'Type is speech made visual'
One of the key shifts that happened within the period of industrialisation was reading. Education changed the way type was used. Before people could read we had story tellers. People used to stand in town squares who would tell stories - oral tradition. When we shifted into written tradition there was still a need to have the visual tradition. Accents started to come through into typography.
Visual dynamics within typography:
Different letterforms had different characters.
Trying to think of ways in which to bring different accents and characters to type.
Top left typeface -
Literal meaning. Thinking crude oil, military cases, stencil effect
We made an association because we think of where the type is used.
Bottom left, top left
Over the top script font which people automatically think is elegant
All of the fonts look elegant because we associate it with the word.
Bottom type
Romantic
Decorative
We associate the typeface with weddings and celebrations
Arial italic to go with the shoes
Italic has a certain dynamic and movement to it which would make it go with the trainers as they link together
2nd font down
Feminine
Childish
Playful
The same letterforms which we bring character to it which we make associations from.
The use of image helps us to make an association to the audience who will be targeted.
Gender stereotypes
Masculine typeface to go with masculine shoes
Red
type to go with the shoe (sexy) relating to the audience who will wear the shoe
Black
typeface would go with the women's shoe as it is a office shoe.
Different
typefaces for the different stereotypes
Vocabulary
Font
Serif
Typeface
Sans
serif
Font
family
Script
Weight
Black
letter
Stroke
Display
Uppercase/lowercase
Monotype
Tracking
Symbol
Kerning
Typeface
:
Font
:
A
full font allows to work with an entire oxydental western font. It allows us to
work with different accents, punctuation etc. The standard we usually use
are the uppercase, lowercase, numerical and basic glyphs.
Talking
about any typographic element which are not letterforms are glyphs.
Multiple
weights give us a typeface
Font
is the same stroke and same weight. Individual fonts.
When
put together the different weights of a font are a typeface.
eg,
to buy a typeface would mean to by all of the weights which go with it.
Gill
Sans
Regular
Regular
italic
Light
italic
Bold
italic
Ultra
bold
Ultra
old condensed
Key
distinction between arial and Helvetica
The
full stop
Arial
- round full stop
Helvetica
- square full stop
Typeface
can be referred to as a typefamily
Font
family - the same stroke. Not including italicised
We
had to categorise our fonts into 7 categories
One of the things we did wrong during the exercise.. We did not have the whole family of fonts to go with the others. TYPEFACE. We categorised by comparison.
Gothic - stripped down simple sans serif font
Modernist
Roman - serif fonts
Times roman
Times new roman
Historical context
Block fonts - headings, headlines, short sentences
Defined by the bold heavy stroke
Script - handwritten, fluid style, curlesque, not a serif... Sweep of a brush or quill.
We were given another short task to categorise the fonts into :
Gothic
Roman
Block
Script
IMAGE
We found there was a subtle difference between block and gothic. An example of this is Helvetica and Heletica bold.
These categories are very basic, we could have roman block, roman script etc.
The anatomy of type Part 4
What are the most important elements within the typeface or letterform?
Size
Spacing
Leading
The one thing we read in type is the one thing that isn't there.
The counter - negatives space within a letterform
We can identify words, letterforms etc by there counters
Eat
Out
Hot
FedEx logo
The arrow between the E and X
Office of government commerce
Man sat down pleasuring himself
We don't read what is written - we read what we see
Cambridge university spelling mistake image....
The first one is very clear counters and kerners.some people find roman type easier to read as the serifs help to identify the letterform or word. This is a factor of dyslexia.
Bold type face to make it easier to read - spacing
When we make a body of text bold it will increase the number of sentences.
The different spaces between letterforms is set to maximise the legibility and readability.
Legibility
Is the degree to which glyphs (individual characters) in text are understandable or recognisable based on apparence.
Based very much on the anatomy
Readability
Is the ease in which text can be read and understood. It is influenced by line length, primary and secondary leading, justification, type style, kerning, tracking .
Tracking - pull it along it's baseline
Space it out
Kerning - opposite
Take the standard spacing and starts to pull it together
Never kern body copy
Can track it but not ok much
Rule of thumb :
No more than 3 fonts
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