Dumb Typefaces

by Matthew DickermanSt. Louis, Missouri

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Copyright ©2013 Matthew Dickerman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written consent from the publisher.

First Printing: May 2013

Printed in the United States

vii

I dedicate this book to my friends and family. Thank you for your support!

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Table of ContentsIntroduction ......................... xi Futura ................................... 3 Bodoni .................................. 15 Helvetica .............................. 23 Adobe Garamond Pro .......... 33

xi

There are an outrageous number of typefaces in the design world. Some are more successful in certain applications than others. This book will help compare and contrast different styles of typefaces and their individual weights. It will also explore the range of characters in each set and show how each is unique to the world of type.

Introduction

Futura

“G’day mate! Let’s put another shrimp on the barbie!”

4 Dumb Typefaces

German typographer Paul Renner is best known as the designer of the popular typeface Futura, which stands as a landmark of modern graphic design. Renner can be seen as a bridge between the traditional 19th century and the modern 20th century design as he attempted to fuse the Gothic and Roman typefaces. While he was never directly affiliated with the Bauhaus movement, he became an advocate of its principles and became a leading proponent of the “New Typography”. Paul Friedrich August Renner was born on August 9, 1878 in Wernigerode in the Harz region, a part of Saxony Anhalt, which at that time fell within the kingdom of Prussia. His father was an evangelical theologian, who would become court chaplain to the Earl of Stolberg in Wernigerode. Renner attended the Gymnasium, a secondary school where one studied the humanities. Nine years of studying Greek and Latin provided students with a ticket to higher education. He chose to study art after the Gymnasium, attending several academies, and finally completing his training in Munich in 1900. Paul was brought up to have a very German sense of leadership, of duty and responsibility. Renner was suspicious of abstract art and disliked many forms of modern culture, such as jazz, cinema, and dancing.

Paul RenneR

Futura 5

As well as being most famous as designer of the typeface Futura, he made a significant contribution to modern typography through his teaching and writing. His principal book is Die Kunst der Typographie. Furthermore, throughout his time, he wrote a number of books; Typographie als Kunst (Typography as Art), Die Kunst der Typographie (The Art of Typography) and Color Order And Harmony to name a few. He was arrested by the Reich in 1933 and made to leave his post as director of the Meister schule in Munich. He was hounded by the Gestapo in 1944 after an assassination attempt had been made on Hitler, in which some of his relatives had been implicated. After a long career at the age of 78, Paul Renner died on April 25th, 1956 in Hödingen, Germany.

Typefaces Designed by Paul Renner

Futura Futura Black

Futura Condensed Futura Display

Futura Extra Bold Shaded Futura Futuris Futura Heavy Futura Light

Futura Serie BQ Steile Futura BQ

Plak Black

6 Dumb Typefaces

FuturaFutura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Paul Renner. It has a look of efficiency and forwardness. The typeface is derived from simple geometric forms and is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast. This is most visible in the almost perfectly round stroke of the “o”. In designing Futura, Renner avoided the decorative, eliminating non-essential elements. The lowercase has tall ascenders, which rise above the cap line.

Futura 7

ABSOLUT®

VODKA

LOUIS VUITTON

BEST BUY

Futura Extra Bold Condensed Futura Extra Bold

Futura Medium

Futura's low contrast in stroke widths make it a great typeface for display use. Its geometric forms and straight forwardness has made it a popular typeface for logotypes around the world.

8 Dumb Typefaces

“G’day mate! Let’s put another shrimp on the barbie!” “G’day mate! Let’s put another shrimp on the barbie!”










Light

Bold

Medium

Light Condensed

Bold Condensed

Book

Extra Bold

Heavy

Medium Condensed

Extra Bold Condensed

Futura 9











Light Oblique

Bold Oblique

Medium Oblique

Light Condensed Oblique

Bold CondensedOblique

Book Oblique

Extra Bold Oblique

Heavy Oblique

Medium CondensedOblique

Extra Bold CondensedOblique

ow? QAs

3#k

f

B !*

7xZQ g

s mfi

f

D p2

o@$&

12 Dumb Typefaces

A b c d e f G h i j k L m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]

fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Light 11 /13

a b c d e f G h i j k L m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Light Oblique 11 /13

a b c d e F G h i j k L m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Book 11 /13


Book Oblique 11 /13

a b c d e F G h I j k L m N O p q r S T U V w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Medium 11 /13


Medium Oblique 11 /13

Futura 13

a b c d e f G h i j k L m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Light Condensed 11 /13

a b c D e f G h i j k L m n o p Q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Light Condensed Oblique 11 /13



fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Medium Condensed 11 /13


Medium Condensed Oblique 11 /13



fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Bold Condensed 11 /13

a B c d e f G h i j k L m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]fl fi12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Bold Condensed Oblique 11 /13

Bodoni

“Right out of the blue, she sends me a John Deere letter.”

