glossary of typography

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Futura

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Futura

Designed in1927 by Paul Renner the typeface Futura is one of perfect proportions and a great example of design produced from Weimar Culture (1918-1933). Weimar culture was the catalyst to an increase in the arts and science, it was one of the major influences on the Bauhaus Design school and a period of which Germany were in the centre of during the 1920’s.

Futura is the most recognised work of typeface designer Paul Renner. Along with a few texts on publication layouts he has also designed a number of other typefaces which have obvious references to the hugely successful futura.

Paul Renner was not associated with the Bauhaus school of design but did heavily support their design practices and idealologies. His focus throughout the design of Futura was to create a typeface which was modern and unique – not something that “revived a previous design” (Typophile, 2010).

Futura was originally designed by Renner for the Bauer Type Foundry in Frankfurt, a company that designs/distributes typefaces originally in wood or metal for line casting machines (used with the letter press) and today in digital form.

fig 1:Example of Futura in use. Included with the first edition of the Futura type specimen. Late 1927.

In the original design of Futura there were a number of letterforms which were re-examined and re-designed before the face was published. These included character designs which were more decorative and gothic than Renner intended and can be found in (another of Renner’s typefaces) Architype Renner. Renner wanted the font to be “stripped of any handwritten characteristics” (Burke, 1998)(eg. Additional tails and curls) because this would set it apart from other sans-serif fonts. Futura’s modern look is described as being effective by Christopher Burke “There is no flow from one to the other. The movement, the vigour these letters receive is through their simple appearance” (Burke, 1998).

The characters themselves are designed with consistent and harmonious proportions with the fundamentals for these proportions taken from those of a circle, square and triangle. The design also includes cross bars and arms which are half the square width. Renner credits the individuality of the typeface to the “uncommonly narrow capitals” (Burke, 1998). This sans-serif font has an even stroke weight along lines drawn by all characters which is commonly drawn attention to when featured in headlines. The counters are all lowercase characters are all equal in area where as they vary across the different capital letters whilst still remaining true to the original proportions.

Fig 2: Shop fiascia in Frankfurt am Main, with Futura Capitals. Photographed 1927.

The strict geometric structure remains consistent throughout all characters from capitals to lowercase. Paul Renner strongly believed that “our printing type is not the expression of a movement like handwriting; everything deriving from a left to right dynamic, all thicks and thins, which only entered into script with the quill, make no sense in printing type” (Burke, 1998).

Its clean and crisp outline allows it to be aesthetically pleasing, enabling it to be used for body text. However, the uses of futura are very versatile, the thickness and geometric formations of the characters make them effective as headline text, this is evident in one of the Futura Type Specimens, Fig.1 (Burke, 1998). Its classic look and appeal has meant the font has been used over a wide variety of applications including as the shop front of Fasica in Frankfurt, Fig.2 (Burke, 1998).

Fig 3: Mock book advertisement also included with the first edition of the Futura type specimen. Late 1927

When looking at the mock book advertisement that featured in the first edition of the Futura Type Specimen, Fig.3 (Burke, 1998) it is easy to see how well the typeface Futura can accommodate for a number of different text requirements. The body text is evenly spaced, easy to read and draws the eye in with its congruent proportions. The headline text and other supporting heading text highlight the effectiveness of the typeface used in all caps, the white space surrounding each character is just as Renner describes; “Isolated in their own boundaries” (Burke, 1998) and this is supported with the lowercase style headlines. This specific example highlights the versatility of Futura and this is proven in the way it creates such a dynamic hierarchy.

Futura is one the largest sans serif type systems (a collection of complimenting variations of the font (E.g. Italics, bold). The typeface is continually copied but the newer variations never prove popular than the original itself.

References:

Baglee, P. (2010). Paul Renner: The Art of Typography . Retrieved from Upper & Lower Case Magazine: http://www.itcfonts.com/Ulc/2533/BookRevRenner.htm

Burke, C. (1998). Paul Renner: The Art of Typography. London: Hyphen Press.

Faces. (2006). Futura. Retrieved from Faces: http://www.faces.co.uk/topfonts/futura.cfm

Kurt. (2008). Futura Typeface. Retrieved from C20th Graphic Design: http://c20thgraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2008/05/futura-typeface.html

Typedia. (2010). Futura. Retrieved from Typedia: http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/futura/

Typophile. (2010). Futura. Retrieved from Typophile: http://typophile.com/node/12494

Gotham. Not simply a typeface, rather an idea.
by Adrian John Ross Moore

Designer Tobias Frere‐Jones was commissioned by ‘GQ’ with the intention of developing lettering for their men’s magazine that was ‘masculine, new and fresh’. Gotham emerged as the resulting geometric sans serif, which would later be published by Hoefler & Frere‐Jones in 2000 and become their most iconic typeface. Gotham’s style alludes to the nature of its origin, which was born of an age of handcrafted urban signage, with particular reference to the calculated craftsmanship in the sign of the ‘Port Authority Bus Terminal’.

