Context Typographers and type foundries (the companies that commission and produce typefaces) have always had to promote their latest designs to printers and designers to show off a particular typeface, its different fonts in a variety of sizes and contexts, and the unique features of it. Once Specimen Sheets were the main way of doing this. Nowadays most of that marketing takes place online – research type foundries on the internet.
Brief
Design the font for use on the cover of a magazine called type and write a short article for the magazine using a range of typefaces, with typographic illustrations, drawing on all that you have learned in this section. The article should include sections on: • what makes a typeface interesting • how a typeface is constructed • question marks.
Requirements Do a mock up of the magazine cover to show where and how your title font will appear along with other cover elements. Produce a magazine article that is attractive and interesting enough for someone to want to pick it up to read, and which shows off what that you have learnt so far about typography. Add illustrations, photographs and colours as you want.
Analysing the brief
Key words:
Design a font
Type
Cover page
Article
Attractive
WH Questions:
Who is the target audience? Whoever is interested in typography.
How to publish it? Printer
How to make the magazine stands out? It needs some research.
Whatfont should I choose? It needs some research.
What is the colour palette? It needs some research.
Primary research
Research about typeface design
Secondary research
Typography magazines
Primary research: Typeface design
Pinterestboard
Pinterest board of typeface design
Secondary research: Typography magazines
Pinterest board
By looking at these examples, what I think that help them to be attractive are:
Quirkiness
Bold colours
layout
Grids
The name of the magazine is not necessarily important. They all have some different elements which distinguishes them from others.
Mind mapping
Since calligraphy is one of my interests, I have decided to go for a calligraphy typeface for my font design.
I knew through my research that there are quite a lot of script fonts. For my design I would like to make fonts fancier with more decorative elements.
Design process
Initial magazine layout sketch
I used Procreat on my iPad pro to sketch my letters. I can understand that for each letter I probably need to make couple of versions to help the combinations of letters work together.
Then I took letters “T, Y, P, E” to Illustrator and used pen tool to trace the letters. Shape builder tool and width tool were used as well.
For the background, I have made a pattern on Procreat.
Then I took it to the photoshop and added some colour and used multiply blending mode.
To design the magazine, I created an A4 document in Indesign. The margins were set to 15 mm for the top, bottom and outside and 18 mm for inside. The bleed were set to 3 mm. The number of columns 4 and gutter 4.2 mm. The font that used is Roboto Bold, Regular and Italic. 12 pt for the body text and larger size for the headings and subheadings.
The image for the inside of the magazine is from Pexels.com.
Blending mode and transparency were used for the effects.
This part was an opportunity for me to research and learn more about typography and font design. I think that I have a better understanding about typefaces, their structures and the mood that they represent in each content after this part. I believe I still need to learn more about typefaces and fonts.
Designing a font was a challenge, however, I was enjoying the whole process. My font choice was a decorative font and I really like the overall outcome, which I think it reflects my style. But I need a professional eye to criticise my work. So I am looking forward to hearing my tutor’s feedback.
References
Carter, R. Day, B. Masa, S. Megastar, Ph. Sanders, M. (2015) Typographic Design: Form and Communication
Using about 500 words of Lorum Ipsum (or other dummy text) you are going to design three different pages: • an interview with a TV actor in a listings magazine entitled: Will Sheila tell the naked truth? • a review of a new piece of hardware or software in a specialist computer magazine. • a book review in a newspaper’s weekend edition. Research these types of publications and identify three different combinations of typefaces appropriate for each publication. Now you need to invent headings and subheadings for your articles. Set these combinations so that your header is above 12pt in size, your body text is 12pt or below and subheadings sit in between in your hierarchy. You will need to create some text to allow you to show your combinations in action. Use your text to describe your decision making process, why you think the combination works and what your intentions were.
An interview with a TV actor in a listings magazine entitled
Primary Research
I searched through RBdigital magazines and found couple of TV listing magazines and took a screenshot of some pages.
The listing magazines
By looking at these examples, my understandings are:
Very colourful
Lots of images
The combination of serif, sans serif and script typefaces for the headlines
Body texts are either serif or sans serif typefaces but mostly sans serif typeface
The typeface for the subheadings are mostly the same typeface as body text but bolder and bigger
Drop cap applied in most pages
Font pairing
Design process
I started with an initial sketch for the layout of my page.
