Typography 1 Process Book by Rachel Bender

“Rachel, if it were up to you I wouldn’t see your process for a hundred years.”

Rachel Bender Typography 1 Process Book

Contents Foreword

Project 1: Lexicon

Project 2: Ligature/Logotype

5-13

Project 3: Typeface Comparison

14,15

Project 4: Grid Project

16-27

Bonus Project: 12AB

28-32

Project 5: Poster

33-43

Final Thoughts

Foreword Hi There, Before we get into the actual process part of the book, I want to tell you a story. It’s a little unrelated but I promise it has a point. The first time I fell in love with a typeface I was 17 and had just learned the definition of “graphic design” an hour earlier. I was at Parsons taking a two week class, which I had signed up for on a whim. I had no previous art or design experience. I just thought it sounded cool, possibly the lamest reason for doing anything in life. I was about to start applying to colleges and had no plans to apply to any programs that required a visual portfolio. This class was a chance to try something I thought I probably would never be able to do again. One of my first assignments was to do a typeface poster on Goudy Old Style. Now before this point, I had never really looked at letterforms, in my mind there were all kind of the same and the only typeface I knew by name was Times New Roman. This project changed everything, it was my first a-ha moment and suddenly I was looking at things I never knew to look for on letters everywhere. The space between characters, the dots on lowercase ‘i’ and ‘j,’ and serifs, their presence or absence. Everything just started to click and soon I became absolutely unbearable to talk to or go out with because all I could do was stare at signs and pieces of paper, studying and critiquing their use of typefaces and compositional strategies. One class changed my entire life, I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t taken it. Typography 1 was incredibly challenging, but in the best way possible. It brought me back to that feeling I had when I took that class at Parsons, that I was onto something really great. I pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of and created some really weird, awesome work. I tried new techniques, stayed open to any critiques, and even when things got tough, which they really did for awhile, I just kept working. I’m really excited I get to explain my process a little more here, a lot of the time when I’m working in class, it’s hard to show or vocalize the things going on in my brain as I’m figuring out solutions. One more thing I should mention: the title of this book is a paraphrased quote from my professor. Well now, here you go Juliette, all of my brilliance in one neat package, enjoy!

xo, Rachel

Project 1: Lexicon

I’ve taken a couple of typography classes before, so I felt I had a decent understanding of a few typographical terms. The lexicon project made me feel like a novice again. It’s so funny how you can walk around spouting words and pretending like you know what you’re talking about, but when someone asks you what it means, you draw a complete blank. I kept the guide given to me by my teachers throughout the semester, making notes in it and referencing it when arguing about type with my friends. (I am so blessed I have a few now I can argue with this stuff about.) 4

Project 2: Ligature/Logotype

Behold, a rare look into the mysterious, near non-existent, sketchbook of Rachel Bender

From the beginning, I really felt like I understood this project. It all clicked in my head immediately when I read the instructions. I knew the difference between a ligature and merely layering one letter on top of another. It was a fun challenge playing on legibility and creating new shapes out of negative space. I liked finding natural yet unexpected areas where letters could but probably never would meet in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;real type world.â&#x20AC;? I was really itching to get home and create them in Illustrator because it was very difficult to try out different solutions with scale when trying to size up by tracing. I did all my sketches the first day in my notebook, translated them digitally, and retraced the new versions. 5

Ligature/Logotype

My most commonly used letter was ‘r.’ It’s possible I’m a bit biased

I loved the negative shapes the letters of Clarendon made

I really liked how this approach activated the white spaces

All compositions on both pages completed as 2x2 inch squares

Ligature/Logotype

The relation to the container made this one work

I remember during the critique of my first 24 sketches, my teacher asked the class what they thought was going on inside my mind when I designed these. The reply was a collective â&#x20AC;&#x153;a little bit of everything.â&#x20AC;? That had been my intention, I wanted to go both bold and minimal and see how the ligatureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s placement in the frame changed its understanding. I worked for hours agonizing over different approaches. At this phase in the project I had already learned a couple of things, 1) I had more fun working with serif fonts and 2) I needed to improve my sketching.

