Type Notes Design Or

Introduction to Typography Emily Carr University of Art + Design Instructor: Linda Coe, BDes, FGDC Continuing Studies

Typeface Origins, Design, Revivals Glossary O –Q

Oblique Old style Core Concepts: Typeface Origins, Design, Revivals Old style figures ■ contemporary type design is often based directly or indirectly on Optical alignment classical models Optical kerning

■ good type revivals attempt to capture the character of the originals Ordinal characters Ornament characters ■ new typefaces are often commissioned for specific purposes Orphan ■ the most fundamental aspect of type design is the interplay between Outline type letters and their background Pagination Paragraph indent Parallel construction Further Study Parentheses ■ Type Right Pi fonts http://www.typeright.org/ethicsguide.html Pica ■ Jim Rimmer Making Faces Point http://www.monoscope.com/2009/03/ Posture jim_rimmer_making_faces_traile.html Proof Proportional spacing ■ Call It What It Is (John Downer) Proportional type http://www.emigre.com/Editorial.php?sect=2 Punch ■ Smashing Magazine: 60 Brilliant Corporate Typefaces Punctuation http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/20/60-brilliant-typefaces- Quoin for-corporate-design/

■ Chank: How to Make a Font https://www.chank.com/howto/makeafont/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhpCNSm7xAM

■ University of Reading Class of 2009 Type Design http://www.typefacedesign.org/2009/

■ Type Design http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/design-your-own-typeface- 8133919

■ Nick Shinn: Richler Typeface http://www.randomhouse.ca/richler/#about_thetype

Why Design a New Typeface? More Canadian Typeface Designs

There are several reasons new typefaces are created. Sometimes they are ■ Cartier, 1967 Carl Dair commissioned by a client. For example, in 2002 Random House of Canada ■ Caxton, 1972 Les Usherwood and the Giller Book Prize, in consultation with the Richler family commissioned Nick Shinn to design a new typeface to commemorate the ■ Flange, 1981 Les Usherwood life and work of writer Mordecai Richler. While several typefaces have ■ Usherwood, 1984 Les Usherwood been named after famous writers, this is the first time a Canadian cultural ■ Mambo, 1990 Val Fullard institution has so honored a Canadian designer with such a commission.) ■ Fontesque, 1993

■ Smart Sans, 1998, Rod McDonald

■ Richler, 2001 Nick Shinn

■ Laurentian, 2001 , Rod McDonald

■ Albertan, 2005, Jim Rimmer

■ Slate, 2006, Rod McDonald

■ Cotillion, 2006, Jim Rimmer

■ Amethyst, 2006, Jim Rimmer

■ Lapis, 2006, Jim Rimmer

■ Dokument, 2006, Jim Rimmer

Source http://www.randomhouse.ca/richler/#about_ thetype.htm

Sometimes there is a need to design a new face to suit a particular publi- More About Jim Rimmer and the cation or journal due to space constraints. Times Roman was commissioned Pie Tree Press www.typeclub.com/2008/03/15/jim- by the London Times newspaper in 1932. Supervised by Stanley Morison, rimmer-and-the-pie-tree/ who provided the original Plantin type specimens used to draw the face, http://www.flurryjournal.com/2009/05/ designer Victor Lardent created the space-saving letterforms. 30/about-jim-rimmer/ New typefaces are also created to enhance a new edition of a classic book. Movie Trailer: Making Faces In 1929, the Limited Edition Club commissioned Frederick W. Goudy to http://www.monoscope.com/2009/03/ jim_rimmer_making_faces_trailer.html engrave a special face for their publication of the Washington Irving classic story, Rip Van Winkle (Kaatskill). Local type designer and illustrator, Jim Rimmer (1934 – 2010) designed several new faces to bring life to his own limited editions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Hannibal Oldstyle). He compiled his type, design and illustration memoirs in a volume entitled Leaves From the Pie Tree. The increased focus on advertising through the last few centuries has resulted in an extraordinary diversity in new display faces. To be successful, the new typeface must be distinctive as well as versatile— one that stands out from the crowd. A typeface that can be used on a variety of published material. Ask yourself, “Why would someone want this face?” There are many revivals of classic faces—the human foibles of new cuts, sloppy inking and the like added charm to many of the faces we know today. When redrawn, digitized and mechanically “perfected” these faces often lose their personality and handcrafted appeal. Some revivals are more correctly termed reinterpretations as the designs may differ a little bit or a great deal. Frequently, type designers create new members of a typeface family. For example designing an italic version where one did not exist previously. The minimum number of characters a typographer creates is about 250, these include: upper and lower cases, numbers, accents, some ligatures, symbols and punctuation are all carefully drawn by hand before being digitized.