Initial sketch for the layout
Through my research, I found that TV magazine’s sizes are A4 (210*297 mm). In InDesign I opened a document and set the top, bottom and outside margins to 15 mm and inside margin to 18 mm. The bleed was set to 3 mm.
Lipsum.com was used to generate 500 words lorem Ipsum.
Font pairing
I had a look at the couple of font pairings and I decided to go for Lust Slim and Artifact for the heading Regular 44 pt and Proxima Nova Soft Regular 11 pt for the Subheading and body text.
A review of a new piece of hardware or software in a specialist computer magazine
Primary research
The tech magazines
By looking at these examples, my understandings are:
The backgrounds are white
Mono or duotone colour for the types
Couple of images of the device
Name and model of the device at the top of the page or underneath a photo of the device
serif typeface for the headings and subheadings
Sans serif typefaces for the body text
Specification box at the bottom
Design process
Initial sketch for the layout
I opened an A4 document in InDesign and set the top, bottom and outside margins to 13 mm and inside margin to 14 mm. The bleed was set to 3 mm for each side.
Lipsum.com was used to generate 500 words lorem Ipsum.
Font pairing
After some research about font pairing for the tech magazines, I’ve chosen Garamond Bold 31 pt for the heading and Garamond Bold 17 pt for the subheading and Helvetica Regular 10 pt for the body text.
A book review in a newspaper’s weekend edition
Primary research
Newspaper’s weekend edition
By looking at these examples, my understandings are:
White background
Mono or duotone colour for the types
Couple of images of the book cover and the author
A combination of a serf typeface and a sans serif typeface
Drop cap applied mostly
A serif typeface is mostly used for the body text
Design process
Initial sketch for the layout
For the newspaper, I’ve opened a 315*470 mm document in InDesign. 13 mm margin for all sides and 3 mm bleed.
Lipsum.com was used to generate 500 words lorem Ipsum.
Font pairing
I used Baskerville Bold 64 pt for the heading, Open Sans semibold Italic 43 pt for the subheading. Baskerville Regular 12 pt for the body text.
Self reflection
I am really glad that l have finished this exercise. This exercise helped me become more familiar with InDesign. Also, made me to research more about each publication and find a lot about different layouts for each publication, type hierarchy to convey a particular message to the target audiences as well as font pairings. Using different fonts help to catch the viewer’s eye. Also, I found out that to adjust a text in a document besides the font size, there are other elements, which need to be considered like, kerning, leading. Text wrap is important as well to adjust an image on the document. I also found out that the number of the columns, margin and gutter sizes can be different in each publication, which depends on the amount of the text and the overall look of the layout.
Lorem Ipsum is dummy text with more-or-less normal distribution of letters that makes it look like readable English. It has been used for many years and some desktop publishing packages now use it as their default model text. If you don’t have it already, go to http://www.lipsum.com and generate as much as you need. Now select one of the designs from your research that you like and think works. Using the dummy text, try and copy the layout and design as closely as possible. You will need to measure the margins and column widths. If you don’t have the exact typeface get as near as you can. If you are copying a page that includes photographs just leave 10% tinted boxes to indicate their position. Is the type serif or sans serif? Is the text set ragged or justified? Are there spaces after paragraphs or are new paragraphs indented? How many columns are there to a page? What happens when you alter the fonts, change the alignment, adjust the leading or tracking?
I have access to more than 3000 magazine titles through RBdigital. I had a look at couple of them and chose an article from Woman & Home magazine.
Then used Adobe capture to detect the fonts that have been used on this article.
I was able to install the fonts, I was looking for apart from Memo Banner, which I couldn’t find the free version. So I went to my second choice which was Lust.
Then I took the page to InDesign and set the view to actual size to be able to use the ruler to make the measurements for the margins and gutter.
After that I set up InDesign based on those measurements.
Self reflection
It was a nice experience in terms of analysing magazine layouts, typefaces, hierarchies and the balance between the type and other elements on the page.
I did try to choose the closest fonts, which was available to me to make my design as close as possible to the original design.