ASSAA H XH 2 7

27 X

2XH 7

X Finding little arrows everywhere

S H

Ligature/Logotype

2 7

All compositions on both pages completed as 2x2 inch squares 8

Debating hiding the serif on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;7â&#x20AC;&#x2122; more

Ligature/Logotype

For my next set, I chose my three best marks and experimented with each of them 3 different ways. For some approaches the changes were very subtle, I wanted to see how a ligature might look different if a corner was out of frame or if the whole composition was spaced half an inch farther down within the square. Little moments to bring out details within the letters and the shapes they were forming. I ended up choosing 2 marks using Clarendon to keep going forward and experimenting with. This project brought it to my attention and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s become a new favorite typeface. 9

Ligature/Logotype

Tiny arrows everywhere

I made these marks with confidence and finality. I felt that the top one was very close to be complete, with perhaps a bit of minor tweaking of placement within the frame. The bottom composition was complex, solid and blocky. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel it required further exploration.

All compositions on both pages completed as 4x4 inch squares 10

Ligature/Logotype

2 7 I really wanted to try obscuring the letterforms with this one.

27 The infamous 7 serif

I went two very different directions with my next iterations of the 2 and 7, one which deviated from anything else I had completed prior, and one that was an exercise in a new crop and frame placement. There was a bit of controversy in which many of my classmates complained about the serif in the 7 on the bottom composition ruining the nice flow of the negative space in the letterforms.

Ligature/Logotype

Final Version

The final version wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too different from my previous iteration. I made very precise and calculated moves at this stage. I wanted the ligature to feel solid within the frame and to highlight the little arrows in the negative space, the feature I had come to love in Clarendon.

Not shown to scale, full final is 8x8 inches 12

Ligature/Logotype

Final Version

Again no major changes, just some fine tuning that really made the ligature feel secure in the frame, without making it feel stuck, or interrupting the letterformâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s connecting point.

Not shown to scale, full final is 8x8 inches 13

Project 3: Typeface Comparison

Presentation Slides

Typeface Comparison

Look at the Letters What is the letterform style? Is it serif? San serif? Slab? Garamond: Serif Garamond is an old style ‘Garalde’ serif typeface. Sabon: Serif Sabon is an old style ‘ Garalde’ serif typeface. It is part of the Garamond lineage. the Old Style (Garalde) types are characterised by greater contrast between thick and thin strokes, and are generally speaking, sharper in appearance, more refined. You can see this, perhaps most notably in the serifs: in Old Style types the serifs on the ascenders are more wedge shaped Who designed it? Garamond: Claude Garamond (1480-1561) Sabon: Jan Tschichold (1902–1974) When was it created? Garamond: 16th Century (1530?) (Adobe Release in 1989) Sabon: 1964–1967 What is it’s family composed of? Garamond: Three; Regular, bold, italic Sabon: Four; Regular, Italic, Semibold, Semibold Italic

Describe the style of the letter strokes. Is it calligraphic with strong contrast between the thick and the thin? Is it more industrial and modern? What tools could have been used to create the shape of the letters? Garamond: The letter strokes are rather compact, even if they are serifs, they’re not too ornate. The letter strokes makes this typeface quite legible, this font can work in an incredible large or small scale. The typeface has a very classic style and feel. This typeface could have been created with quill and ink. Sabon: The letter strokes are aggressive, yet have a softness to them. This font has a very classic feel, same as from the font Garamond. Present at least 3 interesting characters. Garamond: g, J, 9 Sabon: t, N, P, 5 Look at the Paragraphs set in the Typeface Does it look compact? Airy? Dark? Light? Weak? Robust? Garamond: Mature, legible, beautifully weighted, balanced on the page. Sabon: Capitals look sharp, while the lower case looks softer, strong, mature

Research Notes

I honestly don’t really remember much about this project, other than the presentation wasn’t as painful as I thought it was going to be. It was the first time I’ve ever worked with another classmate on a typography project ever, and I’m really glad I had such a smart and motivated partner. We ended up having typefaces that were incredibly similar, it was a challenge to find some of the very subtle differences.

