Studio Brief 1 – Logotype - Typeface Characteristics and Personalities

Typeface Characteristics and Personalities

Garamond

History

Created by Claude Garamond a French Reaissance punchcutter

Characteristics

Refined and readable – delicate beauty – stretches out in headlines and does not break apart when small – formal personality may not fit casual topics – horizontal crossbar in ‘e’ and ‘H’ – ascenders and descenders are long – most top serifs are usually diagonal

Personality  

artistic, classic, formal, traditional, confident, intellectual, thinker, leader, responsible, professional, well informed

Bodoni

History

Created by Giambattista Bodoni

Characteristics

Heavy strokes reduce to hairlines – long thin serifs – distinct ball terminals on the ‘a’, ‘c’, ‘f’, ‘g’, ‘r’ and ‘y’ – appears constructed rather than written with only a few letters referencing the mark of a pen e.g. ‘R’ and ‘Q’ – will fall apart if set small or reversed (light on dark background) – extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes – originally had subtly bracketed serifs although modern versions exclude these – its ornate appearance means it is mainly used as a display type

Personality

performer, confident, dramatic, stylish, fashionable, feminine

Century

History

Specifically designed to print Century magazine – developed by Lynn Boyd Benton and Theodore De Vinne

Characteristics

Thick and thin stroke weights are heavier than most serif fonts – generous white space between and within letterforms – the unique characteristics of each letter are clear and slightly exaggerated

Personality readable, clear, intelligent, practical

Futura

History

Designed by Paul Renner

Characteristics

Capitals are based on classical proportions with varying widths – the protrusion of pointed apexes (‘M’, ‘N’ and ‘w’) is called ‘overshoot’ which is an optical compensation for type intended for text sizes, which can be distracting when larger – minimal contrast in width of letters – horizontal or vertical terminals – the number of strokes to create each letterform are minimized – the o is a perfect circle

Personality

leader, idealist, thinker, modern, confident, capable, comfortable, neutral, practical

Times New Roman

History

Created for The Times – intended destination news print not laser print – created by Stanley Morrison

Characteristics

High contrast and thin serifs – wide and heavy caps – better in display settings than text – long sharp serifs with curved brackets – small tittles – short ascenders and descenders – the counters are very open – rounded uppercase letters e.g. C and G are wide

Personality

intellectual, confident, neutral, practical

Helvetica

History

Designed in the 1950s by Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman to improve the Akzidenz Grotesk typeface

Characteristics

Contrast is minimal – idealised construction- strokes terminate at ninety degree angles – letter shapes and widths are usually uniform – texture is atypically even – useful for logos and graphic display type - not effective for long passages of text – the ‘a’ is double storied and features a tear drop shaped counter

Personality

everyman, idealist, leader, conventional, confident, modern, neutral, readable, calm