Type Notes

Who invented movable type?

Johannes Gutenberg

• 15th century Germany

What typeface classification did Gutenburg’s movable type most closely represent?

Blackletter

• . His typography took cues from the dark, dense handwriting of the period

What were the original names of “uppercase” and “lowercase” in the original storage of movable type?

majuscules & minuscules

New Contemporary Typography Classification System

needs to include global writing systems, including but not limited to...Hangul (Korean), Chinese, Cyrillic (ie, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia) Devangari (ie Sanskrit, Hindi).

• Over a billion people do not use Latin based writing systems.

• Replaced the Vox System (Western/Latin Based)

variable fonts

variable weights and styles based on a single set of letterforms in one font file

OTF

open type file

blackletter

• Also referred to as Block, Gothic, Fraktur or Old English

• Heavy script drawn by hand

• Used during the middle ages,

1100 to 1450’s

• Gutenberg based his movable type on Blackletter

humanist

• ‘Venetian’ Types

• Modeled on the lighter, more

open forms of the Italian humanist writers.

• Appeared around 1460s–1470s

• Evidence of the human hand,

rooted in calligraphy

• Modern examples: Centaur, Adobe Jenson, and Kennerly

old style

• ‘Garalde’ Types

• Improved punchcutter skills

reflected in Oldstyle types

• Late 1400s and on

• More refined and sharper

• Modern examples: Adobe Garamond, Stemple Garamond, Sabon, and Goudy Old Style

transitional

Further refinement of forms,

little influence of the pen

• During The Enlightenment, 18th c

• More constrast in weight

• Modern examples: Bookman,

Cheltenham (ITC), Clearface (ITC), Fournier, and Mrs. Eaves (Emigre)

• Epitomy of Transitional is Baskerville

modern

• ‘Didones’

• During The Enlightenment, 18th c

• More constrast in weight:

thicks/thin strokes

• Beautiful but less functional

• Needs a lot of white space

• Modern examples: Didot, Bodoni

and New Caledonia

Egyptian slab serifs

• Also called Antiques

• Inspired by a new wave in advertising during the Industrial Revolution

• ‘Maximism’...do more!

• Thick, clunky serifs

• Modern examples: Archer, Adelle, Museo Slab, American Typewriter

and Officina

Sans Serif

Geometric, Humanist, Transitional/Grotesque

• First sans serif 1816 by William

Caslon IV

• Characterized by the absence

of serifs

• Reflective of technological

developments of the time

• Modern examples: Mr Eaves,

Futura, Gill Sans, Century Gothic,

and Proxima Nova

script

• Based on handwriting using a nib, broad edged pen or brush.

• Typically decorative

• Harder to use and works best in small doses

• Best known: Zapf Chancery,

Poetica, and Medici Script

display

• For those typefaces that do not

easily fit into another category

• Works best at large sizes

• More eccentric and variable

• Distressed, drop shadow, outline, shaded, inline, handtooled, extreme, mixed case, etc.

• Needs to pair with a typeface that

is more neutral

What are the 9 classifications of the Latin Type Classification Model

• blackletter (Gouttenburg)

• humanist (Jenson)

• old style (Garamond)

• transitional (Baskerville & Caslon)

• modern (Didot)

• egyptian slab serif (American Typewriter)

• sans serif (Futura)

• script (Any cursive)

• display (endless possibilities)

what is the process called that is applied to letters to make them work at small sizes

• (before vector technology truly rose)

hinting

12 points =

1 pica

6 picas =

72 points

72 points =

1 inch

hyphen

• shortest

• used to make compound words or join prefixes/suffixes

en dash

• medium length

• width of an uppercase N

• used for time & dates

em dash

• longest of the 3

• width of an uppercase M

• used for a pause within a sentence or to offset an idea