Understanding Typeface

For me Typography is something that I have generally taken for granted in everyday life. I have been designing logos and posters in the past without any real meaning or direction with regards to the typeface used As long as it looked good I didn't care. This is an investigation and study into type. It will explore different aspects of type, and the structure of typeface. It will look at the reasons different type is used in different situations and how it has changed through time. Following this i will use this research to develop my own typeface making it relevant to my own life.

Introduction To Type

Typography is most commonly performed by Typographers, Graphic Artists, and Art Directors, however the digital age opened up typography to a new age of visual designers

Basically typography is what language looks like when it is expressed on any media/material. This could be paper, billboards, vehicles, canvass, Computer screen, etc.

• Type glyphs are created using a variety of illustration techniques

A glyph (pronounced /ˈɡlɪf/) is an element of writing. It is a slightly vague term, but a more precise definition might be an individual mark on paper or another written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written there. A grapheme is made up of one or more glyphs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyph

The Arrangement of Type

The arrangement of Type is the selection of

• Typefaces
• Point size
  
• Line Length
• Leading
• Kerning

The Anatomy of Type

The Anatomy of letter form consists of

1. Stem
   
2. Baseline
3. Ascender
4. Descender
5. Counter
6. Serif
7. X-Height
8. Many More Characteristics (See image to the right)

Contrast

The amount of variation in between thick and thin strokes.

Minimum contrast

Extreme contrast

Counter

The empty space inside the body stroke.

Descender.

The lowercase character stroke which extends below the baseline.

Loop

The bottom part of the lowercase roman ‘g’.

Sans serif

From the French, meaning “without serif”. A typeface which has no serifs.Sans serif typefaces are typically uniform in stroke width.

Serif

Tapered corners on the ends of the main stroke. Serifs originated with the chiseled guides made by ancient stonecutters as they lettered monuments. Some serif designs may also be traced back to characteristics of hand calligraphy. Note that serif type is typically thick and thin in stroke weight.

Shoulder

The part of a curved stroke coming from the stem.

Stem

A stroke which is vertical or diagonal.

Stress

The direction in which a curved stroke changes weight.

Oblique, or angled, stress

Semi-oblique stress

Vertical stress

Terminal

The end of a stroke which does not terminate in a serif.

X-height

The height of the body, minus ascenders and descenders, which is equal to the height of the lowercase ‘x’.

Avant Garde	Melior	Goudy Oldstyle
X-heights vary among typefaces in the same point size and strongly effect readability and gray vaule of text blocks.

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/default.htm

An Excellent Quote and Video

"A good Typographer is someone who communicates a point of view with skill and imagination and makes the type taste good".
Jeffery Keedy (graphic designer, type designer, writer and educator)

This is an excellent quote which really caught my attention.

please check out this video for a very visual and quick over view of typography

Body Type, Serif, Sans Serif

First of all What is Body Type.

Most of the things that we read are Body Copy. This could be anything from books, magazines, articles on the web, newspapers and the list goes on. The typeface that is used for Body Copy is known as Body Type or Body Face .

If we are reading an article or even designing or writing an article the most important thing to the reader is obviously that he/she can read the article with ease. This is why it is important that there is consistency throughout the body type used.

This is why is is important to set some ground rules for the above reason.

There are many things to take into consideration when making your final choice for typeface or body type.

I have found a very interesting article from http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typetutorials/a/bodycopy.htm which i have taken the information below.

Point Size

So how do you choose a specific typeface for body copy, and why? Body copy is generally set at 14 point or less, with 9-12 point being a good starting point size. Readability is the key to appropriate body type. Since body type is most often set at sizes less than 14 points a simple test of any face is "can you read it at body copy sizes?"

Blocks of Text

Body copy usually consists of sentences, paragraphs, and long lines of type. Even faces that are readable at body copy sizes can fail the readability test when set in long blocks. So the second test would be, "is it tiring or difficult to read long passages set in this typeface?"

Faces that work well at body copy or text sizes often work well at larger display type sizes. Type designed specifically for display type seldom works as body type.

Serif or Sans Serif

In the U.S. at least, body copy is most often set in serif faces — for most books and newspapers, especially. Experts seldom agree on the reasons for the use of serif or sans serif faces for body copy. The following statements are offered "without prejudice." Ultimately you will decide based on the needs and wishes of your audience, your clients, and your own sense of what is appropriate.

