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TYPE CHARACTER Anonymity is a characteristic very much associated with the exercise of type design. Since the seminal invention of movable type by Gutenberg in the middle of the fifteenth century, the physical form of type has changed profoundly through several evolutionary steps. Movable type was cast from molten metal in an adjustable hand mould from letter matrices struck from hand-engraved punches. Much of the skill resided with a punch-cutter whose interpretative powers determined in large measure the success or otherwise of the alphabet being produced. It was initially a handicraft process from beginning to end, but underwent mechanisation in the late nineteenth century with the advent of the pantographic punch-cutting machine and the mechanical composition systems such as Linotype and Monotype. In the late 1940’s, the next evolutionary development tentatively started to unfold with the installation of photocomposition systems where the typographic master fonts had transmogrified into photographic negatives in the shape of discs, grids and filmstrips; a technology that quickly succumbed to digital phototypesetting which originated in the middle of the 1960’s. Digital fonts are somewhat abstract and not instantly recognisable as collections of alphabets, but occur mathematical descriptions for storage in computer memory. Initially the character shapes were expressed as compressed bitmaps for exposure to photo-sensitive film or paper via generation on a cathode ray tube. With the progression of time, the digital encoding of fonts became more refined with the outline of characters expressed as vectors and later more satisfyingly as Bezier curves in Postscript composition or quadratic curves in TrueType composition. Laser imaging is now the preferred method of output. Throughout the succession of technological changes, an ever-present constant has been that the design for an alphabet must commence as a conception of the human intellect and imagination and committed to paper as a working drawing. Many individuals contributed with originality to the creation, design and drafting of typographic alphabets. At a time of intense technical upheaval, the need in a subject for some compass bearings, some reference points, or some benchmarks is of paramount importance in order to preserve and to perpetuate the best of traditions. Anonymity is a characteristic very much associated with the exercise of type design. It is a fate shared with many architects of fine buildings. Much of the shroud of anonymity is removed from the designers featured in the following pages.
Herb Lubalin Herb Lubalin graduated from Cooper Union School of Art in 1939 and started making his mark on the design world working with Sudler & Hennesey who coincidently changed their name around 1945 to Sudler Hennesey and Lubalin after making him creative director. The love of Lubalin starts at his unawareness of his own stature as a typographer, often shying away from the name and thinking of himself as someone who “designs letters”, which gave rise to his labelling of his work as being “Typographic”. Through his career moving from several design houses we see his special brand of typographic images break out from the rigid formality he was experiencing with the birth of the Helvetica take over, to highly expressive and romantic swoops and curves Looking at Lubalins cornerstone typeface; Avant Garde, we can see he is introducing us to a slim, sleek stroke with perfectly rounded curves with a nice clean 90 degree cut to finish each character. A great feature he has designed into the type is the perfect slant on a few characters that work on a diagonal line. Often seeing a steep 45-degree angle meeting a sharp vertical line. For the era it was created, it speaks sophistication and forward creativity which makes it the perfect type for the name and publication; Avant Garde. Although seen to be dated today, this font was first produced around the late sixties and is still seen as one of the most successful new typefaces of the 20th century. It may seem as a classic 1960’s cliché for an individual want to break out of boxes and labels but it is exactly this mentality that made Lubalin who he became and inspired him to strive forward with his much more loose and expressive typographic and type. Be him innovative typographer or boundary pushing ad designer Lubalin always reverted to saying “I call myself Herb Lubalin because that’s who I am.”
Giambattista Bodoni Giambattista Bodoni is a typographer in an age where technology and the luxury of laser printing was just not an option as he revolutionised type in the 1800’s (1740 – 1813). The third generation printer and type designer was an enthusiastic and thirsty student from the offset, even crafting engraved wood from a very young age. In Bodoni’s short life spanning a mere 30 years, he was made director at The Royal Printing House of the duke of Parma, where he made waste to the cluttered and embellished font types to introduce us to a new crisp, clean and simple form – the modern typeface. Looking at the ambitious Bodoni’s work, using Bauer Bodoni as an example, he has opted for thick strokes on the vertical lines often with a drastically thinner stroke to create the curve and any additional strokes. His serifs included also are quite long and slim coming straight out of the main stroke with only a slight curve on the occasional character. With a finishing touch of a perfectly rounded dot for the appropriate lowercases and a plump tail to finish those lingering descenders, the fonts by Bodoni were a breath of legibility to the visually crippled scholars before him. Despite the Bauer Bodoni font being quite an age, it is still a very relevant and current font used in today’s type trend world. Due to its sophisticated cleanliness and elegant flow from thick strokes to thin strokes; the contrast in the characters has found a great home in fashion publications that requires the elite and designer flare that Bauer Bodoni emulates. Bodoni himself said “The letters don’t get their true delight, when done in haste & discomfort, nor merely done with diligence & pain, but first when they are created with love and passion.” His evident appreciation and fire for type and printing has not faded even after his death with his ample nickname “King of Printers” or “Prince of Type”, still be remarked to this day.
Stefan Sagmeister If your looking for a designer who uses type in a provocative and impacting fashion, no one has more balls than Stefan Sagmeister…. Literally. The Austrian born designer has set up his working design house of Sagmeister and Walsh in New York and continually brings conceptualised typographic and exploration of hand generated work to the fore front of his and his teams work. The heaviest influence in Sagmeisters work is music with his work appropriately capturing the punk rock and grunge aesthetic the niche is known for. That is not to say that the evolving Sagmesiter has been confined to that with amazing new and more commercial work exploring new unconventional means to create type such as hair, balloons and even capturing light. One of his more infamous pieces of work is his scrawled type manner sketched into his own flesh. It pictures Sagmeisters own body from shoulders to hips, with minimal photoshop and even less clothes. The shocking image draws the audience in and as you inspect further you get to take in the thin, uneven and erratic use of hand-generated type seemingly scratched by his intern at the time. The hierarchy clear yet the placement of text jumping from place to place on the body meaning there is no specific way to read it but we get the importance of each regardless. The use of this thin and almost haunting typeface is continued through his other works giving him his prolific reputation for producing a voice of unease and distress, perfect for his grunge inspired audience. “Having guts has always worked out for me”, is no word of a lie as Sagmiester himself stated. Right down to his more recent work where he is using photographic elements to capture his desired resolved piece. He is a taking his genius out beyond just typographic work with a small venture into product design with his own unique blend of functionality and design. Here’s hoping our exposed artist one day ventures into underwear at the least as the years tick on.