,Art 29500: Typography 1 Summer 2010 type1summer2010.wordpress.com Tuesday and Thursday 2–4:50pm Professor Donald Partyka [email protected]

History of Sans Serif, from linotype.com given graphic boundaries, the symbol is suddenly perceived (copyrighted material, adapted) as complete entity. Such fortification of line endings has given rise to ever changing styles of decoration for ages, attributing With the invention of the printing press, a longing for formal to the cross a unique symbolism each time. Looking at the refinement began to awaken. First leaning on the bold and evolution of the Latin alphabet, the first stroke endings can distinct typography of incunabula, styles gradually progressed be found in the chiseling of Roman capitals. In calligraphy, the to culminate in the decorative classical fonts of the 17th and emphasis on the stroke beginning and 18th centuries. This growing preoccupation with ever greater ending is what characterized the stylistic refinement was also reflected in the architecture of the appearance of the text. times, as well as in objects of daily use, especially furniture. Perhaps these stroke endings also had But also the fashionable attire worn by the upper classes of something to do with an unconscious each epoch paid tribute to this development accordingly. searching for stability, as the lower serifs of incised fonts actually seem to be “standing” on an invisible line. The mutation With respect to architectural developments, characters At the dawn of the 19th century, the newly established marked with serifs at their endings could easily be compared Republic of France was still groping to come to terms with with the columns of almost any stylistic period. In former its new identity – and as widespread industrialization set times, a column was always decorated with a base at the in, an intrinsic mutation began to take place in all external bottom and a capital at the top. It was appearances. The search for a new look became a time- not until the birth of modernism that consuming quest eventually dragging into a decade-long architects ventured to introduce a struggle. This can be observed in the architecture of the naked column, made of concrete. The early 19th century: on the one hand, there was a mixture fear that a line without boundaries of styles borrowing from numerous past eras, on the other might flow on forever gave way to hand, there was a clear will to find a new form of expression, a worldview defined by rationality – inspired by the inventions of the time, like the railway heralding the beginning of widespread and, later, the use of concrete as a building material This use of sans serif . confusion was also reflected in typography, which commonly The first sans serif font appeared in 1816 in a type sample applied an incongruous melange of all previous book by William Caslon. This new typeface caught on quickly styles. and began to appear all over Europe and the U.S. under the names “Grotesque” and “Sans Serif”. Soon, bold and slender weights of this type could be found everywhere in newspaper headlines, on posters and brochures. The “Grotesque” became the instrument of a new found factuality in search of a more poignant form of expression. In their basic forms, the sans serif lowercase letters remained quite similar to The end of the line those in roman type, the vertical strokes retaining a greater In order to better understand the transition from typefaces thickness compared to the oblique transitions and joins. The with serifs to those without, it is necessary to consider the capital letters, on the other hand, were significantly altered: deeper impression left behind by the appearance of a line. now all letters from A to Z had a similar width – previously Every line which does not close narrow characters such as B, E, P and S were widened while in on itself has a beginning and an letters like T, M and W end. If such a line does not have were kept narrower. fortified endings, the observer is The use of these new left with the uneasy feeling that typefaces was limited something is incomplete, the line almost exclusively to could flow on forever. typesetting for titles Just as an example, let’s have and headlines. The body a look at a cross – as not to be text remained intact, influenced by the accustomed true to the classic form appearance of a letter. A cross of roman type. This without line endings is primarily situation would endure perceived as an abstract symbol for over 100 years. It wasn’t until after World War II that with two converging lines in the sans serif fonts were to experience a true renaissance and middle. The length of the lines revolutionize the world of text publishing. is undefined, the lines appear to be able to continue on forever. However, as soon as the lines are ,Art 29500: Typography 1 Summer 2010 type1summer2010.wordpress.com Tuesday and Thursday 2–4:50pm Professor Donald Partyka [email protected]

BLACKLETTER/FRAKTUR Script of the Middle Ages, first movable type based on Blackletter

SERIF Humanist 1460–1470 Pre-Renaissance Dark color, low contrast, small x-height, slanted stress, slanted cross bar The first Roman types (based on Roman letter forms) by Bruce Rogers 1912–1914, based on Nicolas Jenson’s type of 1469 Jenson by Robert Slimbach (revival, Adobe, 1995)

Old Style 1495–1725 Renaissance Mimic handwriting of Roman letter forms less, more refined due to the refinement in the abilities of punchcutters creating movable type, greater stroke contrast, stress less slanted than Humanist, but still slanted horizontal cross bar First italic type, conceived as a condensed text typeface by William Griffo in 1501 Bembo by Aldus Manutius and Francesco Griffo 1495 (Monotype, 1929) by Claude Garamond 1561 Caslon by William Caslon 1734–1776 (Carol Twombley for Adobe 1989) contemporary, refined display versions have some Transitional qualities Palatino by Hermann Zapf 1948 Sabon by Jan Tschichold based on original Garamond 1966 Janson by Nicolas Kis/Anton Janson 1685 Goudy by 1915 Scala by Martin Majoor 1980s

Transitional 1692 The Enlightenment 1692 first Transitional type, King’s Roman comissioned by Louis XIV Stress now completely vertical, handwriting reference almost completely removed, increased contrast, thinner serifs Benjamin Franklin brings Baskerville to the States and uses it for federal government publishing Baskerville 1757 for Cheltenham Press, refined by Morris Fuller Benton 1896 Joanna by Eric Gill 1930 (Perpetua by Eric Gill 1929) has some old style qualities Caledonia by W.A. Dwiggins 1938 Mrs. Eaves by Zuzanna Licko 1996 Electra by W.A. Dwiggins 1935 Georgia by Matthew Carter 1996 (designed for screen not print, also has Slab Serif qualities)

