What Is Your Type? A book about your type and typography.
Getting to know your typefaces better.
“There is no such thing as a a bad typeface, only bad typography.” - Jeff Keedy
INTRODUCTION
01
HELVETICA
07
FUTURA
36
AVENIR
68
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.
Volume 02 explores the different personalities and characteristics of typefaces. It focuses on how typography is done through different typefaces and not because of how they look. Unironically, looking at their beauty.
01
Like handwriting, typefaces serve a similar purpose of both being legible and functional. Unfortunately, people tend to forget the latter, which is typography. These days, typefaces are all about their looks less their purpose in typography.
It’s the same as judging a person based on just their looks. 02
There is no perfect typeface.
03
TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE
04
But just the right ones among the few.
05
TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE TYPETYPETYPE
06
1
helv eti ca
.
Max Miedinger
1957
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
LIGHT. ROMAN. BOLD. BLACK.
A B S Q E H C N L E M Q A H O I S B L O E R E P A N
J
P B W J
L X H Z
T
A V R
V R Q Y V
H E
I
L V E
T
I
C A
X C U T
T B D F
U L
I
P S
I
C E H A
R K M Z C G K O P E G W Q A J
L N M
F H D C R U V W X
Helvetica Most of us know Helvetica. It is one of the typeface that is universal yet has a love and hate relationship with designers. Designed to be neutral and versatile and it is an adaptable typeface to use for any design purpose.
09
“It’s air, you know. It’s just there. There’s no choice. You have to breathe, so you have to use Helvetica.” - Erik Spiekermann
“Helvetica: typography’s equivalent to internet explorer.” - Jack Earl
“Any good typeface can be completely destroyed when misused or extensively overused. Helvetica seemed to sustain a beating like no other. Still fresh, still popular Helvetica is king.” - Alexander Gelman
“We hate to like Helvetica.” - Hamish Muir
“You can say, “I love you,” in Helvetica. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it’s really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work.” - Massimo Vignelli
10
You have to breathe, so you have to use Helvetica.
You either love them, or you love to hate them.
11
That one friend you can rely on when you are in a bad situation.
You are a natural beauty.
Being a sans-serif typeface that has one of the biggest font family, is also its greastest weakness. It is balanced and neutral, yet it can be seem as “bland”. It has great clarity and percision but it is inflexible. It is good, but not great.
A constant struggle between style vs. communication.
Helvetica is everywhere, believe it or not. Helvetica is a trend that is still around but does not make as good of an impact as it does during it’s time. It is efficient but whether Helvetica is effective for a particular project depends on the project.
GO TO HEL VETICA
12
“When in doubt, use Helvetica.”
“Helvetica is a designer’s best friend.”
1
CONTRAST One of Helvetica’s characteristics is it’s very low weight contrast. This gives the typeface a more rigid appearance with it’s monolinear design. But what does it mean by monolinear design?
Monolinear design of a typeface means having vertical and horizontal strokes of the same visual weight and size.
16
2
type Most characteristic of a Helvetica typeface are the notably terminal horizontal cuts which are the endings of strokes. It is never diagonal.
18
3
apertures apertures apertures apertures apertures apertures
Helvetica characters have a very closed aperture - the channels of white between an interior of a letter and it’s exterior. Helvetica can be weak in small sizes.
The tight spacing between letters may decrease it’s legibility in certain situations. It’s design can still hold up at smaller sizes, but the spacing does not.
20
4
cap height mean line
baseline
X-height
descender height
Helvetica has a large x-height which is indicated in red (the distance between the baseline and mean line of lower-case letters in a typeface).
The reason for this typeface to have a high x-height is for it to be clearly read from a distance. This also makes part of the rigidity of Helvetica as a whole.
22
5
a 2 1
Helvetica has a doubledstoried lowercase letter “a” which is a standard neo-grotesque feature.
A double-storey lowercase “a” consist of a closed bowl at the bottom and a curved stem with a finial arm at the top that is almost closing the area above the bowl.
