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About the Designer:
john baskerville born in Worcestershire in 1706, he spent the rest of his life in Birmingham. His masterpiece, the Holy Bible of 1763, is regarded by many to be the finest book printed in English. A towering figure in the history, he broke one tradition and started another. Before Baskerville, the standard English type of the early 18th century was Caslon - a tradition which stretched back to Aldus Manutius of the 15th century. John Baskerville improved existing types, ink and presses and produced a clearer blacker type than any of his contemporaries. Unfortunately, his type was severely criticized due to the thinness of the strokes. Critics maintained that his type “hurt the eye” and would be “responsible for blinding the nation”. It was a commercial failure and wasn’t revived until the early 20th century. He has been called “the greatest printer England ever produced” but was very much disliked by his contemporaries. He was regarded as nouveau-riche, provincial, and had unpopular anti-establishment views on religion.
q Designer John Baskerville (1706-1775)
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 endeavoured to produce a set of types according to what I conceived to be their true proportion.”
— john baskerville
John Bskerville’s Quotes
g
D I Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville (17061775) in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni and Firmin Didot. The Baskerville typeface is the result of John Baskerville’s intent to improve upon the types of William Caslon. He increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper and more tapered, and shifted the axis of rounded letters to a more vertical position. The curved strokes are more circular in shape, and the characters became more regular. These changes created a greater consistency in size and form. Baskerville’s typeface was the culmination of a larger series of experiments to improve legibility which also included paper making and ink manufacturing. The result was a typeface that reflected Baskerville’s ideals of perfection, where he chose simplicity and quiet refinement. His background as a writing master is evident in the distinctive swash tail on the uppercase Q and in the cursive serifs in the Baskerville Italic. The refined feeling of the typeface makes it an excellent choice to convey dignity and tradition.
Baskerville’s history
Sir g is an organic form that contains four distinct parts; an uppercase ‘O’, a link, a lower loop and an ear.
The letter G
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Baskerville’s glyphs
j
Sir J is the only letter in small caps where the descender is present and falls far below the baseline.
baseline
The letter J
The letter J
abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKL MNOPQRSTU VWXYZ ascender
descender
x-height
Sir Baskerville was created with the intent of increasing legibility
cap height
alphabets
alphabets
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“Baskerville is an elegant font with beautiful serifs & extrajant tail. It is befitting for anything
traditional and an ideal body text as it has great clarity.”
— Nina Brown
Q One of the most notable characters is the Sir uppercase Q, with its cursive swash-like tail that expresses Baskerville’s talent in penmanship.
What is said about Baskerville
The letter Q
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q
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keep calm & buy this type Regular
Semibold
Italic
SemiBold Italic
Bold
Baskerville’s family
Baskerville’s family
Monotype Imaging is a multifaceted enterprise that combines technology with design to help the world communicate. The company has more than 150 years of experience serving the typographic needs of the design industry. As one of the most established type foundries in the world, Monotype offers a myriad of typefaces through its designer-focused portal, www. fonts.com.
Established in 1929, the Academy of Art University is the largest private school of art and design in the country. Located in downtown San Francisco, the university believes that established artists and designers are best at training the next generation of professionals. The school’s highly regarded Graphic Design program maintains an international student body that has won numerous student design awards. The program enjoys a strategic partnership with Monotype Imaging, which provides students with scholarship funds as well as numerous other opportunities Degree: MFA / Class: Type Composition / Designer: Ola Felemban / Instructor: Andrew Loese