Vendetta Designed by John Downer Emigre I N T R O D U C I N G : V E N D E T T A V E N D E T T A L I G H T & B O L D By JOHN DOWNER DESIGNED By JOHN DOWNER | CIRCA 1997 - 99 The famous roman type cut in Venice by Nicolas Jenson, In contrast to the cursive writing on which italic types were 6 FONT VENDETTA LIGHT & BOLD PACKAGE: $95.00 | 12 FONT VENDETTA VOLUME : $179.00 and used in 1470 for his printing of the tract, De Evangelica based, formal book hands used by humanist scholars to tran - Præparatione , Eusebius, has usually been declared the seminal scribe classical texts served as a source of inspiration for the light and definitive representative of a class of types known as lowercase letters of the first roman types cut in Italy. While ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Venetian Old Style. The Jenson type is thought to have been book hands were not as informal as cursive scripts, they still abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123 4 5 6789 the primary model for types that immediately followed. had features which could be said to be more calligraphic than Subsequent 15th-century Venetian Old Style types, cut by oth - geometric in detail. Over time, though, the copied vestiges of &$¢£¥€%‰ ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇ È ÉÊ Ë Ì ÍÏÎ Ñ Ò ÓÔÖØÙ ÚÛ ÜŸàáâäãåçèéêë ı ìíîïñòóôöõøùúûüÿ ¶§†‡ƒÆŒ æœ fb er punchcutters in Venice and elsewhere in Italy, are also calligraphy virtually disappeared from roman fonts, and type fi fh fj fk flff ffi fflstsp ß @®©™ ªº ^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ worthy of study, but have been largely neglected by 20th-cen - became more rational. This profound change in the way type tury type designers. developed was also due in part to popular interest in the clas - There were many versions of Venetian Old Style types pro - sical inscriptions of Roman antiquity. Imperial Roman letters, light italic duced in the final quarter of the quattrocento . The exact number or majuscules, became models for the capital letters in nearly ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ is unknown, but numerous printed examples survive, though all early roman printing types. the actual types, matrices, and punches are long gone. All these So it was, that the first letters in my typeface arose from pon - abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 types are not, however, conspicuously Jensonian in character. dering how shapes of lowercase letters and capital letters relate &$¢£¥€%‰ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÏÎÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸàáâäãåçèéêëıìíîïñòóôöõøùúûüÿ¶§†‡ƒÆŒæœ fh fifjfkflffiffl Each shows a liberal amount of individuality, inconsistency, to one another in terms of classical ideals and geometric pro - ct st sp ß@®©™ªº^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ and eccentricity. portions, two pinnacles in a range of artistic notions which emerged during the Italian Renaissance. Indeed, such ideas are interesting to explore, but in the field of type design they light often lead to dead ends. It is generally acknowledged, for small caps ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ instance, that pure geometry, as a strict approach to type design, has limitations. No roman alphabet, based solely on ab cdefghi jk lmnop qrstu vwx yz012 345678 9 the circle and square, has ever been ideal for continuous read - &$¢£¥€%‰ ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÏÎÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸ àáâäãåçèéêë ı ìíîïñòóôöõøùúûüÿ ¶ ing. This much, I knew from the start. §†‡ ƒÆŒæœ @®©™ªº^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\ -–— · ‹›«» ~{([])}<>+=°•√ In the course of developing my typeface for text, innumer - able compromises were made. Even though the finished letterforms retain a measure of geometric structure, they were light modified again and again to improve their performance en petite caps ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ masse . Each modification caused further deviation from my original scheme, and gave every font a slightly different direc - 0123 46789 tion. In the lower case letters especially, I made countless $¢£¥€%‰ ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÏÎÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸ ¶ variations, and diverged significantly from my original plan. §†‡ ƒÆŒ @®©™ ªº ^#*,.…:; _'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ Diagram for letter n from Vendetta Bold. For example, not all the arcs remained radial, and they were designed to vary from font to font. Such variety added to the My fascination with these historical types began in the 1970s individuality of each style. The counters of many letters are light and eventually led to the production of my first text typeface, described by intersecting arcs or angled facets, and the bowls fractions •••• •••••••••• & Iowan Old Style (Bitstream, 1991). Sometime in the early are not round. In the capitals, angular bracketing was used light fractions 1990s, I started doodling letters for another Venetian type - practically everywhere stems and serifs meet, accentuating the with tabular 0123456789 % ¼½¾⅛⅜⅝⅞⅓⅔ 2/5 3/5 4/5 1/6 5/6 23/30 24/31 face. The letters were pieced together from sections of circles terseness of the characters. As a result of all my tinkering, the figures and squares. The n, a standard lowercase control character in entire family took on a kind of rich, familiar, coarseness – akin 12345 67890 / 01 2 3 4 56 789 0 a text typeface, came first. Its most unusual feature was its head to roman types of the late 1400s. serif, a bisected quadrant of a circle. My aim was to see if its In his book, Printing Types D. B. Updike wrote: sharp beak would work with blunt, rectangular, foot serifs. 