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2B Typesetting Exercise: Text Faces and Body Copy Studies

The best text typefaces are easy to read in long blocks of copy. 

Text faces
— Visual characteristics of typefaces that are needed for readability at small sizes or long passages / longform are: generous x-height, evenness of color, openness, moderate to loose letter spacing (text type requires looser spacing rather than tight), and moderate contrast within each letterform. See below results for searches for text faces…

 

Mitja Miklavčič drew FF Tisa to meet the technological and aesthetic requirements of modern magazine use. His goal was to develop a softer, more dynamic version of a nineteenth-century slab serif wood type. A large x-height and pronounced serifs make FF Tisa extremely legible in text sizes… https://typekit.com/fonts/ff-tisa-web-pro

 

https://typekit.com/lists/good-for-longform

Ellen Lupton http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/

 

The x-height line shows just how much taller Gotham’s x-height is compared to Mr. Eaves. 

 

Mr Eaves looks smaller in comparison even though their cap heights are the same. http://jessicahische.is/talkingtype

 

Canterbury Sans could never be used as text type. Its very low x-height makes it a poor candidate for body copy.
http://jessicahische.is/talkingtype

 

Avenir’s more open spacing make it a better text face than Helvetica.

Frank Chimero (above)

 

 

Multiple Columns characters per line (Frost design).

For a single column design using a serif typeface Bringhurst says that 66 characters per line is optimal characters. Or Frank Chimero uses words per line.

Frank Chimero (above)

(Frost design)

Project, Dangerous Liaisons, Designer, Éva Valicsek

 

Dolly in use. Project: Atlas of Novel Tectonics Designer: Research and Development

 

 

Choosing a text face (see above images)

— Very important to consider: Does it have variety of weights? Does it have an expert set of characters? Does it have: a true italic, oldstyle figures, true / “real” small caps, (look for “Pro” typeface or OpenType), and if its a sans it must have enough character variety (IL1 test). Note DO NOT use compressed or narrow or condensed faces for body copy.

 

OpenType fonts may contain more than 65,000 glyphs, which allows a single font file to contain many nonstandard glyphs, such as old-style figures, true small capitals, fractions, swashes, superiors, inferiors, titling letters, contextual and stylistic alternates, and a full range of ligatures.

 

 

Glyphs palette.

 

Dolly in use.

 

Dolly is a book typeface with flourishes. The family consist out of four fonts.

Dolly Regular is neutral and useful for long texts, and uses old-style figures. Dolly Italic is narrower and lighter in colour than the roman, and can be used to emphasize words within roman text. Dolly Bold is also useful in emphasizing words within roman text. It also works well as a display type. Dolly Small Caps are intended for setting whole words or strings of characters while regular roman capitals are used only for the first letter in a word. They match the roman in weight and have figures that line with the x-height (lining or tabular figures). 

 

Dolly in use. Project: Atlas of Novel Tectonics Designer: Research and Development

 

Dolly in use.

Project, Dangerous Liaisons, Designer, Éva Valicsek

 

 

  

 

Assignment

Goal: Design for sustained reading — reading for understanding and pleasure.

 

a) Using what you learned above, search through your typeface archive and make a list of all the typefaces (both sans and serif) that are good for sustained / longform reading.  Apply them to the paragraph below.

 

b) Read (!) the adapted paragraph below to create a minimum of 2–3 pages of body copy studies a) to determine your “anchor” text face and b) to learn how to treat the text faces in your archive work so they work best for sustained reading. 

 

c) How?? Make a plan. Determine the ‘sweet spot’ by making systematic small moves — a series of studies of minor modification that alter the type size, line length, leading, and flush left or justified only (and a only if absolutely necessary you may use bit of letter spacing).

 

c) Label each paragraph you typeset with: typeface name, style and weight, point size and leading (e.g. 9/12), for your favorites also list line length in picas.

 

d) Print it out and bring it to class to share. 

 

……………………………………………............................................................

Read & Use This Paragraph 

Once the demands of legibility and logical order are satisfied, evenness of color is the typographer’s normal aim. And color depends on four things: the design of the type, the spacing between the letters and the spacing between the words, and the spacing between the lines. None is independent of the others. Next the designer must choose a comfortable measure. Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.

……………………………………………............................................................

Examples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nate and Paige found cool stuff

Nate's Faves:

 

Paige's Faves:

 

Typographic Wizardry To Inspire Us.

