Core Concepts- ‘Typography’ Research Points:
Research Point 1:
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 looking forward to beginning this Typography section. I know very little about typography and have been quite apprehensive to use it in my work so far, which I am hoping to change.
I wanted to research more modern typography and its synergy with design. I am interested in the history of typography within one of my favourite eras of art, the Bauhaus movement. I found a great blog on ‘Wide Walls’ which was very interesting.
“The Bauhaus School taught typography, and they were strong advocates of sans-serif type, as they believed that its simplified geometric form was more appealing and useful than the ornate German standard of blackletter typography.”
I decided to look into the history of black letter and sans serif fonts.
Black letter typography: “The Blackletter typeface (also sometimes referred to as Gothic, Fraktur or Old English) was used in the Guthenburg Bible, one of the first books printed in Europe. This style of typeface is recognizable by its dramatic thin and thick strokes, and in some fonts, the elaborate swirls on the serifs. Blackletter typefaces are based on early manuscript lettering.
They evolved in Western Europe from the mid twelfth century. Over time a wide variety of different blackletters appeared, but four major families can be identified: Textura, Rotunda, Schwabacher and Fraktur.
While Gutenberg used blackletters for his bible and books, this signaled a new era in typefaces used for printing. Blackletters are difficult to read as body text and Roman and Italic faces were easier to print with movable type. For these reasons, in the 1500’s, blackletter became less popular for printing in many countries except Germany and the German speaking countries.”- ‘Site Point’
Sans Serif: “The first low-contrast Latin letters without serif terminations appeared on jubilee coins from 1809, and later under the name ‘Egyptian’ in the 1816 William Caslon IV type specimens. Some two decades later, a very heavy serifless font appeared under the name that we use today, sans serif, in the Vincent Figgins specimen book from 1832. These rather unrefined letterforms were based on the skeletons and structures of previous serif text typefaces, characterised more by the absence of serifs than by the introduction of any fresh, unique feature. In the early 20th century, a new generation of artists, designers and architects took a different approach to sans serif design, rejecting existing conventions and searching for letterforms that would reflect the technological developments of the era.”- ‘Typotheque’
The most common and/or popular sans serif font today is Helvetica by Max Miedinger with input from Eduard Hoffmann in 1957, and is a favourite of mine.
Textura, Rotunda, Schwabacher, Fraktur type examples
Sans Serif: Helvetica
“Bauhaus style of typography is effective in conveying the message of the design. Balanced layout, harmonious geometric shapes, vibrant colors, and sans-serif letters in upper case or lower case fonts are simple but strong. Bauhaus layout was not only horizontal and vertical, but angled as well, or wrapped around objects. The influence on the modern day posters and designs is evident, as you can see the legacy of the German school on various book and album covers, as well as political posters and signs. One of the most notable examples is the poster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, heavily influenced by its German predecessor.”
I really like the use of colour, shape and type within these posters. I love the use of individual letters almost as their own image, the way they are collaged together to produce great visuals gives me a lot of ideas for future work.
This research lead me onto the work of Piet Zwart. His use of typography is brilliant.
Piet Zwart: “Dutch photographer, typographer, industrial designer and critic Piet Zwart was born 28 may 1885 in Zaandijk, the Netherlands.
From 1902 till 1907 he attended the School of Applied Arts in Amsterdam where there was little division between several disciplines as drawing, painting, architecture and applied arts. He was introduced to the principles of the English Arts and Crafts movement, which was extremely popular in the early 1900's in the Netherlands.
Piet Zwart's career in graphic design was launched in 1919 when he started as a draftsman for the architect Jan Wils, who was a member of the De Stijl-group. Two years later he became assistant of the influential Dutch architect H.P. Berlage, whom he would work with for several years.
Though he was formally trained as an architect, Piet Zwart is mainly known for his graphic design work. At the age of 36 Zwart produced his first typographic work when asked to design stationery for Wils’ office. This work clearly echoed the title lettering for the De Stijl periodical.”
I love Zwart’s multi faceted works, and how they all influence each other. His training in architecture clearly allowed him to view design and typography in a different way, allowing him to produce some very interesting work.
Research Point 2:
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 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.
I had never looked very seriously or with much means for exploration at the characters a font can have. I opened up Photoshop and pulled open the option to view the entire font. I found it very interesting to scroll through and view some of the symbols, finding so many I didn’t even know existed.
For the next part of the research point I decided to choose a few magazine covers with different fonts. I started to use Identifont but no results came up, so I went onto “WhattheFont” a website I use normally to see what results come up. If the website doesn’t know the particular font it is, it gives similar alternative names.