It is a typeface that exhibits the ‘mathematical reasoning of a draftsman’ that is defined by its circular counters, short ascenders and descenders and characteristically flat terminals, a style characteristic of an art form developed before digital and designer type was made possible. This was an important element that Frere‐Jones wished to preserve “I suppose there’s a hidden personal agenda in the design, to preserve those old pieces of New York that could be wiped out before they’re appreciated” Siegel (2002). However it is not simply the technicalities of Gotham that is intriguing, rather the historical context of its title that establishes its depth and sophistication.

Gotham is a name that has developed an identity throughout history and not just within the United States. Washington Irving first coined the term Gotham City in a literary publication titled ‘Salmagundi’ in November 1807, a phrase that later became a widely popular pseudonym as a reference to New York City. However this alludes back to the time of King John, when the people of Gotham, Nottinghamshire became imbedded in the pages of history as a town known for their simplicity. This came about as the result of a plan by the townspeople, a plan to feign stupidity, as a way to discourage the king from inhabiting their village, establishing courts and other facilities and disrupting their quality of life.

The identity and associated imagery that became synonymous with Gotham City was developed through its visual and literary exploration within many of the comic strips published by DC Comics. It was first developed by Alan Moore in the comic ‘Swamp Thing’ #63 in the late 80’s, however it later became more heavily detailed within the comics of ‘Batman’, as a city cut off from the rest of the United States, and forced into a perilous spiral of social and urban decay. However amongst the stories of corruption and destruction within this city, inhabited by a society characterised by a suffocating cynicism, shines through themes of resilience and resourcefulness that act to define the very nature of Gotham.

The parallels that this typeface draws from the historical context of its name is the very essence of its beauty, simple in its construction, but subsequently revealed as a resilient and resourceful collection of lettering. It is immediately received by its audience as familiar and practical, be it in the context of publications, posters and web pages or featuring successfully on the Freedom Tower as well as establishing the Obama brand, advertising ‘Change’ in his winning 08 election campaign. It is characterised by a fresh and modernist style that is harboured by an aesthetic that alludes to an established and confident typographic voice that Hoefler & Frere‐Jones describe as “Friendly without being folksy, confident without being aloof, Gothams many moods run from hip to nostalgic to brash to eloquent” Hoefler & Frere‐Jones (2000), enabling it to become an astoundingly diverse and timeless typographic display.

References.

Hoefler & Frere‐Jones (2000). ‘Gotham: History’. Retrieved 24.7.10 from
http://typography.com/fonts/font_overview.php?productLineID=100008

Siegel, Dimitri (2002). ‘Is Gotham the new Interstate?’ Retrieved 24.7.10 from
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/personalities/is_gotham_the_new_interstate.php

Romano, Andrew (2008). ‘Expertinent: Why the Obama “Brand” is working’. Retrieved 25.7.10 from http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/2008/02/27/expertinent‐why‐the‐obama‐quot‐brandquot‐is‐working.html

Heller, Steven (2008). ‘To the letter burn’. Retrieved 24.7.10 from
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/to‐the‐letter‐born/

Akzidenz-Grotesk

http://www.marktalbot.ca/img/AkzidenzGroteskspecAIB1.svg.png

akzidenz-grotesk

First released in 1896 by the German type foundry Berthold, Akzidenz-Grotesk has become an exemplar for other modern typefaces. The design was influenced by its precursor: Theinhardt's Royal Grotesk light (Microsoft: AG goes Greek and Cyrillic, 2007).

