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E M P T Y C A N VA S
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E M P T Y C A N VA S AN INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY BY RENE E. RASMUSSEN
COPYRIGHT © 2016 BY RENE E. RASMUSSEN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS BOOK OR ANY PORTION THEREOF M A Y N O T B E R E P R O D U C E D O R U S E D I N A N Y M A N N E R W H AT S O E V E R WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER E X C E P T F O R T H E U S E O F B R I E F Q U O TAT I O N S I N A B O O K R E V I E W .
PRINTED IN AUSTRALIA FIRST PRINTING, 2016
ISBN 0-0000000-0-0
PRINT HOUSE NAME 123 ADDRESS CITY, REGION, 00000
W W W. B E H A N C E . N E T / R E N E E I D E R A S M U S S E N
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TABLE OF CONTENTS F R O N T M AT T E R /
FOREWORD AND THANKS
6–7 8–19
CHAPTER 1 /
AN INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 2 /
THE TIMELESS SERIF
20–27
CHAPTER 3 /
THE MODERN SANS-SERIF
30–37
E N D M AT T E R /
SOURCES
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F OR EWOR D I am a lifelong lover of the fact that knowledge is power, and this book is no exception. To be able to create beautiful typography you must not only observe other work and gather knowledge and inspiration from there, but you have to know certain terms and rules to take your typography to the next level and fine tune your art. I have had the chance to typeset this book down to the finest level of detail myself, and my quest for visual elegance on each page has had countless repercussions on how I phrase my content. To some this may sound like the tail wagging the dog, but I think that attention to form improves anyone’s writing. I hope that reading this book not only is stimulating intellectually but also is a pleasant visual experience.
“TYPOGRAPHY IS THE CRAFT OF ENDOWING HUMAN LANGUAGE WITH A DURABLE VISUAL FORM.”
- ROBERT BRINGHURST
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THANKS TO I offer my sincere appreciation for the learning opportunities provided by Griffith University. To be more precise; the lectures and tutorials of Dominique Falla and Aurelie Maron. My completion of this project could not have been accomplished without the support of my classmates/ roomates Rosa and Marika. Thank you for motivating me to work, as well as provide neutral and unbiased feedback when I was in doubt. Finally, to the caring, loving, and supportive Amalie; my deepest gratitude. Your encouragement when the times got rough are much appreciated and duly noted. It was a great comfort and relief to know that you were willing to provide inspiration, motivation and support in the whole process of this book creation. My heartfelt thanks.
INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY
AN INTRODUCTION TO
T H E WOR L D O F TYPOGRAPHY Developing your own skills in typography will take time and it can be one of the hardest things to get right. It’s good to get a solid understanding of the basics as soon as possible in your education and career.
#1
W H AT I S TYPOGRAPHY? Typography is an art form that has
us graphic designers who are the
really good. There is more to it than
been around for hundreds of years.
ones deciding how it will look, in our
just choosing fonts and making copy
Words and text are all around us
brochures, our logos, our websites
look good though – it is also about
every day in almost everything we
and so on.
making things legible and readable
do. In every piece of type you see,
(some of most basic functions of
somebody has considered how the
The better we are at this, the more
good typography) as well as making
letters, sentences and paragraphs
effective our designs will be. Good
layouts look good in an aesthetic way.
will look in order for it to be read by
typography comes from paying
us, or make us feel a certain way
attention to tiny details as this can
when we look at it. Sometimes it
make the difference between graphic
is done well, others not. Often it is
design work that is just acceptable or
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CHAPTER
#2
T Y P E FA C E OR FONT? Let’s get this one cleared up straight away! Designers are often unsure of the difference between these two, as they are both well used terms for the same thing. Actually, a typeface is a family of fonts (such as Helvetica Regular, Helvetica Italic, Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Black, etc.) but a font is one weight or style within a typeface family (such as Helvetica Regular).
