Typographic Design: Form and Communication

Fifth Edition Saint Barbara. Polychromed walnut sculpture, fifteenth- century German or French. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Typographic Design: Form and Communication

Fifth Edition

Rob Carter Ben Day Philip Meggs

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Carter, Rob. Typographic design : form and communication / Rob Carter, Ben Day, Philip Meggs. -- 5th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-64821-6 (pbk.: acid-free paper); ISBN 978-1-118-12966-1 (ebk) 1. Graphic design () I. Meggs, Philip B. II. Day, Ben. III. Title. Z246.C217 2011 686.2’24--dc22 2011017540 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 In memory of our friend, colleague, and teacher Ben Day (1942–2011) “The whole duty of typography, as with , is to communicate to the imagination, without loss by the way, the thought or image intended to be communicated by the Author.”

Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson Contents

Introduction xi Interletter and interword spacing 79

1 The Evolution of Typography 1 Type size, , and interline spacing 80 From the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention Weight 81 of 2 Character width 81 Typography from Gutenberg to the nineteenth century 7 Italics 81

The nineteenth century Legibility and color 82 and the Industrial Revolution 12 Justified and unjustified typography 85 Typography in the twentieth century 18 and indentions 85

A new century and Legibility and electronic design 87 millennium begin 27 Typographic details 88 2 The Anatomy of Typography 31 5 The Typographic Grid 91 Letterforms analyzed 32 Background 92 The typographic 35 Structure and space 92 Historical classification of 38 Proportion 94 Typographic measurement 42 Single grids 97 The type family 45 Multi-column grids 100 3 Syntax and Communication 49 Modular grids 105 Typographic syntax 50 Improvisational structures 110 Typographic space 60 6 The Typographic Message 111 Visual hierarchy 64 A multidimensional language 112 ABA form 70 Verbal/visual equations 115 4 Legibility 75 Function and expression 121 Distinguishing characteristics of letters 76

The nature of words 78

Capital and lowercase letters 79 7 Typographic Technology 125 10 Typographic Design Education 187

Hand composition 126 Generation of a typographic sign from a gestural mark 188 Linotype 127 Letter/digit configurations 189 Monotype 128 Urban letterform studies 189 Ludlow 129 Inventing sign systems 190 130 Letterform analysis 190 Digital 132 Flowering typography 191 Electronic page design 134 Sequential typographic 8 Typography on Screen 139 forms in space 191

Rendering type on screen 140 Visual organization and grid structures 192 Selecting typefaces 143 Introduction to systems design 193 Legibility factors for on-screen typography 146 Designing with a single letter 194 Programming for Web design 148 Typography and Structuring Web pages 150 image transformations 194

Case studies in Web design 152 Experimental compositions with found typography 195 9 Case Studies in Typographic Design 161 Syntactic explorations Integrating type and image using onomatopoeic terms 196 in poster design 162 Type chronology booklet 197 The U.S. National Park Service Unigrid System 166 Expressive typography: form amplifies message 198 : VAS: An Opera in Flatland 169 Computer improvisation and manipulation 198 Typographic film titles 173 Observing systems in our surroundings 199 Buenos Aires Underground (Subte) 176 Interpretive typography: Information design: exploring legibility and impact 200 Metropolitan World Atlas 180 Symphony poster series 200 A typographic program for the 17th Street Farmers’ Market 184 Information design: changing Processing typographic form and ideas 219 typographic parameters 201 Typographic process case studies 225 Typographic cubes 202 Experimental typographic transformation 230 Calendar typography 202 Now Projector: Design as Projection 238 Unity of form and communication 203 Typographic book covers 245 history posters 204 12 Type Specimens 251 Visual identity program 204 Old Style 253 Type in Motion 205 Adobe 254 Blending Latin and Adobe Minion Display Regular 260 non-Latin typographic forms 205 Additional Old Style 266

Type and image in the third dimension 206 Sans 269

Comparative relationships: Univers 55 270 type and image 207 Meta Normal 276 Futura Book 282 Directional poster: Additional Sans Serif fonts 288 from your house to the university 208 Transitional 291 Graphic-design history posters and booklet 209 Regular 292 Animated Web site flash pages 210 Georgia 298 Additional Transitional fonts 304 Typezine: my favorite typeface 211 Modern 307 Type history posters 211 Bauer Bodoni Regular 308 Typeface design: mind/machine 212 Additional Modern fonts 314

Experimental typographic system 213 Egyptian 317

Banknote design 214 Serifa Roman 318 Archer 324 Type as metaphor 215 Additional Egyptian fonts 330

Form and counterform, Selected Decorative fonts 332 scale and proportion: “Ne var, ne yok?” 216 A chronology of typeface designs 334 11 Typographic Design Process 217 Glossary 336 Bibliography 346 A traditional model 218 Picture Credits 348 Index 352

Introduction

Typography has undergone continuous change over the past six decades. It is the authors’ intention to provide a concise yet comprehensive overview of the fundamental information necessary for effective typographic-design practice. A knowledge of form and communication encompasses a range of subjects, including our typographic heritage, letterform anatomy, visual organization, and the interface between form and meaning.