16 Dumb Typefaces

Giambattista Bodoni was born in Saluzzo on February 16, 1740. He came from a printing family. At 18, Bodoni went to Rome and became a pupil of Abbate Ruffierei in the Vatican polyglot press of the Propaganda Fide. In 1768, Giambattista Bodoni took over leadership of the ducal printers in Parma – the “Stamperia Reale”. His employer, Duke Ferdinand, had nothing less in mind than to accumulate the greatest wealth of Italy’s writings in his shop. During his work at the “Stamperia Reale”, Bodoni first oriented himself towards the fonts of Pierre Fournier of Paris; soon however he developed many of his own original type faces. Three years after beginning to work in Parma, Giambattista Bodoni produced his first font pattern book. In 1775, Bodoni printed the book Epithalamia exoticis linguis reddita, which was written in 25 languages. In 1806, Bodoni printed the Lord’s Prayer in 155 languages, and in 1808 the Iliad by Homer.

Giambat tista bodoni

Bodoni 17

Around 1800, Giambattista Bodoni developed a completely new kind of type which refrained from decorative padding and was conceived solely on the criteria of symmetry and proportionality. In this way, the classical font “Bodoni” emerged, a masterpiece of typography, which would be used untold times by other typesetters. Giambattista Bodoni, also known as the “prince of typographers”, died in 1813 in Parma. What was probably his most important work, the Manuale tipografico, was published posthumously by his widow Margherita Dall’Aglio in 1818. Besides 142 fonts, it also included a collection of flowering ornamentals and geometric patterns.

Typefaces Designed by Giambattista Bodoni

BodoniBauer Bodoni

Bauer Bodoni BlackBauer Bodoni Bold

Bodoni AntiquaBodoni Classic

itc Bodoni OrnamentsBodoni Poster

Bodoni Poster Compresseditc Bodoni Seventy-Two

itc Bodoni Sixitc Bodoni Twelve

Linotype Gianotten

18 Dumb Typefaces

BodoniAlthough its origins are over 300 years old, the Bodoni typeface is regarded as a Modern font. Designed by the Italian engraver Giambattista Bodoni in 1798, the font was influenced by the Baskerville face but was viewed as more pleasing on the eye. Bodoni's characteristic contrast between thick and thin strokes to the vertical axis combining with thin hairlines resulted in an attractive, delicate font but one which could prove difficult to print.

Bodoni 19

Q J i a

The tail is centered under the Q.

The dot on the i is round. The a is double storey.

The J has a slight hook.

20 Dumb Typefaces

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]fl fi ‰ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Book 11 /13

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]fl fi ‰ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Book Italic 11 /13

a B c D e f g h i J k l m n o p Q R s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]fl fi ‰ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Roman 11 /13


Italic 11 /13

a B c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


fl fi ‰ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ¼ ½ ¾

Bold 11 /13


Bold Italic 11 /13

Bodoni 21



“right out of the blue, she sends me a john deere letter.”








Poster Compressed

Bold Condensed

Book

Book Italic

Roman

Italic

Bold

Bold Italic

Poster

Poster Italic

Helvetica

“Oh, look at the fun bags on that hose hound!”

Max Miedinger began his career in visual design at the age of 16 as an apprentice for Jacques Bollman, a Swiss book printer. For four years Miedinger trained as a typographer in Zurich and attended night classes at Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. From 1936 to 46 Miedinger was a typographer for Globus department store’s advertising studio in Zurich. From 1947 to 56 he was a customer counselor and typeface sales representative for the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei in Münchenstein. After 1956 he was a freelance graphic artist in Zurich with a fair amount of success. In 1957 Miedinger was prompted by Edouard Hoffman from the Swiss type Type Foundry Hass to a new font to represent the company in all their advertisements. Under Edouard Hoffman’s Miedinger made the Haas Grotesk typeface that would later be renamed Helvetica. Helvetica is a Latin word meaning Switzerland that was used to employ a more "global" appeal and professional name. After developing the famous font Helvetica, Max furthered his freelance career. No work after Helvetica either by Miedinger or another estranged typographer up until the present has had a greater influence on mass media and been as legible to be used in posters and body text. Though Miedinger never really ventured from Zurich to live, he seemed to gather a strong understanding of international appeal and style.

max miedinGeR

24 Dumb Typefaces

Max Miedinger lived a modest life in Zurich and never received worldwide acclaim like other typographers. He often is not thought of when Helvetica is brought up, and is more often than not put in a light that is not famous or important. Especially during his life Miedinger was not famous or reverred because of his design qualities. He was respected, but never able to gain popularity from Helvetica like the typeface gained for itself. Helvetica was the most used Sans Serif typeface throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It was used in areas and designs such as Tokyo, Moscow, and New York subways and transit departments. It was also used in by Toyota car company exclusively. They bought the rights to use it in making an international identity for the company and its partners. The trend might have continued into the 1990s if the computer did not start to take precedence.

Typefaces Designed by Max Miedinger

HelveticaHelvetica BlackHelvetica Bold

Helvetica CondensedHelvetica Inserat

Helvetica LightHelvetica Neue

Helvetica Neue BlackHelvetica Textbook

MiedingerMiedinger BoldMonospace 821

Neue Haas Grotesk DisplaySwiss 721

Helvetica 25

26 Dumb Typefaces

HelveticaHelvetica is one of the most popular san serif typefaces in the world. Technically speaking, it’s a sans serif Grotesque typeface, inspired by and based on the Akzidenz - Grotesk typeface created by Berthold around 1898. It was created specifically to be neutral, and to not give any impression or have any meaning in itself. Helvetica’s characters always have vertical or horizontal terminations on their strokes and is as much about the negative space surrounding the letters than about the lines that make up the characters themselves.