 

Andrew Footit, Cinema 4D

Peter Tarka, Poland, Cinema 4D

Peter Tarka, Poland
Typographic Poster Design, An experimental poster design with distorted type effects by award-winning graphic design duo Sawdust from London, UK.

Wired, Sawdust, UK
Wired, Sawdust, UK

http://www.madebysawdust.co.uk/

Below is w+k12 students creation of this typographic message on a wall in their studio. 

 

if you roll over the “a” and “m” light up...

 

 

Next up is work by Julia Guther a Berlin based graphic designer. 

 

 

 

Above: Compilations for Warner Chappell Julia Guther’s  currently working on a series of compilation cover designs for »Warner Chappell Germany« – above are the first results.  More work by Julia Guther.

 

 
Below SAKS FIFTH AVENUE “WANT IT!” CAMPAIGN.  Michael Bierut at Pentagram hired Marian Bantjes to work with him on this campaign for Saks Fifth Avenue.

 

 

 

 

Thinking for a Living: Laser cut typography — Some really fun stuff from Start, a design collective made up of Phil Robson and Mathieu Carlot based in Sydney, Australia.

Jack Pierson is an artist whose discipline ebs and flows through photography, installation, collage, drawings and more....Check out the exhibition called White Noise  at the James Cohan Gallery in New York — you can view the work above in its context in the gallery...

 

Fire in the Hole by Oliver Munday.

Above construction from typeworkshop.com. 

“Results Under Actions is a text-based project and is designed with mobility and adaptation in mind. Transportable wall structures are used to display narrative footnotes or historical slogans that embody the stories of our built environment. Each is a graphic source with minimal text, presented to encourage many, varied and unique interpretations.”

 
Sagmeister installation made with pennies.

 
http://www.olimpiazagnoli.com/chalks/02.jpg

OMFGco’s brilliance with typography in environments — from vernacular to historic

OMFGco is a local studio — co-founded by PSU-GD Grad Fritz Messenbrink. 

Their broad body of work includes branding, interiors, experience, and advertising. They employ typography in environments with skill and humor. They often reference vernacular and historical typography anything from playful neon and illuminated signage, historic and hand drawn typefaces, collage, and heritage-references. (OMFGco knows their design history — see if you can locate the typographic references in time). 

If you have not spent time on their site and looked at their strategy, you should.

OMFGco’s answer to the contractor guy at an Ace Hotel who said “You can’t move the exit sign.” For more of the story, go here.

The Old 77 Hotel, New Orleans

Wired Hotel, Tokyo

Poler, Laguna

Ace Hotel

Electric Lettuce, Portland, Ore

Swiss Modernism

Swiss Style, or International Typographic Style, is often characterized by highly structured layouts and sans-serif typefaces that attempt to achieve a clear, legible, and harmonious design. A big part of typesetting in the Swiss Style is the use of grids. Check out this article: “What is Swiss Style Typography?”.

The International Typographic Style, also known as the Swiss Style, is a graphic design style that emerged in Russia, the Netherlands and Germany in the 1920s, and was made famous as it was developed by designers in Switzerland during the 1950s. ^[1] The International Typographic Style has had profound influence on graphic design as a part of the modernist movement, impacting many design-related fields including architecture and art. It emphasizes cleanliness, readability and objectivity.^[2] Hallmarks of the style are asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces like Akzidenz Grotesk, and flush left, ragged right text. The style is also associated with a preference for photography in place of illustrations or drawings. Many of the early International Typographic Style works featured typography as a primary design element in addition to its use in text, and it is for this that the style is named.^[3][4] The influences of this graphic movement can still be seen in design strategy and theory to this day. — Wikipedia

Here are some simple examples of type set in the swiss style...

Neue Grafik, it was an influ­en­tial jour­nal on graphic design pub­lished 1958 – 1965

 

The use of the grid above is necessary to help organize the three languages used in the piece. Neue Grafik, it was an influ­en­tial jour­nal on graphic design pub­lished from 1958 – 1965 by Josef Müller-Brockmann, Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg and Carlo Vivarelli. It’s essen­tially the bible for the Inter­na­tional Typo­graphic Style.

Lars Müller Pub­lish­ers released reprints of all 18 issues of Neue Grafik. 

