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Typography is what language looks like. ellen lupton thinking with a critical guide typefor designers, writers, editors & students princeton architectural press . new york Published by book designer Princeton Architectural Press Ellen Lupton 37 East Seventh Street editor New York, New York 10003 First edition: Mark Lamster Second edition: Nicola Bednarek For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657. Visit our web site at www.papress.com. cover designers 7 introduction Jennifer Tobias and Ellen Lupton 9 acknowledgments © 2004, 2010 Princeton Architectural Press DIVIDER PAGES Princeton Architectural Press Paintings by Ellen Lupton All rights reserved 10 PhotograPher LETTER Printed and bound in China 14 Dan Meyers Humanism and the Body 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1 Second, revised and 16 Enlightenment and Abstraction expanded edition Primary tyPefaces 22 Monster Fonts Scala Pro, designed by Martin Majoor No part of this book may be used or reproduced in Thesis, designed by Luc(as) de Groot 26 Reform and Revolution any manner without written permission from the 28 Type as Program publisher, except in the context of reviews. 30 Type as Narrative sPecial thanks to Nettie Aljian, Bree Anne Apperley, Sara Bader, Janet Behning, 32 Back to Work Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify Becca Casbon, Carina Cha, Tom Cho, Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, 36 Anatomy owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be Carolyn Deuschle, Russell Fernandez, Pete Fitzpatrick, 38 corrected in subsequent editions. Size Wendy Fuller, Jan Haux, Linda Lee, Laurie Manfra, John Myers, 42 Scale Katharine Myers, Steve Royal, Dan Simon, Andrew Stepanian, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 46 Type Classification Jennifer Thompson, Paul Wagner, Joe Weston, and Deb Wood of Princeton Architectural Press 48 Type Families Lupton, Ellen. —Kevin C. Lippert, publisher 50 Superfamilies Thinking with type : a critical guide for designers, writers, editors, & students / Ellen Lupton. — 2nd 52 Capitals and Small Capitals rev. and expanded ed. 54 Mixing Typefaces p. cm. This project was produced with editorial support from the 56 Numerals Center for Design Thinking, Maryland Institute College of Art. Includes bibliographical references and index. 58 Punctuation ISBN 978-1-56898-969-3 (alk. paper) 60 Ornaments 1. Graphic design (Typography) 2. Type and type-founding. I. Title. design briefs—essential texts on design. 64 Lettering Z246.L87 2010 Also available in this series: 68 Logotypes and Branding 686.2’2—dc22 72 Typefaces on Screen 2010005389 D.I.Y. Design It Yourself, Ellen Lupton, 978-1-56898-552-7 74 Bitmap Typefaces Elements of Design, Gail Greet Hannah, 978-1-56898-329-5 76 Typeface Design Geometry of Design, Kimberly Elam, 978-1-56898-249-6 Graphic Design Theory, Helen Armstrong, 978-1-56898-772-9 78 Exercise: Modular Letterforms Grid Systems, Kimberly Elam, 978-1-56898-465-0 80 Font Formats Lettering & Type, Bruce Willen, Nolen Strals, 978-1-56898-765-1 82 Font Licensing Indie Publishing, Ellen Lupton, 978-1-56898-760-6 Typographic Systems, Kimberly Elam, 978-1-56898-687-6 Visual Grammar, Christian Leborg, 978-1-56898-581-7 The Wayfinding Handbook, David Gibson, 978-1-56898-769-9 CONTENTS 7 introduction 9 acknowledgments 10 LETTER 84 TEXT 148 GRID 14 Humanism and the Body 88 Errors and Ownership 152 Grid as Frame 16 Enlightenment and Abstraction 90 Spacing 160 Dividing Space 22 Monster Fonts 92 Linearity 164 Grid as Program 26 Reform and Revolution 96 Birth of the User 170 Grid as Table 28 Type as Program 102 Kerning 174 Return to Universals 30 Type as Narrative 104 Tracking 176 Golden Section 32 Back to Work 106 Exercise: Space and Meaning 178 Single-Column Grid 36 Anatomy 108 Line Spacing 180 Multicolumn Grid 38 Size 112 Alignment 194 Modular Grid 42 Scale 118 Exercise: Alignment 202 Exercise: Modular Grid 46 Type Classification 120 Vertical Text 204 Data Tables 48 Type Families 124 Enlarged Capitals 206 Exercise: Data Tables 50 Superfamilies 126 Marking Paragraphs 52 Capitals and Small Capitals 130 Captions 54 Mixing Typefaces 132 Hierarchy 208 APPENDIX 56 Numerals 144 Exercise: Hierarchy 210 Spaces and Punctuation 58 Punctuation 146 Exercise: Long Lists 212 Editing 60 Ornaments 214 Editing Hard Copy 64 Lettering 215 Editing Soft Copy 68 Logotypes and Branding 216 Proofreading 72 Typefaces on Screen 218 Free Advice 74 Bitmap Typefaces 220 76 Typeface Design bibliograPhy 222 index 78 Exercise: Modular Letterforms 80 Font Formats 82 Font Licensing anatomy caP height x-height baseline stem bowl serif descender ligature ascender finial terminal ascender sPine uPPercase small caPital cross bar counter lowercase 36 | thinking with tyPe visually sPeaking, baselines