In addition to these fundamentals, this volume presents other topics critical to informed design practice. Recent research provides the designer with an expanded awareness of legibility factors, enabling increased communicative clarity. Technological complexity requires comprehension of earlier and current typesetting processes, for both affect the language of typography. Theo- retical and structural problem-solving approaches, evolved by design educators, reveal underlying concepts. Case studies in applied problem solving demonstrate a knowledge of typographic form and communication. A chapter devoted to typographic design process reveals traditional as well as non- traditional methods and practice. An understanding of typographic classification and form subtlety is gained from the study of type specimens.

Through the twelve chapters of this book, the authors share a compilation of information and examples with practitioners and students. It yields both insights and inspiration, bringing order to the complex and diversified subject of typographic design.

xi

1 The Evolution of Typography

Typography is an intensely visual form of communication. Because this visible language communicates thoughts and information through human sight, its history is presented here in chronological visual form on four timelines. This evolution is shown in the context of world events, architectural development, and art history.

The first timeline predates typography. It begins with the invention of writing over five thousand years ago and ends with the invention of movable type in Europe during the middle of the fifteenth century. The second timeline covers the long era of the handpress and handset metal types. This period, from Gutenberg’s invention of movable type to the end of the eighteenth century, lasted about three hundred and fifty years. In the third timeline, the Industrial Revolution and nineteenth century are revealed as an era of technological innovation and an outpouring of new typographic forms. The fourth timeline begins with the year 1900 and covers the twentieth century, when type was shaped by the aesthetic concerns of mod- ernism, the need for functional communication, and technological progress. In the late twentieth century, the digital revolution in typography occurred, followed by the dawning of a new century and millennium.

1 1. 2. 4. 7. From the origins c. 3150 B.C.: The earliest c. 3000 B.C.: Cuneiform, a c. 2400 B.C.: False-door stele c. 1570 –1349 B.C.: of writing written documents are very early writing system, inscribed with hieroglyphic Polychromed wood sculpture to Gutenberg’s impressed clay tablets from consisting of wedge-shaped writing, from Old Kingdom from New Kingdom Egypt, invention of Sumer. The signs represent marks on clay tablets, was Egypt. with hieroglyphic inscriptions. movable type: clay tokens, which were used invented by the Sumerians. 5. 8. 3150 B.C.–A.D.1450 for record keeping before the c. 2100 B.C.: Cuneiform tablet c. 1450 B.C.: Detail, The Book invention of writing. 2500 B.C.: Egyptians begin to listing expenditures of grain of the Dead of Tuthmosis III, make papyrus, a new writing and animals. hieroglyphic writing on Note: Picture credits and material derived from the 6. papyrus. further descriptive information stems of the papyrus plant. c. 1800 –1400 B.C.: for timeline illustrations start 3. Stonehenge, a megalithic on page 348. c. 2600 B.C.: Completion of monument of thirty-foot-tall the pyramids at Giza, Egypt. stones set into circular patterns.

c. 3150 B.C.

1.

3.

2. 5. 8.

4. 6.

7. 2 9. 10. 13. 14. c. 1500 B.C.: The twenty-two 389 B.C.: Inscription in the 414–413 B.C.: Fragment of a c. 50 B.C.– A.D. 500: Roman 150: The Roman codex, characters of the Phoenician Phoenician alphabet on a Greek record of sale, carved square capitals (capitalis with folded pages, begins alphabet. fragment of a marble bowl. on stone. quadrata) were carefully to be used alongside the 11. written with a flat pen. rolled scroll. c. 800 B.C.: Homer writes the Fourth century B.C.: Greek c. 160 B.C.: Parchment, a new 16. Iliad and Odyssey. manuscript writing. writing material made from c. A.D. 33: Crucifixion of Christ. c. 100 – 600: Roman rustic 12. animal skins, is developed in 15. writing (capitalis rustica) 540 B.C.: The first public 448–432 B.C.: The Parthenon, the Greek state of Pergamum. c. 79: Brush writing from a conserved space by using library is established in temple of the goddess wall at Pompeii, preserved more condensed letters Athens, Greece. Athena, on the Acropolis in 44 B.C.: Julius Caesar by the volcanic eruption of written with a flat pen held in Athens, Greece. is murdered. Vesuvius. an almost vertical position.

