Typeface

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Futura

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mDesigned by Paul Renner in 1927, this typeface is based on geometric shapes used to express modern models, rather than be a

revival of previous design.

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dCommissioned by the Bauer type foundry, Futura was commer-cially released in 1927.

Futura has an appearance 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. In designing Futura, Renner avoided the decorative, eliminating non-essential elements. The lowercase has tall ascenders, which rise above the cap line. The uppercase characters present proportions similar

to those of classical Roman capitals.

AThe family was originally published in Light,Medium, Medium Oblique, Demibold, and Demibold Oblique fonts were later released in 1930. Book font was released in 1932. BookOblique font was released in 1939. Extra Boldfont was designed by Edwin W. Shaarin 1952.Extra Bold Italic font was designed in 1955 by Edwin W. Shaar and Tommy Thompson.

Baskerville

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Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville. Baskerville is classified as a transitional type-face,positioned between the oldstyle typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giam-battista Bodoni and Firmin Didot.y

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The Baskerville typeface is the result of John Baskerville’s intent to improve upon the types of William Caslon. He increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper and more tapered, and shifted the axis of rounded letters to a more vertical position. The curved strokes are more circlar in shape, and the characters became more regular. These changes created a greatercon-sistency in size and form.

mBaskerville’s typeface was the culmination of a larger series of experiments in hopes to improve legibility. The result was a typeface that reflected Baskerville’s ideals of perfection.

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Gill Sans

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Eric Gills created the font Gill Sans in 1926. Gill discovered this new font after painting the fascia over a window in sans-serif capitals. Gill further developed the idea into a complete font family after Stanley Morison commissioned the development of Gill Sans to combat the families of Erbar, Futura and Kabel which were being launched in Germany during the latter 1920s. Gill Sans was later released in 1928 byMono-

type Corporation.

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Memphis

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Created in 1929 by a German designer named Rudolf Wolf.a

yThe Egyptian, or slab serif, typefaces surged to popularity in the early 1800s. Memphis was the first Egyptian revival, designed for the Stempel foundry.

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QThe letter forms found in the typeface Memphis are geometric, and stems and serifs have the same weight values.

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Bodoni

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Bodoni is a series of serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni in 1798. Following the ideas of John Baskerville, bodoni font takes on the form of an increased stroke contrast and a more verti-cal, slightly condensed, upper case, but more on an extreme level. Bodoni’s designs evolved and differed, ending with a typeface of narrower underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs, extreme con-trast between thick and thin strokes, and an overall geometric construction. Though these later designs are rightfully called “modern”, the earlier designs are “transitional”.

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Didot

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gThe name “didot” was given to a group of typeface named after the famous French printing and type producing family. The strong clear forms of this alphabedisplay objec-tive, rational characteristics and are representative of the time and philosophy of the Enlightenment.

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