The fifth iteration of the most interesting typography conference has been announced!
ICTVC is established worldwide as a major event that explores the world of typography and visual communication. Since its inception in 2002, people from diverse fields and different disciplines with a passion for visual language research, education, and practice, contribute to the conference. ICTVC attracts speakers and delegates on an international scale, and from a wide range of disciplines related to typography and design. The high quality of presentations is a hallmark of the conference.
This time the conference theme is “against lethe…”; social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental issues that affect us all demand a new way of thinking. However, as we look forward we should not forget the lessons of the past. What has been the role of visual language against forgetting till now and what may happen in the future?
We would like to invite you to submit your proposals for 30 minute lectures or 20 minute presentations-reports for the main conference and the education strand, and 20 minute presentations for the Design Méditerranée strand.
The 5th ICTVC will take place from 6 to 8 June 2013 in Nicosia, Cyprus, on the campus of the University of Nicosia. A series of workshops will precede the conference, and exhibitions will run for the duration of the week.
Please send your files/proposals to papers2013@ictvc.org until 15 December 2012
For some years now I have stopped trying to spot all MATD projects completed and used in high profile publications, OEM installations, and the like. But there is one new implementation worth commenting on. The latest update to Instapaper includes six new typefaces, including two that started as MATD student projects: FF Tisa by Mitja Miklavčič and Elena by Nicole Dotin (The original specimens for Tisa (2006) and Elena (2007) are interesting if you are into the type-spotting thing). It is telling both of the skills of the designers, and the clarity of the original briefs that what are, in essence, _tools for learning_ become commercially successful typefaces of the highest calibre.
The six new typefaces include three by designers at the peak of the profession (Ideal Sans, Proxima Nova, and FF Meta) but also Lyon Text, a typeface designed by Kai Bernau in 2009–10; Kai graduated from the KABK in The Hague in 2006. The presence of three young designers in this list is as good a sign as any that the field of typeface design as a whole is growing healthily, rejuvenating its ranks and seeding the pool of designers with new talent. I know that Jonathan, Tobias, Mark, and Erik would agree with me that the selection sends a very positive message on the state of typeface design today.
Of course, you could argue “Big deal. New typefaces are published all the time, why are these more important?” The reason is partly personal: I spend a big part of my reading hours looking at Instapaper, both on the iPhone and iPad. Up to now I’ve been using Georgia, ignoring most of the rest (and quietly hoping that a couple would vanish from every interface I come across). But there are two more reasons, worthy of more consideration than my reading habits.
Firstly, I am fairly certain that environments that allow us to collect our own content stream will keep growing, and exponentially so once we figure a good way to introduce this practice in education.
Secondly, because the selection process has been partly documented without the assumption that new typefaces were needed. Marco Arment’s posts (Learning from competition originally, and the announcement linked to at the beginning of this post) are a good introduction to how people recognise the need for new typefaces, and come to appreciate their value. Although his investigations into typefaces started as a response to competition, his enthusiastic description of the improvement in the reading experience is a confirmation of the effort by typeface designers. For an app like Instapaper, so closely focused on the reading experience, the right typeface can make a huge difference to its sustained adoption.
Georgia, thank you for the ride so far.
[I got asked yesterday by a student in another university “what Information Design (and especially Typography) means to you”, and dumped this out over breakfast; I post it “as is” to avoid going into the black hole of perpetual editing.]
Firstly, typography: this depends on the institutional viewpoint, and the language*. In the English-speaknig world it is a continuum. At one end it refers to the the design of texts at the paragraph level, covering type choice, line measurements, and similar micro-typographic choices. At the other end typography encompasses all choices relating to the construction of a document as a carrier of information that readers engage with because they want or need this information. The critical distinction lies in the engagement with the text: typography, in its wider definition, covers a range of macro choices at the level of the spread, the document as a sequential experience, and the production of a physical or on-screen object.
Information Design covers typographic design where the engagement of the readers with the text is critical and has specific objectives. Navigation (wayfinding, way-showing, route-mapping, and any of a number of similar terms), safety, instruction, and training are the most common applications. At the heart of Information Design is a user-based perspective, and the imperative to test design solutions. As design scenarios migrate to screen-based environments, especially mobile devices, the potential for customisation of information design to each user is increasingly important in its methodology.
My view is that “static” Information Design on fixed substrates (paper, vinyl sheets, plexiglass signs, and so on) is fundamentally different from Information Design on digital environments. In the first case, it strives to maximise the efficiency of the message and eliminate ambiguity for the largest section of the intended audience. In the second, it has the additional function of maximising the value of the information to the specific demands of the user. This is an additional motivation for the reader to engage with the document, and a much more interesting challenge for the designer. Customised paper documents (e.g. utility bills) have tried to bridge the gap between these two poles, with some success, although clearly they will rapidly give way to screen-based versions.
