The Museum of Contemporary Typography presents the work of
FREDERIC W. THE
oudy MOCT
Frederic W. Goudy Frederic W. Goudy was born in March 8, 1865 in Bloomington, Illinois. Goudy died in May 11, 1947 in Marlborough, New York. Goudy was an American printer, artist and type designer. From 1915 to 1940 Goudy was very well known due to his success with his typefaces. Also, he gave lectures and speeches about “the great love he had for letter forms”. He created typefaces such as Copperplate Gothic, Goudy Old Style and Kennerley. Goudy most famous typefaces are Copperplate Gothic and Goudy Old Style. Goudy was the third type designer to produce metal type in the United States. He
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had ninety faces that were cut and cast and many other designs. Early on his career, Goudy also worked on handlettering projects. During his career he spent a lot of time developing old-style serifs. Goudy was influenced by the Italian Renaissance and calligraphy. He would avoid designing sans-serif. However, Goudy created the sans-serif Copperplate Gothic. Goudy also developed typefaces that were influenced by blackletter medieval manuscripts. By the end of his career, Goudy had 122 typefaces and 59 literary works were published. Goudy and his wife Bertha work together on printing projects.
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Goudy Old Style G
oudy Old Style was created by Frederic W. Goudy in 1915. 85% of all the typography produce in the United States was Goudy Old Style. This typeface works perfectly for both large bodies of text and display. Goudy Old Style is a very populat typeface. It is well known for it’s diamond-shaped dots on the i, j and all punctuation marks.
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1400
1470
1501
1734
C
a Guttenberg invented movable typefaces, giving the world a cheaper way to obtain the written word. Up until this point, all written materials were done by hand, and were very costly to purchase. Guttenburg also created the first typeface, blackletter – it was dark, fairly practical, and intense, but not very legible.
Nicolas Jenson created Roman Type, inspired by the text on ancient roman buildings. It was far more readable than blackletter, and caught on quickly.
Italics begin to be used as way to fit more words onto a page, saving the printer money. Today, we use italics as a design detail or for emphasis when writing.
William Caslon created a typeface which features straighter serifs and much more obvious contrasts between thin and bold strokes. Today, we call this type style ‘old style’.
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1757
B John Baskerville created what we now call Transitional type, a Roman-style type, with very sharp serifs and lots of drastic contrast between thick and thin lines.
1780
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Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodo created the first ‘modern’ Roman typefaces (Didot, a Bodoni). The contr were more extrem than ever before, created a very coo fresh look.
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oni
and rasts me and ol,
Type is everywhere – street signs, magazines, the web. Every typeface
you see around you has been painstakingly and carefully planned out, and each has its own personality and vibe. But have you ever stopped to wonder how the typefaces we encounter everyday came to be? Who invented them, and why? If you’re interested in learning more about typography, you’ve come to the right place.
TERMINOLOGY EXPLAINED
What’s the difference between a typeface and a font? Before you jump in, let’s clarify the terminology used. Typography is the art of creating the letters we use everyday. It’s designing them and creating them and making them real. A font is a collection or set of letters – they’re the mechanism you use to get your message across to your reader. Every letter and dash and semi colon would be considered part of a specific font. A typeface is the design you see – the style and look of a specific font. Throughout history, typefaces have been influenced by technological advances, culture shifts, and just general boredom with the state of typography. Here’s how it all went down:
1815
1816
1920’s
A Vincent Figgins created Egyptian, or Slab Serif – the first time a typeface had serifs that were squares or boxes.
William Caslon IV created the first typeface without any serifs at all. It was widely rebuked at the time. This was the start of what we now consider Sans Serif typefaces. During this time, type exploded, and many, many variations were being created to accommodate advertising.
Frederic Goudy became the world’s first full time type designer, developing numerous groundbreaking typefaces, such as Copperplate Gothic, Kennerly, and Goudy Old Style.
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1957
contemporary
About the Museum
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he Museum of Contemporary Typography is a contemporary art museum founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, the museum offers free general admission and presents an active program of rotating temporary exhibitions and innovative audience engagement. The Broad is home to more than 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is one of the world’s most prominent collections of postwar and contemporary art. The 120,000-square-foot building features two floors of gallery space and is the headquarters of The MOCT Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library, which has been loaning collection works to museums around the world since 1984. Since opening in September 2015, The MOCT has welcomed more than 2.5 million visitors. Generous support is provided by Leading Partner East West Bank.
Colophon /about this brochure Copperplate Goudy Old Style PT Serif Adobe Caslon Pro Regular Optima
MOCT
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Gill Sans
Museum of Contemporary Typography 21 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012 www.themuseumofmoderntype.org