SM2222: Information Design and Visualization

Session 3: Typography

23 September 2005

• the Greek words - typos = “form” , grapho = “write”

• the art and technique of selecting and arranging type styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing for typeset applications.

• the presentation of text in a manner that is not only easy to read but also visually engaging

what is typography?

• German metal-worker• inventor of movable type

Johannes Gutenberg (1398 –1468)

Gutenberg Bibles. February 23, 1455

• Black Letter• Roman• Old Style• Transitional• Modern• Egyptian• Sans Serif

classifications of type

classifications of type – black letter

classifications of type - roman

classifications of Type – old style

• a style of Roman letter

• less thick and thin contrast

• typefaces: Garamond (1530), Caslon (1734), Palatino (1948)

classifications of Type – transitional

• new letterform was developed in 1702 – 1737

• intermediate between Old Style and Modern

• greater contrast between capital and lowercase letters

• typefaces: Baskerville, Century Schoolbook

classifications of Type – modern

• it was introduced in France in 1784

• extreme thick and thin contrast, no bracketed serifs

• typefaces: Bondoni (1787)

classifications of Type – egyptian/slab serif

• squared-off serifs were introduced

• reflected the rigidness of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics

• typefaces: Rockwell (1933), Geometric Slabserif

classifications of Type – sans serif

• without the thick and thin line variations

• without ornamentation

• extreme thick and thin contrast, no bracketed serifs

• typefaces: Futura (1927), Helvetica (1957), Univers

Timeline

a period of bauhaus (1919 – 1933)

• established in German in 1919

• WWI 1914 - 1918

• founded by Walter Gropius

• form follows function

• to unify art, craft, and technology

• architecture, furniture design,

typography, graphic design

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895 – 1946)

“Typography is a tool of communication. It must be communication in its most intense form. The emphasis must be on absolute clarity...Legibility – communication must never be impaired by an a priori esthetics. Letters must never be forced into a preconceived framework…We want to create a new language of typography whose elasticity, variability and freshness of typographical composition”

Herbert Bayer (1900-1985)

• omitted capital letters in 1925

• experimented with flush-left, ragged-right

• design universal type to maximize legibility

• extreme contrasts of type size and weight

• bars, rules, points and squares were used

Jan Tschichold (1902–1974)

• issued 24-page of “elementare typographie” in 1925

• demonstrated asymmetrical typography

• the aim of typographic work delivers a message in the shortest and most efficient manner

• type should be placed in motion rather than at rest

• type should be elementary in pure form w/o ornament (such as Sans Serif)

Eric Gill (1882–1940)

• Gill Sans designer

• inspired by Edward Johnston’s alphabet

• typefaces designed in 1928 - 1930

Paul Renner (1878-1956)

• Futura designer

• inspired by Bayer’s universal alphabet

• typefaces designed in 1927

Union Pacific Railroad

Herb Lubalin (1918 - 1981)

• space and surface

• characters as both visual form and message communication

• letterforms became images, images became letterforms

• making type talk

• phototypography

the anatomy of type

• Upper & Lower case

• Numbers : 0 – 9

• Punctuation marks

• Special Characters: $,…

• Ascender

• Descender

• X – height

• Baseline

• Serif

• Stem

• Counter

• Point and Pica

• 6 picas = 1 inch

• 12 points = 1 pica

• 72 points = 1 inch

leading

kerning

alignment

emphasis: a block of text

hierarchy

horizontal & vertical scaling

type and visual

david carson