Maria Bradovkowa "Matrix" by Pracownia Liternictwa i Typografii ASP w Krakowie

matrix by zuzana licko, 1986

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matrix by zuzana licko, 1986

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maria bradovkova atelier of lettering ASP krakow, 2010

BOOK extra BOLD BOLD ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789;,.:?!&*+\=-_—”|<%/ˇ´{}[]()’ Emil ate 5 sendwiches in 10 minutes!

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789;,.:?!&*+\=-_—”|<%/ˇ´{}[]()’ Emil ate 5 sendwiches in 10 minutes!

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 012345678..;,.:?!&*+\=-_—”|<%/ˇ´{}[]()’` Emil ate 5 sendwiches in 10 minutes!

matrix family

Matrix Book Matrix Bold Matrix Extra Bold matrix book fractions Matrix book small caps matrix regular small caps Matrix Inline extra bold Matrix Inline script Matrix script bold Matrix script book Matrix script regular Matrix Wide Matrix regular Matrix narrow Matrix tall

Author.

Zuzana Licko (pronounced Litchko) is one of the first type designers who exploited the potential of the Apple Macintosh in its pre– designer days. She transformed the pixel from low-resolution imitation to high–style original. Licko was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1981, emigrated to the US with family as a schoolgirl in 1968. She studied architecture, photography and computer programming before taking a degree in graphic communications at the University of California at Berkeley in 1984. She has become a huge success in the world of Typography. She has “re–designed” old types such a Baskerville (known as Mr.Eaves) and Bodoni (known as Filosophia). Both are her personal interpretations of their historical models and each features extensive ligatures.

“A typeface is the ornamental manifestation of the alphabet. If the alphabet conveys words, a typeface conveys their tone, style, and attitude.” Her fonts have influenced the work of type designers across the world, as well as the look of graphic design in the past two decades.

Matrix history.

vydvkjfbv kljdfv jbv&kvjkydvgy y kvbgkbv&sv kjxdfvjs rjk vn vdkv ghij fg cde a

The reason Matrix looks the way it does may seem quaint, if not incomprehensible, to those who were not around in 1985 when the idea for its design was born. The tool used to produce it, the Macintosh computer, had just appeared on the scene and its restrictions were many. Although the base memory on its second model was a whopping 512k, it lacked a hard drive, most data was stored and transferred from one computer to another using floppy disks, and the screen was only slightly bigger than a postcard. It was on this computer that the basic ideas for Matrix were developed. While the proportions of Matrix were based on one of Zuzana Licko’s earlier bitmap fonts, its distinctive geometric character was the result of having to work around the Mac’s limitations and coarse resolution laser printers. After designing a number of low resolution bitmap fonts, Matrix was the first PostScript font that Emigre released. PostScript, a programming language developed by Adobe–and made available to the public in 1985–replaced bitmap based fonts and made possible the drawing of glyphs as Bézier curve outlines which could then be rendered at any size or resolution. With the release of Altsys’s Fontographer, a PostScript based font editing software, it allowed a more precise drawing of letter forms. As software rapidly improved, hardware struggled to keep up. Memory space, processing power, rasterizers and output devices were still lacking in sophistication–at least for those computers that people could afford to buy. To address this issue, and in order to save as much memory space as possible, Matrix was based on a few simple ratios, and the points required to define the letter forms were limited to the essentials. This is how Matrix acquired its geometric shapes and its distinctive triangular serifs which require fewer points than traditional square or curved serifs. Also, the 45 degree diagonals were the smoothest diagonal that digital printers could generate. Matrix thus consumed relatively little memory space to store in the printer and facilitated fast printing.

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Matrix proportion. The proportions of Matrix were based on the structure of the typeface

The proportions of Matrix were based on the structure of the typeface

low resolution bitmap font designed by Licko in 1984.

45 As software rapidly improved, hardware struggled to keep up. Memory space, processing power, rasterizers and output devices were still lacking in sophisticationâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;at least for those computers that people could afford to buy. To address this issue, and in order to save as much memory space as possible, Matrix was based on a few simple ratios, and the points required to define the letter forms were limited to the essentials. This is how Matrix acquired its geometric shapes and its distinctive triangular serifs which require fewer points than traditional square or curved serifs. Also, the 45 degree diagonals were the smoothest diagonal that digital printers could generate. Matrix thus consumed relatively little memory space to store in the printer and facilitated fast printing.

Matrix character.

wide latin Benguiat Birch std

Matrix first saw the light of day in late 1986 when a single weight was commercially released and advertised in Emigre #6 together with three other PostScript fonts, namely Modula, Zenith and Berkeley. Soon after, two accompanying weights were added to make up a Matrix family of Bold, Regular and Book. Licko had noticed that Matrix responded well to scaling, stretching, and obliquing, because its forms were harmonious with the digital grid that it was derived from. She also observed how stretching the font horizontally or vertically actually strengthened the overall unity of the characters since the horizontals and verticals were emphasized, diminishing the differences between the letter forms. Initially she considered this feature to be an advantage for users to explore. Although it was frowned upon by type purists, stretching and squeezing of type had become favorite typographic computer effects and nothing could keep users from doing this. A single font that would hold up well when stretched or obliqued would be advantageous and would require much less space to store than if each permutation existed as a separate font.

