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A Type Specimen

Designed and edited by Erica Stivison

Published 2008

GDES 1314 Typography I

Text by Elliott Earls

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As theletterformprogresses through successive stages o development and

reinement, the process becomes increasingly optical. When the impulse or the

idea or a ont springs primarily rom optical phenomena, such as mark making,

drawing, handwriting, or manipulation o ormal elements, it may be considered

to have sprung rom exclusively ormal extrapolation.The resolution o a ont, the

successive development and reinement, is always an optical endeavor.

Letterformsare in large measure governed by social contract and simple

optical principles, such as the ones preached by our now debased and debunked

High Priest o Visual Thinking, Rudol Arnheim. And while there are obviously ar

hipper and much more contemporary developments with in cognitive science and

perceptual psychology, issues o balance, harmony, scale, as well as principles o

gestalt, all have a bearing on the unction and legibility oletterforms.

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r rmletterformsletterforms

letterormsletterforms

letterformsletterforms

letterforms

letterforms

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The simple process of making

marks on paper is less of an intellec-

tual process than a biological pro-

cess. One must cultivate a feel for

proportion, solidity, balance, etc.Excuse the digression, but when I

talk about developing a feel, I know

that some of you are rolling your

eyes. Some of you may think that

the term feel might be likened tothe term taste, with all of its class

overtones and attendant critiques.

Well, back the f@*k up.

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Im suggesting that one develops a eel not magically, or through

attendance at the nest schools, but through rigorous application, and

through working damn hard at acquiring a set o very concrete skills,

then orgetting them. And what would those skills be to which one must

dedicate him or hersel only to eventually orget?

Manipulative skills, rst person, hand/

eye-coordinated, fesh-based skills. What

in jazz they call chops, and in design they

call undamental graphic exercises line

rhythms, gradation, and gure/ground

studies.

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repertoire,theory,

andphysical

application

Music is the appropriate metaphor. In music, rigorous study o

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is what allows the musician the improvisational reedom to move the listener.

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Musical instrument perormance represents the perect synthesis

o theory and practice. Theory is study understood and fnallyapplied. But the essence is that theory (or thinking) is orgotten

in the moment o perormance. In the visual arts, as in music, it is

important to ollow a developmental trajectory that ater diligent

application ultimately includes not so much orgetting, as not payingactive attention to these principles. You must trust yoursel, and work

by eel. Rely on the totality o your experience. Rely on your history

to guide you. Think through the body. Arrive on the beautiul shores

o naivete and anti-mastery only ater toiling in the felds o mastery.

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If at this pointyou feel the need to accuse me

of antiintellectualism,youd be barking up thewrong tree. Im an advocate of practice in-

formed by theoryand life. Its reallya question

of priorities and balance. And Id like to be clear

here. I am not suggesting that the type designprocess necessarilyadheres to a strict taxonom-

ic progression. And Im certainlynot an advo-

cate of a rigid categorical approach to design of

anyform. Quite the contrary

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Its my contention that the edge condition, the tension

that exists in the gap, is where the action is. But for the

designer interested in beginning to come to grips with

letterform design, locating ones work within the three

categories described above is often helpful.

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The question I am most often asked by students is some variationof the following:

Where do you begin?

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My answer is twofold.

First, one should never use the

term concept in same sen-

tence as the word typeface.

Typefaces are not concep-

tual, they are formal (1).

Second, I tell them to study examplessuch as Zuzana Lickos Mrs. Eaves, whichis an excellent example of an historical

revival; Christian Schwartz Los Feliz, whichis an excellent example of vernacularreinterpretation; and Frank HinesRemedy, which is based on pure formalextrapolation.

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Students who begin drawing typefaces must rst learn to look at type-

faces. I am often shocked and amazed at my students rst attempts to

construct, for instance, the termination of a stroke. It usually involves a

student using Fontographer. And when looking closely at the letter-

form, one often notices a complete lack of rigor, coupled with a hyper-

kinetic line quality, which almost always leaves me with the impression

that Im teaching type design to a class of methamphetamine addicts.

(Which I have found is usually not the case.) One need look no further

than the plenitudinous oerings of foundries such as T-26 or Garage

Fonts to nd textbook examples of this undisciplined methamphet-

amine line.

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Erica Stivison

Printed at St. Edwards University

HP Color Laser Printer

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