Of course, in all cases Information Design has to carry the identity of the publisher. This is in itself a separate design challenge, usually addressed by aggregating the effect of the designed objects rather than an individual document. For example, a sign system brands a building through the consistency of its appearance, just as much as by the range of the scenarios it enables.
Gerry
* In Spanish-speaking countries “tipografia” means “type design”. This, as you can imagine, leads to no end of confusions and clarifications.
An impromptu Venn diagram to help explain a point about styles for a sans serif student project, from earlier today.
The three circles are Systematic / Elegant / Quirky. The typefaces fully in each are Univers, Ideal Sans, and MT Grotesque. The Systematic/Elegant one is Candara, the Systematic/Quirky is Capucine, and the Quirky/Elegant is Maple. Nothing in the centre.
Core texts: André Jammes, “Académisme et Typographie: the making of the romain du roi.” In Journal of the Printing Historical Society no 1, 1965 James Mosley, “French academicians and modern typography: designing new types in the 1690s.”
Items on handout bibliography
Andrew Boag, ‘Typographic measurement: a chronology’. In _ Typography Papers 1_, 1996
Harry Carter, Fournier on Typefounding: the text of the Manuel Typographique translated into English and edited with notes by Harry Carter. London, 1930. Reprinted: New York, 1973, Darmstadt, 1995
Pierre-Simon Fournier, Modèles de caractères de l’imprimerie. Facsimile edition, with an introduction by James Mosley. London, 1965
Fournier, Pierre-Simon, Manuel Typographique (Paris, 1764–[8]). Facsimile edition, 3 vols., Darmstadt, 1995 (vol.3 includes a facsimile reprint of Carter, Fournier on Typefounding, 1930), edited by James Mosley
Allen Hutt, Fournier, the compleat typographer. London, 1972
Imprimerie Royale, Les caractères de l’Imprimerie Nationale. Paris, Paris, 1990
André Jammes, La réforme de la typographie royale sous Louis XIV: Le Grandjean. Paris, 1961. Reprinted in a reduced format as La naissance d’un caractère: le Grandjean, Paris, 1985. Slightly abridged text published in English translation under the title ‘Académisme et Typographie: the making of the romain du roi’, in Journal of the Printing Historical Society, no 1, 1965
Robin Kinross, Modern typography: an essay in critical history. London, 1992
James Mosley, ‘French academicians and modern typography: designing new types in the 1690s’. In Typography Papers 2, 1997
James Mosley, ‘Illustrations of typefounding engraved for the Description des Arts e Métiers of the Académie Royale des Sciences, 1694 to c. 1700’. In Matrix, no 11, 1991
Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises on the whole art of printing. Herbert Davies & Harry Carter, Eds. 2nd ed, London, 1962
Fred Smeijers, Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now. London, 1992
Walter Tracy, Letters of credit: a view of type design. London, 1986
Items for discussion
F C Avis, Edward Philip Prince: type punchcutter. Glenview Press, 1967
H Daniel Caslon, Typefounding and type design. H W Caslon & Co Ltd, 1932
Denis Diderot & Jean le Rond d’Alembert (eds), “Imprimerie en caracteres: Contenant dix-neuf Planches.” In Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des artes et des métiers. André le Breton, 1751
André Jammes, La réforme de la typography royale sous Louis XIV le Grandjean: Étude accompagnée de CX cuivres originaux conservés à l’ Imprimerie Nationale. Librairie Paul Jammes, 1961
Peter Karow, Typeface statistics. URW Verlag, 1993
Donald E Knuth, “The letter S”. In The Mathematical Intelligencer vol 2 no 3, 1980
Christian Paput, La lettre: La gravure du poinçon typographique / The punchcutting. TVSO Éditions, 1998
Core texts: Gerritt Noordzij, The stroke of the pen, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, 1982 The stroke: theory of writing, Hyphen Press, 2005 GN-list archive 2003
