0205 Proportion

Understanding Letter Form Construction

Historical Context

  • Many attempts were made to understand the geometry of letter forms.

  • The proportions of letter forms derive from historical letter designs.

  • Trajan Inscription: A significant 1st-century Roman inscription often used as a reference for capital letter proportions.

    • Proportional Camps:

      • Letters fitting into a square.

      • Letters fitting into a vertical rectangle.

Lowercase Letter Forms

  • Initially based on Renaissance calligraphy.

  • Key early type designers: Jensen and Garamond, whose designs set standards for later typefaces.

  • Emphasis on the fact that historical models can inform, but not dictate modern design choices.

Study of Proportions in Fonts

Importance of Historical Fonts

  • Examining significant fonts can provide insight into proportion evolution:

    • Baskerville

    • Bodoni

    • Century

    • Helvetica

    • Times Roman

Key Proportional Characters

  • Lowercase Characters

    • n: Establishes height and width for lowercase letters.

    • o: Determines visual equality for rounded letters.

  • Capital Characters

    • h: Sets the height and width for capital letters.

    • o: Helps in understanding the visual width of rounded capitals.

Serif Structure and Proportions

  • The n and h guide the structure of serifs:

    • Full serifs, half serifs, and wedge serifs.

Ascenders and Descenders

Measurement Fixedness

  • Ascenders generally extend above the cap height but this may vary in sans serif designs.

  • The height between the top of ascenders and the bottom of descenders is consistent.

    • Height variables: include the capitals height, x height, and baseline placement.

Impact of Proportional Adjustments

  • Changes in x height affect ascending and descending characters, necessitating adjustments to all proportional elements.

    • Example: If x height increases, descender height or ascender height must decrease.

Design Methodology

  • Importance of being methodical in proportion testing:

    • Careful measurements should be taken regularly to prevent extensive rework later in the design process.