and x-heights determine the real edges of text ascender height caP height descender height Some elements may The distance from the The length of a letter’s extend slightly above baseline to the top of the descenders contributes the cap height. capital letter determines to its overall style and the letter’s point size. attitude. skin, Body x-height is the height of the the baseline is where all the overhang The curves at the main body of the lowercase letter letters sit. This is the most stable bottom of letters hang slightly (or the height of a lowercase x), axis along a line of text, and it below the baseline. Commas excluding its ascenders and is a crucial edge for aligning text and semicolons also cross the descenders. with images or with other text. baseline. If a typeface were not positioned this way, it would appear to teeter precariously. Without overhang, rounded letters would look smaller than Bone their flat-footed compatriots. Although kids learn to write using ruled paper that divides letters exactly in half, most typefaces are not designed that way. The x-height usually occupies more than half of the cap height. The Two blocks of text larger the x-height is in relation Hey, look! are often aligned along to the cap height, the bigger the They supersized a shared baseline. letters appear to be. In a field of Here, 14/18 Scala Pro text, the greatest density occurs my x-height. (14-pt type with 18 pts between the baseline and the of line spacing) is paired x-height. with 7/9 Scala Pro. letter | 37 size height Attempts to standardize the 12 points equal 1 pica measurement of type began in the eighteenth century. The point system is the standard used 6 picas today. One point equals 1/72 inch or .35 (72 points) Big millimeters. Twelve points equal one pica, the equal 1 inch unit commonly used to measure column widths. 60-Point scala Typography can also be measured in inches, A typeface is measured from the top of the millimeters, or pixels. Most software applications capital letter to the let the designer choose a preferred unit of bottom of the lowest measure; picas and points are standard defaults. descender, plus a small buffer space. nerd alert: abbreviating Picas and Points In metal type, 8 picas = 8p the point size 8 points = p8, 8 pts is the height of 8 picas, 4 points = 8p4 the type slug. 8-point Helvetica with 9 points of line spacing = 8/9 Helvetica width A letter also has a horizontal measure, Wide load called its set width. The set width is the body of interstate black the letter plus a sliver of space that protects it The set width is the body of the letter plus the space beside it. from other letters. The width of a letter is intrinsic to the proportions and visual impression of the tight wad typeface. Some typefaces have a narrow set width, and some have a wide one. interstate black comPressed The letters in the compressed version of the typeface You can change the set width of a typeface by have a narrower set width. fiddling with its horizontal or vertical scale. This distorts the line weight of the letters, Wide load however, forcing heavy elements to become thin, and thin elements to become thick. Instead of tight Wad torturing a letterform, choose a typeface that has the proportions you are looking for, such as type crime horizontal & vertical scaling condensed, compressed, wide, or extended. The proportions of the letters have been digitally distorted in order to create wider or narrower letters. 38 | thinking with tyPe big bottoms are an efficient use of resources 32-Pt scala Pro 32-Pt interstate regular 32-Pt bodoni 32-Pt mrs eaves Do I look fat in this paragraph? When two typefaces are set in the same point size, one often Mrs Eaves rejects the twentieth-century appetite looks bigger than the other. Differences in x-height, line weight, for supersized x-heights. This typeface, inspired and set width affect the letters’ apparent scale. by the eighteenth-century designs of Baskerville, is named after Sarah Eaves, Baskerville’s mistress, housekeeper, and collaborator. The couple lived together for sixteen years before marrying in 1764. Mrs. & Mr. Little 32-Mr.Pt helvetica Big versus 32-Pt mrs eaves 32-Pt mr eaves The x-height of a typeface affects its Typefaces with small x-heights, such as apparent size, its space efficiency, Mrs Eaves, use space less efficiently than and its overall visual impact. Like those with big lower bodies. However, their hemlines and hair styles, x-heights delicate proportions have lyrical charm. go in and out of fashion. Bigger type 12/14 mrs eaves bodies became popular in the mid- twentieth century, making letterforms Like his lovely wife, MR EAVES has a low waist look larger by maximizing the area and a small body. His loose letterspacing also within the overall point size. makes him work well with his mate.