Items on handout bibliography
Fernand Baudin and John Dreyfus (eds), Dossier a-z 73. Association Typographique Internationale, 1973
Eric van Blokland, Just van Rossum and Robin Kinross (eds), Gerrit Noordzij Index. On the Letterror site
David Cabianca, A study of Gerrit Noordzij. University of Reading, 2005
Robin Kinross, Modern typography: an essay in critical history. Hyphen Press 2004
––, “Type as critique”. In Typography Papers 2, 1997
Jan Middendorp, Dutch type. 010 Publishers, 2004
––, “Review of The stroke: theory of writing”. In Eye Magazine no 59, 2006
Gerrit Noordzij, Letterletter: an inconsistent collection of tentative theories that do not claim any other authority than that of common sense. Hartley & Marks, 2000
––, “Reply to Robin Kinross”. In Typography Papers 2, 1997
Items for discussion
Frank Blokland (ed.), Letters & techniek. Letters, 1990
Matthew Carter & Eiichi Kono, Rediscovered design: Phone directory. (Reprint), 1990
Wim Crouwel, New alphabet: an introduction for a programmed typography. Total Design, 1967
Sem Hartz, Essays. Serifpers, 1992
Donald E Knuth, Metafont: A system for alphabet design. Stanford University, 1979
Mathieu Lommen, Het promaat van de pen: Een workshop letterontwerpen met Gerritt Noordzij, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, 2001
Mathieu Lommen & Peter Verheul, Haagse letters. Uitgeverij de Buitenkant, 1996
Ladislas Mandel, Écritures: miroir des homes et des sociétés. Atelier Perrouseaux, 1998
Stanley Morison, Pacioli’s classic Roman alphabet. Grolier Club, 1933
Lynn Ruggles, Letterform design systems. Stanford University, 1983
Oskar Schlemmer, Man. Lund Humphries, 1971
Jan Tschichold, “Of what value is tradition in type design?” In Typographic opportunities in the computer age: Papers of the 11th Congress of the Association Typographique Internationale, John Dreyfus & René Murat (ads), 1969
Gerard Unger, Een tegenvoorstel / A counter-proposal / Une contreproposition / Ein Gegenvorschlag. Steendrukkerij de Jong en Co, n.d.
Hermann Zapf, Classical typography in the computer age. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1991
Post-seminar discussion references on Michael Twyman
“A schema for the study of graphic language.” In Paul A. Kolers, Merald E. Wrolstad & Herman Bouma (eds), Processing of visible language 1, Plenum Press, 1979
“Articulating graphic language: A historical perspective.” In Merald E. Wrolstad & Dennis F. Fisher (eds), _Toward a new understanding of literacy.” Praeger, 1986
Printing 1770–1970: an illustrated history of its development and uses in England. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
“Using pictorial language: A discussion of the dimensions of the problem.” In Thomas M. Duffy & Robert Waller (ads), Designing usable texts. Academic Press, 1985
(MT items in the University Library and the Department Reading Room)
[Note: Every couple of weeks a student leads a seminar on a specific topic. The seminars take the form of reports on one or more items (usually a key text) and the discussion covers a range of related resources. Seminars roughly shadow the progress of issues raised by practical work, and other teaching. (So, this first seminar took place a week after an introductory session on lettercutting, James Mosley’s lectures on inscriptional lettering, and Richard Grasby’s guest lecture.) I’ll be posting the list of items we discuss for each of our core seminars over the coming months, but note that:
no item is to be received uncritically — some are on the list precisely because they help illustrate the advance of scholarship, or the changing views in our field; and
the list of items is scaled to fit within the time limits of the discussion — the list for each seminar is edited to support the points raised in the session.]
