PORTFOLIO GRAPHIC DE S I G N 2 014
introduction
B
eyond just the written word, typography is the overall style and appearance of printed matter. Type itself is a designed element. A single letterform must find the balance of form and function in order to communicate effectively and aesthetically. Historically, different typefaces emerged to reflect the ideals of each era. Nowadays we’re bombarded with a multitude of typeface choices, each with their own connotations. Selecting a handwritten font can add a personal touch, sans-serif fonts appear clean and modern and serif fonts convey a sense of formality.
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contents LOGOS 4 Letter Gothic Std, Avenir Next Condensed, The Only Exception
CHARACTER STUDIES
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Braggadocio, Letter Gothic Std, Loki Cola, Century Gothic, Century, Didot Italic, Bodoni SvtyTwo OS ITC TT, Akka, Prestige Elite Std, LuxuryRoyaleJF, Rockwell
POSTER DESIGN
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Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT, Bodoni SvtyTwo OS ITC TT
IDENTITY 18 Futura, Avenir Next
UBIQUITOUS TYPE
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Ostrich Sans, Helvetica, Didot HTF
SKETCHBOOK
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Futura
GREETING CARD
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Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT, Futura
TYPOGRAPIC TERMS
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See page for typeface details
POP Helvetica Neue
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logos
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ampersand art + commerce
character studies
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CHARACTER STUDY | THE LETTER A
FONT: Braggadocio
A
is the first letter and vowel in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The upper-case version consists of two more or less vertical lines, joined at the top, and crossed in their middle by a horizontal bar.
The Etruscans brought the Greek alphabet to their civilization in the Italian Peninsula and left the letter unchanged. The Romans later adopted the Etruscan alphabet to write the Latin language, and the resulting letter was preserved in the Latin alphabet used to write many languages, including English.
When the ancient Greeks adopted the alphabet, they had no use for the first phoneme of the Phoenician pronunciation of the letter, so they used an adaptation of the sign to represent the vowel /a/, and gave it the similar name of alpha. In the earliest Greek inscriptions after the Greek Dark Ages, the letter rests upon its side, but in the Greek alphabet of later times it generally resembles the modern capital letter, although many local varieties can be distinguished by the shortening of one leg, or by the angle at which the cross line is set.
The American Airlines logo pictured above is not the most recent version of the brand’s logo, but it arguably much more iconic in the minds of the consumer than its new redesign. The logo was created by Massimo Vignelli and is comprised of two letters, in Helvetica, one red and one blue, accompanied by the company name in the same font.
CHARACTER STUDY | THE LETTER G
FONT: Loki Cola
G is the seventh letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. The modern lowercase ‘g’ has two typographic variants: the single-story (opentail) and the doublestory (looptail). The single-storey form derives from the majuscule (uppercase) form by raising the serif that distinguishes it from ‘c’ to the top of the loop, thus closing the loop, and extending the vertical stroke downward and to the left. The double-story form (g) had developed similarly, except that some ornate forms then extended the tail back to the right, and to the left again, forming a closed bowl or loop. The initial extension to the right was absorbed into the upper closed bowl. The double-story version became popular when printing switched to “Roman type” because the tail was effectively shorter, making it possible to put more lines on a page. In the double-story version, a small top stroke in the upper-right, often terminating in an orb shape, is called an “ear”.
The Gotham typeface was initially commissioned by GQ magazine, whose editors wanted to display a sans-serif with a “geometric structure” that would look “masculine, new, and fresh” for their magazine. Both the ‘G’ and the ‘Q’ are heavy in weight and the “Q” has a transparency to it, allowing the letters to overlap.
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FONT: Didot Italic
O is the 15th letter and a vowel in the basic Latin alphabet Its graphic form has remained fairly constant from Phoenician times until today. The name of the Phoenician letter was eyn, meaning “eye”, and indeed its shape originates simply as a drawing of a human eye.
This letter was adopted by the early Greek alphabets as O “omicron” The letter was adopted with this value in the Old Italic alphabets, including the early Latin alphabet. In Greek, a variation of the form later came to distinguish this long sound (Omega, meaning “large O”) from the short o (Omicron, meaning “small o”).
O is the fourth most common letter in the English alphabet Like the other English vowel letters, it has associated “long” and “short” pronunciations.
The Cirque du Soleil show, O, is pronounced the same way as eau, the French word for “water.” The logo closely resembles that of a Didot “O,” thick on the sides and thinner on the top and bottom. The logo itself takes a three-dimensional shape and serves as a vessel for the small character in the advertisement.
CHARACTER STUDY | THE LETTER Z
FONT: Akka
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Z
is the twenty-sixth and final letter of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. In most dialects of English, the letter’s name is ‘zed’, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta, but in American English, its name is ‘zee’, deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal form. The Semitic symbol was the seventh letter, named zayin which possibly meant “weapon”. The Greek form of Z was a close copy of the Phoenician zen (Zayin), and the Greek inscription form remained in this shape throughout ancient times. The Greeks called it zeta, a new name made in imitation of eta and theta. In the 1st century BC, Z was introduced again at the end of the Latin alphabet to accurately represent the sound of the Greek zeta. The letter Z appeared only in Greek words, and is the only letter besides Y that the Romans took directly from Greek, rather than from Etruscan.