Modern Romantic 1784 Firmin Didot Bodoni, influenced by King’s type and Baskerville but type now moving into exteme contrast with very thin serifs, a completely vertical axis with horizontal stress and a small aperture (opening in counterforms, e.g. jaws of the “c”) Didot by François Didot 1784 Bodoni by Giambatissta Bodoni 1791 Walbaum by Jusus Erich Walbaum 1800 Filosofia by Zuzanna Licko 1996, revival of Bodoni, includes unicase

Slab Serif (Egyptian) 1809 Industrial Revolution Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, Industrial revolution, steam press in 1814, proliferation of advertising, display types needed unbracketed serifs (meet at 90 degree angle), although later (Clarendon) serifs have thinner, bracketed serifs, tend to have larger x-heights Fat Faces, 1800, Robert Thorne, later coined the term Egyptian 1815 Vincent Figgins designs first Slab Serif type face Clarendons circa 1845 Robert Besley Century The first major American typeface designed by Theodore Lowe DeVinne in 1894 for The Century Magazine Serifa by 1967 Officina by Erik Spiekermann 1990 ,Art 29500: Typography 1 Summer 2010 type1summer2010.wordpress.com Tuesday and Thursday 2–4:50pm

The City College Of New York Department Of Art, Compton-Goethals Hall 119 Professor Donald Partyka ART 29500, section 1XM [email protected]

SANS SERIF Grotesque strokes have contrast, squared off quality to the curves Franklin Gothic by Morris Fuller Benton 1904 News Gothic by Morris Fuller Benton 1908 Trade Gothic by Jackson Burke 1948

Neo Grotesque (Transitional, recently dubbed “anonymous”) stroke widths have less contrast than Grotesques, larger aperture (opening in counterforms, e.g. jaws of the “c”), lowercase g has does not have a lower bowl but an open stroke Akzidenz Grotesk Berthold Foundry 1896 this became the basis for Helvetica Helvetica Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman 1950s Univers by Adrian Frutiger 1957, 1961 Frutiger by Adrian Frutiger 1976 by Matthew Carter 1996 (designed for screen not print)

Geometric based on geometric forms (e.g. the “o” is a true circle) Futura by Paul Renner 1927 The bauhaus Kabel by Rudolph Koch 1927 Avant Garde by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase 1927

Humanist Based on Roman letterforms and humanist writing Gill Sans by Eric Gill 1928 Meta by Erik Spiekermann 1991

Optima by Hermann Zapf 1958 Rotis by Otl Aicher 1958 (both of the above have elements of serifs)

SCRIPTS

DINGBATS e.g. Zapf Dingbats

DISPLAY/OTHER

,Art 29500: Typography 1 Summer 2010 type1summer2010.wordpress.com Tuesday and Thursday 2–4:50pm Professor Donald Partyka [email protected]

Centaur Jenson

Bembo Garamond Caslon Palatino Sabon Janson Goudy Scala

Baskerville Cheltenham Legal Typefaces Joanna Types to know, learn Perpetua (including designers and classification), Caledonia love, and USE. Mrs. Eaves Electra Georgia

Didot Bodoni Walbaum Filosofia

Clarendon Century Serifa Officina

Franklin Gothic News Gothic Trade Gothic

Akzidenz Grotesk Helvetica Univers Frutiger Verdana

Futura Kabel Avant Garde Gill Sans Meta

Optima Rotis

Zapf Dingbats hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons hamburgfons

TYPE FAMILY: ADOBE G A R A M O N D

The idea of organizing typefaces into matched families dates back to the sixteenth century, when Adobe Garamond was designed by Robert Slimbach in 1988. printers began coordinating roman and italic faces. The concept was formalized at the turn of the twentieth century. The roman font is the core or spine from which a family of typefaces derives.

adobe garamond regular The roman form, also called “plain” or “regular,” is the standard, upright version of a typeface. It is typically conceived as the parent of a larger family. Italic fonts, which are based on cursive writing, have forms distinct from roman.

adobe garamond italic The italic form is not simply a mechanically slanted version of the roman: it is a separate typeface. Note that the letter a has a different shape in the roman and italic variants of Adobe Garamond.          the lowercase -.

adobe garamond expert (small caps) Small caps (capitals) are designed to integrate with a line of text, where full-size capitals would stand out awkwardly. Small capitals are slightly taller than the x-height of lowercase letters. Bold (and semibold) typefaces are used for emphasis within a hierarchy.

adobe garamond bold and semibold Bold versions of traditional text fonts were added in the twentieth century to meet the need for emphatic forms. Sans-serif families often include a broad range of weights (thin, bold, black, etc.). Bold (and semibold) typefaces each need to include an italic version, too.

adobe garamond bold and semibold italic The typeface designer tries to make the bold versions feel similar in contrast to the roman, without making the overall form too heavy. The counters need to stay clear and open at small sizes. A full type family has two sets of numerals: lining (123) and non-lining ().

adobe garamond regular and expert numerals Lining numerals occupy uniform units of horizontal space, so that the numbers line up when used in tabulated columns. Non-lining numerals, also called “text” or “old style” numerals, have a small body size plus ascenders and descenders, so that they mix well on a line with lowercase letters.

A type family   faked by slanting, or inflating, or SHRINKING letters.

italic bold small caps type crime: type crime: type crime: pseudo italics pseudo bold pseudo small caps The wide, ungainly Padded around the These shrunken forms of these skewed edges, these letters versions of full-size letters look forced feel blunt and dull. caps are puny and unnatural.

This page from Thinking with Type is provided as a pdf to facilitate classroom discussions. The pdf can be viewed on screen and blown up as needed.