 

 

Spread from Neue Grafik (an influ­en­tial jour­nal on graphic design pub­lished 1958 – 1965)

Pages from Neue Grafik (an influ­en­tial jour­nal on graphic design pub­lished 1958 – 1965)

Neue Grafik, it was an influ­en­tial jour­nal on graphic design pub­lished 1958 – 1965

Pages from Neue Grafik (an influ­en­tial jour­nal on graphic design pub­lished 1958 – 1965)

Joseph Muller-Brockmann Tonhalle. musica viva. Concert posters circa 1958–1971

Joseph Muller-Brockmann Tonhalle. musica viva. Concert posters circa 1958–1971

Joseph Muller-Brockmann Tonhalle. musica viva. Concert posters circa 1958–1971

Joseph Muller-Brockmann Tonhalle. musica viva. Concert posters circa 1958–1971

 

 

 

Modern interpretation / use of style of “Swiss Modernism”

 

 

References “Swiss Modernism” / Contemporary.

 

Contemporary use of “Swiss Modernism” — looking back: 30 Years of Swiss Typographic Discourse…

Contemporary use / reference of “Swiss Modernism”

Influenced by “Swiss Modernism” / Contemporary

Influenced by / contemporary use of style of “Swiss Modernism” 

Influenced by “Swiss Modernism” / Contemporary application
Modern interpretation / use of style of “Swiss Modernism”

 

Design by Kimberly Sutherland applying principles of / influenced by Swiss Modernism.

Design by Kimberly Sutherland applying principles of / influenced by Swiss Modernism.

Use of the modular grid:

 

 

Contemporary use of style of “Swiss Modernism” for website
thegridsystem.org 

Contemporary use / influenced by style of “Swiss Modernism”

 

thegridsystem.org

 

 
Contemporary design influenced “Swiss Modernism”

 

Process: Typographic Constructions / Experiments (parts 1 & 2).

For our first creative project, students select personal or public themes to express through experimental typography. They follow this up by exploring the relationship of context and point of contact to message by placing their experimental typography in various environments, formats or media. This project has tight deadlines.

Peter Le

Nimi Einstein

Inpsired by her PSU Art History course on the Spanish Empire, Charlie typeset and animated the words: IMPERIUM, RULE, AUTHORITY, COMMAND. Charlie wrote she “liked the idea of building something that seems sturdy but is actually very fragile, and subject to changes in environment. Imperium is the concept of creating an empire of many parts, but unified. I wanted to express movement in the building of the pieces, so it looks like they’re in a state of flux. I wanted it to be neat and tidy, and to appear strong. But there isn’t any reinforcement because the letters are made of thin sheets and don’t appear to be propped up. Because of this, they’re vulnerable (like an empire) to sudden change.”

Charlie Hilton’s Flickr set. 

For the second half of the project (Take It Further) Charlie animated all of here type experiments. These are amazing are animated!

 

 

Typography Poems from Cindy Sullivan on Vimeo. (Hand lettering process below)

Cindy Sullivan’s hand lettering.

Cindy Sullivan process and inspiration for the hand lettered and painted piece below.

Cindy Sullivan

 Lizzy Thompson’ explorations find inspiration in Debbie Harry’s music.

Melinda Haines:

 

Chris Lopez shared a lot of his process over the term... sharing what her learned about photoshop and photography... he also show the photogrpahy, did the handlettering, and the screenprinting, extending this first set of experiments into a term-long project.

 

Corbin LaMont:

Alie_Kouzoukian:

Bryony Redhead took one of Saroyan’s most famous poems lighght; simply the unconventionally spelled word “lighght” in the center of a blank page. “Lighght” is something you see rather than read. Bryony took this lovely piece of minimalist poetry and reinterpreted it, putting her own twist on poem / type as image…

Michelle Leigh. Daisies (Czech: Sedmikrásky) is a 1966 Czechoslovak comedy-drama film written and directed by Věra Chytilová considered a milestone of the Nová Vlna movement. Made with the support of the state-sponsored film studio, it follows two teenage girls, both named Marie, played by Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová, who engage in strange pranks.

Michelle Leigh took her type explorations and created a booklet, posters and information about the film and its director.

Very large scale painted signs by Alan Hernandez-Aguilar. Below is the projection box he built in his living room to get the letters big, big, big.

Above signs by Alan Hernandez-Aguilar.

Cheree A.



Philip Nguyen exlored a large range of ways to talk about cons of gambling.

Philip Nguyen

Chaylee Brown celebrated 80’s slang.

Chaylee Brown

Regeena Jenkins explored hand lettering, materials and the laser cutter.

Regeen Jenkins explored materials and the laser cutter.

Regeen Jenkins explored paper and wood materials and the laser cutter.

Atiana Kuriyama explored handlettering

Atiana Kuriyama explored handlettering and then final work.

