Artd 2020 Part 1

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Typefaces

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Modeled on the forms of calligraphy, they are not bodily gestures but are manufactured images designed for infinite repetition.

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Movable Type

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Created by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in the 15th century, it revolutionized writing in the west. Instead of working by hand, machines mass produced books and reused.

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Blackletter

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Dense, dark handwriting

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Jenson

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A typeface established by Nicolas Jenson in Mainz, Germany (the birthplace of typography in Germany). He later established a printing press in Venice in 1465. Letters with strong vertical stems, transitioning from thick to thin to create a broad-nibbed pen affect.

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Centaur

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A typeface designed by Bruce Rogers sometime between 1912-1914. Inspired by Jenson.

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Adobe Jenson

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A typeface re-designed by Robert Slimbach in 1995 for digital use. It is less mannered and decorative than Centaur.

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Lettera Antica

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A classical mode of handwriting with wider, more open forms. It was favored in 15th century Italy by humanist writers more-so than Gothic scripts.

Part of the Renaissance of classical art and literature.

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Humanist Typefaces

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Typefaces including Garamond, Bembo, Palatino, and Jenson which are named for printers who worked in the 15th-16th centuries.

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X-heights

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The height of the main body of the lowercase letter.

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Italic

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Not just a slanted version of the roman font but incorporates curves, angles, and narrower proportions associated with cursive forms. Incorporated into type families in the 16th century.

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Caslon

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A typeface created by William Caslon in the 18th century England with crisp upright characters that appear more modeled and less written than Renaissance forms.

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Baskervile

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A typeface created by John Baskerville who was a printer working in England in the 1750's-60's. He aimed to surpass Caslon by creating sharply detailed letters with more vivid contrast between thick and thin elements. His work was denounced by many as amateur and extremist.

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Bodoni

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A typeface created by Giambattista Bodoni at the end of the 18th century. It exhibits abrupt, unmodulated contrast between thick and thin elements and razor-thin serifs unsupported by curved brackets.

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Engraved Letters

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Letters with fluid lines that are not constrained by the letterpress's mechanical grid

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Fat Face

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A typeface that is inflated, hyperbold type style introduced in the early 19th century. It exaggerated the polarization of letters into thick and thin components seen in Bodoni.

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Extra Condensed

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A typeface that is designed to fit in narrow spaces. Often depicted in 19th century ads. It was aligned in static, centered, compositions.

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Egyptian

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A slab typeface in 1806 that transformed the serif from a refined detail to a load-bearing slab. It asserts its own weight and mass. Known as a "typographical monstrosity".

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Gothic

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A 19th century term for letters with no serifs. They command attention. Showed emotional impact in early advertising.

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Antique

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A blocky system of feet and projections in typefaces.

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Clarendon

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A blocky with curved insides system of feet and projections in typefaces.

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Latin/Antique Tuscan

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A pointed system of feet and projections in typefaces.

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Tuscan

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A very ornate system of feet and projections in typefaces.

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Pantograph

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A tracing device that allows a parent drawing to spawn variants with different proportions weights and decorative projections.

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Universal

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A typeface created by Herbert Bayer in 1925 consisting of only lowercase letters and is built from straight lines and circles.

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Futura

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A typeface created by Paul Renner in Germany in 1927. It is geometric with perfectly round o's.

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Fonts through the 80's on...

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Fonts that were created in the 1980's in bitmap for computers and other technology were low resolution.

Fonts used in the early 1990's were higher-resolution letters for laser printers.

Fonts used in the later 90's sought not-perfect lettering systems.

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Serif

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A slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter in certain typefaces.

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San-Serif

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A typeface that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without".