Project 4: Grid Project

Ah, the Grid Project. This was definitely the toughest project of the semester. 4 sets of 4 compositions: 2 breaking the grid, 2 following. 2 using typographic elements, 2 using actual type. All combined in ways to ensure extreme creative thinking. My first set of compositions for this were inspired by forms of writing and print: newspaper, letters, text messages, and classified ads. I felt comforted that nobody in my class really seemed to know what to do at this point with this project either. 16

Grid Project

Trying to work it out by hand, still not really sure what I’m doing

I have never been a sketcher or even a doodler really. Even when I was very young my drawings embarrassed me and I never wanted to show them to anyone. During my first class in graphic design and typography, we worked mainly in Illustrator and InDesign, except for a few ideas I’d jot down or stick figures and basic shapes quickly drawn in a notebook. Because I started online, drawing has always been an arduous process for me, it feels like I’m trying to learn a dance backwards. I’m more confident with the pen tool than I am with an actual pen. I don’t like what comes out of my hand naturally and I like being able to delete everything if I hate it, which is supremely satisfying…at least until i’m trying to assemble a process book.

Grid Project

Inspired by piano sheet music

A critique of my sketches for this iteration made the claim there was no hierarchy present. This is true, a this point I was kind of attempting to make patterns in my compositions rather than trying to build a flow. I still wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really getting what we were trying to do with these weird little squares.

Grid Project

Around this point, my class worked together to make clearer parameters for this project that would be understood by and expected of everyone. This helped me out immensely as I worked on the final version on my compositions, I had been making pieces that were very complex and did not actually meet the requirements of the assignment. I started paring thing down to follow the rules first and my stylistic preferences second.

Grid Project

Final Version

......................................................................

.................................

In the end, I went with simple and more importantly, what met the parameters of the project. I hit every requirement hard and then backed off. Do I think any of these are particularly interesting compositions? Not really, but at least complete. I think I place a lot of pressure on myself to create the most beautiful, crazy, amazing compositions ever that I lose sight of the fact that not everything is for show. Some projects are really to help you learn.

Grid Project

“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl. Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)”

When picking a text to work with for the next phase of the project, I wanted something that would make me laugh. I love the book Gone Girl, I devoured it in a matter of days and went to see the movie at a midnight premiere. While some people view it as the story of a batshit crazy woman hell bent on destroying her husband, I see it as one of the most honest works about relationships and how you have to hide parts to be considered conventionally attractive. I chose this monologue in particular because it rings true and cuts deep. I would be lying if I said I never tried to be the Cool Girl, or that I’ve never been annoyed with others who try to be the Cool Girl. I decided to work in Helvetica because I’d used a lot of serifs in the last project. Plus it so works with this text, it is the coolest typeface after all...not. 21

Grid Project

I have never been sadder working on a type project.

I have never been rendered physically incapacitated by a project before. True, there have been times where I have been incredibly exhausted and nearing hysteria, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never actually been hurt. Trying to cut out all of the little letters for the 1B phase of the grid project for 10 hours straight resulted in me throwing out my back and, shortly after, crying intensely at my desk, unable to move or do anything other than wince in pain. I understand you need to learn your craft and pay your dues, but I draw the line at physical harm. After only completing two of these composition by hand, I worked digitally on this phase after for my sanity and safety. 22

Grid Project

Final Version

Working digitally did not mean I wasn’t individually setting letters and experimenting with customized kerning and tracking. Everything was crafted incredibly carefully, and I was starting to make some very interesting pieces. It was really important to me throughout this project that my text stayed legible and in order, even if the flow of the words wasn’t entirely clear to the reader. If you look closely in each composition, you can actually read through the majority of the “Cool Girl” monologue. I stopped adding letter forms wherever I ran out of space.

