blackletter characteristics 1450 t e r m i n a l s ends of strokes are often sharp; can include flourishes ors e r i f s may or may not be present s t r e s s oblique (aiming strongly toward left) c o n t r a s t high contrast between thick and thin strokes x - h e i g h t tall in relation to cap s e t w i d t h gothic is narrow, celtic is wide Blackletter is based on handwriting styles of Gothic (German) and Celtic (Irish) medieval scribes. Often this style is highly decorative and often referred to as textura for its woven quality. Movable type was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in fifteenth- century Germany. His typography took cues from the dark, dense handwriting of the period, called “blackletter.” The first type sorts cast in lead — that were, in all likelihood, cast in Mainz — were blackletter designs. Blackletter remained im- mensely popular in Germany through the 20th century; even as late as 1900, perhaps half of all printed items there were still set in it. Only since the beginning of the post-war era has blackletter disappeared from the German mainstream media environment. from: THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton and The Library of the Gutenberg Museum, Dan Reynolds EXAMPLES OF BLACKLETTER: Old english Cloister black Goudy text old style characteristics 1475 t e r m i n a l s ends may be pointed, rounded, angled, ball or teardrop shape; can tend to be irregular in appearance s e r i f s orlightly bracketed, but heavier than transitional, unrefined s t r e s s moderately oblique c o n t r a s t low to medium contrast between thick and thin strokes x - h e i g h t medium to tall in relation to cap s e t w i d t h moderate to wide Old Style fonts are somewhat organic in form. The ascenders tend to be taller than the cap height and the lowercase e has a horizontal crossbar. Garamond and Bembo are examples of Old Style fonts. Working in Venice in the late fifteenth century, Nicolas Jenson created letters that combined gothic calligraphic traditions with the new Italian taste for humanist handwriting, which were based on classical models. from: THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton EXAMPLES OF OLDSTYLE: Jenson Garamond Palatino Bembo transitional characteristics 1750 TERMINALS ends may be pointed, rounded, angled, ball or teardrop shape, but are lighter, sharper, and straighter than old style SERIFS orlightly bracketed and straighter than old style STRESS vertical CONTRAST higher contrast than old style, medium contrast overall X - HEIGHT medium in relation to cap SET WIDTH narrower than old style Transitional fonts, such as caslon, times (shown here) and baskerville, have a more refined look than oldstyle fonts. They are called transitional because they bridge the gap between the old style to the modern cuts to follow. Mrs. Eaves, a Transitional face with some Oldstyle qualities reads as a clean, refined interpretation of Baskerville, drawn originally in the 1730’s. EXAMPLES OF TRANSITIONAL: Perpetua Baskerville Mrs Eaves Times modern characteristics 1775 TERMINALS ends may be pointed, rounded, angled, ball or teardrop shape, but are lighter, sharper, and straighter than transitional SERIFS orlittle or no bracketing; straighter and sharper than transitional STRESS vertical CONTRAST high contrast between thick and thin strokes X - HEIGHT short to medium in relation to cap SET WIDTH narrower than transitional Modern fonts such as Bodoni (shown here) and Didot appear precise and mechanical and are likely to be constructed out of interchangeable parts. Generous leading is needed in body copy use. Fat Face is an inflated, hyper-bold modern type style developed in the early nineteenth century. It is Bodoni on steroids. from: THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton EXAMPLES OF MODERN: Bodoni Bell Didot Walbaum square serif characteristics 1825 TERMINALS ends may be rounded or squared SERIFS orusually little or no bracketing and are generally as thick as the stem strokes, looking like thick slabs STRESS vertical CONTRAST medium to low contrast between thick and thin strokes X - HEIGHT medium to tall in relation to cap SET WIDTH wide Square serif (or egyptian) is also known as slab serif when the brackets were dropped. This face tends to look mechanical and constructed of interchangeable parts, with a dark overall look. The rise of advertising in the nineteenth century stimulated demand EXAMPLES OF for large-scale letters that could command attention in urban space SLAB SERIF: which transformed the serif from a refined detail to a load-bearing Clarendon slab. The type historian Rob Roy Kelly created this chart to illustrate Serifa how the square serif was manipulated to create ornamental variations. Rockwell Memphis from: THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton sans serif characteristics 1900 t e r m i n a l s ends may be rounded, squared or angled s e r i f s orno serifs s t r e s s vertical on grotesque and geometric, slightly oblique on humanist sans serif c o n t r a s t usually little or no contrast, except in humanist x - h e i g h t medium to tall in relation to cap s e t w i d t h can be narrow to wide Sans serif covers several catagories where many variations take place such as single story or double story lowercase a’s, etc. Examples are Univers, Gill Sans, Futura, Helvetica and the humanist sans serif, Optima. Tobias Frere-Jones introduced Gotham in 2000. It garnered national press when it was chosen to be used in a commemorative way for the inscription on the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site. Designed by Paul Renner in Germany, 1927, Futura is a practical and subtle font that remains widely used today. from: THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton EXAMPLES OF SANS SERIF: Univers Helvetica Futura Meta Gill Sans This page, printed by Jean Jannon for the Imprimerie Royal, EXAMPLES OF Paris, 1642, features roman and italic fonts that work to- SCRIPT: gether as a type family. Each italic or oblique is unique and Kuestler Script designed to read with its roman family, and all professional Mistral fonts have their own italic (originated around 1500). Snell Roundhand Working in the media of engraving and the flexible steel pen, eighteenth-century writing masters such as George Bickham created lavishly curved scripts (originated around 1550) as well finely detailed roman capitals rendered in high contrast. Such alphabets influenced the typeface de- signs of Baskerville, Didot, and Bodoni. from: THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton.