Centaur by Jordy

Centaur

Jorden Campbell

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“Never apologize.”

- Bruce Rogers

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Centaur

Jorden Campbell

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CONTENTS

F B Y I

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Font Name

History Classification

Font Anatomy

Designer of Font

Interpretation of Font by Hand

Reflection From the Field

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entaur

History Classification Centaur is a Humanist Type Family originally drawn as titling capitals by Bruce Rogers in 1914 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The matrices were cut by Robert Wiebking and the type was privately cast by the American Type Foundery. The typeface is based upon several Renaissance models. Rogers’ primary influence for the Roman was Nicholas Jenson’s 1469 Eusebius, considered the model for the modern Roman alphabet. Centaur also shows the influence of types cut by Francesco Griffo in 1495 for a small book titled De Aetna written by Pietro Bembo. The 1929 typeface Bembo, is based primarily upon that specimen. Rogers later added the Roman lowercase, and the italic, based upon Ludovico Arrighi’s 1520 chancery face, was drawn by Frederic Warde, and is the typeface released for general use in 1929 by the Monotype Corporation Ltd.

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Font Anatomy

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ascender ear

terminal

stem

bowl

Hand

eye

shoulder

glovery axis

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crossbar

counter neck

bracket descender

serif

lobe

overshoot tail

Designer of Font : Bruce Rogers After graduating from Purdue, Rogers worked in Indianapolis for the quarterly Modern Art. When the publication moved to Boston in 1895, Rogers followed. He had only been there a short time when Houghton Mifflin and Co. hired him to work at the Riverside Press. While in Boston, Rogers saw a copy of Nicholas Jenson’s 1470 Eusebius in an exhibition at the Boston Public Library. This prized incunable is generally regarded as one of the best examples of Jenson’s type in use. Rogers was so fascinated with the design that he hunted down the owner of the book to see if he could get a better look. The owner agreed, and even invited Rogers to his home to photograph a page from the book. (Rogers eventually acquired a copy of the Eusebius for himself.)

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Rogers’ first typeface design (a font for Houghton Mifflin) was based on this photograph, but he wasn’t entirely pleased with the results. “The first proofs of the type were faintly disappointing to me,” he wrote, “...but Mr. Mifflin was delighted with the new type, and after several of the least successful letters were recut I decided it would have to do – for the time, at least – until I could have another try for my ideal type.” Ten years later, Rogers finally had “another try.” By this time he had moved to New York and was working as a freelance designer. For his second attempt at drawing a typeface based on the Eusebius types, he used enlarged copies of his photo prints as the basis for the design. Rogers wrote over the large lowercase characters repeatedly with a broad pen until he was satisfied that his hand, eye, and brain were familiar with the forms. Only then did he draw the letters on white paper These, and the capitals which he rendered more carefully, were the drawings Rogers sent to Robert Wiebking, the Chicago engraver and type designer (Rogers trusted Wiebking to craft the forms based on the intent of his drawings, without needing exact renderings). The completed fonts were cast in 14 point by The American Type Founders Company and were first used to set a translation of De Guerin’s Le Centaure. Following typographic tradition, Rogers named his typeface after the book in which it first appeared. Centaur was later issued in several other sizes and used exclusively for the New York Metropolitan Museum Press. Soon, fine printers made so many requests for the Centaur types that Rogers considered developing a commercial version of the face.

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Interpretation of Font

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by Hand Centaur was made for an art museum in 1914, it has beautiful serifs and curves that work well for information that is more formal or older. These three letters were altered in such a way that creates an edgier, more modern look that would be more applicable now in our modern world where Helvetica is the most popular typeface: a blocky and straight forward sans-serif font. The only part of the typeface that was altered in these three letters were the serifs, made smaller and sharper to imply the modernity. All other elements of the font are held true.

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Reflection From the Field Centaur was originally designed for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1914. It was later issued in several other sizes and used exclusively for the New York Metropolitan Museum Press. The typeface has beautiful serifs that work well with the museum aspect of the font for which it was created, but it is the curves of the font that work well with the art aspect. When one thinks of a museum it would be common to picture ancient artifacts, pieces of history and basically...old stuff. Therefore, a formal font with the intentions of relaying historic information would require the use of serifs that would help the reader feel as though they are indeed reading history. But at the same time, the font was not designed for the Smithsonian; it is for an art museum. The reason why I like this font so much is because of the interesting curves. For example, in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;mâ&#x20AC;? displayed on the previous page, the brackets of the serifs are not symmetrical and none of the tails are the same size. This theme is consistent throughout the typeface which gives the font the artsy feel it needs for the Metropolitan and that is why I like it so much.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

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Colophon This book was designed by Jorden Campbell. All type is set in Centaur and printed on paper by the printer. The typeface was originally designed for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art by Bruce Rogers. It is based on Renaissance models and was first used to set a translation of De Guerinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Le Centaure. Following typographic tradition, Rogers named his typeface after the book in which it first appeared.

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