InDesign is quite new to me, with this exercise I had the opportunity to improve my knowledge and deep dive into this software.
Create your own sample book of typefaces on your computer that you can refer to. Organise them into: • Serif for continuous text; readable at small sizes and those suitable for headings. • San-serif for continuous text; readable at small sizes and for headings. • Script fonts that look handwritten with a pen or brush. • Decorative fonts only suitable for headings or ‘fun’ uses. • Fixed width, techno and pixel fonts for use on the web or to give a computer appearance. Identify which typefaces have bold, italic, black or light fonts. Now identify which fonts you might use in each of the following commissions: • A short story in a woman’s magazine entitled “I thought I loved him; now I’m not so sure”. The story is 1300 words long so you will need to identify a text font and a headline font. • An advertisement in a parish magazine asking for more helpers on the flower rota. The finished size is A6 landscape and the text reads: “Can you add that important artistic flourish to our church? We desperately need more volunteers to join the flower rota. If you can help or would like more information please contact Jennie jennie@vicarage.co.uk.” • A poster to advertise an after-school club for boys aged 13 – 14. The poster will be A3 size and the copy reads: “Bored? Feeling got at? Nowhere to go? Then why not come and join us on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school in the Old Gym. We’ve got football, ping pong, table soccer, computers, Karate, cooking and lots more. All free just come along.” • Your friends’ engagement party. They want a flyer A5 size to send to their friends as if advertising a club night. The copy reads: “Mandy and Josh are finally going to do it…well almost!!!!! Come and join them on Friday 24 March from 8pm at the Golden Calf to celebrate their long awaited engagement… and yes lots of presents would be gratefully received particularly if we can drink them!!!!! Then have a go at mocking up each of these. Try different fonts to see how each changes the feel of the text and make notes in your learning log about which works best and why.
What to consider, when choosing a type?
Selecting an appropriate typeface or family for text usage is a key aspect of a design project. The best starting point is to confirm the requirements of your client and the needs of the audience.
Making the time to explore appropriate font options – whether it takes a few minutes or most of a day – is a smart investment. It will pave the way for an effective design solution and save time in the long run.
Here are seven key factors to consider when searching for an appropriate text typeface:
Demographics Know who your intended audience is, including their age range and particular interests. Be clear on the goals of the piece. Whether you are selling a product or service, or providing information or entertainment, your typographic objective is to engage the audience. For instance, a very young audience (such as that for children’s books) requires a typeface with simple letterforms that “beginning reader” eyes can easily make out. On the other hand, designing for a high tech audience might warrant a typeface that looks clean and modern, or even edgy.
Legibility To attract and hold the reader’s attention, typefaces intended for text should be legible and easy to read. Save more decorative, eye-catching designs for headlines, titles, and other more prominent usages.
Copy length For a book, magazine or newspaper, the typeface you select will be used to set lengthy copy. For this purpose, the degree of required legibility is greater than if the typeface were being used for just a few lines or a paragraph or two. For shorter copy, a typeface with a bit more personality can be considered, because the reader’s attention is less likely to be distracted.
Serif vs Sans It is commonly accepted that serif typefaces are easier to read for lengthy copy than sans serifs, especially at smaller sizes. This is true in many situations, but not an absolute rule. Other factors to consider before making your decision include the reading environment, meaning whether it will be in print or on the Web, and the design characteristics – especially the legibility – of the typeface being considered.
Font family size Explore the project’s typographic requirements, and determine beforehand how large a font family is needed to meet all of your typographic needs. While two weights with italics might be enough for some jobs, others might require additional weights and versions to create good visual hierarchy necessary for a strong, effective piece.
Special features: Many projects can benefit from the use of small caps, multiple figure styles, fractions, an expanded range of ligatures, alternate characters and perhaps even swashes – or expanded foreign language support. Many of today’s OpenType fonts come with some or all of these features. Be sure to check for those you require when conducting your search.
Print, Web, or other media: What media do you need the typeface for? Be aware of all media in which the typeface or family will need to appear. If just print, then your font search will be simpler. But if it is needed for the Web (via Web fonts), ebooks, smart phones, or other uses, you will need a typeface that is available and appropriate for all usages, and performs well in all required environments.