24
6
111111111111111 111111111111111 RRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRR The number “1” from Helvetica is easily identified with its bracketed flag at the top left corner.
The uppercase letter “R” from Helvetica can be easily distinguished from the rest with its rounded off square tail .
26
3M
Jeep
27
AmericanAirlines
Crate&Barrel
28
MUJI
THE NORTH FACE
29
Panasonic
TOYOTA
30
tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica tica
Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica
Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica
Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve Helve
etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica etica
Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica
Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica Perfection Helvetica Helvetica
Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv Helv
AN ATTEN SEEKI TYPEF
NTION ING FACE.
FU TU RA
pa
ul XY
Z
Lig h Bo t ok M e Bo dium ld Ex tra Bo ld
ren AB ab CD E 1 2 c d e FG H 34 f g h I 56 i j k J K L M 78 l m 90 n o p N O qr PQ s t u RS vw TU xy VW z
192 7
ne
r
2
36
ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN... ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND
Futura had the honor of being the first typeface on the moon, chosen for a commemorative plaque left by the astronauts of Apollo 11 in 1969. It was chosen due to its crisp, geomatrically derived letter forms that speaks in a clear and calm voice of an exciting modern age. Be proud about it.
37
FUTURA
“HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON JULY 1969, A. D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND”.
38
When one think of the typeface Futura, they should know its three simple geometric forms, which are: near-perfect circles, triangles and of course squares.
39
Futura was a pioneer of modern geometric sans typeface which is emphasized by its clean lines, and versatility.
The “Welcome to the future� typeface that is said to be modern and better of its kind.
40
[ a geometric sans-serif typeface ]
MODERN STYLISH EFFICIENT CLEAN
- FUTURA
ATTENTIVE RADICAL VERSATILE
uality truly co me i
ou l
, ing
y in this worl dc
be
On l
they beleived
IT WOULD BE THE UTOPIA OF
DESIGN
23
nt
o
d
eq ial c so
PAST, PRESENT,
FUTURA.
“The truly modern is what we hold today to be timelessly perfect.” - Paul Rand
44
PRESENT
You are a modernist and a visionary that always looks ahead.
45
You are confident and determined to spread the positivity around everyone.
46
M
M
FU TU RA
CREATED 1927 BY PAUL RENNER
49
PAUL RENNER BELIEVED THAT A MODERN TYPEFACE SHOULD EXPRESS MODERN MODELS RATHER THAN BE A RIVIAL OF A PREVIOUS DESIGN. German type designer Paul Renner first created Futura between 1924 and 1926. Futura was commercially released in 1927, commissioned by the Bauer type foundry. While designing Futura, Renner avoided creating any non-essential elements, making use of basic geometric proportions with no serifs or frills. Futura’s crisp, clean forms reflect the appearance of efficiency and forwardness even today. Futura have become an extremely popular typeface for countless corporate logos, commercial products, films and advertisements for years. Futura remains one of the most used and loved sansserif fonts today with no signs of slowing down.
- SKYLAR CHALLAND
50
01.
51
BDEFHIKLN
All letters in the Futura typeface have same stroke width/weight. Every stem is a rectangle or a straight line.
52
02.
53
A Notably, the letters ‘A’ and ‘M’ has a sharp apex - a shape based on triangle.
54
03.
55
M W W M
One of Futura characteristic is symmetrical shapes. ‘W’ seems to be a turned up ‘M’, but is wider as shown.
56
04.
57
pq bd The letter p looks like a reversed q which also look like b and d reflected vertically.
58
05.
59
ij The dots of the i and j have optically the same weight as the stems. j looks just like an extended i.
60
06.
61
O The letter O in Futura appears to be a perfect circle, making it distinct from all other O’s in other fonts.