• Serif faces are the norm for most books and newspapers making them familiar and comfortable to readers.
• A good body face blends in and doesn't distract the reader.
• The serifs on some faces aid readability by moving the eye from one letter to the next -- connecting individual shapes to form whole words.
• Bold, unusual, or very distinctive serifs can distract the reader from the body text.
• Serif faces often have a subdued, formal, or serious look.
• Sans Serif faces are often crisper, bolder, or more informal.
• Sans Serif faces are often more readable than serif faces when set in very small type (such as for footnotes, captions, and "fine print")
• Serif faces printed from 300dpi or lower quality desktop printers or printed on textured paper may lose detail in the thin strokes and delicate serifs.

In choosing between serif and sans serif ask:

• "will my audience accept it?" and; • "does it convey the appropriate tone for this document?" and; • "does this face hold up well under the required printing conditions?"

EM (Typography)

EM is the unit of measurement in Typography. This unit was originally derived from the width the Capital letter "M" of a particular typeface.

Originally When working with Metal Type EM was defined as the height of the metal body from which the letter rises.

This is slightly different for digital type.

"In digital type, the em is a grid of arbitrary resolution that is used as the design space of a digital font. Imaging systems, whether for screen or for print, work by scaling the em to a specified point size.

In digital type, the relationship of the height of particular letters to the em is arbitrarily set by the typeface designer. However, as a very rough guideline, an "average" font might have a cap height of 70% of the em, and anx-height of 48% of the em."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_(typography)

Typefaces Give Us Signals

I have often wondered what typeface to use when I am designing something. I have come to realise that different typefaces carry a perceived feeling or can set a particular mood or form in a piece of design. Take a look at this video below. This is an excellent video with inspiration taken from Erik Spiekermann's Typomania Video From the 80's. This video was found on you tube from user http://www.youtube.com/user/ParsonResearch. It brilliantly demonstrates how different typefaces are used in different scenarios and how some typefaces can be suitable for a certain theme and some not.

Typeface design on the XBOX 360

I found this video very interesting. It is a Taken from a googletechtalks youtube video. It is 57 mins worth of watching but very interesting.

The Speaker in this video is Steve Matteson. He is director of type design for Ascender Corporation. He has created font for various screen environments and print designs since the late 1980's

you can also check his part of his portforlio at http://www.ascendercorp.com/custom/portfolio/commercial/

Album Covers

I have been looking at some very creative album covers from some of the music I listen to. Please take a look below. I have found a very cool website that gives a description of the creativity behind each album cover. have taken some information shown below from there. The URL is http://sleevage.com/. other sources of information are referenced under each album cover.

Daft Punk’s albums have one thing in common. They all utilise the bands logo as the main graphic. You’d think this would get boring after a while but it’s a smart move as all the albums are easily recognisable and have a nice twist on the logo. The creativity is in re interpreting the logo each time. This one has the sublty that at first glance is not noticed. It feels like underneath there is a wild disco going on inside and everyones invited. http://sleevage.com/daft-punk-discovery/

Seminal British band The Stone Roses released their self titled debut album in 1989. The cover features artwork by band member John Squire, who was largely responsible for the band’s visual identity.As with most Stone Roses releases, the cover displays a work by John Squire. It is a Jackson Pollock-influenced piece titled "Bye Bye Badman," which makes reference to the May 1968 riots in Paris.

The cover was named by Q magazine as one of "The 100 Best Covers of All Time." In the accompanying article, Squire said: "Ian [Brown] had met this French man when he was hitching around Europe, this bloke had been in the riots, and he told Ian how lemons had been used as an antidote to tear gas. Then there was the documentary—-a great shot at the start of a guy throwing stones at the police. I really liked his attitude." This story was also the inspiration for the lyrics to the song of the same name.^[3] The background of the piece is based on the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The band visited the causeway while playing a gig at the University of Ulster in Coleraine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stone_Roses_(album

The Chemical Brothers

For Me there is one band that comes to mind. They're album and singles covers have a very simple yet effective, and a very brilliant visual impact. This is the chemical brothers. Please see below. All information was taken directly from http://sleevage.com/the-chemical-brothers-push-the-button/.

I’ve always liked both The Chemical Brothers music and their artwork. Push The Button is no exception. I was about to talk about their latest (and pretty damn good) album ‘We Are the Night’ but thought I’d wait to see if any more singles are released before delving into that one.

What I didn’t realize before starting research on Push the Button was there were so much artwork created for it. There’s three singles, each with a second disc and a colour variation, a live album, ITV and even two fan based bootleg remix albums! All kept in the same iconic styling and each supporting the iconic look of the album cover. And that’s not even counting press ads, posters, flyers.

The style of artwork reminds me of Soviet propaganda posters of the post WW1 era. Their limited colour palette and stark imagery stands out in a CD rack of over produced imagery.