Grid Project

After essentially feeling like I had to show something for what I thinking on the 2A iteration of the project, I drew out a few quick marks on several pieces of paper, I found the words and captions I wrote more inspiring and helpful than the images themselves. It might just be how I learn, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always liked working and changing as I go. Sketching sometimes feels like a big pause in that type of learning process.

Grid Project

Final Version

I went into the 2A phase unamused. We were starting to break the grid, but after learning from my mistakes, I just wanted to follow the parameters of the assignment exactly. I was practical, I designed abstract forms that would be ready to be translated into type. Throughout the process of working online, I lost my original 2A I officially put up for critique, but they were such terrible bad 80s graphics looking things I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be reminded that they were a part of this project. I ended up with weird compositions inspired by kelp, dance steps, freeways, and martinis.

Grid Project

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I started blocking off sections of the compositions with white paper glued on top to manipulate the flow. I brought the gridâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gutter back. But I was changing my mind too quickly and was getting really frustrated with having to reglue the tiny pieces of papers as I worked through this challenge. I switched to Illustrator so I could work faster, and also to create more interesting and detailed â&#x20AC;&#x153;cutsâ&#x20AC;? in the compositions.

12AB

Final Version l

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I ended up making some crazy weird shapes. Their fill is chaotic, but the form is very controlled. I had so much fun creating these, it was a good challenge that reminded me of the first drawing class I ever took. In the class, we joked that the eraser was one of our mediums, and I used that mentality to inspire me. Focusing more on what to take away than what add made for interesting paths and inclusion or exclusion of textures. These were also the pieces I sent to various friends and family to show them that I was doing some very weird, very cool experimental typography as the result of pressing “Print All.”

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12AB

Final Version

Project 5: Typographic Poster

This is the second typographic poster I have worked on, and my God the process on this one was so much more extensive. I picked Akzidenz Grotesk mainly because I have the most weights of it on my computer. I was really hesitant to work with a sans serif font for this project, because I worried I wouldn’t be able to find details upclose in the letters to “wow the crowd” with. My initial research and sketches made me really frustrated. I was already trying to do the layout of the poster, but I wasn’t capturing the personality of the typeface.

Typographic Poster

Not thrilled with any of these

Typographic Poster

he llo

Typographic Poster

Akzindez Grotesk the friendly one

Want to be fun, approachable, and completely timeless? Then youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found the right typeface! Akzindez Grotesk is the original san serif font, many 20th century typefaces were modeled after. Created at the H. Berthold Foundry in 1898, it retained much of the charm and inconsistencies that later sans serif typefaces tried to erradicate.

a b The typeface feels very light. Its kerning is set very widely to support the many characters in European languages.

1 2 3

Akzindez Grotesk uses an oblique style rather than a true italic.

comes in a large variety of weights and styles. There is a durable quality to the typeface, it remains the standard from which all others have followed. Originally it was only meant to be used as a display face, but its good lowercase set made it One of much more versatile and the great apt for use as a text face feature of this as well. typeface are its charming irregularities, such as its diagnol terminals of the number â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;3â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

e frie ndly

Akzidenz Grotesk

---------

---

- - - -- - - - - -

The typeface feels very light. Its kerning is set very widely to support the many characters in European languages.

Akzindenz Grotesk has some fantastic diagnol terminals

----------

-------

Anything written in Akzidenz will feel everlasting, undated or changed by time. There is a durable quality to the typeface, it remains the standard from which all others have followed.

Typographic Poster

jtyf

Akzidenz Grotesk

One of the great features

of this typeface

are its charming irregularities

such as its

diagnol terminals on the letter ‘C’

a The typeface feels very light. Its kerning is set very widely to support the many characters in European languages. Akzindez Grotesk uses an oblique style rather than a true italic

nother stellar quality about Akzeidenz Grotesk is its versatility, at every weight and in every style. It always feel approachable.

There is a durable quality to the typeface, it remains the standard from which all others have followed.

Originally it was only meant to be used as a display face, but its good lowercase set made it much more versatile and apt for use as a text face as well.