Neo Contact Pro Regular looked the closest to this font. I don’t particularly like this font, maybe it’s because it’s less ‘clean’ and simple than the Glamour one for example. It’s head serifs don’t appeal to me, but it does look bold and professional. “Men’s Health” is quite a prestigious ‘normal’ magazine and the title font presents this.
Organetto Bold Ultra Cnd seemed to be the closest fitting. The letters seemed slightly closer together, and the curve on the “G” is different, but the indent at the bottom of the “G” is the same. I really like the simplicity of the “Glamour” font, with the added slight change such as the indent on the “G.” The straight cut terminals such as the “L” for example make it appear very smart. It is bold and easily legible, making it a great style of font for a magazine.
Vogue’s font is one of my favourites in general. It appears to look the most if not exactly like DietDidot Title Bold, this is probably a direct copy from the font (as are others.) The font looks very smart and sophisticated, exactly how Vogue wants to be portrayed. The thicker and thinner stems really make the title stand out , but gives it that more classic and smart aesthetic.
I began to look at the typography of some of my favourite photography books, magazines and collage material. What I didn’t focus on when looking at the 3 magazine titles in the first part of the task was the other text across the front cover. What I noticed looking back and at other front covers was that when a font with more stylised serifs, stem sizes or tails is used, the front cover text tends to be a more sans serif style, contrasting to the title. This creates a nice balance, the title draws the viewer in, and the text below is simple, looks smart, but doesn’t take away from the title.
I have learnt that I am attracted to a more stylised title, in contrast with a simple sans serif font for other information. I feel like this gives a good balance of style and simplicity. As I had written previously the thin/thick stem/bowl of Vogue’s font works the best for me and is a good balance of an ‘older’ looking font and a newer more ‘clean’ sans serif.
Research Point 3:
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.
This task is quite hard to do right now due to Covid-19 and limiting travelling/going out etc, but I will begin to collect/update any typography I see that interests me when I am shopping/on walks.
In the mean time I had done some research online and collected some vernacular typography I find interesting.
I found some really interesting handcrafted signs. I suppose the perks of looking online as well for this task is that I can view typography from different eras and countries. I particularly like the writing on the red background on the bottom right of the mood board. The red background really exaggerates the white paint. I like the textures of the wooden door and the little thought that has gone into the placement of the type (it looks as if they needed to cram more information above it.)
“Lucy’s Tailor shop” is another favourite. I again like the red and white colours, the letters although deliberately designed to look like a sans serif clean style, look like they were done quickly with a pen. The darker/brighter markings where they have filled in the letters with red makes this sign look interesting to me.
I found the bottom right letters/numbers in a car park when shopping. I loved the handmade distressed look of them, they appeared to be spray painted using a stencil.
The top left I was unsure whether this could class as vernacular typography, as it is specifically designed, but it was an interesting graphic on a t shirt, that was made to appear as a ‘mistake'‘ and wanted to document it as there isn’t too much I could see around me, spending most of my days in lockdown.
I also scanned in some receipts/prescriptions/packaging to potentially use in future projects, I love the appearance of these numbers/symbols and feel like they are packed with meaning and could add another dynamic to future work.
The top right is from a sign I saw on a walk. I liked the satirical nature of it, and also its weathered/worn properties. I feel like this made the ‘normal’ looking text slightly more interesting, and something I could add to type to give it another dynamic.
Research Point 4:
If you haven’t already, now is the time to collect as many newspapers, newsletters, magazines and brochures as you can. Start by going through them and dividing them into the ones that immediately look easy to read and those that don’t. Is this due to the typefaces used, the way the type is laid out – the number of words per line and the column width, or its alignment? Work out from your examples what the designers have done to make things more legible and readable.
I wanted to explore different age and style of magazines/newspapers and see any similarities/differences. I began by looking through a recent Daily Telegraph newspaper. This image is an example of a page that I found easy to read and aesthetically pleasing.
The ‘easy’ to view layout of this page definitely helps with legibility. The page runs top to bottom, with an illustration in the centre. The subtitle is centralised along with the text, and there are no elements that are confusing or that make the article illegible.
Despite the heading being a quite stylised serif font I feel like because the main text is a lesser stylised serif font that the combination works well. The subheading is a bold serif font, again being easily legible.
The main text is aligned centrally making both sides seem uneven. The use of a line creating space between the columns changes this feature, making the article smart and clean looking. The main text’s kerning appears to be ‘standard’ and doesn’t present itself to me as an obvious different feature, meaning I find it easily legible.