Sample book of typefaces
I searched for some example of a sample book of typefaces, I found THE TYPE SPECIMEN BOOK. I had a look at some samples from inside the book for some inspiration.
I decided to make a sample book for some of my chosen typefaces. I have chosen one example for each category.
Serif font: Garamond
Sans-serif font: Raleway
Script font: Artifact
Decorative font: Blenny
Fixed width, techno and pixel font: Courier
I have chosen the same sentence for all my font choices to be able to compare the amount of space they need.
I am going to stick to my chosen typefaces in this specimen book for this exercise.
A short story in a woman’s magazine
Examples of woman’s magazines
Initial sketch
Design process
I found my image from pexels.com, in Photoshop I added more background. Then moved it to Indesign for the background. From a Loren Ipsum generator website, I generate 1300 words of Loren Ipsum and paste it to my document. Because it’s quite a wordy text, I went for a serif typeface (Garamond 10 pt) for the body text. And wanted to pair it with a sans-serif typeface (Raleway) for the heading.
I made another version, using Blenny for the heading.
It’s obvious that the second version doesn’t show the seriousness of the story because of the fun typeface used for the heading.
An advertisement in a parish magazine
Initial sketch
Design process
I used Photoshop for this ad on a parish magazine,. I found my image from pexels.com and added more background to it. I paired A script typeface(Artifact) with a sans-serif typeface(Raleway). Then made another version, using Courier typeface instead of Artifact. The second version lost its sense of artistic feeling.
A poster to advertise an after-school club for boys aged 13 – 14
Initial sketch
Design process
For this poster, I have used Illustrator. Because of the subject, I paired Courier typeface with Raleway. Then made another version with Artifact typeface and Garamond. The first version has got a modern feel and I think it’s more suitable for this poster and the target audience.
A5 size flyer
Design process
I used Photoshop to make this design. For this flyer I wanted something funky and fun. I have found the image on pexels.com. I paired Benny typeface and Raleway to give it a funky and modern look.
For the second version, I used Raleway instead of Blenny and Garamond instead of Raleway. It’s obvious that the flyer’s loosing it’s fun and funky feeling.
Self reflection
The exercise did however serve its purpose. It showed me how type can influence the design of various documents and the feel of the overall publication. It also depended on the target audience as to which typefaces would be appropriate for them. The type of publication can influence what typefaces should be used and who they appeal to.
This exercise was really useful in making me more aware of how type and the way it is used can have a big impact on what is being designed.
It was an interesting but long exercise. It helped me to deep dive into the fonts and typefaces. Also, it was an opportunity to practice InDesign.
For the first part, which was making a sample book, I had some problem to choose one typeface for each category out of all the available typefaces. After using my chosen typefaces for my designs, I was not sure if I had a good choice or not. For example I chose Garamond as my serif category, but after using it as a body text I wasn’t quite sure about some letters eg. letter “g”. Maybe Bodoni was the better choice!
For the second part, designing a flyer, a poster and an ad was quite easy, since I was quite confident with Photoshop and Illustrator. Hence designing a magazine was a bit challenge. It took me some time to get myself familiarize with the software features.
I tried to pair two fonts for each design and to show that It works, I swapped some fonts in each design. And made a mock-up from the final design.
I can say that after this exercise, I can understand the influence of using each typeface in various documents to give it a right feel. For choosing a appropriate type we need some information about the purpose of the document as well as knowing the target audiences. Comparing two exact designs with different fonts speaks for itself.
Vernacular typography can be very well crafted but it can also be crudely created signs done in a hurry. Either way it is using typography and lettering to create visual communications. Take a look around you and identify some vernacular typography that you find interesting. Document it through drawing, photography or by collecting examples. Remember to ask permission if you are photographing inside train stations, markets, shops, museums or shopping centres for example. Getting permission is usually straightforward, especially when people know you are working on a student project. In your learning log note down why you selected the examples you did.
Vernacular meaning
Adjective: (of language) native or indigenous (opposed to literary or learned). Expressed or written in the native language of a place, as literary works: a vernacular poem. Using such a language: a vernacular speaker. Of or relating to such a language.
Noun: the native speech or language of a place. The language or vocabulary peculiar to a class or profession.
