S a l l y Pe a n g
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Bembo is a monotype classic, originating in Venice and influenced by Francesco Griffo and Aldus Manutius’ humanist typeface in 1495. In 1929, Stanley Morison of Monotype Corporation recreated the typeface and became on of the most popular typeface in modern time.
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ASOLANI
The typeface that was originally by Griffo was first used in the essay by an Italian scholar, Pietro Bembo called “De Aetna�. One significant difference is that the original is wider; this is especially seen in the letters S, O, L and N.
Af CL AR EN DON. b r a c k e t
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Clarendon typed brackets are smoothly connecting the stem to the serif using a curve rather than a straight edge or line.Visually, this is very sophisticated and elegant and helps the eye transition through the typeface easily.
Ke X - H E I G H T. s m a l l
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The x-height of Bembo’s typeface is relatively small and is about 70% of the baseline to the cap height. Also seen in this example is an overhang, which is when a letter or character slightly goes below the baseline. This makes the appearance of the letter look larger than it would if it didn’t.
Bh A S C E N D E R S. e x c e e d s
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The ascender not only ascends above the x-height of the typeface, it also exceeds the cap height as well.Visually, this enlongates the letter and gives a more elegant and pleasing look.
kl ANGLED SERIF. o n
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On some lower case letters the top serifs are angled. This assists your eye movement through the type.
Oo U
OBLIQUE. v e r t i c a l
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Obique characters such as O, o, Q, and 0 have a vertical stress. This makes the character feel less heavy yet much wider in shape.
Nw S T RO K E . m i n i m a l
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The stroke is defined as a main diagonal piece or near-vertical portion of a typeface. The stroke of this typeface has minimal variation in thick and thin weight. For the most part, they are all pretty similar.
Winnebago Winnebago COMPARISON. b a s k e r v i l l e
Although Baskerville and Bembo seem very similar, they have some very distinct characteristics. They both have similar x-heights yet Baskerville taller capline. Baskerville has a more variations in thick and thin strokes as seen in the O and W. One major distiction between the two are the differences in the letter g. Baskerville’s g has a decorative ear, the link is smoother and the loop is open.
Winnebago Winnebago COMPARISON. m i n i o n
One major distinction that Bembo has is the letter W. It almost looks as thought two V’s were connected. Minion is very similar to Bembo, but Minion seems to have a thicker weight than Bembo.
[{‘;:“.,.”:;’}] (!?@#&%*) CHARACTERS. a n d
p u n c t u a t i o n
The characters for this typeface are very standard. There are no distinctive qualities to them. However, the asterisk * is a lot larger than other fonts. Also, the question mark varies upon typeface as well.
01234 56789 NUMBERS. c l e a n
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Bembo’s numbers are very simple and clean. They all have the same baseline and capheight with no ascenders or descenders as some other typefaces do.
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