As the name suggests, Akzidenz-Grotesk embodied the features of a Grotesque sans serif. Grotesque type is most often characterised with significant distinctions including a mild squareness to the curve and minor variations in the thickness of letter stroke—most notably at the junctions (Perfect, 1992, pg 144). Akzidenz-Grotesk's design shared characteristics synonymous to the Grotesque typestyle. The X height is larger than other types from Humanist and Geometric sans serifs as well as the ascenders and descenders being relatively short. In the original Akzidenz-Grotesk design the lower case 'g' has an open tail and the uppercase 'G' possesses a spur. The lowercase 'a' is double story and has a curved serif at the foot, as does the lowercase 't' and the uppercase 'A' has a flat top. Due to sans-serif fonts having a more "flexible and plastic quality" (Perfect, 1992, pg 144) than serif types they can be used as both text and display faces. Grotesque types are also more legible compared to geometric types. (Perfect, 1992, pg 144)

The design replicated the trends which were occurring in other aspects of design. The rejection of ornament induced elemental typefaces epitomising the idea of efficiency and forwardness which was favoured at the turn of the century (Lawson, 1990 pg 301). The success of Akzidenz-Grotesk can be attributed to the versatility of the typeface. Originally issued with a family of ten fonts including light, regular, medium and bold stroke weight, it appealed to designers and printers due to its full range (Carter & Meegs, 1993, pg 11). Released under the name Standard in the UK and US, it was often found in American advertising (Carter & Meegs, 1993, pg 11). Akzidenz-Grotesk's qualities as a well-designed, quintessential sans serif is supported by Karl Gerstner's statement—"It is the work of anonymous typecutters: craftsmen, specialists...They gave Akzidenz-Grotesk the ultimate accolade a typeface can have: a functional, formal rightness, transcending the whims of fashion." (Microsoft: AG goes Greek and Cyrillic, 2007).

The rise in popularity of Geometric fonts in the 1930's and 40's consequently saw Akzidenz-Grotesk lose its stronghold it previously had with designers in the first decade since its issue. However Akzidenz-Grotesk did encounter a revival in the 1950's with the Swiss design movement advocating the asymmetrical organisation of Akizdenz-Grotesk on grid systems. (Carter & Meegs, 1993, pg 11) Futhermore, Akzidenz-Grotesk's versatility was solidified by Berthold's Creative director- Gunter Gerhard Lange who added another thirty three font styles to the Akzidenz-Grotesk family. These included AG Extra Bold and AG Super which were employed for headlines, expanding the typeface's success which previously was only in advertising and naming (CreativePro:.
Berthold Announces the Release of Akzidenz-Grotesk in
OpenType Format, 2006). Akzidenz-Grotesk re-established itself as a flexible typeface into the 21^st century. In 2006 Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro was released offering "language support for Central European, Baltic and Turkish...and is available in CFF PostScript and OpenType." (CreativePro:
Berthold Announces the Release of Akzidenz-Grotesk in
OpenType Format, 2006) Thus, the Akzidenz-Grotesk family has constantly increased its functionality as both a display font and text font by continuously updating and expanding. It is perhaps one of the most significant typefaces, influencing infamous sans serifs such as Helvetica, Univers and Folio.

references

Carter, R, Meegs, P, 1993, Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold

Creative Pro, 2006, Berthold Announces the Release of Akzidenz-Grotesk in OpenType Format, Retrieved on 25/07/2010 from http://www.creativepro.com/article/berthold-announces-the-release-of-akzidenz-grotesk-in-opentype-format

Lawson, A, 1990, Anatomy of a Typeface, Boston, David R Godine Publisher

Microsoft, 2007, AG goes Greek and Cyrillic, Retreived on 25/07/2010 from http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=5786

Perfect, C, 1992, The Complete Typographer, London, Little, Brown & Company

Typofile, 2010, Akzidenz Grotesk, Retrieved on 24/07/2010 from http://typophile.com/node/17655

Archer Slab Serif

http://typographica.org/2009/typeface-reviews/archer/

http://www.papertastebuds.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Picture-3.png

Archer a beautiful and crisp Slab Serif. Where many of the lowercase letters and the hairline weights have a small yet precise ball terminals. The ball terminals used are a daring yet perfect touch to the slab serif font and are what continue to grab the attention of viewers today .

The type was invented by Hoefler & Frere-Jones in 2001 when they were asked by Martha Stewart to invent a typeface for her new magazine.

Slab Serifs are well known for their successful combination of "Antique and Geometrics" The font houses influences from the typewriter. Hoefler & Frere-Jones describe the typeface as, " A font that is friendly without being silly, and attractive without being flashy. The result is a typeface that is well-mannered, easy to work with, and inviting to read."

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/01/archer-the-elegant-slab-serif/

The typeface has many weights and variations to choose from making it a very usable typeface. My personal favorite from the type family is the hairline weight as shown above. I find the type is very clean, crisp, yet rounded at the same time. It creates a clean composite on any work.

The typeface has not only been used as the cover for Matha Stewart living magazines but also the Wells Fargo logo because the font so successfully houses modern and old qualities. It is a typeface that even at large sizes allows a sense of elegance in the typeface due to the varied weights in the type family.

