Basic Typography

Basic Typography

By PETER EDIDIN

“Good Night, and Good Luck,” the movie about Edward R. Murrow’s battle to expose the demagoguery of Joseph R. McCarthy, has received both critical and popular ac-claim. But the movie has its fervent detractors - and they aren’t people nostalgic for the days of backyard fallout shelters. They are typographers and graphic designers. Their charge: typographical inaccuracy.

Good Film, Shame About the Helvetica

www.ms-studio.com/typecasting.html

Anatomy of Type

AxbiyBaseline

Axbiyx-height

AxbiyCap height / Capline

AxbiyAscender

AxbiyDescender

Axb iBlack Bold Regular Italic

xxxxSans Serif Old Roman (Serif) New Roman (Serif) Slab Serif

Suggested Typefaces

BaskervilleJohn Baskerville1700’sSerifBook faceUK

BodoniGiambattista Bodoni1800Modern SerifBook faceItaly

RockwellMonotype Foundry1930’sSlab serifDisplay faceAmerica

HelveticaMax Miedinger1957Sans serifFamilySwitzerland

MyriadRobert Slimbach + Carol Twombly2002Sans serifFamilyAmerica

looking at type

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Helvetica (sans serif)

ABCDEFabcdefghiABCDEFabcdefghijklm

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Myriad (sans serif )

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Old Roman or Old Style (serif)

BASKERVILLE

ABCabcdefghijklmnoprstuv

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Old Roman or Old Style (serif )

CASLON

ABCabcdefghijklmnoprst

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

New Roman or Modern (serif)

BODONI

ABCabcdefghijklmno

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

New Roman or Modern (serif)

WALBAUM

ABCabcdefghijklmno

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Slab Serif or Square Serif or Egyptian (serif)

ROCKWELL

ABCabcdefghijklmnop

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!?abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Slab Serif or Square Serif or Egyptian (serif)

CALVERT

ABCabcdefghijklmno