Source http://www.heavenlymonkey.com/Rimmer.htm

Optical, Not Mechanical Components Digitizing a new typeface design is more complex than you may think. There are many characteristics of the Latin alphabet that defy math- EH Vertical Strokes Determine Height ematics— relying on optical solutions To appear the same height, vertical strokes are drawn a bit taller than to perfect the shapes and their letter forms relying on the horizontal stroke to determine their height. relationship to each other. Study each sample carefully.

EFTHorizontal Strokes Thinner Than Vertical Strokes Horizontal strokes appear too thick unless they are drawn thinner than vertical strokes.

BMN Open Up Tight Junctions Letter forms with tight junctions need to be opened up or they appear too thick at the joins. Compact letters with closed counters are drawn a bit smaller than those with open counters.

KN Balance Needed in Forms with Vertical and Diagonal Strokes Letter forms combining diagonal and vertical strokes taper the diagonals a bit so the overlap is more pleasing, less bulky.

EAVO Points and Curves Align Differently Letter forms with curves or points have to extend slightly above and below the normal baseline or they appear too short.

SOQ Curved Forms Thicker at Midsection Letter forms that have curves are thicker at the centre to present an even appearance. BEHKSX38 Two Storied Not Divided Equally The split in two storied forms is above centre, otherwise they appear top heavy.

Balancing Unity and Creativity Typeface design is like walking a tight rope: maintaining perfect balance ensures you cross the rope safely. Teetering too far left or right, like combining too many extreme features in one font, may create a perilously imbalanced situation. The examples below, set in Times Roman, demonstrate those parts of the letters that are common within one typeface design.

Letterforms With Common Diagonal Strokes

These capitals share diagonal strokes.

More design harmony is shown in these forms.

Letterforms With Common Vertical Strokes

These capitals share common vertical strokes. Note that capitals E and F also share cross bars and serifs.

Harmony may occur in partial stroke.

Letterforms With Common Curved Strokes

Curved capital letters with shared curved strokes.

Lowercase letters also share common strokes.

Common structure creates harmony of form.

Common curves and partial vertical strokes/serifs.

Frutiger, Adrian. Signs and Symbols: Their Design and Meaning. ISBN 0-8230-4826-8

Type Design Guidelines The making of letters gives 1. Begin with a strong, well-prepared concept (the personality of the me the purest and greatest typeface) and follow it throughout the design. pleasure …To me it has been 2. Have a clear idea of what your typeface is intended for—text, display— the happiest and most casual or formal. perfect expression of my life.

3. Create a few characters first. Draw a test word or two. Make sure to — Rudolf Koch include a variety of characters which offer the basic styling for the remaining letterforms. 4. Fine tune the letterforms, paying particular attention to x-height and weight. Lay out a test word or two and test it in a variety of sizes. Review them for consistent width, stroke thickness and overall colour. 5. Do the same for the upper and lower case letters, figures and sorts. Font Design Software Distributors 6. Create a test document that shows all lowercase combinations, www.fontlab.com/ important cap-to-lowercase combinations and a text block. Font software Comparison www.fontlab.com/fontlab- 7. Adjust the actual characters and their side bearings to create the products/compare/ optimum colour and spacing. http://www.typophile.com/node/50819 8. Do not kern the typeface until you have done all of the above. (More www.high-logic.com/fontcreator.html kerning pairs does not necessarily mean a better looking face if the original face is poor.) 9. Put the project aside for a day or two when you are no longer able to view it objectively. 10. Know when to stop designing it!

Side Bearings in Type Design

Cap Body height Clearance

X-height

Body height Baseline

Body Clearance Side Side Side Side Side Side Side Side bearing bearing bearing bearing bearing bearing bearing bearing

Learning to Recognize Typefaces With so many different typeface designs, how do you begin the daunting process of remembering them? The short answer is: study them carefully. The longer answer is that recognizing typefaces has become much more challenging in the last couple of decades, not only because there are so many new faces, but also because there are many new revivals, homages and reinterpretations.

