TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
Visual Studies Research & Strategy Caslon Comparison Type Specimen Thumbnails Roughs Color Exploration Color Roughs Final Design Bibliography
Baskerville 30pt
Fry Baskerville 60pt By RellyAB
Visual Studies
Fry Baskerville 60pt By RellyAB
Research & Strategy
Baskerville: From Lacquer to Ligature Baskerville, and the man whom lends the type his namesake provide an interesting glimpse of how truly remarkable the historic foundations of type can be. Born in the village of Wolverly, (Birmingham City Council) John Baskerville began life not as some sort of typist savant, but as a businessman. His entire adult career was built in the industry of Japanning, or the “decorating of metal articles with coats of varnish and paintings of floral and pastoral images” (Dykes). Retiring a by all accounts a wealthy man in 1750, this “exceedingly outspoken, strong willed, and egocentric” (Dykes) gentleman began to pursue his fascination… type. Beginning with a small venture in lettering design for grave stones (Birmingham City Council), John Baskerville quickly began grow his flourishing interest in letterforms. This private passion for typography promptly led Baskerville to establish a printing office in Birmingham England (Clarke) in order to further his work. Quickly realizing that the current methods and procedures for printing, Baskerville set out to exact his will on the print industry. “Baskerville was a perfectionist, and as such he demanded complete control over the entire printing process. He
designed and created type and layouts; improved the presses and inks; and developed new paper making techniques enabling the creation of smooth bright papers” (Monoecus). Capitalizing on these processes, he set out to create “a perfect letterform” as his next order of business. Based on the work by William Caslon, Baskerville “felt that he could make significant improvements” (Clarke) and thus the typeface Baskerville was born. Combining his influences from Italian printmaking together with the work of Caslon, Baskerville refined the typeface into the font we know today. Known for its increased contrast between thick and thin strokes, larger x-height, and vertical stress it truly create a legibility from which we can benefit from today. Like most typefaces departing from the early humanist style, “Baskerville has less calligraphic flow” (Bringhurst) and almost no hint of the handwritten letterform. Wide, tapered serifs flow across the page easing readability and remarkably found today to be 1.5% more likely to be found trustworthy. (Morris) “[Baskerville] was not an inventor but a perfector….He concentrated on spacing. He achieved amplitude not merely by handsome measurement but by letting in the
light. (Loxley)”. Despite being a declared Atheist, Baskerville printed his Magnum Opus in the production of his folio Bible for Cambridge University. Though considered by many to be a “fine representation of eighteenth century rationalism and neoclassicism” (Linotype), Baskerville the typeface wasn’t quick to catch on. The typeface succeeded though not having exerted much influence in his surrounding community, instead by making huge impact on the typographic world around him. “In 1758 Baskerville met Benjamin Franklin who returned to the US with some of Baskervilles’ type, popularizing it through its adoption as one of the standard typefaces employed in federal publishing” (Boardley). Acting as the pinnacle of transitional typography, Baskerville paved the way for the modern Didone design of later years (Monoecus). John Baskerville and ultimately his typographic passion “influenced such famous printers as Didot in France and Bodoni in Italy” (Linotype), loosing the grip of humanistic script and paving the way anew. A feat that is continuing to exert influence over two hundred and fifty years later.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY: In my research, I have found a few things to be thought provoking in terms of the history of Baskerville. Being a “perfectionist”, Baskerville sought to make the “perfect” font and was one of the first to let the font stand alone on the page without adornment. Angering some and enthralling others, his stance ushered in a transitional period of type design. The font built upon a popular font, Caslon, to create a sharper and more visually pronounced style. Known for strong weight, vertical stress, larger x-height, and tapered serifs; I plan to exaggerate these qualities in the final design. Communicating this to the audience I plan to experiment with a few things: 1. Contrast, Using black and white only to let the type truly speak for itself. 2. Vertical height, playing on the larger x-height and vertical stress in a portrait composition 3. Tapered Areas, Enlarging the font to spotlight and frame the composition with tapered slopes. 4. Weight, known for weight as much as height, playing with the visual weight could yield some interesting results. 5. Lots of white space, The designer opened up the industry with lots of padding and room for the type to “breathe”
VISUAL LANGUAGE: Executing the communication strategy will employ the minimal (if at all) use of color. Weaving the word perfection in there might be a smart informational play to the design intent. Allowing open kerning and large spacing will allow for the counter forms to really shine and exemplify the unguilded display of the typeface.