The typeface may be new in comparison to the more well known font families such as Azkidenz Grotesk or Bodoni but it has a bright future and as much potential as its predecessors.

Betsy LeighAnna Webb 3348644

References:

Multiple Authors(2008.) Archer the Elegant Slab Serif.Retrieved 26th July 2010 from http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/01/archer-the-elegant-slab-serif/.

Hoefler & Frere-Jones . Archer, the colorful slab serif. Retrieved 26th July 2010 from

http://www.typography.com/fonts/font_overview.php?productLineID=100033

SR1: Azkidenz-Grotesk

Source: Garg, M. (2010). Azkidenz-Grotesk [Image]. Font Lovin' Part 1. Retrieved on 26 July, 2010, from http://mgarg.com/blog/2010/02/21/font-lovin-part-1/

Akzidenz-Grotesk is a sans serif typeface and is classed under the typographic category Grotesque, otherwise known as Gothic, which typically have “some contrast and may have some quirky characteristics” (Riggs, 2009, p. 9). It was released by Berlin type foundry H. Berthold AG in 1898 and was intended for use predominantly as a display font (Riggs, 2009, p. 95). This is said to be suggested by the translation of the German word Akzidenz, meaning “trade printing, printing of a limited number of copies” (Riggs, 2009, p. 95). The typeface was initially available in “light, regular, medium and bold stroke weights, plus three extended and condensed versions” and as further variations were released, Akzidenz-Grotesk became “an early example of a type family promoted to printers and designers as a complete range” (Weingart, 1993, p. 10).

It is estimated that “Akzidenz Grotesk was probably cut by some experienced but anonymous Berthold punch cutters rather than designed by an individual type designer”, who most likely based its letterforms on various popular classicist typefaces of the time such as Walbaum and Didot, as demonstrated in Figure 1 (see next page) (Majoor, 2002, The origin of the sans section, Para. 6).

Figure 1: Superimposition of Akzidenz-Grotesk and Walbaum (Majoor 2002).

This resulted in its “extremely 'closed' forms” that came from simply thickening the “thin tail-ends in characters like the c and in numbers such as 2 and 5” (Majoor, 2002, The origin of the sans section, para. 6). Since it was based on multiple existing typefaces as opposed to being designed from scratch, “its letterforms [do also] have a certain quirkiness, with unexpected differences seen in characters across weights and style” (Riggs, 2009, p. 95). For example, the a and the t have serifs where the rest of the alphabet does not, and the degree to which the shoulders taper in to the stems seem to vary even between the p and the q. When used for body text in 9/10pt, Akzidenz-Grotesk has relatively normal letter spacing but as it increases to 14pt and above, it becomes notably looser and more uneven. Here its aforementioned quirkiness becomes further apparent with letter combinations such as a and z being noticeably more cramped together than combinations such as o and v. Additionally, as pointed out by Wolfgang Weingart in 1993's Typographic specimens: the great typefaces, “the x-height is larger than most typefaces from the turn of the century, and ascenders and descenders are rather short” (Weingart, 1993, p. 10). However, the letterforms are all in proportion with most crossbars located midway between the x-height and baseline.

Despite these inconsistencies within its visual features, Akzidenz-Grotesk was widely used at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although this lessened during the 1930s and 40s, it re-gained its popularity “during the 1950s under the influence of the Swiss design movement that advocated asymmetrical organization of Akzidenz-Grotesk on grid systems... [and inspired] new sans sarifs, including Univers and Helvetica” (Weingart, 1993, p. 10). The Akzidenz-Grotesk's type family was subsequently enlarged in the 1950s by Günter Gerhard Lange on behalf of Berthold, in order to make it more suitable for use in body copy, resulting in the contemporary Akzidenz-Grotesk (Riggs, 2009, p. 95).

Katherine Roman-Miller 3235050

References

Craig, J. (2010). Designing with type 5: the essential guide to typography. Retrieved 26 July, 2010, from http://www.designingwithtype.com/5/home.php

Majoor, M. (2002). My type design philosophy. Retrieved 26 July, 2010, from http://www.typotheque.com/articles/my_type_design_philosophy

Riggs, T. (2009). Font: classic typefaces for contemporary graphic design. Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision SA.

Twombly, C. (1989). The typographic desk reference (TDR). Retrieved 26 July, 2010, from http://typedeskref.com/

Weingart, W. (1993). In Carter, R. & Meggs, P.B. (Ed), Typographic specimens: the great typefaces. (pp 10-19). John Wiley and Sons. Retrieved on 26 July, 2010, from http://books.google.com.au/