Question: Which example is Helvetica The differences and which one is Arial? Answer: the nicer one. may be subTle! Play the Game! www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/ The differences may be subtle! Subtle Serif Designs M The differences Bracket or Fillet Serif may be subTle! M Unbracketed or Unfilleted (Slab) Serif The differences M may be subtle! Hairline Serif M Look For Characteristic Forms Bracketed Slab Serif The more letter forms in your sample the better, particularly if they are set in upper and lower case. Some letters, such as a, e, g, k, r, q, provide more visual detail than simpler forms like i, l, and o. Type specimens often M use one of these two “words” as examples because they contain many Wedge Serif representative forms. Handgloves

Hamburgefontstiv Handglove: MetaPlus Bold Hamburgefontstiv: Sabon

What Typefaces Do Professional Designers Prefer? Source Here is a list of one hundred typefaces preferred by many professional http://justcreativedesign.com/2009/03/0 4/the-top-100-best-fonts-of-all-time/ designers. The list is from Just Creative Design.

1. Helvetica [1957 Max Miedinger] 39. Baskerville [1754 John Baskerville] 75. Corporate ASE [1989 Kurt 2. Garamond [1530 Claude Garamond] 40. Fedra [2002 Peter Bil'ak] Weidemann] 3. Frutiger [1977 Adrian Frutiger] 41. Gotham [2000 Tobias Frere-Jones] 76. Fago [2000 Ole Schafer] 4. Bodoni [1790 Giambattista Bodoni] 42. Lexicon [1992 Bram De Does] 77. Trajan [1989 Carol Twombly] 5. Futura [1927 Paul Renner] 43. Hands [1991 LettError] 78. Kabel [1927 Rudolf Koch] 6. Times [1931 Stanley Morison] 44. Metro [1929 W.A. Dwiggins] 79. House Gothic 23 [1995 Tal Leming] 7. Akzidenz Grotesk [1966 Gunter 45. Didot [1799 Firmin Didot] 80. Kosmik [1993 LettError] Gerhard Lange] 46. Formata [1984 Bernd Moellenstaedt] 81. Caecilia [1990 Peter Matthias 8. Officina [1990 Erik Spiekermann] 47. Caslon [1725 William Caslon] Noordzij] 9. Gill Sans [1930 Eric Gill] 48. Cooper Black [1920 Oswald B. Cooper] 82. Mrs Eaves [1996 Zuzana Licko] 10. Univers [1954 Adrian Frutiger] 49. Peignot [1937 A.M. Cassandre] 83. Corpid [1997 Lucas de Groot] 11. Optima [1954 Hermann Zapf] 50. Bell Gothic [1938 Chauncey H. Griffith] 84. Miller [1997 Matthew Carter] 12. Franklin Gothic [1903 Morris Fuller 51. Antique Olive [1962 Roger Excoffon] 85. Souvenir [1914 Morris Fuller Benton] Benton] 52. Wilhelm Klngspor Gotisch [1926 86. Instant Types [1992 Just van Rossum] 13. Bembo [1496 Francesco Griffo] Rudolf Koch] 87. Clarendon [1845 Benjamin Fox] 14. Interstate [1993 Tobias Frere-Jones] 53. Info [1996 Erik Spiekermann] 88. Triplex [1989 Zuzana Licko] 15. Thesis [1994 Lucas de Groot] 54. Dax [1995 Hans Reichel] 89. Benguiat [1989 Ed Benguiat] 16. Rockwell [1934 Frank H. Pierpont] 55. Proforma [1988 Petr van Blokland] 90. Zapf Renaissance [1984 Hermann Zapf] 17. Walbaum [1800 Justus Walbaum] 56. Today Sans [1988 Volker K ster] 91. Filosofia [1996 Zuzana Licko] 18. Meta [1991 Erik Spiekermann] 57. Prokyon [2002 Erhard Kaiser] 92. Chalet [1996 House Industries] 19. Trinit [1982 Bram De Does] 58. Trade Gothic [1948 Jackson Burke] 93. Quay Sans [1990 David Quay] 20. Din [1926 Ludwig Goller] 59. Swift [1987 Gerald Unger] 94. Cezanne [1995 Michael Want, James 21. Matrix [1986 Zuzana Licko] 60. Copperplate Gothic [1901 Frederic W. Grieshaber] 22. OCR [1965 American Type Founders] Goudy] 95. Reporter [1938 Carlos Winkow] 23. Avant Garde [1968 Herb Lubalin] 61. Blur [1992 Neville Brody] 96. Legacy [1992 Ronald Arnholm] 24. Lucida [1985 Chris Holmes/Charles 62. Base [1995 Zuzana Licko] 97. Agenda [1993 Greg Thompson] Bigelow] 63. Bell Centennial [1978 Matthew Carter] 98. Bello [2004 Underware] 25. Sabon [1964 Jan Tschichold] 64. News Gothic [1908 Morris Fuller 99. Dalliance [2000 Frank Heine] 26. Zapfino [1998 Hermann Zapf] Benton] 100. Mistral [1953 Roger Excoffon] 27. Letter Gothic [1956 Roger Robertson] 65. Avenir [1988 Adrian Frutiger] 28. Stone [1987 Summer Stone] 66. Bernhard Modern [1937 Lucian 29. Arnhem [1998 Fred Smeijers] Bernhard] 30. Minion [1990 Robert Slimbach] 67. Amplitude [2003 Christian Schwartz] 31. Myriad [1992 Twombly & Slimbach] 68. Trixie [1991 Erik van Blokland] 32. Rotis [1988 Olt Aicher] 69. Quadraat [1992 Fred Smeijers] 33. Eurostile [1962 Aldo Novarese] 70. Neutraface [2002 Christian Schwartz] 34. Scala [1991 Martin Majoor] 71. Nobel [1929 Sjoerd de Roos] 35. Syntax [1968 Hans Eduard Meier] 72. Industria [1990 Neville Brody] 36. Joanna [1930 Eric Gill] 73. Bickham Script [1997 Richard Lipton] 37. Fleishmann [1997 Erhard Kaiser] 74. Bank Gothic [1930 Morris Fuller 38. Palatino [1950 Hermann Zapf] Benton]