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But in order to determine the best use of This effect, Licko decided to release three versions of her own preference. In the summer of 1987, a Wide, Narrow and Extra Bold version were added to expand the Matrix family to six fonts. The wide was scaled by 200%, the narrow by 50%.

kristen AlgeriAn Bremen impact forte Zapfino

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P A G A Z aL zI i C n S e - P U S T

E I N E Ps A C E B L I C E R

The best opportunity to test drive the full range of Matrix typefaces in a wide variety of applications and over an extended time offered itself in 1988 when Emigre was invited to design Shift, an art magazine published by Artspace Gallery in San Francisco. Here, Matrix found an open minded patron and audience. The art world values concepts and originality.

M A P m Ua Bg - - - P O

Although Matrix was not designed exclusively for Shift, to the outside world it appeared as if Shift had its own custom font since few people had seen it used. For a small, independent magazine this was a rarity. Custom fonts were created only for national newspapers and the largest of consumer magazines as the cost of creating new typefaces could be prohibitive. Graphic designers and art directors took note of this and started contacting Emigre regularly to see if new, original fonts were in the works that they could snatch up and use before others did.

Shift, 1988

P A G A Z aL zI i C n S e - P U S T

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Shift, 1988

Matrix’s first national exposure came with the Batman Returns movie in 1992.

f i l m – p o s t e r From Licko´s small office in Berkeley, these fonts had found their way to Hollywood and into the very capable hands of an ad agency designer who made the font jump off the surface of that billboard. It then started to dawn upon us that these fonts could have tremendous commercial potential.” That feeling was bolstered when shortly after the Batman experience Matrix appeared as the main typeface in a number of national ad campaigns incluing Cadillac, McDonald’s, and UPS, while Esquire magazine used it as a headline font throughout its February 1993 issue. Matrix’s classical, geometric look and clean lines worked beautifully in display applications.

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P A C M A G A Z I N P U B L I C S P A C - - - - - P U B L I P O S T E

E E E C R

.1988

1880â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1980. During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, graphic design was experiencing one of its most exciting and transformative periods. The Apple Macintosh computer had been introduced, design schools were exploring French linguistic theory, the vernacular had become a serious source of study and inspiration, the design and manufacture of typefaces was suddenly opened up to everyone who could use a computer, and for the first time in the United States, New York City was no longer the place to look for the latest developments in graphic design. And in Berkeley, California, across the bay from Silicon Valley, Emigre magazine, like no other, recognized the significance of the events, and became both a leading participant and a keen observer of this innovative international design scene, generating a body of work and ideas that still resonate today.

Emigre 23, Culprits (1992)

Emigre 55, The leisure Time Issue (2000)

Emigre 24, Neomania (1992), down

Emigre foundry. In the mid-1980s Zuzana Licko and Rudy Vanderlans founded Emigre. Emigre produced the magazine, Emigre, and designed and distributed original fonts. Vanderlans (Zuzanas husband) was editor of the magazine, while Licko was responsible for many successul Emigre fonts. Licko began to contribute fonts to the fledgling â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;magazine that ignores boundaries.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Rather than replicate (on a dot matrix printer) typographic forms already adapted from calligraphy, lead and photosetting, Licko used public domain software to create bitmap fonts. Her early Emigre fonts not only revolutionised digital typography but also opened up the market for the smaller foundries whose quarter-page adds populate todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design magazines. She has designed more than two dozen typeface families and oversees the Emigre foundry, which currently offers 300 or so typefaces by the likes of Barry Deck, Jonathan Barnbrook, Frank Heine and Rodrigo Cavazos.

Rudy Vanderlans, editor of magazine

Fueled by Emigreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s successful digital type foundry, the magazine became one of the most popular and controversial graphic design magazines of its time. 69 issues were published in a variety of formats, featuring in-depth interviews with fellow design trailblazers and critical essays by an emerging group of young design writers. 18 15

Emigre magazine is in the permanent design collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Cooperâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hewitt National Design Museum, the Design Museum in London, and the Denver Art Museum. The magazine was also recently on exhibit at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Emigre 69, The End, (final issue, 2005)

Emigre 53, Graphic design Incl, (2000)

#15

It was published between 1984 and 2005. A total of 69 issues were produced, sometimes on a quarterly basis, but more often irregularly. Issues #1 through #63 were published and distributed by Emigre, Inc. Issues #64 through #69were coâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;published and distributed by Princeton Architectural Press, New York.

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Emigre magazine.

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“ .. What do they think about Emigre?

“Som e histo one sho uld g ry of o and ecce this rem back an ntric arka histo d stu ble, publ ry.” dy th i n Elle icati n Lu on, f fluentia e life l, or it pton is ou original r ow n

“For me, like graphic d many others galva esign dur ing Emigr nised by the maga e’s heyda zine was y, the most interestin consisten g design p t ly ublication anywhere produced by anyon e.” Rick Po ynor

t l documen a ic r to is h eless , now a pric s an epoch e n fi e d it “Emigre is e s able becau ges that is valu rocess, and encoura p sa propagate s.” alternative r lle Steven He

“After all the questions and answers posed by Emigre, there remains only one: What or who will occupy the place that Emigre leaves?” Andrew Blauvelt

.. â&#x20AC;? Bibliography.

www.emigre.com http://new.myfonts.com/foundry/Emigre/ www.wikipedia.org

matrix zuzana licko, 1986

maria bradovkova atelier of lettering ASP krakow, 2010

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