62
Calvin Klein
I KEA
63
Volkswagen
Supreme
64
LOUIS VUITTON
AMERICAN BEAUTY
65
ABSOLUT VODKA
NIKE
66
Medium Heavy
1988
Black
AVENIR
AAA 1234567890
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
AAA
FRUTIGER ADRIAN
3
ADRIAN
Geometric Sans-Serif
Light Book
AVENIR
3
68
FRUTIGER Black Heavy Medium Book Light
A A AVENIR
Avenir is a flexible and adaptive typeface that is available in various weights that can fit seamlessly into any of your designs.
69
It is a clean san-serif typeface that when is place into a design, makes it a highly legible fon. Ideal for large bodies text.
Avenir’s futuristic look and styling is able to capture audiences attention with ease. Goes well when it is set to heavier weights.
Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface that is introduced in 1988 and it is inspired by typefaces such as ‘Futura’ and ‘Ebar’.
Avenir, the typeface for all purposes.
70
klmnopqrstuvwxyzab
ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
pqrstuvwxyzabcdefgh
mnopqrstuvwxyzabcd
ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklmnopqrs
klmnopqrstuvwxyzabc
ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
wxyz abcdefghijklmno
zabcdefghijklmnopqr
ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
bcdefghijklmnopqrstu
uvwxyzabcdefghijklm
w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
cdefghijklmnopqrstu
zabcdefghijklmnopqr
hijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
defghijklmnopqrstuvw
zabcdefghijklmnopqr tuvwxyzabcdefghijkl
cdefghijklmnopqrstuv
zabcdefghijklmnopqr
opqrstuvwxyz abcdefg
r s t u v w x y z avenir a b c d e f
zabcdefghijklmnopqr
uvwxyz abcdefghijklm
mnopqrstuvwxyz abcd
opqrstuvwxyzabcdefg
Q
Q
b
b
A Light
Light Oblique Roman Book
Book Oblique Oblique
Medium
Medium Oblique Black
Black Oblique Heavy
Heavy Oblique
Adrian Frutiger
“Obviously this could not be an outstanding new creation, but I have tried to make use of the experience and stylistic developments of the 20th century in order to work out an indepent alphabet meeting modern typographical needs”
75
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 0123456789
1988
You are... Versatile Young Mordern Stylish Perfect Clean Cool Middleman Neutral Proud Human Better Correct
Avenir.
76
A
AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR AVENIR Welcome to the real FUTURE
Better than Futura?
With Avenir, Frutiger set out to improve Futura, to ‘correct’ the classic example of a geometrically constructed typeface, in order to make it a better text face.
77
Frutiger wanted Avenir to have a more organic feel to be more humanized than it’s processors. It favors a lot of the stylistic qualities of Futura, however the slightly varied stroke weights bring it a little more back down to earth compared to Futura’s thick and blocky letter forms.
Frutiger has described Avenir as a geometric sans serif with a human touch, unlike the cold mechanical flavor of Futura. Avenir is unusual in that it has weights that are similar, but each is designed for a different purpose accordingly.
“Right from the very beginning, I was convinced that Avenir is the better Futura.� - Adrian Frutiger
78
The Visuals The Avenir type family was design with gradual weight changes that satisfy separate and specific text applications. For example, although the book and light weights have similar stroke widths, the book weight is better suited for body text, while the light weight was designed for captions and subhead text.
79
Q G M The tail on the uppercase “Q” has a horizontal that extends from its body.
The uppercase “G” contains squared off end attached tho the round body. The bar of the letter extends straight out to the left horizontally.
Both the top and bottom vertices on the uppercase “M” have squared off flat edges at its vertex.
a
y
k
It is a double storied “a”. The bowl of the lowercase “a” has a portion at the top where it continues horizontally on the upper half of the letter.
Both the lowercase “y” and “j” have rounded tails.
The diagonal strokes of lowercase “k” connect to the stem at a vertice.
80
AliExpress
flickr
81
Aol.
Spotify
82
Know your typefaces better yet?
83
End of VOLUME 02
NOTES
NOTES
NOTES