Bodoni | Ryu
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BOD 1740
Bodoni was born into a family of typographers in Saluzzo, Italy
Giambattista Bodoni was born into a family of typographers 1740 in Saluzzo, Italy. He was an engraver, type designer, typographer, printer, and a publisher. At the age of 18, he went to Rome and worked as a typesetter in the Vatican’s printing office, Propaganda Fide, maintained by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1766, he started printing and making local commissions, and soon after he was hired as the head of Stamperia Reale of the dukes of Parma. 1 Pierre-Simon Fournier influenced his early works, which influenced Bodoni to develop a dramatic, bold style. In his life, Bodoni cut 300 fonts of type total, and his notable achievements include exhibiting 14 of his books at the Exhibition of National Industry in Paris, 1906, winning gold medals, and the title of Order of the Réunion. 2
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1750
At age 18, he was hired as a typesetter in the Vatican’s printing office, Propaganda Fide
Bodoni | Ryu
DONI 1770
1782
1906
Bodoni found his own type foundry and a year later published his first typographical contribution “Fregi e Majuscole”
Bodoni was named Charles III of Spain’s court typographer
Bodoni won gold medals at the Exhibition of National Industry in Paris and the title of Order of the Reunion.
Image: Screen-Shot-2013-02-23-at2.53.39-PM. Digital image. Alchetron. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://alchetron.com/ Giambattista-Bodoni-1092356-W>.
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Bodoni MT Bold pt. 372
Bodoni MT Ultra Bold pt. 341.31
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Bodoni as a Typeface Bodoni’s typeface design was highly influenced by English type founder John Baskerville which his typeface showed high contrast, and Frenchman Firmin Didot. The typeface Bodoni went through various stages of transformation: from 1915 through 1926, various versions were made to create an original full family of fifteen Bodoni font variations; in mid-1930s, True-Cut Bodoni + Italic, Bodoni Modern, Bodoni Classic and Bodoni Italic were introduced; the late 1980s’ WTC Our Bodoni was created through collaboration for World Typeface Corporation. 3
One of the earliest publication that featured Bodoni was Dante’s La Vita Nuova in 1925, and other notable Bodoni usage were 1950 MoMA’s publication What is Modern Design?, logos and brands Guerlain, Elizabeth Arden, Giorgio Armani and the “CK” for Calvin Klein.2 In his “Manuale,” Bodoni mentions ‘light and shade’ and “its natural effect of writing with a pen is illuminating in the highest degree explains more clearly than anything else he has to say the aim and tendency of his type design.” 4
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Italic
Book
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Bodo
Bodoni MT Regular pt. 372
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1798
Bodoni
1915 - 26
Giambattista Bodoni creates his type fonts.
Bodoni Bodoni
Mid 1930s
Morris Fuller created a full family of fifteen font variations on Bodoniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original font style.
True-Cut Bodoni + Italic, Bodoni Modern, Bodoni Classic, Bodoni Italic designed at this time is still considered the most faithful redesign of Bodoniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original roman design today.
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Bodoni | Ryu Bodoni | Ryu
Bodoni through the Ages Pierre-Simon Fournier influenced his early works, which influenced Bodoni to develop a dramatic, bold style. “His style achieved a stark brilliance and neo-classical” 8 In his life, Bodoni cut c. 300 fonts of type total, and his notable achievements include exhibiting 14 of his books at the Exhibition of National Industry in Paris, 1906, winning gold medals, and the title of Order of the Réunion 9 Before his time, in the late eighteenth century, nearly all Roman types were based on the model of Caslon, but by 1805 Bodoni’s influence has reached across. Bodoni’s typefaces were considered to have “more vital germ than did any of the tentative of his contemporaries.” 10
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Serif
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Characteristics of the Typeface
The Bodoni font is a serif-typeface series and is considered traditional. Bodoni’s three main innovations are easily identifiable, and is influential in type design: he used the mark which the down strokes of pen would make in the bowls of the letters by giving a vertical alignment to the sloped swellings; he made the horizontal serif of the upper and lower parts of the stems very thin contrasting his accentuated stems and serifs, which gave a dramatic contrast between the strokes11; his apertures are small. Above all, Bodoni strived for “neatness, sharpness and greater contrast”12 like not of other Romans typeface thought possible. He considered the “beauties of type” are regularity, conformity without ambiguity, variety without dissonance, and equality and symmetry without confusion. 13The unbracketed hairline
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rtf ygQ Bodoni | Ryu
teardrop terminal
terminal
descender
ball terminal
link
kW junction
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tail
Neatness, sharpness & greater contrast
Terminals
Tails
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Terminals
Bodoni
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Caslon
J J J K K K Q Q Q Didot
Baskerville
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Bodoni | Ryu
Typeface Comparisons Bodoni’s typeface are most compared and contrasted with Didot, Caslon, and Baskerville. His typeface was influenced by both Baskerville and Didot at the time, when there was a tremendous change in history of modern typefaces. Didot’s alphabets are very similar to Bodoni in its narrow apertures and bowls, and thicker stems and spine, and thinner shoulders and arms. The differences would be that the accentuation in Didot typefaces is bigger, increasing in contrast. Differences in the alphabets can be seen in the uppercase ‘G’ and ‘W.’ Bodoni and Caslon is similar in its cap and x-heights between uppercase and lowercase letters, and the size of counterforms are also similar. However, Caslon’s serifs are much more bracketed and its stress is bigger than that of Bodoni.
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stre ss
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Caslon
Bodoni | Ryu
Endnotes 1. Laura Suffield. “Bodoni, Giambattista.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <http://www. oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T009528>. 2. Giambattista Bodoni: His Life and His World by Valerie Lester, page 40 3. http://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/bodoni 4. Page 3 of Gandy, Lewis C. 1876-. Bodoni Type: an Historical Sketch of Its Origin, Together With Suggestions As to Its Proper Use. Boston: Pinkham Press, 1920.
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Bibliography Laura Suffield. “Bodoni, Giambattista.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <http://www. oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T009528>. Gandy, Lewis C. 1876-. Bodoni Type: an Historical Sketch of Its Origin, Together With Suggestions As to Its Proper Use. Boston: Pinkham Press, 1920 . http://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/bodoni http://www.identifont.com/ differences?first=Bodoni&second=Didot http://www.identifont.com/ show?2AI http://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/history/ Giambattista Bodoni: His Life and His World by Valerie Lester http:// ilovetypography.com/2008/05/30/a-brief-history-of-type-part-4/
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