#3
SERIF OR SANS-SERIF? There are many different classifications and sub-classification of typefaces, but the most common two types you will hear of are: Serif – these typefaces are the more traditional ones. They are distinguished by a short line or finishing stroke on the end of character strokes and stems (shown in the anatomy diagram below). And; Sans-serif – as the name suggests, these are distinguished by their lack of any Serifs. They only became popular in the nineteenth century and are considered modern as a result.
A A VS.
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INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY
#4
#5
#6
Yeah, what are glyphs? Most designers have noticed that there is now a glyphs palette in most of the major software packages. The word essentially refers to all the available characters in a font, from letters to numbers and all the special characters.
Kerning is the adjustment of the spacing between individual characters. Tracking, however, is the spacing of a group of characters. These two are often confused, but the way I remember them is that Tracking sounds like a long line of railway tracks, whereas Kerning sounds like kernel, which is an individual object.
Generally text should be left aligned, simply because we are used to reading that way. Without good reason, only consider centering or right aligning text if it is a small amount, such as a heading or caption. Also, justifying text (where it has a straight edge on both sides) should be used in moderation too. It looks nice and neat in some situations, but too much of it will make a layout look rigid. Additionally justifying in a small column size can cause irregular spacing as between words as the software attempts to adjust your text to fit.
W H AT A R E G LY P H S ?
W H AT I S KERNING?
W H AT I S ALIGNING?
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#7
#8
#9
This refers to the length of lines of text in a paragraph or column. Most people tend to just refer to it as column width though. Measure is an important thing to get right in typography as it can be crucial to the readability of the text. If the measure is too wide the text may be difficult to read as the eye has to move a lot more after each line is read. If it is too narrow it can also be tiring on the eye to read, as the eye is constantly moving back and forth. A narrow measure will also lead to a lot of hyphenation.
Vertical line spacing is referred to as Leading in typography and print, which is because in the old days of printing and setting blocks of type, strips of lead were inserted between the lines according to how much space was required. Leading’s role in typography is to generate sufficient space between the lines to make it readable. As with all matters of typography, it is a balance between reading comfort and aesthetic style.
When parts of the anatomy of characters either clash or look too close together, they can be combined in what are called Ligatures. These can be for functional or decorative reasons depending on how obvious the clash is. Mostly this is only an issue with serif fonts although sometimes sans-serifs will need ligatures to be set too.
W H AT I S MEASURE?
W H AT I S LEADING?
W H AT A R E L I G AT U R E S ?
INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY
#9
W H AT I S H Y P H E N AT I O N ? Hyphenation may refer to: Use of the hyphen, a punctuation mark. Syllabification, the splitting of words into smaller units (usually in printed texts, to achieve good line breaks). It’s just another one of those details you have to judge in typography. Hyphenation is not loved by designers or typographers but is considered necessary sometimes in order to prevent rag problems (there is a description of rag further on in this article). If you have to use them avoid having a lot of them in a block of copy, and especially avoid having one follow another.
#10
THE EN-S AND THE EM-S Another thing that can cause confusion the use of the horizontal line characters in a font, and which is the correct one to use. It is worth knowing the difference between a Hyphen (the short one) an En-dash (the slightly longer one) and an Em-dash (the longer one).
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NORMAL HYPHEN
EN-DASH
EM-DASH
CHAPTER
A MODULAR GRID HAS CONSISTENT H O R I Z O N TA L D I V I S I O N S FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IN ADDITION TO VERTICAL DIVISIONS FROM LEFT TO R I G H T. T H E S E M O D U L E S GOVERN THE PLACEMENT AND CROPPING OF PICTURES AS WELL A S T E X T. - ELLEN LUPTON
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Vertical lines make columns
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MARGINS + COLUMNS A grid is a guide by which graphic designers can organise copy and images in a flexible way, whilst making this content easy to take in and understand. They can form the basis of a good typographic layout so it’s good to get into the habit of using them in your work. Try looking at examples (such as a newspaper, a brochure, or a website with a lot of
text content) to see how the type has been positioned and structured. The diagram below is intended to show in a basic way how different pieces of type can be positioned on a grid, and what the main parts of a grid are called.