Wherever you go – from around the corner to around the world – examples of local, “vernacular” typography and lettering can be seen in storefronts, street and address markers, circuses and carnivals, posters, billboards, graffiti, and a lot more. This vanishing art consisting of handwriting, hand lettering, as well as commercially typeset images is an important form of urban communication.
I’ve collected some boards from Pinterest, because of the current situation and couldn’t go out to take any photos myself.
What I liked about Vernacular typography is randomness of shapes, creativity, inconsistency used in lettering. Also there is an endless in variety of letter forms around us and there is always something new to be inspired by. I would like to try to make some of my own Vernacular typography design.
This exercise is designed to help you to look at typefaces more closely. You will need a sharp pencil, some tracing or thin paper and a ruler. On the facing page the typeface Baskerville has been deconstructed so it only contains the strokes, serifs and bowls that are common to all the letterforms. Your task is to try and put it all back together again to read the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog This is a pangram containing all the letters of the alphabet. It is all in lowercase. Start by drawing your baseline, determine the x height by identifying a whole letter such as x, e or n and draw your median line. This should provide a good starting point to try and piece together all the other elements. Remember that some parts will be used more than once, for example the same stem will be used in several letters. Try and account for all the parts without leaving any stray serifs behind. Do not worry if you get this exercise wrong, it is just a way to get used to looking at and analysing typefaces, appreciating the finer detailing of it and recognising repeat patterns, such as using the same bowl shape throughout the typeface. If you do get it wrong then you might have ended up designing your first typeface! Having spent some time looking closely at typefaces, has your appreciation of them increased? If so in any particular aspect? Do you think that understanding more about how typefaces are constructed will be useful to you in future? Make notes in your learning blog.
Primary research
Research about anatomy of typefaces
Research about anatomy of Baskerville
Anatomy of typefaces
Anatomy of Baskerville
Writing process
I have used Procreat for this exercise. I have put a copy of the type parts on one layer and brought the transparency down and made the letters on the layers above.
Conclusion
This exercise gave me a good insight of the anatomy of typography and typeface design. It’s interesting that by having the certain elements of the typeface, you are able to rebuild the whole typeface. I should say l had some difficulty to rebuild some letters, like “a”. Also the round part for “b, d, p and q”.
The alphabet is only part of a typeface that contains lots of different characters such as numbers, punctuation, mathematical and monetary symbols and ligatures. Ligatures are where two letters are combined together to make printing easier. Explore you computer keyboard to find some of the other characters. You will need to use your shift, alt and cntrl keys. Choose a magazine, for example the Big Issue or Heat, and look at the main typefaces they use for the body text and headlines. Go to http://www.identifont.com and use the programme to identify the fonts. Look at the ranges of typefaces all around you and try to identify their distinguishing characteristics. Make notes in your learning log.
First Part
For the start I have tried using Alt/ Shift/ Ctrl with different keys on my Lenovo Laptop on Microsoft Word. The outcome is:
Alt + any key
No result
Ctrl + any key
No result
Second Part
For the second part of this exercise, I chose three of the magazines that I have online subscription for: Vogue, 25 Beautiful Home, Practical Photography.
I then used Identifont.com to identify the fonts used. With this site, we could search for fonts by appearance, name, similarity, picture (descriptive keywords of a picture), or by designer; however I found these options not very useful. I felt that If you are familiar with the names of the fonts or know the designer, then it would be very easy to quickly identify the font.
So, I have used Adobe Capture to find closest fonts to the fonts, which used in those magazines.
I didn’t expect to find all the fonts on Adobe Capture. It probably contains the fonts which are available on Adobe Typekit.
I cannot say that I was able to find all the fonts. Through Adobe Capture, I found very similar examples, not exactly the same. At least I had some place to start.
Types are everywhere! It’s interesting that I am not just looking at types, but the differences in details between them that fascinates me.
Reflection
I found this exercise very useful. In the second part I had this opportunity to learn how to identify any font anywhere I find it. It was the first time that I was looking for the name of the fonts, the details in each font, which have used around me.
