Type Specimen Book

Page 1

ニ置tur futur futu


futura

simple process of making marks on paper


futura simple process of making marks on paper

This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven —If the Devil is Six then God is Seven by Elliot Earls Editor/ Designer : Kathryn O’Neill April 25, 2010 GDES 1314


ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

light condensed light condensed

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

light oblique condensed

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

medium condensed

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The simple process of making marks on paper is less of an intellectual process than a biological process. 10pt

One must cultivate a feel for proportion, solidity, balance, etc. 12pt

medium oblique condensed

bold condensed

bold oblique condensed

Manipulative skills, first person, hand/eye-coordinated, flesh based skills.14pt

Excuse the digression, but when I talk about developing a feel, I know that some of you are rolling your eyes.Some of you may think that the term “feel” might be likened to the term “taste,” with all of its class overtones and attendant critiques. 24/24pt

light condensed oblique

What in jazz they call “chops,” and in design they call “fundamental graphic exercises” — line rhythms, gradation, and figure/ground studies. 14/14pt And what would those skills be to which one must dedicate him or herself only to eventually forget? 12pt

extra bold condensed

extra bold oblique condensed

I’m suggesting that one develops a feel not magically, or through attendance at the finest schools, but through rigorous application, and through working damn hard at acquiring a set of very concrete skills, then forgetting them. 10/12pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee


Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj

The Foundation Program at the School of Design in Basel, Switzerland placed clear emphasis on understanding form through drawing.

11/14pt

16/18pt

It is in traditional figure drawing studio classes that one learns that the mind must be quieted.

The hand and retina must move in symbiotic lock step as they both trace the physical line.

11/14pt

16/18pt

medium condensed oblique

When one is giving birth to a font not spawned directly from an existing model, what is needed most is the establishment of a biological discourse between looking and drawing—between retina and cortex.

medium condensed

How do you design letterforms? Kick it old skool style.

Draw them big, with a ruling pen and Plaka, and some Pro White.

Bold Condensed

VS

18/24pt

14pt

12/14pt

Bold Condensed Oblique

18pt

Sit back, evaluate them optically

14pt

Then draw them again.

12pt

Making them thinner here and thicker there.


CONDENSED CONDENSED CONDENSED CONDENSED

Extra Bold Condensed I stress that this process, in order to be successful, is non-linguistic.

11/12pt

The hand moves, the mark changes, and the eye responds.

14/14pt

The eye, and how it relates to mark making, or more accurately, how it responds to the mark made, is the most important thing.

11/12pt

Extra Bold Condensed Oblique

A a 0 A a 0 A a 0 A a 0

B C D b c d 1 B C D b c d 1 B C D b c d 1 B C D b c d 1

E F G H I J K L M N O e f g h i j k l m n o 2 3 4 5 E F G H I J K L M N O e f g h i j k l m n o 2 3 4 5 E F G H I J K L M N O e f g h i j k l m n o 2 3 4 5 E F G H I J K L M N O e f g h i j k l m n o 2 3 4 5

P Q R S T U p q r s t u 6 7 P Q R S T U p q r s t u 6 7 P Q R S T U p q r s t u 6 7 P Q R S T U p q r s t u 6 7

A a 0 A a 0 A a 0

BCD b c d 1 BCD b c d 1 B C D b c d 1

EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 2 3 4 5 6 7 EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 2 3 4 5 6 7 E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 2 3 4 5 6 7

V W X Y Z v w x y z 8 9 V W X Y Z v w x y z 8 9 V W X Y Z v w x y z 8 9 V W X Y Z v w x y z 8 9 VWX v w x 8 VWX v w x 8 V W X v w x 8

YZ y z 9 YZ y z 9 Y Z y z 9

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

light light oblique medium

medium oblique

book book oblique heavy

heavy oblique

bold bold oblique extra bold

extra bold oblique


16/18pt

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad.

11/14pt

The geezers didn’t get everything wrong.

16/18pt

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad.

The geezers didn’t get everything wrong.

11/14pt

16/18pt

11/14pt

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad.

16/18pt

The geezers didn’t get everything wrong.

11/14pt

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad.

16/18pt

The geezers didn’t get everything wrong.

11/14pt

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad.

16/18pt

The geezers didn’t get everything wrong.

BOLD EXTRA

HEAVY MEDIUM LIGHT

The geezers didn’t get everything wrong.

11/14pt

BOOK

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad.


book 12/ 24pt 24 pt

oblique

Students who begin drawing

typefaces must first learn to look at typefaces. I am often shocked and

amazed at my students first attempts 8pt

to construct, for instance, the

book oblique

14pt 14pt

termination

of a stroke. It usually involves a student using Fontographer. And when looking 20pt light oblique 14/36 pt 9pt

type designers who are just starting out is that most cannot see, nor can they draw

18pt

line quality, which almost

I’m teaching type methamphetamine

(I should amend that slightly; most

haven’t looked, nor can they draw.)

hyperkinetic

always leaves me with the impression that

heavy oblique 14/36 pt

bold oblique 14/36 pt

with a

design to a class of

addicts. (Which I have found 10pt

is usually not the case.) One need look no 11pt

further than the plenitudinous offerings of foundries such as T-26 or Garage Fonts to find textbook examples of this undisciplined methamphetamine line.

12 pt

Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo

medium oblique 14/36pt

letterform, one often

notices a complete lack of rigor, coupled

Quite possibly the biggest challenge facing book oblique 14/ 36pt

closely at the


Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt

ë

ö

æ

œ

» It’s through this p®ocess th@t one ¢an learn tö trust nøt the mind, ßut the retinª. medium18/24pt futura uses geometirc shapes such as squares and circles to create its form.

O

simple simple simple simple

24pt 24pt

light condensed medium condensed bold condensed light

medium

bold

extra bold condensed extra bold

simple simple simple simple

The ability to see,(no, to feel) the correlation between the ruling pen, nib, chisel and/or brush and the final letterform is essential.

Does this imply that all letterforms must have serifs or strokes that are in some way informed 1. light 11/14pt by the ruling pen, nib, or chisel? 2. light 18/20pt

Although Modernism has become shorthand for dogmatic, imperious, doctrinaire, dry and anal, it is also rigorous, studied, quintessentially optimistic and highly formal. 3. bold 14/18pt But anti-mastery comes after mastery.

4. bold 12pt

In a recent Print magazine article, Kathy McCoy encourages educators to abandon hand-based exercises in favor of the computer. 5. medium 10/12pt 6. medium 12/16pt

The great artist or designer is s/he who is no longer constricted by the rules.

As a matter of fact, some of the most interesting typographic specimens bear no correlation to these tools.

Of course not!

7. extra bold 14/18pt 8. extra bold 24/30pt

I would absolutely agree if it pertains to typographic skills for tracking, kerning, leading, comping, font selection, etc.

I would completely disagree when it comes to the typographic skills of letterform design. 9. heavy 11/14pt

10. heavy 14/18pt

1

2

3

4 5 6

7

8 9 10


BOLDER “Type design has lost its urgency, and has regained its soul.”

extra bold oblique 24/30 pt

“God (or the Devil,or possibly both) is in the details.”

bold oblique 18/30 pt

Colophon. This type specimen book is comprised of the Futura std family font which was designed in 1928 by german

Well, back the f@*k up. heavy oblique 14/30pt

artist/painter Paul Renner


futura


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