Horizontal lines make rows
INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY
#12
GET RID OF THE RAGS This is the uneven vertical edge of a block of type, most commonly the right-hand edge, as in the case of left-aligned text. It is important to pay attention to the rag, as it can affect readability in a big way. If the rag is not very good, it can be very distracting on the eye, as you read down a column. Usually it can easily be fixed by reworking the line breaks, or by editing the copy.
This is the uneven vertical edge of a block of type, most commonly the right-hand edge, as in the case of left-aligned text. It is important to pay attention to the rag, as it can affect readability in a big way. If the rag is not very good, it can be very distracting on the eye, as you read down a column. Usually it can easily be fixed by reworking the line breaks, or by
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#13
WIDOWS AND ORPHANS If a single word or very short line is left at the end of a column it is called a Widow. Likewise if the same is left at the top of the following column this is called an Orphan. Both of these are considered bad typography as they cause distracting shapes in a block of type. They can usually be fixed easily in the same way as the rag, by reworking the line breaks in the column or by editing the
copy.
ORPHAN
Once you have digested these basics I have outlined, there is a huge amount of good quality typographic reference material online to help you learn more and improve your skill and judgement. Below is a collection of useful links to get you started.
WIDOW
THE TIMELESS SERIF
THE EVOLUTION OF
TH E TIM ELESS SERIF FON TS This article is all about that small line attached to the end of letters. You will learn about how it came to be and all the different variations.
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DEFINING A SERIF FONT A serif font, by typographic definition, is a font in which the included characters have particular semi-structural elements or details at the ends of the lines or strokes that were used to outline a particular letter, number, or other symbol of the font. Basically, serifs are nothing but small decorative elements of the letters; however, there is a theory, claiming that a text printed in Serif font is easier to perceive for human eyes. It is believed that Serif font history dates back to the times of Ancient Rome with the Roman alphabet and inscriptional lettering. That is why serif fonts are also known as Roman fonts. The most well-known
representative of Serif font family is Times New Roman, which is familiar to everyone, who has experience of using Microsoft Windows and Office applications. These days the range of Serif fonts applications is impressive: traditionally used for body text, serif fonts are commonly used in printed media, such as books, magazines, and newspapers. It is interesting to note that while Serif font texts are believed to be easier to read on paper, they are not always comfortable to read from the computer screen, especially if it is a small size font. People say that sans serif fonts (those without serifs) are better for onscreen presentations.
Typography experts define 4 subtypes in the Serif font family. They are old style, transitional, modern, and slab serif fonts. Old style fonts have the most traditional look, featuring low line contrast and diagonal stress. Serif fonts of modern style are characterized with extremely high contrast and vertical rather than diagonal stress. The characteristics of the transitional fonts with serifs are those in between the old and modern font styles. Finally, slab serif fonts are distinguished by their bold and square appearance.
THE TIMELESS SERIF
STYLE NUMBER ONE;
OLD STYLE T Y P E FAC ES Old-style typefaces date back to 1465, shortly after Johannes Gutenberg’s adoption of the movable type printing press. Early printers in Italy created types that broke with Gutenberg’s blackletter printing, creating upright and later italic styles inspired by Renaissance calligraphy. Old style serif fonts have remained popular for setting body text because of their excellent readability on book paper. The increasing interest in early printing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a return to the designs of the earliest printers, many of whose names and designs are still used today.
The style is characterized by a lack of large differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast) and generally but less often by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom). An old style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8 and 2 o’clock; serifs are almost always bracketed (they have curves which connect the serif to the stroke); head serifs are often angled.
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G G A R A M O N D I S A FA M I LY O F O L D - S T Y L E S E R I F T Y P E FA C E S D E R I V E D F R O M T H E W O R K O F CLAUDE GARAMOND.
THE TIMELESS SERIF
STYLE NUMBER TWO;
TRANSITIONAL T Y P E FAC ES Transitional or baroque serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century, although many of the most famous transitional designs are later creations in the same style. Fonts from this period include Baskerville, Fournier and Bulmer. They are in between modern and old style, thus the name “transitional.� Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in the Didone fonts that followed.