105: Ts’ai Lun invents paper in China.

c. 1500 B.C.

9.

11.

13.

12. 14.

15.

10. 16.

3 17. 19. 22. 118–25: The Pantheon, Rome. 312– 315: Arch of Constantine, c. 400–1400: During the 476: Emperor Romulus Third–ninth centuries: Half- 18. Rome. Carved into marble, thousand-year medieval era, Augustulus, last ruler of the uncials, a style of the Undated: The fluid gestural monumental Roman capitals knowledge and learning are western Roman Empire, is Christian Church, introduces quality, harmonious survived the thousand-year kept alive in the Christian deposed by the Ostrogoths. pronounced ascenders and proportions, and beautiful Dark Ages. monastery, where manuscript 20. . forms of Roman writing are books are lettered in the 533 –49: Church of Sant’ 23. effectively translated into the 325: Emperor Constantine scriptoria. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna. Sixth–ninth centuries: Insular permanent stone carving of adopts Christianity as the state 21. majuscules, a formal style monumental capitals (capitalis religion of the Roman Empire. 452: Attila the Hun invades Third–sixth centuries: Uncials with exaggerated serifs, was monumentalis). and ravages northern Italy. are rounded, freely drawn developed by Irish monks majuscule letters, first used by from the half-uncials. the Greeks as early as the third century B.C.

A.D. 118

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19.

18.

21.

22.

23.

20.

4 27. 29. 31. 732: The Battle of Tours ends 868: The earliest extant printed Eighth–twelfth centuries: Eleventh–twelfth centuries: Thirteenth–fifteenth centuries: the Muslim advance into manuscript, the Diamond Caroline minuscules became Early Gothic lettering, a Gothic Textura Quadrata, or Europe. Sutra, is printed in China. the standard throughout transitional style between Textura, the late Gothic style 25. Europe after Charlemagne Caroline minuscules and with rigorous verticality and 800: Charlemagne is crowned Tenth century: High Cross at issued his reform decree of Textura, has an increased compressed forms. emperor of the Holy Roman Kells, Meath County, Ireland. 796, calling for a uniform vertical . Empire by Pope Leo III. 26. writing style. 30. 1347–1351: First wave of the 24. c. Eleventh century: Round Twelfth century: Bronze and Black Death, a plague that c. 800: Portrait of Christ from tower on the Rock of Cashel, 1034: Pi Sheng invents copper crucifix from northern decimates the European The Book of Kells, a Celtic Tipperary County, Ireland, a movable type in China. Italy. population. manuscript. lookout and refuge against 32. Viking invaders. 1096 –1099: The First Crusade. 1215: The Magna Carta grants Thirteenth century: Byzantine 28. constitutional liberties in School, Madonna and Child 1163–1250: Construction of England. on a Curved Throne. Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.

A.D. 732

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31.

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28. 32.

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5 33. 39. Thirteenth–fifteenth centuries: 1431: Jeanne d’Arc is burned c. 1450: Johann Gutenberg Woodblock print of the , a more rounded at the stake. invents movable type in hand-printing press, with Gothic letter, flourished in 36. Mainz, Germany. compositors setting type from southern Europe. Fifteenth century: First page 38. a typecase in the background. 34. of a block-book, Apocalypse. c. 1450–55: Page from 40. Fourteenth century: Lippo Woodblock printing probably Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible, The cathedral in the medieval Memmi, Saint John the appeared in Europe before the first European typographic city of Mainz, Germany. Baptist. 1400. book. 35. 37. 1420–36: Filippo Brunelleschi, 1440– 45: Fra Filippo Lippi, dome of Florence Cathedral. Madonna and Child.

c. 1200

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37.

35. 38.

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39. 36.

6 42. 45. 47. Typography from 1450–1500: Books printed in 1467: Sweynheym and c. 1485: Filippino Lippi, Portrait c. 1494: Scholar and printer Gutenberg to the the first half-century of Pannartz, the first Roman- of a Youth. Aldus Manutius established nineteenth century: typographic printing are style type, influenced by 46. the Aldine Press in Venice to A.D. 1450–1800 called Incunabula. Roman inscriptional capitals 1486: Erhard Ratdolt, the publish works by the great and manuscripts written in earliest known specimen sheet Greek and Roman thinkers. The humanist philosophy 41. Caroline minuscules. of printing types. 48. that flowered during the 1465: Sweynheym and 43. 1495: Francesco Griffo (punch Renaissance embraced the Pannartz, the first type 1470: , early 1492: Christopher Columbus cutter for Aldus Manutius), study of classical literature, designed in Italy. It had some Venetian roman typeface. lands in America. first used in De a belief in human dignity and Roman features. 44. aetna by Pietro . worth, a spirit of individual- 1475: William Caxton, ism, and a shift from religious typography from the first to secular concerns. book printed in the English language.