Using the following words create typographical representations that present both the word and a suggestion of its meaning. Sad, Safe, Sardonic, Saucy, Scholarly, Serious, Sinking, Skimpy, Shadow, Sleek, Speed, Swagger, Shattered, Snowy, Squeeze, Shy, Sodden, Stiff, Short, Silly, Soothing, Smart, Squat, Sweet, Sordid, Sophisticated, Stodgy, Stoned, Style, Supine Start this exercise by working on A4 sheets of paper. Set the words in 48pt Helvetica Bold, print and cut out the words and then arrange them and stick them to a sheet of paper trying to capture the meaning of the word visually. Think about the composition, using the white space of the page to help you construct your meanings. Then work digitally using any of the software you have available. Explore how you can set text at a slant, at different sizes, in different colours and fonts. Try using filters in your software for other effects. Make notes as you work explaining your choice of representations and which ones you feel that you were most successful with.
Step 1:
For this exercise, I started by finding the meaning of the words that I didn’t know. Then typed them in Photoshop using 48pt Helvetica and printed them off, cut them out and started to put them on a piece of paper to convey the meaning.
It was easier with some words like, sinking, shattered,short, sad, silly, stiff, squeeze, speed, shadow and stoned, since I could think of the position for the letters to convey the meaning. I think the white space helped a lot in conveying the meaning of some of the words like, shy and sinking.
My favourites in this section are squat, speed and shy.
Step 2:
For this section, I used different typefaces in photoshop as well as filters and effecttools.
Throughout the design I had the meaning of each words in mind to help me to convey the meaning by the available tools.
I tried to use different range of fonts, seri, sans serif and script in my designs, related to their meaning.
For some words, I added some elements to make them more interesting. For example, snowy, sad, soothing and safe.
With some words I had this opportunity to change the position or swap some of the letters like, sardonic, silly, serious.
I found the word sauce by searching online and the change it to saucy.
Overall, I am happy with the final result. However I was struggling with some words like swagger, and couldn’t find any way rather than a serif font to convey the meaning.
The history of typography, printing and reading are all linked; what else can you find out about this history that you find interesting? Perhaps you are interested in a particular era, form of typography or particular area of reading. It might be a wide subject such as the history of the alphabet, or something very specific such as the use of typography in Film Noir, comics or American crime novels. Undertake some secondary research to find out more, taking notes along the way and collecting examples for your visual diary.
I am always fascinated by different types of fonts and how they can be used to convey a particular emotion or a message.
I think we usually take types for granted. After studying about the history of typography, which I really enjoyed, my view towards different typefaces has changed. By knowing about the history of each type, I can better understand the way in which they are being used in different concepts.
I decided to dig more into the history of calligraphy, since it is one of my favorite subjects.
Calligraphy versus typography
Writing can be a form of art: a playground for human invention, ingenuity and skill. This applies both to writing by hand (calligraphy) and to letters and characters designed in printed or digital form (typography). As calligraphy is a gestural art, it incorporates more variation in form than typographic writing which is made mechanically and often within narrow technical constraints.
If we picture this on a sliding scale, on one end is typography, where legibility is primary (e.g. notices on a motorway sign or someone’s name on a form), and down at the other end is calligraphy – writing that is produced primarily for its decorative or expressive qualities – where legibility is less important (e.g. architectural friezes, lettering in paintings or the ornamental lettering engraved on a banknote).
But all letters and characters – handwritten or typographic in form – have been ‘designed’ by someone, and are a means of artistic expression.
Lettering design: the basic principles
Ideas on beauty have changed throughout history. Behind much Western art and writing lie notions that come from Ancient Greece. When the fifth century Greek sculptor Polykleitos wrote his Canon on beauty, he declared that beauty lies in the proportion of one part to another and of all the parts to the whole.
Similar ideas led the Greeks to think in a modular way about their alphabet, and this kind of thinking lies behind the design of many scripts. We have also come to think of the roman alphabet we use today not as a random collection of 26 letters but as a system of interlocking proportions based on squares, rectangles and circles. For example, in 18th-century France, at the time of the Enlightenment, there was work on designing roman alphabets against gridded backgrounds; these became models for future type designs.
Geometric types
Proportional thinking has also run through Arabic calligraphy ever since the time of Ali Ibn Muqla (885/6-890), vizier to three Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad. When political rivals had his right hand cut off, legend has it that he continued to write with a pen fastened to his arm.