Stress is more likely to be vertical. The ends of many strokes are marked not by blunt or angled serifs but by ball terminals. Later 18th century transitional typefaces in Britain and America begin to show influences of Didone typefaces from Europe, described below, and the two genres blur somewhat, especially in type intended for small sizes; Century and more recently Georgia are inspired by this genre and period.
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B
C O M PA R E D T O E A R L I E R
DESIGNS, BASKERVILLE INCREASED THE
CONTRAST BETWEEN THICK AND THIN
STROKES, MAKING THE SERIFS SHARPER AND M O R E TA P E R E D .
THE TIMELESS SERIF
STYLE NUMBER THREE;
DIDONE T Y P E FAC ES Didone or Modern serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. These typefaces have a vertical stress and long and fine serifs, with minimal bracketing. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines very heavy. Many Didone fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Period examples include Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum. Computer Modern is a popular contemporary example.
In print, Didone fonts are often used on high-gloss magazine paper for magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, where the paper retains the detail of their high contrast well, and for whose image a crisp, ‘European’ design of type may be considered appropriate. They are used more often for general-purpose body text, such as book printing, in Europe.They remain popular in the printing of Greek, as the Didot family were among the first to establish a printing press in newly independent Greece.
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D
DIDOT IS DESCRIBED
AS NEOCLASSICAL, AND
E V O C AT I V E O F T H E A G E O F E N L I G H T E N M E N T.
THE MODERN SANS-SERIF
THE EVOLUTION OF
THE MODERN SANS-SERIF Sans-serif fonts have become the most prevalent for display of text on computer screens. You see them everywhere on the internet and it’s time you learned about these modern, serif-less fonts.
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DEFINING A SANS-SERIF The word sans means without in French; consequently, the common definition for Sans serif font states that this is a type of font, which does not have decorative serif elements at the ends of the strokes. Other names for Sans serif font family are Gothic, grotesque, linear, Egyptian, antique, Doric, etc.; however, these names are not that popular these days. Sans serif font has become a number one choice for displaying a text on digital media, including web. The point is that in view of low resolution, serifs can not always be properly displayed on screen. Thus, the text may appear too difficult to read. Alternatively, sans serif fonts do not have those tiny elements to render, and they are presented more clearly on computer displays. The most widely known representative of Sans serif font group is called Arial font. Sans serif fonts have a very long history of their development and evolution, during which a few subtypes appeared. According to the general classification, there are 4 main groups of sans serif fonts: grotesque, neo-grotesque, humanist, and geometric, which you are going to learn about today.
CH E T A PMTOEDRE R N S A N S - S E R I F
F
FRANKLIN GOTHIC HAS BEEN USED IN MANY ADVERTISEMENTS
AND HEADLINES IN N E W S PA P E R S
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STYLE NUMBER ONE;
GROT ESQUE T Y P E FAC ES This group features the early (19th century to early 20th) sansserif designs. Influenced by Didone serif fonts of the period and signpainting, these were often quite solid, bold designs suitable for headlines and advertisements. Many did not feature a lower case or italics, since they were not needed for such uses. They were sometimes released by width, with a range of widths from extended to normal to condensed, with each style different, meaning to modern eyes they can look quite irregular and eccentric. Grotesque fonts have a vertical axis and limited variation of stroke width (often none perceptible in capitals). The terminals of curves are usually horizontal, and many have a spurred “G” and an “R” with a curled leg. Capitals tend to fit within a square in the regular width. Cap height and ascender height are generally the same to create a more regular effect in texts such as titles with many capital letters, and descenders are often short for tighter linespacing. Most avoid having a true italic in favour of a more restrained oblique or sloped design, although at least some did have true italics.