The Z Pizza logo contains four different ‘Z’s: the first letter in the logo name, two within the word ‘pizza’ and the giant ‘Z’ shape that encases the words. All of the ‘Z’s are presumably lowercase and are in Futura. The largest ‘Z’ also appears very heavy and bold.
A glyph variant of Z originating in the medieval Gothic minuscules and the Early Modern Blackletter typefaces is the “tailed z.” In some Antiqua typefaces, this letter is present as a standalone letter or in ligatures. Z in an Antiqua typeface may be identical with the character representing 3 in other fonts. Tailed Z is to be distinguished from the similar insular G and yogh found in Old English, Irish, Middle English, etc.
The ‘Z’ in Zara sets the x-height for the following letters. The extended width of all letters are the same, but is most noticeable in the ‘Z’ because of the long skinny strokes that make up the top and bottom of the character. The font is reminiscent of Bodoni, with contrasting thick and thin strokes.
CHARACTER STUDY | THE LETTER V
FONT: LuxuryRoyaleJF
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The letter “V” in the Vans logo imparts a unique feel and prominent look to the overall design. As the right end of the “V” extends further towards left, it provides shelter to the other letters of the brand name.
The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. In Roman numerals, the letter ‘V’ is used to represent the number 5. It was used because it resembled the convention of counting by notches carved in wood, with every fifth notch double-cut to form a ‘V’. During the Late Middle Ages, two forms of ‘v’ developed, which were both used for its ancestor /u/ and modern /v/. The pointed form ‘v’ was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form ‘u’ was used in the middle or end,
regardless of sound. So whereas ‘valor’ and ‘excuse’ appeared as in modern printing, ‘have’ and ‘upon’ were printed as ‘haue’ and ‘vpon’. The first distinction between the letters ‘u’ and ‘v’ is recorded in a Gothic script from 1386, where ‘v’ preceded ‘u’. By the mid-16th century, the ‘v’ form was used to represent the consonant and ‘u’ the vowel sound, giving us the modern letter ‘u’. Like J, K, Q, X, and Z, V is not used very frequently in English. It is the 6th least common letter in the English language, with a frequency of about 1.03% in words.
poster design
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identity
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WORK
ABOUT
WORK identity graphics product design photography
CONTACT
UBIQUITOUS TYPE: A report on public typography The presence of typography both good and bad, can be seen everywhere.
T
BY MILTON GLASER • PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA STAFFORD
ypography makes at least two kinds of sense, if it makes any sense at all. It makes visual sense and historical sense. The visual side of typography is always on display, and materials for the study of its visual form are many and widespread. The history of letter- forms and their usage is visible too, to those with access to manuscripts, inscriptions and old books, but from others it is largely hidden. This book has therefore grown into some-thing more than a short manual of typo-graphic etiquette. It is the fruit of a lot of long walks in the wilderness of letters: in part a pocket field guide to the living wonders that are found there, and in part a meditation on the ecological principles, survival techniques, and ethics that apply. The principles of typography as I understand them are not a set of dead conventions but the tribal customs of the magic forest, where ancient voices speak from all directions and new ones move to unremembered forms. One question, nevertheless, has been often in my mind. When all right-thinking human beings are struggling to remember that other men and women are free to be different, and free to become more different still, how can one honestly write a rulebook? What reason and authority exist for these commandments, suggestions, and instructions? Surely typographers, like others, ought to be at liberty to follow or to blaze the trails they choose. Typography thrives as a shared concern - and there are no paths at all where there are no shared desires and directions. A typographer determined to forge new routes must move, like other solitary travellers, through uninhabited country and against the grain of the land, crossing common thoroughfares in the silence before dawn. The subject of this book is not typographic solitude, but the old, well- travelled roads at the core of the tradition: paths that each of us is free to follow or not, and to enter and leave when we choose if only we know the paths are there and have a sense of where they lead.That freedom is denied us if the tradition is concealed or left for dead. Originality is everywhere, but much originality is blocked if the way back to earlier discoveries is cut or overgrown. If you use this book as a guide, by all means leave the road when you wish. That is precisely the use of a road: to reach individually chosen points of
departure. By all means break the rules, and break them beautifully, deliberately, and well. That is one of the ends for which they exist. Letterforms change constantly, yet differ very little, because they are alive. The principles of typographic clarity have also scarcely altered since the second half of the fifteenth century, when the first books were printed in roman type. Indeed, most of the principles of legibility and design explored in this book were known and used by Egyptian scribes writing hieratic script with reed pens on papyrus in 1000 B.C. Samples of their work sit now in museums in Cairo, London and New York, still lively, subtle, and perfectly legible thirty centuries after they were made. Writing systems vary, but a good page is not hard to learn to recognize, whether it comes from Tang Dynasty China, The Egyptian New Kingdom typographers set for themselves than with the mutable or Renaissance Italy. The principles that unite these distant schools of design are based on the structure and scale of the human body - the eye, the hand, and the forearm in particular - and on the invisible but no less real, no less demanding, no less sensuous anatomy of the human mind. I don’t like to call these principles universals, because they are largely unique to our species. Dogs and ants, for example, read and write by more chemical means. But the underlying principles of typography are, at any rate, stable enough to weather any number of human fashions and fads. Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form, and thus with an independent existence. Its heartwood is calligraphy - the dance, on a tiny stage. It is true that typographer’s tools are presently changing with considerable force and speed, but this is not a manual in the use of any particular typesetting system or medium. We suppose that most readers of this book will set most of their type in digital form, using computers, but I have no preconceptions about which brands of computers, or which versions of which proprietary software, they may use. The essential elements of style have more to do with the goals the living, speaking hand - and its roots reach into living soil, though its branches may be hung each year with new machines. So long as the root lives, typography remains a source of true delight, true knowledge.
