Studio Brief 2 – Typeface Design - Mueller Brockmann's Typefaces

Mueller Brockmann’s Typeface Characteristics and Type Taster Book

Mueller Brockmann's Typefaces

Garamond

History

Created by Claude Garamond a French Renaissance punchcutter in 1495. He cut types for the scholar – printer Robert Estienne which were based upon types cut by Francesco Griffo for the printer Aldus Manutius. After his ­death, his punches were moved to Antwerp where they were used by Plantin for many decades. Sixty years after Garamond’s death French printer Jean Jannon created a specimen of typefaces that had similar characteristics to Garamond’s typeface. Jannon’s type disappeared and were rediscovered in the French national printing office in 1825 and were attributed to Claude Garamond. They were used in the early 1900s to print a history of printing from which attention was brought to the ‘Garamond’ types. It was only in 1927 that the real heritage was discovered. Many types were subsequently made from the originals and Jannons version.

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

Times New Roman

History

In 1929 Stanley Morrison was asked to create a new text font for the Times newspaper. Morrison led the project and supervised Victor Lardent who (an advertising artist for the times) drew the letterforms. The typeface was based on an older font Plantin but revisions were made for legibility and economy of space. It became popular amongst printers because of its distribution in the daily newspaper. Times New Roman is now a standard typeface in digital publishing systems.

Characteristics

Transitional Serif - 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 – curved bracket connect stem and bar in ‘t’ – the ‘e’ has quite a large x height and extenders with a narrow body – it is slightly narrower than most text fonts because newspapers needed to fit more text per line

Personality

intellectual, confident, neutral, practical

Helvetica

History

Designed in the 1950s and released in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman to improve and compete with the Akzidenz Grotesk typeface in the swiss market. Originally it was called Neue Haas Grotesk but became Helvetica in 1960. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had good clarity with no intrinsic meaning to its forms making it appropriate for a wide variety of signage.

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 – rounded shapes are nearly circular – monocular ‘g’ with fairly flat lower stroke – an ‘R’ has a mildly curving leg which extends from the far right side of the bowl – all strokes terminate at ninety degree angles – long bar to the centre of the body in a ‘G’.

Personality

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

Caslon

History

Designed by William Caslon between 1720 and 1726 – his work helped to modernise the book and become distinct from the printed imitations of hand produced books.

Characteristics

Transitional Serif - Sharp serifs – nearly rectangular serifs with mild bracketing – horizontal bars in ‘e’ and ‘H’ – moderately sized eye in ‘e’- strong ball terminals point upwards in ‘y’ and ‘j’ – ‘Q’ has a long tail which continues the motion of the body’s left stroke – moderate x height and long extenders - may seem slightly antique in some settings – shows hints of a transition from pen based shapes to constructed letterforms

Personality

Academic, Traditional, Knowledgeable, trustworthy, intellectual, informed, old fashioned, important

Baskerville

History

Designed by Englishman John Baskerville in the 1750s – 1760s. His work was criticised in England so after his death his types were purchased by a Frenchman Pierre – Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais after which time their history is unknown. In 1917 the surviving punches were recognised and given to the University of Cambridge in 1953. The type was later revived.

Characteristics

Transitional Serif - Horizontal bar in ‘e’ and ‘H’ – small eye in ‘e’- prominent doggish ear in ‘g’ – modest serifs with asymmetrical bracketing – fairly large x height – very flat upper stroke and large aperture in ‘a’- ‘Q’ has a decorative tail with stroke in two directions – in an ‘R’ and ‘K’ the long straight leg is heaviest at the baseline – the rich curves feel handcrafted rather than computer created – flamboyant and exuberant so the content has to fit

Personality

Intellectual, Traditional, Neutral, academic, wise, conventional, trustworthy, credible, knowledgable

Clarendon

History

Created in 1845 by Robert Besley it was inspired by Antique.The type quickly became popular so Besley registered it under Britain’s Ornamental Design Act of 1842. However the patent finished three years later which allowed other foundries to copy the design which led to many variations of the typeface. It was popular as a wood block type and is associated with the ‘WANTED’ signs of the old west. 

Characteristics

Grotesque Slab – ball terminals – upturned tails – ear extends horizontally in a ‘g’ – round tittles – large x height, short extenders and fairly wide body in ‘e’ and ‘o’ – small eye and horizontal terminal in ‘e’ – complex tear shaped bowl in ‘e’ – horizontal bottom terminals – bracketed serifs are lighter than stems – increased contrast opens up the counters – useful for short passages of text

Personality

Doer, leader, thinker, traditional, professional, confident, practical, classic, importance

Berthold

History

Issued in 1898 by the Berthold Foundry in Berlin. It originally appeared as Accidenz Grotesk and was based upon Royal Grotesk Light which was cut by Ferdinand Theinhardt. Hermann Berthold took over the Theinhardt Typefoundry and acquired Accidenz Grotesk. The Akzidenz – Grotesk family later consisted of various fonts collected from other foundries this is why there are differences across weights. When it was first released it was designed as a display type, the name derives from the German word Akzidenzschrift which means jobbing or display type. The type had a revival after World War II and was particularly used by Swiss designers in the 1950s. It was primarily used in industrial advertising because of its cool form.

Characteristics

Grotesque Typeface - Almost equal thicknesses of horizontal and vertical strokes – tail of the Q does not cross the counter – single story ‘g’ – square dots on ‘i’ and ‘j’ – right angle bar on ‘G’ – straight leg on ‘R’ in contrast to Helvetica – small x – height – designed for commercial use e.g advertising  

Personality

Cool form, clear, legible, practical, neautral

Univers

History

Designed by a swiss typographer,Adrian Frutiger, whilst as a student in Zurich and it was later released in 1957. Frutiger used numbers rather than names to define variations of weight, width and slope. Univers is part of a group of neo – grotesque sans – serif typefaces (the others being Folio and Helvetica) which were released in 1957 and based upon Akzidenz – Grotesk.

Characteristics

Neo – Grotesque Sans - Mildly curving leg in ‘R’ – diagonal strokes meet at stem in ‘k’ – strokes terminate at ninety degree angles – monocular ‘g’ – moderate x height and descenders with fairly narrow bodies – no tails – Horizontal bar and straight vertical stroke in a ‘G’ – in an ‘a’ the bowl has a flat top with perpendicular connection to the stem – low contrast in the ‘o’

Personality

Neutral, clear, legibile, open

Bodoni

History

Bodoni is the name given to Giambattista Bodoni’s serif typefaces which he created in the late eighteenth century and which have subsequently been revised. Bodoni’s typefaces are classed as Didone or modern.

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

Type Taster by Sarah Hyndman

Within type taster the author conducted a survey to see whether she could prove typefaces has unique personalities , is there was agreement on personality types and whether the opinions of designers and non designers differed in anyway.

It was found that typefaces do have unique personalities and that there was significant agreement on personality types. Type professionals were found to attribute more qualities to typefaces and explain them in a complex way.