Each singles artwork has a theme and is carried across both covers. The second cover was created the UK release where two discs were released. The rest of the world received just the single disc.

Galvanize was the first single and is themed “Construction” or maybe “Destruction” depending on how you read the artwork.

Each single also had a alternate coloured cover. These were used to denote the 1-2 track promo copies of the album. Usually sent to press.

And the UK 2nd disc cover. This UK version is one one of my fav from the series.

Believe came next and again the theme can be read differently. The megaphone prompts me to think of protests and the spreading of information while the siren’s provoke images of warnings and dictatorship. (Deep I know!)

The coloured promo version.

And the UK 2nd disc.

The last single was The Boxer. The international disc seems like a celebration or political rally while the 2nd UK disc feels like a political rally going back to my statement that the artwork could have been inspired by Soviet propaganda posters.
You could also say it looks like the Myspace logo guys protesting about how crap their site is.

The alternate colour here is a punchy orange.

The UK 2nd disc definitely feels more political and was the only cover to use a script font rather than the bold, block text on all the others.

Artwork for the download only Live05 album also continued the art direction of the album.

The artwork was even adapted for an interactive TV promotion.

A collective of DJ’s produced a remix album as a bootleg called “Flip the Switch”which recreated the artwork perfectly. They did this for the main album seen below.

And the Believe EP.

Modern Typography Artists

I have found some really interesting Modern typography artists from this website.http://abduzeedo.com/10-amazing-typography-artists. Please take a look below for examples of their work. Each piece of artwork has a theme and the Type is designed with this in mind. The style of each piece gives the artists a sense of identity or style. I particularly like Stefano Buffoni's piece where The letters are almost organic and in some sections pieces of the letters are missing yet the design allows for us to recognise what it says. I also like the Luke Lucas piece below using mouth and tongues at the end of each letter. It reminds me of a a sleazy 70's swing/disco theme.

Luke Lucas

Theo Aartsma

Stefano Buffoni

Nicolas Alexander

Islam Zayed

Craig Ward

Spacing within typeface

I was interested if I could make use of the spaces in the letters to form a typeface so I began to experiment with the letters of my name in a helvetica font.

Creating My Own Typeface Part 1

I have written at the beginning of this blog that I was doing research on type in order to create my own typeface. I wish include a theme or use the typeface as a form of branding or identity. I have a passion for music and recording music. I have been thinking recently of designing an album cover so I will use this as an opportunity to design a typeface for this.

Musical Notation.

An idea I had was to use musical notation somewhere in the lettering within the typeface, or to modify it and use it as lettering. Something similar to what is shown below.

http://photos.northtemple.com/oams_cvr.jpg

Musical notation in itself is very precise and unlike type that represents spoken words is universal. Musical notation is the same throughout the world and can be read by any musician in any country.

Modern Musical notation originated in European Classical Music. A Five line staff or stave is used and pitch it represented by notes which are placed on or between the lines of the staff. A Clef is used at the beginning of a piece of music or score to identify the pitch of the notes placed on tha line at the beginning of the staff.

Clef	Name	Note	Line
	G-clef	G4	encircled by the curl of the clef.
	C-clef	Middle C	that passes through the center of the clef.
	F-clef	F3	between the two dots of the clef.

We then have key signature which represents which notes in the piece will be played flat or sharp. Next is time signature which is represented by two numbers one over the top of the other to identify the timing of the piece. see belwo for an example of a piece of music

There are many many other symbols used in musical notation.

Creating My Own Typeface Part 2

I have decided not to continue exploring musical notation as a route for designing a typeface. The reason for this as musical notation doesn't play a role so much in my life. I understand music but I would not be fluent in reading it. I play music by ear and design music digitally in a more systematic approach. I like to deal with digital wave forms so I will explore that aspect of music. I also love technology and have always been intrigued by analogue to digital conversion. see below for their two waveforms.

Creating My Own Typeface Part 3 - The Final Design

I have decided to use digital music as a theme for my typeface. The typeface will be bold and precise, and very eligible. all edges in the typeface will be straight representing the two digital states. Any letter bowls for example in the letter B or P will be represented with an analogue waveform of 1 wavelength. See below for some sketches

Please click on each picture to enlarge

The units of measurement

The x - height here will be 2 cm.

EM - 4cm

Distance from ascender line to descender line 4cm

distance from top x-height line to ascender line 1cm

distance from bottom x-height line to ascender line 1cm

Digitising the type

I now had a font and a set of rules that I could work from. I have used Photoshop and Illustrator to digitise and design the image. I used the pen tool to design the typeface. see below for my final designs.

Please click on Each Image to Enlarge