Core text: Nicolete Gray, A history of lettering: creative experiment and letter identity Phaidon, 1986
Items on handout bibliography
Michael Harvey, “Inscription and type design: an investigation.” In Type, Vol 2 , no 1. Association Typographique Internationale, 1998
Graily Hewitt, Lettering for students & craftsmen. The Pitman Press, 1976 (first ed. 1930)
James Hutchinson, Letters. Herbert Press, 1983
Frances Spalding, “‘A true statement of real thing’: Nicolete Gray’s promotionof modern art.” In Typography Papers 3, 1998
Jan Tschichold, An Illustrated history of writing and lettering. Zwemmer, 1946 Michael Twyman, “Nicolete Gray: a personal view of her contribution to the study of letterforms.” In Typography Papers 3, 1998
Items for discussion
Martin Andersch, Symbols, signs, letters: About handwriting, experimenting with alphabets, and the interpretation of texts. Design Press, 1989
Donald M. Anderson, The art of written forms: The theory and practice of calligraphy. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc, 1969
Peter Bain & Paul Shaw (Eds), Blackletter: Type and national identity. Princeton Architectural Press, 1998
Edward Catich, _The origin of the serif: Brush writing and Roman letters. 2nd ed, St Ambrose University, 1991 (first ed. 1968)
Hermann Degering, Lettering: Modes of writing in Western Europe from Antiquity to the Eighteenth century. Ernest Benn Ltd, 1965 (first ed. 1929)
Adrian Frutiger, Schriften des Abendlandes in Holztafeln geschnitten / Bois originaux illustrant l’évolution de l’ écriture en Occident / The development of Western type carved in wood plates. Syndor Press, 1996
Nicolete Gray, Lettering as drawing: the moving line. OUP, 1970
Michael Harvey, Carving letters in stone & wood. The Bodley Head, 1987
— Creative lettering: drawing & design. The Bodley Head, 1985
— Lettering design: Form & skill in the design & use of letters. There Bodley Head, 1975
— Letters into words. William Clowes & Sons Ltd, 1973
Jost Hochuli, “Review of The origin of the serif.” In Visible Language, VII 1, 1973
Edward Johnston, Writing & illuminating & lettering. Pitman Publishing, 1906
Albert Kapr, The art of lettering: The history, anatomy, and aesthetics of Roman letterforms. K. G. Saur, 1983
Hans Eduard Meier, Die Schriftenwicklung / The development of script and type / Le développment des charactères. Syntax Press, 1994
Stanley Morison, Politics and script: Aspects of authority and freedom in the development of Graeco-Latin script from the sixth-century BC. OUP, 2000 (first ed. 1972)
James Mosley, The nymph and the grot. Friends of the St Bride Library, 1999
Alexander Nesbitt, Lettering: There history and technique of lettering as design. Prentice-Hall, 1950
John Prestianni (Ed.), Calligraphic type design in the digital age: An exhibition in honor of the contributions of Hermann and Gudrun Zapf. Selected type designs and calligraphy by sixteen designers. Gingko Press, 2001
Jan Tschichold, Treasury of alphabets and lettering. Lund Humphries, 1992 (first ed. 1952)
Here is a short list of references for students beginning to work on Greek. It is not exhaustive by any measure, only a starting point. I list some historical texts, for the necessary grounding in the development of the [typographic] script, and some typefaces that are good examples of practice. (Don’t get all worked up about the typefaces on the list: each one listed may have unresolved issues, just as many good ones may not be listed. This is, after all, an introductory list. Also, I only include work I know in detail.) All texts are in English. (For MATD students: all items exist in the University Library, or the Department Reading Room, and in my office.)
Books with manuscripts and images of rare books might be good; there are some truly comprehensive editions of Greek manuscripts (like Greek literary hands by C H Roberts, in two volumes, and Repertorium der griechishen Kopisten, in three volumes. It is important to get a feeling for Greek writing, as it is (and was) done on entirely different models than western writing. In short, the the arm rotates freely, and the nibs (when not round) are cut with an opposite bias. If the titles above are not available, look up sources on Byzantine scribes. (But note: if you do general searches online, you must focus on secular or less formal documents, rather than the very ornate manuscripts of the Empire.)
As with all unfamiliar scripts, doing some writing exercises is essential to understand the entry and exit strokes, and the structure of the letterforms. I have included two sheets for practice in a zipped archive; use a pencil or other “direction-agnostic” tool when starting with writing exercises.
Victor Scholderer’s Greek printing types 1465–1927 catalogue is a good historical introduction. It stops in 1927, and has a specific bias. Scholderer outlines helpfully the three early strands of Greek typeface “design”: the upright joined style of Zacharias Kalliergis, the eventually dominant Aldine style, and the short-lived Complutensian. (I put “design” in quotes since “typemaking” would be more appropriate term. Our current interpretation of “design” implies a level of deliberation an reflection that did not apply at the time.) There is a somewhat rare original (500 copies only, grab one if you find it on sale) and a reprint from 2004 or so, with new essays by John Bowman and Martin Davies added. (Oak Knoll sells it in the US, and independent booksellers elsewhere.) The original has some exceptional reproductions in collotype, worth the price of purchase alone.
If you read this you can safely skip Robert Proctor’s The printing of Greek in the fifteenth century (1900), the other key text for early Greek printing, which is also more limited in coverage. (If interested, you can get a free PDF of Proctor’s book.)
H. D. L. Vervliet had published significant texts on the history of Greek typefaces. The Journal of the Printing Historical Society has two relevant articles: “Greek printing types of the French Renaissance: the ‘grecs du roy’ and their successors” (in new series no 2, 2000) and “The Greek typefaces of the early French Renaissance” (in New Series no 4, 2002).
John Bowman’s Greek printing types in Britain: from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century is based on his PhD (Reading, 1988). It is interesting in its totality, but has an invaluable second chapter where forms from different typefaces are compared. It is published by Typofilia, and should be available to order via independent booksellers.