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sketchbook
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designing by hand
all the makings for a handwritten font
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working on a handwritten logo for myself...
my attempt at a swash
Art Noveau inspired ‘A’
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extending one side of the ascender
expirimenting with lines
greeting card
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BACK
FRONT
typographic terms
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Grotesque The first sans serif typeface to be widely used. Influenced many later neo-grotesque typefaces after 1950. DIN Schrift
Cursive
Also known as script, joined-up writing, joint writing, running writing or handwriting is any style of penmanship in which the symbols of the language are written in a conjoined and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster. HaloHandletter
12 pt. rule Helvetica
Hairline rule A very thin rule line typically less than one-half point wide. Helvetica Light
Ke r n i n g
Refers to the horizontal space between individual pairs of letters (a kerning pair), and is used to correct spacing problems in specific letter combinations. Well-spaced fonts need comparatively less kerning pairs. Fonts that are properly kerned appear evenly spaced without large open gaps of white space between any two characters. Bank Gothic
fl fi
(LIGATURE)
Special characters that are actually two letters combined into one. In cases where two adjacent characters would normally bump into each other, a ligature allows the letters to flow together more gracefully. This usually makes word shapes more aesthetically pleasing. Adobe Garamond Pro
Swash
An elegant extension on a letter form, either a modification of an existing part or an added-on part. Edwardian Script ITC
Slab serif
D
Blackletter
•Bullet
Type of serif typeface characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Slab serif typefaces generally have no bracket (feature connecting the strokes to the serifs). Some consider slab serifs to be a subset of modern serif typefaces. Rockwell Bold
One of a wide variety of typefaces based on medieval script, commonly from thirteenth-century German writing. This style of type is also known as Spire-Gothic and Old English, and is characterized by dark, angular characters comprising thick and thin lines. Lucida Blackletter
Sometimes described as “grunge,” a distressed font has simulated marks of age or wear. Self Righteousness
REVERSED
Type that is designed to print as white on black (or colored), rather than as the typical black on white. Impact
Wood Type
Wood served as the material for some large fonts called wood type during the 19th century. These were light and often included ornate designs. Carnivalee Freakshow
Calligraphy The visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument or brush in one stroke (as opposed to built up lettering, in which the letters are drawn). Lucida Calligraphy
Transitional
These are the most common sans-serif typefaces. They are relatively straight in appearance and have less line width variation. Avenir Next Condensed Ultra Light
Oblique
A font that is slanted. Oblique fonts are different from italic fonts, in that they are mechanically sheared, then slightly adjusted. Italic fonts, on the other hand, are designed differently from upright or roman versions. They are usually narrower than their roman counterparts, and reflect more of a calligraphic sensibility than lowercase oblique fonts. Avenir Medium Oblique
rop cap
The first letter of the text sits within the margins and runs several lines deep into the paragraph, indenting some normal-sized text in these lines. BigNoodleTitling
A typographical symbol or glyph used to introduce items in a list. Avenir
å!B#$&*
(GLYPH)
Every character in a typeface is represented by a glyph. One single type design may contain more than one glyph for each character. These are usually referred to as alternates. Helvetica
Dingbat
(DINGBAT)
An ornament, character or spacer used in typesetting, sometimes more formally known as a printer’s ornament or printer’s character. Zapf Dingbats
TR A C K I N G
Also called letter-spacing, refers to the amount of space between a group of letters to affect density in a line or block of text. Futura (Light)
Serif
Semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). Times New Roman
Hand lettering
A typeface that appears or actually is printed by hand. Lavanderia
Display
A potent element in graphic design, where there is less concern for readability and more potential for using type in an artistic manner. A display typeface is designed for the use of type at large sizes, perhaps 30 points or larger. Channel
pop project
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issue:
andy warhol roy lichtenstein jasper johns larry rivers frank o’ hara
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pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop andy pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop popwarhol pop pop pop roy lichtenstein pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop jasper johns pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop poprivers pop pop pop larry pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop o’ pophara pop pop frank pop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop pop pop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop poppop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop
visual project issue one volume 7 in this issue:
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