Giambattista Bodoni (b. 1740-1813, Saluzzo Piedmont, Italy) was an Italian printer and a designer of typefaces still used today. He was a third generation printmaker who modeled his type designs after Pierre Simon Fournier, "...but later felt inspired by the typography of John Baskerville" (Famous Graphic Designers). He was at the front of industrialized print making.
The Bodoni typeface, according to Bodoni: The History of Being Awesome, is, "...an easily recognizable Romantic typeface with a vertical stress and slight serif bracketing." Roman type is an upright, serif typeface such as Caslon or New Times Roman. The most notable characteristic of Bodoni type is the contrast provided by flattened serifs. The typeface's contrast is beautiful …show more content…
Among those taking advantage of Bodoni's type is Vogue magazine. The magazine's art director, Alexander Liberman, "...used this font for the magazine logotype in the late 40′s, and after over 60 years that logo is still there" (Bodoni: a Typeface for (almost) any Occasion). Perfectly suited for a glamorous magazine, the typeface in the logo uses very tight spacing and all upper case letters.
Seattle grunge pioneers Nirvana also used Bodoni for the band's logo. The clean and refined look of the Bodoni typeface contrasts freely with the smiley face on the band's logo. There is much organization in the arrangement of the letters and their elements. The smiley face however, is a bit disorderly and haphazard. The two elements work seamlessly together however, from a design perspective.
Harper's Bazaar used Bodoni for their cover as well. A magazine from yesteryear, Harper's magazine designer, Alexey Brodovitch used stencil on occasion but is said to have preferred Bodoni. There seems to be similarities in the Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines in their uses of Bodoni as the title. Both pace the title at the top, dominating the upper portions of the covers. They also prefer to use all upper case letters although Vogues condenses the spacing between the letters. Although the type can be difficult to read, in a title it seems right at home. For Alexey Brodovitch, " Legibility was not his primary concern" (Alexey
The Bodoni typeface, according to Bodoni: The History of Being Awesome, is, "...an easily recognizable Romantic typeface with a vertical stress and slight serif bracketing." Roman type is an upright, serif typeface such as Caslon or New Times Roman. The most notable characteristic of Bodoni type is the contrast provided by flattened serifs. The typeface's contrast is beautiful …show more content…
Among those taking advantage of Bodoni's type is Vogue magazine. The magazine's art director, Alexander Liberman, "...used this font for the magazine logotype in the late 40′s, and after over 60 years that logo is still there" (Bodoni: a Typeface for (almost) any Occasion). Perfectly suited for a glamorous magazine, the typeface in the logo uses very tight spacing and all upper case letters.
Seattle grunge pioneers Nirvana also used Bodoni for the band's logo. The clean and refined look of the Bodoni typeface contrasts freely with the smiley face on the band's logo. There is much organization in the arrangement of the letters and their elements. The smiley face however, is a bit disorderly and haphazard. The two elements work seamlessly together however, from a design perspective.
Harper's Bazaar used Bodoni for their cover as well. A magazine from yesteryear, Harper's magazine designer, Alexey Brodovitch used stencil on occasion but is said to have preferred Bodoni. There seems to be similarities in the Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines in their uses of Bodoni as the title. Both pace the title at the top, dominating the upper portions of the covers. They also prefer to use all upper case letters although Vogues condenses the spacing between the letters. Although the type can be difficult to read, in a title it seems right at home. For Alexey Brodovitch, " Legibility was not his primary concern" (Alexey