Period Type Design

Medieval (1200–1450) typefaces from Carolingian, Romanesque and Gothic forms in the Middle Ages

Renaissance (1450–1550) the spirit of humanism and the revival of Greek and Roman forms

Victorian (1850–1890) the reign of Queen Victoria and the Industrial Revolution; many ornate advertising faces

Wild West (1850–1900) typefaces characteristic of this period in America

Arts and Crafts (1870–1900) type design revivals via William Morris to counteract soulless mechanization

Art Nouveau (1890–1915) the decorative style that emerged from European and North American art and architecture

Secession (1897–1920) the Vienna Secession art movement promoting individual artistic freedom

Edwardian (1901–1915) the period of Edward VII’s reign in Britain

Futurist (1908–1943) following the Italian Futurist movement

Dadaist (1916–1922) created by the anti-aesthetic arts movement: irrationali- ty and cynicism

Bauhaus (1919–1933) the ideas of modernism of the 1920s’ German educa- tion system

Roaring Twenties (1920–1929) the age of Bakelite and Formica

Constructivist (1920–1930) the Soviet design movement of the 1920s

Art Deco (1920–1935) typefaces characteristic of the art and architecture of the period

Dirty Thirties (1930–1939) typefaces typical of this bleak period

Retro (1935–1949) styles influenced by the glamour of Hollywood

Fifties (1950–1959) beat culture and the jazz age

Atomic Age (1950–1960) the age of the Cold War

Swinging Sixties (1960–1969) the era of psychedelia, hippies, pop music

Pop Art (1955–1965) a pop culture style reaction against the elitism of abstract art

Op Art (1958–1965) based on the optical illusion and movement.