I took three of the initial sketches and refined them. I remember completely hating these when I brought them into class for critique. I just thought they looked awful, weren’t original, and weren’t were saying anything about Akzidenz Grotesk. The only one that I felt was passable was the one above. I was inspired by a little bit of research I had done that led me onto the path that the typeface was often used around dials and buttons to mark different increments and levels of power, hence the various paragraphs surrounding the comma in the draft.

Typographic Poster

llo ! he

a k z id e n z

con pliquam quis sum estium rest, simoditi sametur aliquaspis eos nam.

Gitis et fugita isimus volecta tioreicia cus vellaut esciet eum exerfero molorro te vellorepe dolore posa quidel il ipsuntin Gitis et fugita isimus volecta tioreicia cus

H. Berthold Type Foundry

1898

Akzidenz Grotesk 1898, H. Berthold Type Foundry

a G 2

Gitis e t fugita isimus volecta tioreicia cus vellaut esciet eum exerfero m olorro t e vellorepe dolore posa quidel il ipsuntin con pliquam quis sum estium

Gitis et fugita isimus volecta tioreicia cus vellaut esciet eum exerfero molorro te vellorepe dolore posa quidel il ipsuntin con pliquam quis sum estium rest, simoditi sametur aliquaspis eos nam.Berio. Fercia qui dolum inulluptatis doluptiur? Testis restestem quo to doluptiatior acea pelectatis rerrovit ulpa volorrum sunt, ut acilitate peruntissita comnihitatis ad mi, aboriae ipsapid qui berepelese eariae. Ebisqui blaut omniam il id moluptatate esti ilit, quia con exceribus, cus sernam, ofďŹ ciis sin nonsect asimusd aecessimenis repudae as conserrovid quis quam int.

Gitis et fugita isimus volecta tioreicia cus vellaut esciet eum exerfero molorro te vellorepe dolore posa quidel il ipsuntin con pliquam quis sum estium

No one seemed to get it was a faucet!

Weirdly enough I made these two only to go forward working on one of my designs from the previous week. Neither of these really went over well with anyone in the class. Or with me.

Typographic Poster

Blowing my poster up to 24x36 inches really changed how I was seeing my layout. Everything suddenly felt too big, but the composition still felt incredibly empty. I realized how much I had been straying from the grid in certain areas and I was unintetionally creating two posters that split in the middle rather than one cohesive flow. I started reworking things within seconds of hanging it up on the wall.

Typographic Poster

y j

Akzidenz Grotesk Akzidenz Grotesk Light, 90 pt

A classic sans serif typeface created at the H . Berthold Foundry in 1898. Often s aid to b e the grandfather to modern sans serif typefaces, Akzidenz Grotesk Regular

with l ess p recise geometry w hile still f eeling very tec hnical and informative. Akzidenz Grotesk Light, 6 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Light, 7 pt

, 24 pt

the fr

iend

ly on

Akzi denz

Grot

esk

Bo ld,

30 pt

There is a durable quality

One of the great features

CG Akzidenz Grotesk Regular

to the typeface, it remains

, 20 pt

the standard from which

of this typeface Akzidenz Grotesk Regular

all others have followed. Akzidenz Grotesk

, 23 pt

Originally it was only meant to be used as a display face, but its good lowercase set made it much more versatile and apt for use as a text face as well.

are its charming vertical spur on the irregularities such uppercase ‘G’ as its diagonal terminals on the letter ‘C’ and the

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular

, 384 pt A

kzidenz Grotesk Regular

, 381 pt A

kzidenz Grotesk Regular

, 28 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Super I

Akzindez Grotesk uses an oblique style rather than a true italic. Akzidenz Grotesk It

Bo ld, 8 pt

It inspired many typefaces after to also follow the style.

alic, 19 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Super

, 177 pt

ta lic, 27 pt

nother stellar quality about Akzeidenz Grotesk is its versatility, at every weight and in every style. It always feel approachable. Akzidenz Grotesk Medium, 26 pt

The typeface feels very light. Its kerning is set very wide to support the many c haracters in European languages. Akzidenz Grotesk Regular

, 38 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular

, 2400 pt

I started creating more level of hierarchy and giving the poster a clearer path. I ditched my inital “work around the dial/comma” idea to open up the flow. I also removed the ‘f’ from the block of over sized letters to create a more interesting shape with the remaning ones (personally I think it looks like a bird beak of sorts.) I added in some more bold characters, but still the paragraphs all felt like they were the same size and weight.