1450

41.

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7 49. 51. 53. 55. 1501: Francesco Griffo, the Woodblock by Geoffroy 1517: Martin Luther posts his 1525: Albrecht Dürer, 1519–47: Pierre Nepveu, first italic typeface, based on Tory, who returned to France ninety-five theses on the door construction of the letter B. Chateau of Chambord, France. chancery script handwriting. from study in Italy in 1505, of Wittenberg Palace Church, 54. 56. 50. inspired by roman letterforms launching the Reformation. 1529: Geoffroy Tory, c. 1480–1561: Claude Home of Albrecht Dürer, and Renaissance design 52. construction of the letter B. Garamond, outstanding Nuremberg, Germany. ideals. 1523: Lodovico Arrighi, designer of Old Style an Italian writing master, typefaces during the French introduces his formal chancery Renaissance. .

1501

50. 51.

53. 54.

55.

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56. 52.

8 57. 59. 63. c. 1540: Titian, Portrait of 1546: Jacques Kerver, 1582: Pope Gregory Xlll 1603: Shakespeare writes 1621: Jean Jannon, typefaces Cardinal Pietro Bembo. typography, illustration, and initiates the Gregorian Hamlet. upon which twentieth-century decorative , which Calendar, which is still in use. 62. Garamonds are based. 1543: Copernicus publishes were combined into a rare 1607: Carlo Maderna, façade 64. his theory of the heliocentric elegance during the French 1584: Sir Walter Raleigh of St. Peter’s, the Vatican. 1628: The Vatican Press, solar system. Renaissance. discovers and annexes specimen of roman capitals. 58. 60. Virginia. 1609: Regular weekly 1544: Simone de Colines, title After 1577: El Greco, Saint 61. newspapers appear in page with woodcut border. Martin and the Beggar. 1595: Johann Theodor de Bry, Strasbourg, Germany. illustrative initial E.

c. 1540

64.

61.

58.

62. 57. 59.

60.

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9 65. 68. 71. 1632– 43: The Taj Mahal, India. 1657: First fountain pen is c. 1670: Christoffel van Dyck, During the eighteenth century, 1709: Matthaus Poppelmann, 66. manufactured, in Paris. Dutch Old Style type. went through a Zwinger Palace, Dresden. c. 1630: Sir Anthony van Dyck, 67. gradual transition from Old portrait of Henri ll de Lorraine. c. 1664: Jan Vermeer, Woman 1686: Sir Isaac Newton sets Style to Modern Style fonts 1709: England adopts the first Holding a Balance. forth his law of gravity. designed late in the century. modern copyright law. 1639: The first printing press 69. 72. in the British Colonies is 1666: The great fire of . 1675–1710: Sir Christopher 1700: The emergence of the 1720: William , Caslon established in Massachusetts. Wren, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Rococo Style. Old Style types, which 1667: Milton publishes London. 70. from this date were used Paradise Lost. 1702: Philippe Grandjean throughout the British Empire. (punch cutter), Romain du Roi, the first transitional face.

1632

68.

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66.

69. 72.

70.

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10 73. 76. 79. 81. 1722: Castletown, near Dublin, 1750s: John Baskerville 1773: Johann David 1784: François Ambroise 1791: American Bill of Rights Ireland. creates extraordinary Steingruber, letter A from Didot, the first true Modern guarantees freedoms of transitional typefaces. Architectonishes Alphabet. Style typeface. religion, speech, and the press. 1738: First spinning machines 77. 80. are patented in England. 1765: Thomas Cottrell 1774: John Holt, broadside 1789: The fall of the 1793: French King Louis XVI 74. introduces display types two of the American revolutionary Bastille launches the French and Marie Antoinette are sent 1744: Benjamin Franklin, title inches tall (shown actual size). era, using Caslon type. Revolution. to the guillotine. page using Caslon type. 78. 82. 75. 1768: Pierre Simon Fournier 1775: James Watt constructs 1791: Giambattista Bodoni, 1796: Aloys Senefelder invents 1750: François Boucher, The le Jeune, ornamented types. the first efficient steam engine. Modern Style typefaces of lithography. Love Letter. geometric construction, with 1776: American Declaration of hairline serifs. 1799: Nicolas-Louis Robert Independence is signed. invents the papermaking machine.

