Visual Thinking
Typography Reading Week December 2014 Task
Luke Brown BA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 4 Arts University Bournemouth 1
Contents Elements of typography Font classification Layout ‘Helvetica’ - the documentary Case studies slab serif - American Typewriter old style serif - Adobe Garamond transitional serif - Times New Roman modern serif - Bodoni sans serif - Futura
Ellen Lupton
Typography is what language looks like. 2
3
Leading Leading refers to the distance between one baseline and the next mean line, so the distance between 2 lines of type.
Kerning Kerning is adjustment of space between letters. This is often used when 2 specific letters are close together because of the design of the font, so it makes the word more readable.
Tracking Tracking is very similar to kerning but it is the overall letter spacing of a group or block of text. This makes a block of text more readable.
4
Elements of typography
x type kerning
mean line
baseline
leading
mean line
baseline
cap height
ascender
arm bowl
body size
ear
ascender line cap line
terminal
mean line
stem
x-height baseline serif
tail set width
loop
descender line
descender
5
Classifications
Script type styles
A classification system can be useful in identifying, selecting and combining different typefaces.
Formal Casual Calligraphic Blackletter & Lombardic
Serif type styles
Decorative type styles
Slab Old style Transitional Modern Clarendon Glyphic
All under the same category
Sans-serif type styles Grotesque Square Geometric Humanistic
6
Font classification
7
8
Decoration - ‘Chiller’
9
10
Sans-serif
slab serif
11
12 Type & Typography - Phil Baines & Andrew Haslam
13
Alignment
Grids left-aligned rows centered
right-aligned
left justify
center justify
margins columns
right justify
full justify
14 Layout
15
Directed by Gary Hustwit
16
17
American Typewriter Who
About
Joel Kaden and Tony Stan
The font is a combination of the original typewriter fonts like Courier, but is proportionally spaced instead of being monospace (where each letter is the same width). This variation between width of each letter makes it a lot more attractive to designers compared to the oldschool typewriter fonts as it allows a lot more freedom. It is based on the font produced from an Ameri-
When 1974 Font classification Slab serif
I Heart NY logo - Milton Glaser, 1977
18 Case study - American Typewriter
can Typewriter, hence the name, and became popular with cold type (traditional method of setting type) and subsequently was made into digital type. It is a serif font that falls under the category of slab serif because of its thick, block-like serifs.
Slab serif
19
Adobe Garamond Who
About
Joel Kaden and Tony Stan
The font is a combination of the original typewriter fonts like Courier, but is proportionally spaced instead of being monospace (where each letter is the same width). This variation between width of each letter makes it a lot more attractive to designers compared to the old-school typewriter fonts as it allows a lot more freedom. It is
When 1974 Font classification Slab serif
Neutrogena logo uses Adobe Garamond
20 Case study - Adobe Garamond
based on the font produced from an American Typewriter, hence the name, and became popular with cold type (traditional method of setting type) and subsequently was made into digital type. It is a serif font that falls under the category of slab serif because of its thick, block-like serifs.
Old style serif
21
Times New Roman Who
About
Victor Lardent
British newspaper The Times commissioned Stanley Morison to design a typeface, Morison supervised designer, Victor Lardent. An older font called Plantin was used as the basis for the design. In October 1932, Times New
When 1931 Font classification Transitional serif
The Times logo uses Times New Roman
22 Case study - Times New Roman
Roman made its debut in the British newspaper. Because of its popularity, the typeface has been the basis for the design of newer typefaces, one noticeable example is Georgia; which has wider serifs but is a very similar shape.
Transitional serif
23
Bodoni Who
About
Giambattista Bodoni
Bodoni is very similar to Baskerville, designed by John Baskerville, however it is slightly more condensed. Bodoni developed his designs, his earlier ones were very much transitional serif but his later
When 1798 Font classification Modern serif
Vogue Magazine uses Bodoni for their logo
24 Case study - Bodoni
ones are modern serif. Bodoni is one of the two typefaces used on the Hilton Hotel restaurant and bar menu. Nirvana’s and Vogue Magazine’s logo is also written with Bodoni.
Modern serif
25
Futura Who
About
Paul Renner
Paul Renner was not associated with the Bauhaus but he shared many of their beliefs and idioms such as a modern typeface should not show aspects of previous design and should express modern design.
When 1927 (Bauhaus era) Font classification Sans-serif - geometric
Futura is very efficient as it is
1999 film American Beauty title logo
26 Case study - Futura
derived from simple geometric forms such as circles, triangles and squares . It was used by Ikea for their logo before Verdana,and was used for the 1999 film American Beauty title logo.
Sans-serif
27
Bibliography ‘American Typewriter’ (2014) Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/American_Typewriter (Accessed: 1 December 2014).
‘Typographic alignment’ (2014) Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Typographic_alignment (Accessed: 2 December 2014).
Baines, P. and Haslam, A. (2005) Type and Typography (Portfolio). United Kingdom: Laurence King Publishing.
Typography Quotes (no date). Typography Quotes. Available at: http://inkbotdesign. com/typography-quotes/ (Accessed: 2 December 2014).
‘Bodoni’ (2014) Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Bodoni (Accessed: 1 December 2014). ‘Futura (typeface)’ (2014) Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Futura_(typeface) (Accessed: 1 December 2014). Hustwit, G. (2007) Helvetica. Helvetica (2007). Available at: http://www.imdb.com/ title/tt0847817/ (Accessed: 2 December 2014). Select Your Language (no date). Type Classifications. Available at: http://www.fonts. com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/ type-anatomy/type-classifications (Accessed: 2 December 2014). ‘Slab serif’ (2014) Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Slab_serif (Accessed: 1 December 2014). ‘Times New Roman’ (2014) Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Times_New_Roman (Accessed: 1 December 2014). Typedia (no date) Typedia. Typedia. Available at: http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/itcamerican-typewriter/ (Accessed: 1 December 2014). 28
(no date a) Fonts in Use. Available at: http:// assets.fontsinuse.com/static/use-mediaitems/9/8557/full-576x850/50bd1e41/ cast-poster-detail.jpeg (Accessed: 1 December 2014). (no date b) Milton Glaser. Milton Glaser | The Work | New York State. Available at: http:// www.miltonglaser.com/the-work/81/newyork-state-i-love-ny-campaign/ (Accessed: 1 December 2014). (no date c) Logonoid. Available at: http:// logonoid.com/images/neutrogena-logo.jpg (Accessed: 1 December 2014). (no date d). Available at: https://www. t h e s t o n e b a k e o v e n c o m p a n y. c o . u k / w p / wp-content/uploads/the-times-logo1.gif (Accessed: 1 December 2014). (no date e). Available at: http://www. talkingwithtami.com/wp-content/ uploads/2010/01/vogue-logo-wallpaper.jpg (Accessed: 1 December 2014). (no date f). Available at: http://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/ American_Beauty_poster.jpg (Accessed: 1 December 2014). (no date g). Available at: http://www. better2web.com/djfiles/typography-b2w.jpg
(Accessed: 2 December 2014). (no date h). Available at: https://gabbiefinney. files.wordpress.com/2013/07/basics-01.gif (Accessed: 2 December 2014).
Luke Brown BA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 4 Arts University Bournemouth
29