Typographic Poster

Seeing this version on the wall helped me figure out that I wanted to experiment with some custom grids within the underlying grid structure. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m an over achiever like that. Still, it felt like the right side of the poster drew more attention with its dark, dense shape while the left side felt too delicate and empty.

Typographic Poster

For the supposed final version of this poster, I made some huge changes. After my last critique, my professor and I were constantly sharing new ideas for how to make it better. We came up with some great moves for tying things together. The biggest changes are the inversion of the comma, the addition of two bold paragraphs on the left, the refinement of the small paragraphs in the top of the composition, and moving the large â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;jâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; away from the edge of the poster. There were so many micro systems going on within this composition, but it needed a few more elements of unity, like equidistance of the point size labels from blocks of text. 42

Typographic Poster

Final Version

Akzidenz Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 96 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 108 pt

A classic sans serif typeface created at the H. Berthold Foundry in 1898. Often said to be the grandfather to modern sans serif typefaces,

Grotesk

with less precise geometry while still feeling very technical and informative.

Akzidenz Grotesk Light, 6 pt

ne dly o rien the f

Akzidenz Grotesk Light, 7 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 25 pt

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.”

Akzidenz Grotesk Bold, 30 pt

Akz ide

Akzidenz Grotesk Medium, 43 pt

nz Gro tes

k Bol d,

30 pt

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Akzidenz Grotesk Medium, 15 pt

There is a durable quality to the typeface, it remains the standard from which all others have followed.

One of the great features

CG Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 20 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Bold, 8 pt

of this typeface Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 16pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 384 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 381 pt

are its charming irregularities such as its diagonal terminals on the letter ‘C’ and

Originally it was only meant to be used as a display face, but its good lowercase set made it much more versatile and apt for use as a text face as well.

the vertical spur on the uppercase ‘G’

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 12 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 28 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk uses an oblique style rather than a true italic.

Akzidenz Grotesk Super Italic, 27 pt

Another stellar quality about Akzidenz Grotesk is its versatility, at every weight and in every style. It always feel approachable. Akzidenz Grotesk Medium, 26 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Super Italic, 51 pt

The typeface feels very light. Its kerning is set very wide to support the many characters in European languages. Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 38 pt

It inspired many typefaces after to also follow the style. Akzidenz Grotesk Super Italic, 38 pt

Akzidenz Grotesk Regular, 2400 pt

I could probably keep refining this poster forever, but for now I feel very confident and happy with where I’ve ended up. The flow is clear, there’s a good mix of light and dark, and most importantly I feel it shows off the friendliness of Akzidenz Grotesk as a typeface. 43

Final Thoughts Phew, I am so glad this book is done! It has been an exercise in testing my sanity and stamina, which I guess has really been going on the entire semester with every project. When compiling all my work together, looking at it all in one place reminded me of a quote. It’s from an interview with the composer Philip Glass. It’s one I actually keep above my desk. Sometimes I follow its sentiment, sometimes I don’t. It reads: For Glass, the point is always process, the doing of the thing, more so than the result. And keeping that in mind, I’m inclined to let him define success here in his own terms: “If you don’t know what to do, there’s actually a chance of doing something new. As long as you know what you’re doing, nothing much of interest is going to happen. That doesn’t mean I always succeeded at being interesting. Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t.” I spent a lot of time this semester not knowing what to do, staring at screens and pieces of paper filled with marks that felt foreign and strange. But in the end, I think it made my work stronger. I kept pushing in a direction that challenged me, and like Glass sometimes it was great and sometimes it was so so. By his measure, I was successful. I didn’t know what to do, and that made all the difference.