Yumi Takeda explored cut letters.

Jessie Woodcock handcut condensed sans alphabet.

Jessie Woodcock

Michelle Lee

Here are a few of Cassandra Swan’s experiments: 

Here are a few 354 experiments with media/materials, language, letterforms…

Collins, Sarah, Type 2 student, Theme: Language / Words

Below Nicole Bittner documents her process (more on our flickr) in developing both large and smaller scale typography using light. She explored a range of ideas from building large-scale letters in her backyard, to smaller illuminated with miniature LED lights in framed pieces. 

Type Constructions Student Work

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Nicole Marsh, type experiments (14 singers, musicians and bands)

Part 2: Jodie Beechem type experiments (‘taking it further’ risograph)

Jodie Beechem type experiments (‘taking it further’ risograph)

Part 2: Jodie Beechem type experiments (‘taking it further’ risograph)

Part 2: Maggie Johnson Happy As A Clam, Cool As A Cucumber, Sly As A Fox series… studies below — ‘taking it further’ screen printing

Part 2: Maggie Johnson Happy As A Clam, Cool As A Cucumber, Sly As A Fox series… studies below — ‘taking it further’ screen printing

Part 2: Maggie Johnson Happy As A Clam, Cool As A Cucumber, Sly As A Fox series… studies below — ‘taking it further’ screen printing

Part 1 Rachel Goldstein’s type experiments: yes, ok, nah…

Part 1 Rachel Goldstein’s type experiments: yes, ok, nah…

Part 1 Rachel Goldstein ‘taking it further’ exploring stop motion

Hand lettered slang by Terra DeHart —‘taking it further’ on the risograph

Hand lettered slang by Terra DeHart —‘taking it further’ on the risograph

 

I Am A Robot by Jared Links —‘taking it further’ with screen printing

 

Day 1 assignment: the first (2A) fine typesetting assignment

Welcome to Typography 2. I am excited to meet (or re-meet with) all of you!

Day One Prep: Please bring a) laptop with InDesign, b) syllabus, and c) textbook worksheets found in the Handouts section in the navigation above.

In class on Monday there will be a typesetting assignment. We will typeset the two texts you will find after the jump. Use Bringhurst’s style guidelines (here they are for website design).

Why refesh our fine typesetting skills? Professional designers are expected to demonstrate fine typesetting skills, expert level, especially at the micro level (details, analaphabetic characters, etc). Please refer to: “Typelesson.pdf”  by Nick Shin for assistance. 

You can find the copy for the typesetting assignment 2a after the jump… 

Typographic Experiments!

Tyler Spencer’s spring 2015 type experiment from our class picked up by Powells…

Test screen prints by Tyler Spencer:

 

 

Elise Furlan — digital 3-D printing — public library and PSU

Maia Dlugolecki Risograph printing PSU-GD

Maia Dlugolecki Risograph printing PSU-GD

Maia Dlugolecki Risograph printing PSU-GD

Ashley Vaughn, a) cut paper and hand lettering b) animated gifs

Jordan Akouka, digital explorations of the four elements

Jordan Akouka, digital explorations of the four elements

Jordan Akouka, digital explorations of the four elements

Jeannie Vuong, paper

 

Jeannie Vuong, paper

Jeannie Vuong, paper

Jeannie Vuong, paper

Piper Hayworth, quotations from Martin Luther King

Piper Hayworth, quotations from Martin Luther King

 Piper Hayworth, quotations from Martin Luther King

Kristen Johnson

 Kristen Johnson

 

Gavin Miller, Theme: 80s hand lettering and posters

Gavin Miller, Theme: 80s hand lettering and posters

Gavin Miller’s Theme: 80s hand lettering and posters

 

Traditional Typography & Layout

The crafts of Western typography, type-founding and typeface design began in mid-15th-century Europe with the introduction of movable type printing as the medieval era transitions into the Renaissance. Movable type helped spread cultural of learning and enquiry orginating in Italy throughout much of the rest of Europe. — Elif Ayiter

First page of the first volume of the Gutenberg Bible, printed with an early textur typeface c. 1455. The decorative colored initials were hand-lettered separately by a scribe. — Wikipedia

Above: Van de Graaf devised this construction to show how Gutenberg and others may have divided their page to achieve their margins and a type area in the same proportions as the page. — Canons of Page Construction, Wikipedia

During the Renaissance literacy spread (both the ability to read and to write). Diaries, notebooks, notes, and letter writing became very popular with the upper classes. Calligraphy masters travelled to teach the educated elite the art of calligraphy, page layout and lettering.

