of the letter, so designing a Roman typeface in wood was practically impossible or it generated a delay in their production. In this way, the fonts of this slab family grew a lot in popularity and use. Little by little, its use became widespread and perfected, creating smaller versions also made of metal, giving them quality, durability and resistance.
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STANDARD LINE TYPE
One of the pioneer foundry to make this type of lettering was the Inland Type Foundry (ITF), founded in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1894 by the Schabstadter brothers. Being familiar with the type foundry business, thanks to their father who had been in the printing business for years, the young brothers began to design typefaces that they considered to be cutting edge and establishing new models of type creation that standarized the baseline for all typefaces of the same body size, making it easier to combine them and establishing a design pattern that would speed up the poster production process. Previous letter reproducing models became outdated giving way to the Standard Line Type.
3 AND HOW IS SHE?
Simple geometry: circles, lines and right angles make up all the letters, lower and upper case. These quadrangular characteristics can make it look rough, but the thickness of its lines and the simplicity make it close and pleasant to the eye. Among the slab serif or Egyptian, it turns out to be one of the most applicable to a large number of designs thanks to its versatility and modernism.
‘Applicable to a large number of designs thanks to its versatility and modernism’ A correct use of it can send different messages or adopt different meanings, even opposite ones in different representations and that is what gives it its magic. A typeface that is capable of being interpreted as scientific, fun, close, modern but retro, warm and cold at the same time. It was lucky to be created the moment it was created. Some of its contemporaries like Paul Renner's Futura were also created
by geometric shapes, but Rockwell found his own alternative path and achieved similar popularity to that of the giant Futura. Thanks to its popularity it had a great use in the first half of the 20th century, being used in documents and posters related to Modernism, architecture and design. The use of this typeface continues to form part of designs today, provoking feelings of nostalgia and longing for design eras of the past. Its square shapes and uniform looks send strong messages, meaning it is most effective when used in headlines.
‘Rockwell is not comfortable to the eye on bodies of text’ Although it served as a body text typeface in the past, today there are mechanical typefaces that can work better at small sizes for continuous reading. Many attempts have been made to solve this problem, but Rockwell creates a very black typeface that is not comfortable to the eye on bodies of text.
A TYPE HAS BOR
Edylx 4
ROCKWELL, A TYPE HAS BORN
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Some bibliographic sources say the appearance of the Rockwell typeface dates to 1934, under the creation of Frank Hinmann Pierpot, due to the few changes that it has undergone from that date to the present, but previous years fonts that have a close resemblance to the slab serif were already designed. One of them would be baptized years later as Rockwell. In January 1910, ITF launched one of its serif slabs under the name Litho Antique, designed by one of the founding brothers, William Schabstadter. From this moment, this typeface began to become popular and a large number of fonts began to be designed under the same design characteristics throughout Europe. This made American Type Founders (ATF) to decide to redesign Litho Antique. The one in charge of its edition was the famous American typographer Morris Fuller Benton. He went on adding new characters to the original typeface and calling his result Rockwell Antique. It was published by ATF in 1931 and in that same year Benton continued to modify it, creating a new weight that he called Stymie Bold. A few years later, the British foundry
Monotype decided to ‘make official’ the Rockwell Antique typeface, improving some of its aspects and creating a family around it. It was then that engineer Frank Hinman Pierpont created the ultimate design including new characters, new glyphs, differences in letter and word spacing, and of course, new weights and sizes.
‘Frank Hinman Pierpont created the ultimate design’ The new typeface is a bit more condensed (narrower letter width) and the height of the x increases. However, the smooth stroke and square serifs kept their shape. Despite the quality of the redesign and the fame of the new Rockwell, one of its new weights had similarities to Benton’s old Stymie Bold and they started to get confused with each other {also because one of the Monotype documents mistook the Rockwell for the Styme Bold }. Although they differ in many things, this confusion still continues today. That is why it is important that we consider Frank Hinman Pierpont as the creator of the Rockwell typeface in 1934 within the British house Monotype.
SOME GLYPHS
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THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG El veloz murciélago hindú comía feliz cardillo y kiwi
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ROCKWELL IN USE
Thanks to its versatility we can see it from skateboarding ads to kitchen decoration magazines, but nowadays it can be found almost anywhere on the web. It is capable of adapting to different environments. Its presence attracts attention and its clarity makes it get the attention of the audience. This is why, for over almost 100 years, it has been widely used in advertising.
1. Typographic catalog from the early 1930s under the Monotype signature in its shaded version, which does not currently exist in a digital version. 2. Pamphlet produced by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) in 1944 using Gill Sasn as title and Rockwell for headings and numbers in its condensed version. 3. Book Cover Stolen Time: Black Fad Performance and the Calypso Craze. It is a collage cover designed by Isaac Tobin in 2018 in which Benton’s Futura typeface coexists as the protagonist and Rockwell as secondary for informational purposes. 4. Double-page advertisement for Olaf Gulowsen’s letterpress foundry in the 1940 volume of Norsk Boktrykk Kalender celebrating the 500th anniversary of the invention of the Gutenberg Press. This ad uses old-fashioned Gothic lettering with Rockwell’s modern styling in two different weights: regular and light. In this case, Rockwell takes the title role. 5. Architecture catalog. Rockwell in titles, subtitles and body of text. Represented in various weights. 6. Poster campaign for the Washington Lottery, with worn versions of Bello and Rockwell, some Futura Extra Bold numbers and Toronto Gothic with an additional line. 7. Exterior sign of a store. Large size and absolute prominence. 8. Gourdin & Müller is a German-based design company that uses Rockwell Light for its website. 9. Label for Noble Syrup. 10. Logo for restaurant. With an extra-bold weight, Rockwell makes functional use once again for creating the logo of a bar in Bilbao. Here you can see it on its napkins.
2021
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CONCLUSION
Rockwell is a classical mind in a modern body. From its creation of to the present day, this typeface has been able to adapt to all kinds of designs. Its composition and shape gives us the opportunity to use it in a large number of creations and it can convey many sensations. It is very interesting to appreciate the personality that it adopts according to the color, weight and size of it. For that reason, it is one of the fonts that young graphic designers should have in their list of favorites. At 90 years of age, it is still completely useful and still has a long life in design ahead of it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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BOOKS The Anatony of type. Stephen Coles. Tipografía del siglo XX. Lewis Blackwell El libro rojo de la Publicidad. Luis Bassat Pensar con tipos. Ellen Lumpton WEBS history.com fontsinuse.com meaningfultype.com 1000logos.com unostiposduros.com graffica.info
This text and design are totally original. The texts are originally written in Spanish (also some of the bibliographic sources) and have been translated by myself. There may be some grammatical mistakes. The fonts used for the design of this essay have been Lato and Rockwell.
Rockwell rocks!