1722

75. 73.

76.

82.

80.

74.

78. 79.

77. 81. 11 83. 85. 87. The nineteenth The Industrial Revolution c. 1803: Robert Thorne designs 1815: shows 1816: IV century and had a dramatic impact upon the first . the first Egyptian (slab-serif) introduces the first sans serif the Industrial typography and the graphic typefaces. type. Revolution: A.D. arts. New technology radically 1804: Napoleon Bonaparte 86. 88. 1800–1899 altered printing, and designers crowned Emperor of France. 1815: Vincent Figgins shows 1818: Page from Manuale responded with an outpouring the earliest shaded type. Tipographico, which of new forms and images. 1808: Beethoven composes presented the lifework of his Fifth Symphony. Giambattista Bodoni. 84. 89. 1812: Jacques-Louis David, 1821: Robert Thorne, Tuscan Napoleon in His Study (detail). styles with splayed serifs.

1814: Friedrich Koenig invents the steam-powered printing press.

1800

85.

86.

87.

89.

84.

83. 88.

12 90. 91. 92. 94. 96. 1822: Thomas Jefferson, c. 1826: Bower, Bacon and 1827: Darius Wells invents the 1836: Davy and Berry, poster 1837: Handbill set in Fat Face. Rotunda of the University of Bower, early reversed type mechanical router, making the printed with wood type. Virginia in the neoclassical entitled White. manufacture of large display 1837: Victoria crowned queen style based on Greek and wood types possible. 1830s–80s: Wood-type posters of England. Roman architecture. 1826: Joseph Niepce takes the 93. and broadsides flourished in first photograph from nature. 1833: Vincent Figgins America and Europe. 1822: Joseph Niepce produces introduces outline types. 95. the first photographic printing 1836: Vincent Figgins, plate. perspective type.

1822

92. 95.

90.

94.

96.

91. 93.

13 97. 99. 100. c. 1840–52: Sir Charles Barry 1845: Robert Besley, the first 1853: Handbill combining 1856: Sir Henry Bessemer 1859: Charles Darwin and A. W. N. Pugin, Houses of style. Egyptian, outline, and develops process for publishes Origin of Species by Parliament, inspiration for the decorative types. converting iron to steel. Means of Natural Selection. Gothic Revival. 1848: The California gold rush 101. 102. 98. begins. 1854: Broadside using 1859: William H. Page c. 1841: Wood and elongated Fat Face fonts. and Company, Ornamented Sharwoods, ornamental type. 1851: Joseph Paxton designs Clarendons. the Crystal Palace. 1854: The United States makes During the 1840s, ornamented its first treaty with Japan. type becomes increasingly important.

c. 1840

97.

101.

98.

100.

99. 102.

14 103. 104. 105. 108. 1860: Charleston Mercury, c. 1865: Honoré Daumier: The 1868: Currier and Ives, 1877: Thomas Edison invents c. 1885: Maverick & Wissinger, broadsheet announcing the Third-Class Carriage. American Homestead Winter. the phonograph. engraved business card. dissolution of the Union. 106. 109. 1866: The first successful c. 1875: J. Ottmann, 1879: Thomas Edison invents c. 1880s: Lettering printed by 1861–65: American Civil War. transatlantic cable is laid. chromolithographic card for the electric lightbulb. chromolithography. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing 107. 110. 1863: Abraham Lincoln 1867: Alfred Nobel invents Syrup. 1883: The Brooklyn Bridge is 1886: Ottmar Mergenthaler signs the Emancipation dynamite. opened to traffic. invents the Linotype, the first Proclamation. 1876: Alexander Graham keyboard typesetting machine. 1867: Christopher Sholes invents the telephone. 1883: William Jenney designs constructs the first practical the first skyscraper, a ten- typewriter. story metal frame building in Chicago.

1861

107.

105.

109. 106.

110.

108. 103.

104. 15 111. 112. 115. 116. 1887: Advertisement for Estey 1889: Alexandre Gustave William Morris’ typeface 1891–98: William Morris’ Organs. Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower. designs: 1890, Golden; 1892, Kelmscott Press launches 113. Troy; 1893, Chaucer. a revival of printing and 1887: Tolbert Lanston invents c. 1890s: Coca-Cola syrup jug. typography. the monotype. 114. 117. 1892: Paul Gauguin, 1892: William Morris, page By the Sea. from News from Nowhere.

1887

115.

111.

116.

112.

114.

113. 117.

16