“Renaissance notebooks, late 15th to mid 16th centuries.”— Elif Ayiter

Above “is a letter of the famous Italian scholar Pietro Bembo, after whom the typeface ‘Bembo’ was named by it’s creator Francesco Griffi. — Elif Ayiter

Leonardo da Vinci (between 1490 and 1495) recorded his studies and ideas in meticulously illustrated notebooks with extraordinary page layouts. — Elif Ayiter

“The great intellectual movement of Renaissance Italy was humanism. The humanists believed that the Greek and Latin classics contained both all the lessons one needed to lead a moral and effective life and the best models for a powerful Latin style. They developed a new, rigorous kind of classical scholarship, with which they corrected and tried to understand the works of the Greeks and Romans, which seemed so vital to them. Both the republican elites of Florence and Venice and the ruling families of Milan, Ferrara, and Urbino hired humanists to teach their children classical morality and to write elegant, classical letters, histories, and propaganda.” — Elif Ayiter

Mush of page sizes and text boxes in this post are rectanglar, many use or refer to the golden ratio. Consider using the golden ratio to determine the size and proportions of your traditional page layout

The Parthenon in Athens, built by the ancient Greeks from 447 to 438 BC, is regarded by many to illustrate the application of the Golden Ratio in design (some disagree).  The Golden Ratio (or section) is approximately equal to 1.618.

“The golden ratio has fascinated Western intellectuals of diverse interests for at least 2,400 years. The golden ratio also is called the golden mean or golden section. Mathematicians since Euclid have studied the properties of the golden ratio, including its appearance in a golden rectangle, which may be cut into a square and a smaller rectangle with the same aspect ratio.” — Wikipedia

From Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton.

Pages from Champs Fleury, 1529 — Elif Ayiter

John Baskerville (1706 – 1775) was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and type designer. — Wikipedia

Pierre Simon Fournier (1712 – 1768) was a French mid-eighteenth century punch-cutter, typefounder and typographic theoretician, master of the rococo form. Typefaces designed by Fournier include Fournier and Narcissus.

François-Ambroise Didot (1730–1804) succeeded his father François, and was appointed printer to the clergy in 1788.  About 1780 he adapted the “point” system for sizing typefaces by width. 

Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813). Bodoni followed the ideas of John Baskerville, as found in the printing type Baskerville: increased stroke contrast and a more vertical, slightly condensed, upper case; but took them to a more extreme conclusion. Bodoni had a long career and his designs evolved and varied, ending with a typeface of narrower underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs, extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes, and an overall geometric construction. —Wikipedia

Is this just ALL about aesthetics? Context, concept, message, historic reference (as needed) and aesthetics are all important in making design decisions. Your goal is to refine the variables and relationships between point size, leading, words per line (line length), margins and column/s to create the greatest ease of reading.

A general list of visual elements / layout and typographic style to use:

• serif typeface/s
• symmetrical design
• golden section or golden mean page proportions and text area (play with these ratios / potential page sizes: 8:5, 16:10 and 1.6:1—all are the same aspect ratio, the last is the golden ratio).
• centered typography for headers (diminuendo for fun!)
• uppercase or small caps letter spaced for headers and subheads
• justified or flush left for body copy
• single column layout (10–15 words no less than 7 per line) or refer to Bringhurst’s Choose a comfortable measure: “Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.”
• printed text read from approx. distance of 12–13.5 inches
• margins at the bottom of the page and outside edges are the largest

Contemporary design using traditional typography and symmetrical page layout.

Above Martin Venesky’s “Take 2: Women Revisiting Art History covered a twenty-five year span of artwork by a roster of influential women. I designed the catalog with reference to a design past that included classical typography and handcrafted, collaged ornaments.” — Martin Venesky

Below Kinfolk’s use of traditional typography / symmetrical layout:

Frank Chimero

Frank Chimero

Classical page layout applied to design for tablet.

Above two images are student work by Linnea Sigurdson, Graphic Design at Berghs School of Communication, Stockholm. Book design assignment in symmetrical typography. This assignment was to make a classical book series using symmetrical typography.

  

ffffound

 

214 Magazine by Shaz Madani

 

Insider Magazine by Shaz Madan

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Who’s Jack Magazine Designed by SAWDUST

Magazine Designed By Francesca Valad

Slanted Magazine Designed by Magma Brand Design  
 

found on graphic-exchange.com