0123456789 % ¼½¾⅛⅜⅝⅞⅓⅔M2/53/54/5N5/6 Next, I wanted to see if I could construct a set of capital letters Almost all Italian roman fonts in the last half of the fifteenth by following a similar design system. century had an air of “security” and generous ease extremely 1234567890 / 0 123456789 0 Rectangular serifs, or what we today call “slab serifs,” were agreeable to the eye. Indeed, there is nothing better than fine common in early roman printing types, particularly text types Italian roman type in the whole history of typography. cut in Italy before 1500. Slab serifs are evident on both lower - bold case and uppercase characters in roman types of the It does seem a shame that only in the 20th century have revivals ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Incunabula period, but they are seen mainly at the feet of the of these beautiful types found acceptance in the English lan - lowercase letters. The head serifs on lowercase letters of early guage. For four centuries (circa 1500 - circa 1900) Venetian abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 0123456789 roman types were usually angled. They were not arched, like Old Style faces were definitely not in favor in any living lan - &$ ¢£¥€%‰ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÏÎÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸàáâäãåçèéêëıìíîïñòóôöõøùúûüÿ¶§†‡ƒÆŒ mine. Oddly, there seems to be no actual historical precedent guage. Recently, though, reinterpretations of early Italian æœ fh fi fj fk flffiffl ct st sp ß@®©™ªº^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ for my approach. printing types have been returning with a vengeance. The Another characteristic of my arched serif is that the side name Vendetta, which as an Italian sound I like, struck me as opposite the arch is flat, not concave. Arched, concave serifs being a word that could be taken to signifiy a comeback of types were used extensively in early italic types, a genre which first designed in the Venetian style. appeared more than a quarter century after roman types. Their In closing, I should add that a large measure of Vendetta’s forms followed humanistic cursive writing, common in Italy overall character comes from a synthesis of ideas, old and new. since before movable type was used there. Initially, italic char - Hallmarks of roman type design from the Incunabula period acters were all lowercase, set with upright capitals (a practice I are blended with contemporary concerns for the optimal dis - much admire and would like to see revived). Sloped italic cap - play of letterforms on computer screens. Vendetta is thus not itals were not introduced until the middle of the sixteenth a historical revival. It is instead an indirect but personal digital century, and they have very little to do with the evolution of homage to the roman types of punchcutters whose work was humanist scripts. influenced by the example Jenson set in 1470. V E N D E T T A M E D I U M & B O L D CONTINUED 6 FONT VENDETTA MEDIUM & BOLD PACKAGE: $95.00 | 12 FONT VENDETTA VOLUME : $179.00 V E N D E T T A medium ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXyZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 A Type Specimen &$¢£¥ € %‰ ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÏÎÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸàáâäãåçèéêë ı ìíîï ñ òóôöõøùúûüÿ ¶§†‡ƒÆŒ A New Series of Venetian Old Style Printing Types æœ fb fi fh fj fk flff ffiffl stsp ß@®©™ ªº ^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ Designed by John Downer medium italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 &$¢£¥€%‰ÀÁÂÄÃÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÏÎÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸàáâäãåçèéêëıìíîïñòóôöõøùúûüÿ¶§†‡ƒÆŒæœ fh here first used in an adaptation of: fifjfkflffiffl ct st sp ß@®©™ªº^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ medium O u r A r a b y small caps ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXyZ abcdefghij k lmnop q rstuvw x yz0 123456 789 Palm Springs and the Garden of the Sun &$¢£¥€%‰À ÁÂÄ ãÅÇÈÉÊËÌíïî ÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸ àáâäãåçèéêë ı ìíîïñòóôöõøùúûüÿ ¶ §†‡ ƒÆŒæœ @®©™ªº^#*,.…:;¿?¡!_'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\ -–— · ‹›«» ~{([])}<>+=°•√ by J. Smeaton Chase medium first published in 1920 petite caps ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXyZ 0123 46789 $¢£¥ € %‰ À ÁÂÄ ãÅÇÈÉÊËÌíïî ÑÒÓÔÖØÙÚÛÜŸ ¶ §†‡ ƒÆŒ @®©™ ªº ^#*,.…:; _'"“”‘’‚„⁄|\-–—·‹›«»~{([])}<>+=°•√ medium fractions • • • ••••••••••• & medium fractions with tabular 012 34 567 8 9%¼½¾⅛⅜⅝⅞⅓⅔ 2/5 3/5 4/5 1/6 5/6 23/30 24/3 1 figures 1234 567890 /01 23 4 56 789 0 0123456789 % ¼½¾⅛⅜⅝⅞⅓⅔R2/53/54/5S5/6 Layout and Photography by Rudy VanderLans 1234567890 / 0 123456789 0