Digital Age (1970–1979) the computerization of everything

unge ver the traces of the digital age Gr (1980–1990) kicking o Source Hybrids (1990–present) designs that defy previous periods/classification www.fontscape.com/explore?7CM

Copyright Digital type is software and is protected as intellectual property under the Copyright Act (federal law). When you purchase typefaces, you are purchasing a license to use them and may not give them to anyone else— including service bureaus and printers (they must have their own copies of legitimate typefaces). You may use the type within your own office, but it is illegal to give them to anyone else. There are even law suits pending on fonts embedded in PDF files. Check your license agreement carefully. There are a few © companies selling pirated typefaces online. These faces are usually not as Find Out More well designed and often have compati bility problems. Do not purchase Type Copyright information: illegal software. www.typeright.org www.typeright.org/getd_print.html As Erik von Blokland of LettError wrote, “Making a good typeface is a lot of work. Stealing a typeface seems easier. But ripping off a typeface and Licensing Type claiming it as one‘s own is counter-productive, uncreative, and in general www.atypi.org/10_visitors/30_typeface _protection/licensing_html corrosive to type and typography. This fails to contribute anything. Usually the profiteers are incapable of developing their own ideas, because if they http://www.typeright.org/ feature8.html had even the smallest spark of insight, they would take on the challenge of making their own type. Instead their underdeveloped typographic Adobe’s Anti-piracy Font Info: minds are occupied to make new TrueType versions of existing fonts, yet www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/ antipiracy/fonts.html somehow they have perceived that their work is more about quantity than quality. Primarily of course because if they knew how to make good 1500 fonts for $15.00! Great deal, huh? www.patricialillie.com/ORant.html quality, they would not bother with the quantity, but perhaps also because of a denial of their own lack of talent.” It is unfortunate that in many countries type designers are unable to copyright their typeface designs outright. Instead, they patent the typeface as an industrial design, trademark the name and copyright their font software. The irony is that someone who pirates a font has to digitize it to market it— and their software is also protected under copyright law! And, in the US, American type designers cannot copyright their own type designs, but because the US is part of the Berne convention, type designs from other countries are protected. If you are planning to design a new typeface based upon an historic design, you must still trace the present copyright holder to obtain permission and a license to use the typeface—the age of the face does not make it part of the public domain.

What Can You Do? And … What You Shouldn’t Do “to promote typefaces as cre - Fontshop has an excellent guide that answers most of your typeface copy- ative works and to advocate right questions. their legal protection as intel -

Do not obtain fonts from shareware websites. Many of the faces on these lectual property ” — TypeRight sites are stolen from their original designers/distributors. Some of these may have a few or more letter forms changed to disguise them. Drop your mouse—now! Do not click! Step away from the keyboard to protect yourself and your company. Select and download fonts only from legitimate type foundries and designers. Free fonts are often given away by these sources to determine how useful/popular they become. Support your favourite type designer and their latest creations. Put a new face on it. Buy new type to add to your collection; many are very reasonably priced considering the labour it takes to produce them. Well designed quality typefaces make you look good, too. Make the value of typeface design visible to others. Include the name of the typeface and its designer in your list of project credits and colophons. Share your umbrella, share your dessert, but don’t share your fonts. Fonts are licensed software. Unless the face was free to begin with (and please check the license that this is the case), it’s illegal for you to give a typeface to anyone. Would you steal a pair of shoes? A bike? I didn’t think so. Don’t steal any intellectual property—including type.

Set Them Free: Legitimate Free Fonts

Ellen Lupton shares some of her views on her blog: http://www.designwritingresearch.org/free_fonts.html “A free font is not just a typeface that you don’t have to pay for. A stolen (or illegally copied) typeface isn't free. A free font must be freely given by its maker. And to be truly free, it should be available to everyone, not just to a circle of friends or to the buyers of a particular software package or operating system. Many of the so-called free fonts that are distributed on the Internet don’t meet this description. Like open source software, the freedom of the fonts shown on this page is made explicit through their licensing, which allows other people to not only use the fonts but to modify them (granted that they change the name of the typeface if they alter its design). Should all fonts be free? Typeface design is a profession and a business. If all fonts were free—or even if every type designer created just one free font—the business of typeface design might be destroyed. Today, the free

font movement is addressing typeface needs that are not being adequately met by the typeface industry. Most typefaces created in the free font movement are designed to serve relatively small or underserved linguistic communities. They have an explicit social purpose, and they are intended to offer the world not a luxurious outpouring of typographic variation but rather the basics for maintaining literacy and communication within a society.”