Typography 1 Type Specimen Book

original design

Garamond’s original design was based on handwriting.

inspiration

The original typeface was designed by Claude Garamond, a punch cutter who specialized in creating type.

Characteristics of Old Style typefaces includes drastic changes in line weight as well as wedge shaped ascenders

old style

Garamond digital design The typeface was digitally designed in 1989 when Adobe hired Robert Slimbach to create a digitized version of the well respected typeface.

finial tip The tip of the finial on the lowercase ‘a’ has a point to it. It starts rather thin and then thickens up towards the middle two points, then finishes at a singular point on the end.

“Because of the sound Garamond’s designs, his ty have historical staying p they are likely to rema day-to-day tools of pro typographers as long as civilization survives ” a wonderful ‘z’ Seriously, look at that lowercase ‘z.’ It’s absolutely wonderful. The flow of the letterform and the balled serif once again goes back to Garamond’s roots being in handwriting

The stress of the Garam ond ‘o’ is ever so slightly ang eled.

This still provides a sen se of sturdiness but it also giv es the letter a bit of movem ent.

stress

dness of ypefaces power, and ain the ofessional western

professor david spencer

The Garamond font family was originally created in the sixteenth century by the French punch cutter Claude Garamond. The original fonts were based on handwriting, which is reflected in the drastic change in line weight.

The Adobe version was digitally designed in 1989 by Robert Slimbach as part of the Adobe Originals project. The Adobe Garamond typeface was based on Claude Garamond’s original fonts and the italics were based on designs by Garamond’s assistant, Robert Granjon. The goal of the project was to create new typefaces and families for Adobe, which was spurred on by the “desktop publishing revolution” occurring at that time. People needed “high-quality digital fonts” and Adobe was determined to get them out there.

“ The typefaces Garamond created were based off the handwriting of Angelos Vergetios.”

Claude Garamond (1480 – 1561) was a French punch cutter who specialized in type. His reputation for well-crafted fonts was discovered by the King of France, King Francois I, who ordered Garamond to create a Greek typeface family. The typefaces Garamond created were based off the handwriting of Angelos Vergetios.

Robert Slimbach (1956 – present) was brought on board with Adobe in 1987. He started working on the Adobe Originals program in 1989 when himself and fellow designer, Carol Twombly, were charged with creating new and striking digital typefaces for the company. Slimbach also designed Adobe Jenson, Minion, and Myriad among many others.

finial On certain letterforms, the finial extends much further than on letterforms of other typefaces, such as Jenson.

the missing stroke When studying the lowercase ‘w,’ it seems that a chunk of the center right arm is missing. The lowercase Jenson ‘w’ is similar but the arms on the Garamond ‘w’ extend further, which makes this unique feature more pronounce.

italics The italics of the Garamond typeface were modeled after designs by Garamond’s assistant Robert Granjon.

elegant bowled serif Letterforms that have a serif protruding from the top left of their stem are often bowled throughout the typeface.

calligraphic the droopy ear The slightly diagonal ear extending from the right side of the lowercase Garamond ‘g’ is unlike other similar serifed typefaces such as Baskerville and Bodoni. It is similar, however, to the ear on the lowercase Jensen ‘g.’

trustworthy

ABCDEFG HIJKLMN OPQRSTU VWXYZ abcdef ghi jklmnopqr stuvwxyz 1234567890

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W

W

a regal crown The ‘crown’ appearing at the top of the capital ‘W’ is rather unique and further gives the typeface an elegant look. It is similar to the Bodoni ‘W’ but the latter letterform is connected with a ligature.

Adobe Garamond is a fairly stylistic and business-casual typeface. It’s classy enough to be used as nice header type, but it is also clear enough to be used as body copy, which in turn makes the typeface even more valuable and versatile. The drastic and dramatic changes in line weight through the typeface (in both capitals and lowercase) lend itself to being used for fashion store logos, business related items, or higher class magazines. At first glance elements of the typeface are indeed unique but the overall design just seems too much like other popular typefaces out there. In comparison to other typefaces, Adobe Garamond does seem to have more drastic line weight changes (not as drastic as Bodoni, admittedly), disconnected spacing in some of the letters (like P and 6). The ‘W’ is also rather elegant since two of the arms extend upward and create a ‘v’ at the top center. This makes it seem very proper and regal. As time progresses and I spend more time with Garamond, the typeface seems to grow on me more and more.

line weight Drastic line weight changes can be found throughout the letterforms in this typeface. This further exemplifies typeface as being based on handwriting.

the designer This is the name of the dude who designed the type specimen book you are holding.

Nick Howland the school

Kansas City Art Institute

This is the name of the school where said dude created this book.

Typography 1 Fall semester, 2012

the semester And this is the semester in which all the previous rambling occurred.

the class This is the class in which said dude created said book in said school.