Michael Macrakis’s Greek Letters: from tablets to pixels has some articles that are very useful, and a few that are not very helpful, or under-researched. Some are out of date. But John Bowman and John Lane’s are essential reading.
I wrote an article in Language, Culture, Type (ed. John D Berry, ATypI/Graphis 2002) with some basic ideas on the development of Greek typeface design. Also, I posted a couple of short texts on Typophile, one in a thread on Garamond Premier Pro encapsulating the history of Greek typefaces, and one on Greek scripts that comments on the model that designers need to have in mind.
There are also some useful comments on parallel script development in the booklet produced by Microsoft to document the development of the ClearType typefaces, Now read this (2003). According to a recent Typophile thread, it may eventually be available as a PDF. Regardless, the typefaces are relatively easy to view, since they are available with Microsoft Office.
In addition to the historical examples illustrated in the publications above, it is worth studying good examples. My list below is not exhaustive, and is only focused on text-intensive typefaces.
- Start with the Didot Greeks, which defined the contemporary modulated-stroke style; and
- the Monotype hot metal monoline / low contrast Greeks, which were models for Greek adaptations of Latin sans serifs
I omit on purpose the first batch of phototypesetting Greek typefaces, which were intentionally “Latinised”. Contemporary digital typefaces to look at:
- the ClearType family: the Greeks in all are good enough, but Gary Munch’s Candara is a superb example of fresh thinking.
- Robert Slimbach’s modulated Greeks: Garamond Premiere Pro offers a re-interpretation of a historical standard; Arno Pro, a versatile update of a calligraphy-inspired family, and the relatively new Adobe Text Pro (which always makes me think “This is what Times Greek should look like!”).
- Jeremy Tankard’s Greek typefaces: his Bliss Pro (as well as the CT Corbel) are exemplary low-modulation Greeks.
- Frantisek Storm’s Anselm Sans Pro and Anselm Serif Pro show a successful adaptation of Greek to a very eclectic style.
- Peter Bilak’s Fedra Greeks (the family is massive, and in the serif styles I strongly prefer Serif B over A). The extensive weights and styles of Fedra have made it extremely popular within Greece in recent years, mostly in newspapers and magazines.
- Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ Whitney Greek, a very good example of a Greek extension to a successful Latin family
Last but not least, John Hudson’s SBL Greek is probably the best updating of the traditional Didot style, with a twist. It has a massive character set, but unfortunately only one weight. It is a free download from the SBL site.
There have been some very good custom jobs, like the Vodafone Greek corporate typeface done a few years back by DaltonMaag (unfortunately the site does not show the Greek portion of the job) and the localised Cheltenham for the Greek edition of the New York Times (not easily seen online, if you don’t know Greek). Others are similarly difficult to see.
Some very good Greek typefaces have been designed by students at the MATD. Here’s a small selection:
- Ben Jones’ Emrys (2011), an interpretation of a low-contrast style with an incised feel.
Toshi Omagari’s Marco (2011), a contemporary modulated style.
- Riccardo De Franceschi’s Ginnasio (2010), a typeface for reference editions.
- Alice Savoie’s Capucine (2007), a novel style reminiscent of a modulated brush stroke. The typeface is now published commercially by Process Type Foundry.
If you are starting to design Greek letters, it is good to avoid the alphabetic sequence. A good basic set to begin with is alpha / epsilon / eta / iota / mu / rho (α, ε, η, ι, μ, ρ) which give a structure to the main counters, and some form to instrokes and outstrokes. This sequence will also allow many typical test words, such as είμαι, αίμα, ηρεμία, άρμη, ρήμα, ημέρα, ερημιά.
Try to group letters by their features. Here’s one grouping:
αδορσυωφβθ ες ηιμ γνχλ ζξ κ πτ ψ[φ long]
And another (with thanks to IV):
αηιμυ ψφ βδεθορσω πτ ζξς γκλνχ
Sometimes I surprise myself
This morning Fiona, Peter Bil’ak and I visited the UBA to see some of the work of the postgraduates on the UBA course (see the Typography at Reading blog). One of Henrique Nardi’s images captured me sketching an aide memoire for the session, which is worth linking to here to have handy for the sessions next week.
The axes describe a simple framework for talking about typeface design projects. At the top of the diagram is the Designer, and at the bottom the brief (and the client, who represent the requirements of the users). The left of the horizontal axis represents the Functional requirements in the project, and to the right the expression of individuality and Identity through the design of the typeface.