h
CH E T A PMTOEDRE R N S A N S - S E R I F
H E LV E T I C A BECAME ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR T Y P E FA C E S OF BOTH THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY
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STYLE NUMBER TWO;
NEO-GROT ESQUE T Y P E FAC ES As the name implies, these modern designs consist of a direct evolution of grotesque types. They are relatively straightforward in appearance with limited width variation. Unlike earlier grotesque designs, many were issued in extremely large and versatile families from the time of release, making them easier to use for body text. The story of neo-grotesque types began in the 1950s with the emergence of the International Typographic Style, or Swiss style. Its members looked at the clear lines of Akzidenz Grotesk (1896) as an inspiration to create rational, almost neutral typefaces. In 1957 the release of Helvetica, Univers, and Folio, the first typefaces categorized as neo-grotesque, had a strong impact internationally: Helvetica came to be the most used typeface for the following decades. Other examples include: Rail Alphabet, Highway Gothic, Arial, Bell Centennial, MS Sans Serif, Acumin, San Francisco and Roboto.
A
CH E T A PMTOEDRE R N S A N S - S E R I F
T H E WO R D AV E N I R I S
FRENCH FOR “FUTURE”.
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STYLE NUMBER THREE;
GEOMETRIC T Y P E FAC ES As their name suggests, Geometric sans-serif typefaces are based on geometric shapes, like near-perfect circle and square. Note the optically circular letter “O” and the simple construction of the lowercase letter “a”. Of these four categories, geometric fonts tend to be the least useful for body text. The geometric sans is strongly associated with the Bauhaus art school (1919-1933). Two early efforts in designing geometric types were made by Herbert Bayer and Jakob Erbar, who worked respectively on Universal Typeface (unreleased at the time but revived digitally as Architype Bayer) and Erbar (circa 1925). In 1927 Futura, by Paul Renner, was released to great acclaim and popularity. Geometric sans-serif fonts were popular from the 1920s and 30s due to their clean, modern design, and many new geometric designs and revivals have been created since. A separate inspiration for many geometric types has been the simplified shapes of letters engraved or stencilled on metal and plastic in industrial use, which often follow a simplified geometric design.
CH E T A PMTOEDRE R N S A N S - S E R I F
g
G I L L S A N S W A S A N I M M E D I AT E
SUCCESS. THE YEAR AFTER ITS RELEASE THE ENTIRE BRITISH
R A I LWAY C H O S E I T FO R A L L I T S P O S T E R S , T I M E TA B L E S A N D P U B L I C I T Y M AT E R I A L .
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STYLE NUMBER FOUR;
HUMANIST T Y P E FAC ES These are the most calligraphic of the sans-serif typefaces. Many take extensive inspiration from serif fonts, with true italics rather than an oblique, ligatures and even swashes in italic. One of the earliest humanist designs was Johnston (Edward Johnston, 1916), and, a decade later, Gill Sans (Eric Gill, 1928). Edward Johnston, a calligrapher by profession, was inspired by classic letter forms, with capitals based on roman inscriptions. Humanist designs vary more than gothic or geometric designs. Some humanist designs have stroke modulation (strokes that clearly vary in width along their line) or alternating thick and thin strokes. These include Lydian, Stellar, Rotis SemiSans, and most popularly Hermann Zapf’s Optima (1958), a typeface expressly designed to be suitable for both display and body text. Some humanist designs may be more geometric, as in Gill Sans and Johnston (especially their capitals), which like Roman capitals are often based on perfect squares, half-squares and circles. These somewhat architectural designs may feel too stiff for body text. Others such as Syntax, Goudy Sans and Sassoon Sans more resemble handwriting, serif fonts or calligraphy.
SOURCES
Bowley, Mark: A 20 Minute Intro To Typography Basics: http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/a-20-minute-intro-to-typography-basics--psd-3326 May 23, 2009. Lupton, Ellen: Thinking With Type: http://www.thinkingwithtype.com Sep 24, 2010. Community: Typography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography Aug 22, 2015. Community: Sans-serif: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif May 19, 2016. Yuxar Consulting: Sans Serif Fonts: http://www.fonts2u.com/references/sans-serif-fonts.html Nov 9, 2010. Community: Serif: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif Jan 16, 2016. Yuxar Consulting: Serif Fonts: http://www.fonts2u.com/references/serif-fonts.html Nov 16, 2010. Community: Garamond: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamond May 5, 2016 Community: Baskerville: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskerville Mar 28, 2016
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