Ibn Muqla composed an overarching system of proportions for Arabic script, perhaps Pythagorean in inspiration. He took as its basic element the rhomboid dot, one of the simplest shapes a square-nibbed pen can make. His concepts allowed Arabic calligraphy to develop and extend formal structural thinking even to cursive (joined-up) shapes.
While Arabic calligraphy puts an emphasis on proportion, brush calligraphy (practiced in China and Japan) seeks out balance. Many characters have complex structures, while others are simple in form. This means that:
allowance needs to be made for variety of scale or weight between forms within a piece of writing
characters need more space around them
in less formal writing, the calligrapher has to balance the tone and density of ink across the piece as they write.
What matters is the overall appearance of the composition rather than a focus on replicating individual units.
There is also a deep appreciation of the performative aspect of brush calligraphy; it can be viewed almost like a dance. Each character is written as a flowing sequence from beginning to end. Even if the ink runs out, the calligrapher will coax the last remnants from the brush, rather than break that flow midway through writing a character. The traces left by the brush on the page leave a record of movement that the reader can follow and enjoy.
This all produces a very different set of aesthetic considerations compared to those operating in the world of moveable type where every character is identical and harmony comes from a sense of uniformity and repetitive pattern.
The impact of moveable metal type
Moveable metal type was in use in Europe from the 1450s, and in Korea since the 13th century. The type is made up of small pieces, each one representing an individual letter or character. These pieces are composed into larger masses, clamped into a frame, placed in a press, inked and printed. The type is then broken back up into individual pieces and reused.
Letterforms for the Latin alphabet
Let’s take the Latin alphabet as an example. In the 15th century the first printers in Europe used the common black-letter gothic textura forms for their books. These letters were already to be found in the larger handwritten prayer books of German printer Gutenberg’s day. At the beginning the printed forms followed the calligraphy very closely.
In the 1460s, when printing spread to Italy, new upper and lowercase roman forms became popular. These lettershapes were already being written in manuscripts by scholars and scribes immersed in a revival of classical learning. Scribes such as Bartolomeo Sanvito (1435–1511) had become an expert in writing the roman capital letters he saw carved on ancient Roman architecture.
Cicero’s De Officiis (1498)
Sanvito also became an expert in writing the new cursive form of roman lowercase writing we call italic. The script had been developed in Florence in the early 1400s. Italic was first introduced as a type for printed books in 1501 by Aldus Manutius, a publisher in Venice.
First book in italic typeface
These four scripts: gothic black-letter, the roman upper and lowercase letters, with italic, are the principal styles of letterforms for the Latin alphabet that have come down to us today. All these letters depend on carefully-related stroke thicknesses and spacing to give the even colour to a page of text – a feature that is less tiring to the eyes and aids legibility.
Non-Latin typefaces
Early European attempts to produce non-Latin typefaces often failed to appreciate details of the stroke formation of the scripts they were transforming into metal type. From the 16th century this was true for many Greek and Arabic typefaces; later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was also true for many of the types introduced by Europeans in Central and Southeast Asia.
Calligraphy continues
Although Europe had entered the age of printing in the 16th and 17th centuries, calligraphy and handwriting continued to flourish. Engraved handwriting manuals in all the major European languages show elaborate visual displays of penmanship and flourished decoration. They also show that roman letters and italic continued to develop in the hands of these writing masters.
Meanwhile, during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in Iran and Central and Southern Asia new calligraphic styles continued to be elaborated. The nasta’ liq style (a variation on Arabic calligraphy developed in Persia) became more streamlined, swiftly written and linked, giving us the shikasta, or broken nasta’liq style. The sense of distinct lines of writing is weakened in favour of an overall pattern, with short verticals and flattened curves and units of text that seem to drop diagonally across the page.
Persian Qur’an
During these same years, in the Ottoman lands of Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, the thuluth style of writing in Arabic script was widely used. This form is characterised by a strong vertical emphasis with long ascending lines. It came to be used for large-scale panels that could be employed architecturally or framed and hung on walls. The designs could also be transferred over onto other materials such as tile work and textiles.
