Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. Humanist letterforms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Once again, you can see the evolution of type from Garamond to Baskerville, to Bodoni this was followed by the return of the heavy serif in Serifa and the elimination of the serif in Univers.Ī basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Serifs also vary from one face to the next in their weight and in the way they are bracketed that is the way in which the serif meets the vertical stroke of the letter. In Univers there is an absence of any noticeable thick and thin strokes there is a uniformity of strokes (mono-weight). With Serifa there is a return to very little contrast (almost mono-weight). Bodoni has maximum contrast in these strokes (extreme contrast of thick and thins, hairline serifs). In Transitional faces there is a tendency toward refinement and greater contrast between thick and thins. In Garamond you can see a prominent characteristic of little contrast between thick and thin strokes of a letter. | example |įaces also vary in degree of contrast between thick and thin strokes of the letters. In Univers you will find no noticeable stress.
As type evolved and the designer was no longer influenced by handwriting, the stress became more vertical as in Baskerville and later totally vertical with Bodoni. It was this characteristic that the early typefaces tried to imitate. The letter O is a good example to study the distribution of weight which creates a vertical stress through the thinnest part of the letterform. Many of the fonts designed in the 20th Century are difficult to classify.Īs early typefaces were based on the written letterforms the scribes, it was important that the type designer tries to capture as much as the written form as possible. In search of new forms of typographic expression, designers began to borrow features from one period and add them to another. The ultimate refinement was attained in the late 1700’s when Bodoni reduced the thin strokes and serifs to fine hairline strokes.Īfter Bodoni, type design became eclectic. This refinement was possible because of the development of smoother papers, better links, and more advanced printing methods. Over the centuries type became more and more refined that is, the contrast between thick and thin strokes became greater and the serifs became finer. Garamond did not think of himself as an Old Style designer any more than John Baskerville could realize that some day he would be considered a Transitional designer. :: email: andrea herstowski :: email: tim hossler : syllabus :: project 1 :: project 2 :: project 3 :: project 4 :: herstowski blog ::
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