Wood Type By: Leol30
Caslon Comparison
“ Having been an early admirer of the beauty of letters, I became insensibly desirous of contributing to the perfection of them. I formed to myself ideas of greater accuracy than had yet appeared, and had endeavored to produce a set of types according to what I conceived to be their true proportion.” —John Baskerville, preface to Milton, 1758 (Anatomy of a Typeface)
Greatly Reduced arm thickness
Perfection Perfection
Similar Stem Width
Thinner Terminal
Thinner Shoulder
*
Smaller Cap Height
Baskerville Caslon * Kerned to show exact overlay
Sloped Serifs
Refined Stress
Matching Axis
Wood Type By: Lester Public Library
Type Specimen
ABCDEFGH NOPQRSTUV
abcdefghijklm
uvwxyz&012345
HIJKLM VWXYZ
mnopqrst
56789 fi fl
“Baskerville, designed in 1754, is most known for its crisp edges, high contrast and generous proportions. The typeface was heavily influenced by the processes of the Birmingham-bred John Baskerville, a master type-founder and printer. Categorized as a transitional typeface in-between classical typefaces and the high contrast modern faces; the mathematically-drawn characters felt cold, and prompted Baskerville to create a softer typeface with rounded bracketed serifs and a vertical axis.” –idsgn.org
Wood Type By: Rob McKaughan
Thumbnails
little type By: bettinche
Roughs
“Baskerville is categorized as a transitional typeface in-between classical typefaces and the high contrast modern faces. At the time that John Baskerville decided to switch from owning a japanning business to a type foundry, Phillipe Grandjean’s exclusive Romain du Roi for Louis XIV had circulated and been copied in Europe. The mathematically-drawn characters felt cold, and prompted Baskerville to create a softer typeface with rounded bracketed serifs and a vertical axis.” -idsgn.org (Cheryl Yau)
Wood Type By: Lester Public Library
Color Exploration
Dark and White
I
nspired by the black and white of the original letters, I tested this color scheme out to try and warm up solid black and white
Warm Grey
B
uilding on the warmer black and white idea, I took to a solid greyscale for this palette, increasingly building up steps of warmth.
Darkest Grey
W
here there is a little hint of light, there is also darkness... I took the warm grey scheme and brought it down as far as I felt comfortable.
Neutral Warmth
A
fter testing the warm grey with some of my roughs I decided that it was a little too colorful for my comm plan. This is an attempt to neutralize.
Blueish
S
o much talk about warmth and color, I decided that I should try the polar opposite of warmth and play with a cool blue.
Warm Book
A
fter testing so many relatively neutral schemes, I wanted at least one somewhat colorful one... This gave me a feel of reading a good book which the type might have been used on.
Wood Type Booty By: Cranky Pressman
Color Roughs
Dark and White
Warm Grey
Darkest Grey
Neutral Warmth
Blueish
Warm Book
Wood Type Alphabet LEOL30
Final Design
BIBLIOGRAPHY PHOTOS RellyAB: www.flickr.com/photos/fizzkitten LEOL30: www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/ Cranky Pressman: www.flickr.com/photos/crankypressman/ Lester Public Library: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterpubliclibrary/ bettinche: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettinche/ Rob McKaughan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artisticwhim/ INFORMATION http://idsgn.org/posts/know-your-type-baskerville/ http://typophile.com/node/14119 http://ilovetypography.com/2008/01/17/type-terms-transitional-type/ WORKS CITED Birmingham City Council. “John Baskerville of Birmingham.” July 2011. birmingham.gov.uk/. Art Installation Description. 19 September 2013. Boardley, John. “History of typography: Transitional.” 17 January 2008. ilovetypography.com. 17 September 2013. Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style. Canada: Hartley & Marks Publishers, 1992. Book. Clarke, Libby. “Openlab @ City Tech.” Typography 1. New York City College of Technology, Fall 2012. Digital Course. Dykes, Ron. An Introduction to Typography. Spokane, 2001. Digital Tutorial. Linotype. “About Baskerville Font Family.” Linotype.com. n.d. Font Foundry. Loxley, Simon. Type, the Secret History of Letters. I. B. Tauris, 2006. Book. Monoecus. Typophile. 25 July 2005. Wiki. 23 September 2013. Morris, Errol. “Hear, All Ye People; Hearken, O Earth (Part One).” New York Times 8 August 2012. <http:// opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/hear-all-ye-people-hearken-o-earth/>.