Helvetica 27

Helvetica’s sleek lines and modern sensibilities were just what companies were looking for at the time of its creation to remake their identities and set themselves apart from the past. It also remains legible when in motion, making it popular for signage and automaker and airline logos.

JCPenneyHelvetica RomanHelvetica Black

Helvetica Bold

28 Dumb Typefaces

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Light 11 /13

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Light Oblique 11 /13

a b C d e f g H i J k l m n O P q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Roman 11 /13


Roman Oblique 11 /13



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Bold 11 /13


Bold Oblique 11 /13

Helvetica 29



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Light Condensed 11 /13


Light Condensed Oblique 11 /13



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Condensed 11 /13


Condensed Oblique 11 /13



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Bold Condensed 11 /13


Bold Condensed Oblique 11 /13

30 Dumb Typefaces


“oh, look at the fun bags on that hose hound!”








Compressed

Light

Light Oblique

Roman

Oblique

Bold

Bold Oblique

Black

Black Oblique

Helvetica 31










Ultra Compressed

Light Condensed

Light Condensed Oblique

Condensed

Condensed Oblique

Bold Condensed

Bold Condensed Oblique

Black Condensed

Black Condensed Oblique

“I can get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog.”

Adobe Garamond Pro

34 Dumb Typefaces

Robert Slimbach was born in 1956 in Evanston, Illinois, but grew up in South California. After leaving college he developed an interest in graphic design and typefaces while running a small screen printshop for manufacturing posters and greeting cards. This work brought him into contact with Autologic Incorporation in Newbury Park, California. From 1983 to 1985, he worked as a font designer with Autologic Incorporation, where Sumner Stone also worked for a short time. There he trained, not just as a font designer but also as a calligrapher. Following this he was then self-employed for two years and developed the two fonts itc Slimbach and itc Giovanni for the International Typeface Corporation in New York. In 1987 he joined Adobe Systems. Ever since, he has been involved in developing new fonts for the Adobe Originals program. During his time at Adobe Systems, Slimbach went to the Plantin-Moretus museum in Antwerp, Belgium, to study the original Garamond typefaces. These served as the basis for the design of Adobe Garamond.

RobeRt slimbach

34 Dumb Typefaces

Adobe Garamond Pro 35

In 1991 he received the Charles Peignot Award from AtypI for excellence in type design. Slimbach is now based with Adobe Systems in San Jose, California. Since 2000, the rate of Slimbach's new typefaces has slowed, as he has taken advantage of the new linguistic and typographic capabilities offered by the OpenType format. Where in the 1990s a given typeface design might be instantiated in one or two fonts, with 200 – 500 glyphs, a typical new Slimbach work post - 2000 has 1500 – 3000 glyphs. In 2004, Adobe released Garamond Premier Pro, a new take on the Garamond designs, which Slimbach had been working on for 15 years, since he first completed Adobe Garamond in 1989.

Typefaces Designed by Robert Slimbach

Myriad ProAdobe Garamond

Minion ProWarnock Pro

Arno Proitc Slimbachitc Giovanni

UtopiaPoeticaSanvito

Adobe JensonKepler

CronosBrioso

Trajan Sans

36 Dumb Typefaces

Adobe GaramondAdobe Garamond is a digital interpretation of the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon. Since its release in 1989, Adobe Garamond has become a typographic staple throughout the world of desktop typography and design. Robert Slimbach has captured the beauty and balance of the original Garamond typefaces while creating a typeface family that offers all the advantages of a contemporary digital type family.


Q W r d

The Q has an oblique axis.

The r has a ball terminal. The d has wedge - shaped serifs.

The W shows the contrast of strokes.

8

oH k? 43

@

d !s

8 fkgaRm

4 zpi

#!s

40 Dumb Typefaces

A b c d e f G h I j k l m n o P Q r s t u v W x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Regular 11 /13


Italic 11 /13



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Semibold 11 /13


Semibold Italic 11 /13

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

[ { ( @ # $ ¢ % ̂ & *; < : ? . ! ™ © ® ) } ]1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Bold 11 /13


Bold Italic 11 /13


“I can get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog.”

“i can get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog.”





Regular

Italic

Semibold

Semibold Italic

Bold

Bold Italic

45

This book was created by Matthew Dickerman as an assignment in Typography I at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. The pages were designed in Adobe InDesign CS6 and printed on Butcher White 80lb. text Dur - O - Tone, French Paper Company. The typeface is Adobe Caslon Pro 9 /13, while text samples are set in Futura, Bodoni, Helvetica and Adobe Garamond Pro.

bibliography http://www.identifont.com http://www.webdesignerdepot.com http://www.giambattista-bodoni.com http://people.ku.edu

Printed by Matthew Dickerman

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