Typographic Design: Form and Communication
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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 JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. 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For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. 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 (Typography) 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 calligraphy, 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, line length, and interline spacing 80 From the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention Weight 81 of movable type 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 Paragraphs and indentions 85 A new century and Legibility and electronic page 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 font 35 Structure and space 92 Historical classification of typefaces 38 Proportion 94 Typographic measurement 42 Single column 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 Phototypesetting 130 Letterform analysis 190 Digital typesetting 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 Book design: 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 Typeface history posters 204 12 Type Specimens 251 Visual identity program 204 Old Style 253 Type in Motion 205 Adobe Garamond 254 Blending Latin and Adobe Minion Display Regular 260 non-Latin typographic forms 205 Additional Old Style fonts 266 Type and image in the third dimension 206 Sans serif 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 Baskerville 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