The Industrial Revolution
The time of the Industrial Revolution was a period of reassessment for European type and typography. Amongst the innovators of that time was the British printer John Baskerville (1707–1775). He cast new type designs, which were wider bodied and with clearer contrasts between thick and thin strokes. He re-engineered the printing plates of his presses to give a crisper image. No part of the production process escaped his attention.
His work won admirers across Europe, particularly in France and Italy where his types seemed to embody the spirit of a new, more dramatic and exacting age.
Baskerville type designs
19–20th century calligraphy
The end of the 19th century saw a revival of interest in calligraphy across Europe. This was brought about in part by British calligrapher Edward Johnston (1872–1944), who began teaching writing, illuminating and lettering at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in 1899. He was self-taught, having studied calligraphy by researching the manuscript collections of the British Museum.
He focused on the historical tradition of calligraphy in the West. The manuscript that inspired his basic calligraphic teaching hand (he called it his ‘foundational hand’) was the 10th-century Ramsey Psalter.
Ramsey Psalter
In 1906 he published a handbook Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering, including chapters on calligraphy, type, painted lettering and letters cut in stone. Later he taught at the Royal College of Art and is most famous today for his type designs for the London Underground.
Initially Johnston’s work was encouraged by followers of William Morris. Morris, one of the founders of the British Arts and Crafts movement, wanted to reform many areas of the arts. He felt the design of products deteriorated the more manufacturing became detached from traditions of handwork. So when he turned his attention to typography, he believed a revival of handwritten calligraphy should also be attempted.
Johnston’s work was shaped by this thinking: he focused on the historical tradition of calligraphy in the West and scripts for books.
Elsewhere in Europe, such as in Austria and Germany, calligraphy was seen as part of other new art movements: the Jugendstil and German expressionism.
In China and Japan meanwhile, the 20th century opened with a revived interest in styles of calligraphy which were preserved in rubbings of stone inscriptions from the fourth century. However, following the World War II, an avant-garde calligraphy movement swept Japan, paralleling the development of American expressionism and action painting.
Today in China, alongside an interest in researching calligraphy from previous eras, conceptual art has also begun to influence the way it is used.
New English calligraphy
In the Arab world it was the de-colonisation in the mid-20th century that saw a revival of interest in calligraphy. Calligraphy was one of the few areas of the arts that had been left untouched by imported European systems of art education. It was thought that from this root, new artistic traditions might grow.
Modern calligraphy
Today new typefaces continue to be designed as the uses for type multiply across different media and platforms. We have seen the arrival of type families that incorporate characters from many writing systems within one overarching design, a useful feature in today’s global marketplace. BBC Reith, for example, is a new typeface family produced for the British broadcaster by type designers Dalton Maag.
Digital typeface for the BBC
Calligraphy, handmade lettering and signwriting flourishes, both at the local level and sometimes with a conceptual twist that places it in the context of an art gallery. The creation of an art market for calligraphy and fine typography is now affecting all the world’s major writing systems.
One of the most innovative developments in recent years has been graffiti. For the first time we have seen a new style of writing develop within youth culture, an unanticipated side-effect of a century of effort to provide universal education. Beginning in the eastern United States in the 1970s, graffiti has become a world-wide phenomenon spreading to many of the world’s writing systems.
Overall Comments Part three of this module has focused on the importance of being a visually literate graphic designer by exploring visual dynamics. Overall your response to part three has been very good, stronger in some places than others. Illustration work is developing well, using Illustrator and Photoshop with confidence, next use InDesign for graphics work. Great to see exercises being utilised throughout. Great progress, well done
My respond to the feedback
Thanks for the positive feedback. I really enjoyed working on this part and glad to see that I am doing fine.
What I need to do next:
I need to test my ideas on others Also, make notes on what I have learnt from the exercise; what went well and what could I do differently next time.
Next time I need to use InDesign when using text and grid structure.
I need to use traditional methods such as paint/pastels/pencils or cut colour paper more to help me make spontaneous decisions, then use drafts to develop further using digital techniques.
I need to collect images and words from magazines and newspapers as well as my own photographs.
Need to question my work to ensure communication works as I intend.
Through my research, I need to critically analyse examples and state how they have informed my own work.
Following websites have been visited to study about the artists and designers, who have mentioned on the feedback:
Maryam: OCA Graphic Design 