I then looked through a Soviet Weekly newspaper from the 80’s to see if there were any elements that contrasted or were comparable to the Daily Telegraph. The first page I find very easily legible and think that it looks great aesthetically. Despite the pages lack of imagery/illustration it is visually interesting due to the use of greyscale. The grey box for the title makes it stand out, and the same for the ‘inverted’ “FOR ISLAM? NO-FOR LOOT!” section. This makes them easily legible, and categorises sections well.
The bold sans serif title/subtitles work really well, and the sections are broken up (similarly to the Daily Telegraph) by boxes. The sans serif style is a personal preference, but I also feel like the text being justified makes it appear ‘clean’ and again easily legible. In contrast to the sans serif titles, the main text is using a serif font. The font is still easily legible, which is helped by the fact it is justified, meaning that the spaces between words and individual letters’ kerning is different.
The second pages layout I find to be more confusing despite is being laid out into sections quite simply. The page seems unbalanced, the image in the bottom left corner seems out of place to me.
The use of various sans serif/serif fonts for the title and sub titles, as well as the different thickness of lines to break up the text adds to the confusion of the page. Although the Daily Telegraph used different fonts, they were still limited and were both serif fonts, perhaps this is a big reason as to why I found their page more aesthetically pleasing than this Soviet Weekly page.
I next looked at ‘Feeling Wonen’ a Dutch Interior Design Magazine. I was particularly interested in this magazine because I couldn’t understand most of the text, therefore am relying solely on its aesthetic. Throughout the magazine I found most of the pages aesthetically pleasing, which is expected when reading a magazine about style I suppose! Despite this there are still elements that I don’t think work as well and are less legible than others.
The first page looks great. The clear top to bottom layout in columns is very aesthetically pleasing. The use of a serif font for the title, contrasting with a sans serif font for the main text works well. The sans serif font itself I personally don’t think looks very aesthetically pleasing and I don’t think that the text being aligned from the right works well despite it being continued throughout the page. The use of the black box behind the subtitle balances the bold title and the bold text at the bottom of the page well. I feel as if the pages layout would be better if the text was justified, I seem to be attracted to this feature, and like the ‘clean’ look of both sides of the text being perfectly straight, despite it affecting distance in space between words. Looking back at the Soviet Weekly papers in comparison to this page, the rivers created by the justified layout I feel draws you down and across the page easily.
This is another example from ‘Feeling Wonen’ magazine. I really enjoy its interesting composition and typeface. The contrast between the left aligned text and the right aligned text creates an almost abstract feel, especially with the line used to exaggerate the paragraphs separation down the middle of them. This interesting alignment is something I wouldn’t of noticed, but obviously draws me to enjoying the aesthetic of this page. Although I cannot read the text, I feel like this could help with it’s legibility, or at least creating a more interesting way to read the information.
This may not be correct but I think that the kerning and leading of this page is slightly smaller or tighter than the last. This may be the change of font. The main text here uses a more bold serif font, which to me is more aesthetically pleasing. Again I really like the contrast of the large sans serif “A” and the main text’s serifs.
The use of more bold fonts helps draw your attention across the page, to the bottom left and the bottom right where they are promoting their website. This is definitely something to keep in mind. It also seems to help balance the page.
I looked through a Vogue magazine from 2007 and came across this page. I didn’t find this page very aesthetically pleasing or easily legible. It’s composition, in my opinion includes too many images and is too busy. The images do draw you around the page, but seems too chaotic. The “Vogue” serif font title is very nice, and stands out well on the image being in white, but the other serif font used for the subtitles doesn’t work for me. The letters kerning seems very close and the font size itself appears ‘squished’ downwards. The colour I feel was a good choice though, it contrasts with the mainly green/blue colours of the images. The right alignment of the top main text isn’t continued anywhere throughout the page and I feel like this makes it appear unbalanced and adds to the more chaotic feel.
I seem to be drawn to the more justified, aligned column style such as the Soviet Weekly newspaper rather than this composition. I am finding this very interesting as to why. The inconsistencies of this page seem to make it look unappealing and less legible to me.
I came across this page in the Daily Telegraph which I found interesting, especially when I thought about why I find the more aligned column composition more aesthetically pleasing. The composition of this page is interesting, the images have been aligned into columns of the same width but the size of the columns for the type are different. This to me doesn’t work well and only draws my attention to the images in a line. The text is also aligned to the left which creates not very aesthetically pleasing gaps between the text and the images. I do like the use of the lines to exaggerate the space between the columns though, this creates a clear divide of information and makes it easily legible.
I like the bold serif font heading and use of larger letters at the start of paragraphs. The bolder elements draw your view around the page to different information. If I were to of composed this page, I would change the layout of the imagery. I would spread it more evenly around the page rather than in a column.
