Fundamentals of Typography

Lecture 1 Excerpt

Begin at the Baseline

The invisible line on which all letters sit is called the baseline. This is the starting point for measuring many other aspects of type.

Another important mark is called the x-height. It is the distance from the baseline to the top of a lowercase letter x. Keep this word in mind, as we'll discuss it more later. You can see that most of the visual substance of a letterform exists in the x-height area. Only a few bits might stick above or below the lines. This broad area (from baseline to x-height) is also called the body.

Any parts of letters that extend below or above the baseline or x-height are called descenders and ascenders. Two examples above are the letters p and d. The lowercase g also pokes below the baseline and could be called a descender, but it has a special name, a loop, due to its shape.

You may also notice that the capital M doesn't quite make it to the same height as the ascenders. The cap height is usually slightly smaller than the height of the ascenders. But that's not always true. Sometimes the cap height is the same size or even exceeds the ascender line. In typography, the rules get broken all the time. That's what makes it an art not a science.

How is type measured, exactly? Even this is something of an art. When we say we are using 60 point type, this refers generally to the distance in points from the bottom of the descenders to the top of the ascenders in a font. Below is an example using Arial and Times. Both faces are 60 points but optically—to the eye—Arial will appear bigger.

One size doesn't fit all. Even though both faces are set at 60 points, you can see with your own eyes that they are not visually the same size.

If I measured from the top of the k (ascender) and the bottom of the p (descender) in both typefaces it would add up to 60 points. However, the interior proportions of the typeface do not align. Arial has a much larger x-height than Times, which causes this face to appear heavier or more dense on the page.

Non-identical twins. Both typefaces are 14 pt. But the visual impact of Arial is stronger not only because of a heavier stroke but because it has a larger x-height.

Imagine an entire page of type set with Arial versus Times. You can tell by the example above that Arial would have a heavier look and feel on the page.

Typographers call this overall impression of density the "color" of a page even though printed in black and white. And it all goes back to the x-height.

How are you doing so far? As you've discovered, type terminology is intricate and arcane. Typography is a specialized art. If you master its language and become a type-wizard, you will join the secret club that has existed at least since the time of Gutenburg and early printing some 500 years ago.

Let's round out your exploration of the letterform with the remaining elements to look for...

The Anatomy of the Letterform

The most important bit of a letterform's anatomy are its serifs—if it has them.

Serifs are the pointed elements at the end of strokes. They are key in identifying a typeface, almost like a fingerprint. If a typeface has no serifs it is called sans serif—sans means "without" in French (thus, "without serifs"). In the next section we'll look at the many varieties and type of serif and how they are useful in telling one typeface from another.

The names for some other parts of letterforms are strangely based on human body parts. No, there aren't parts of letters called livers and toenails, but some letters do have shoulders and ears. No kidding!

In the examples below, you can see that the small stroke jutting out from the lowercase g is called an ear. And that the horizontal stroke on the capital E is called an arm, one end connected to the stem and the other projecting into space. The shoulder is the arch-form you find in the lowercase m, h, n. And the slow curve of the S is called a spine for obvious reasons.

We've already introduced the serif, which is the pointed elements at the end of strokes. The stem is the major, thick stroke of the letterform usually vertical or diagonal from which all the other parts grow. You can see that identified in the capital E above. The counter is the negative space enclosed by a stroke. Even the partly enclosed interior area, of the lowercase n for example, could be called a counter.

The bar is the horizontal connector between strokes. Some elements only appear in specific letterforms. For example, the Q has a tail stroke. And only the capital G has a spur, which is a tiny pointed element.

And finally I should mention the bowl. This is the curved stroke that encloses the counter space. You can also find bowls in R, P, and similar letter shapes.

Running Time: 5:00. Read the Transcript

Whew, you've learned a lot of terms so far in this lecture. Here's a quick review before you move on:

Tale of Two Typographers

Earlier, I said that there are two categories of typographers: those who design type (designing the letterforms themselves), and those who design with type (using type in a layout). I'd like to wrap up this lecture with a double case study, to give you a sense of the vast creative potential of type design.

Let's look at two type designers who are involved with typography although in different ways. One, Kris Holmes, is a type designer who actually constructs the fonts you use in your computer. The other, Jennifer Sterling, experiments with typography in her design work.

Kris Holmes

ITC Isadora. Designer: Kris Holmes, 1985.

The typeface Isadora was designed by Kris Holmes, who is a California-based type designer. You may have heard of the typeface Lucida and Wingdings, which she designed through her partnership, Bigelow & Holmes.

In Fine Print magazine, she asks the questions: "Where does type design really begin? With handwriting? With ideas? With sketches?"

For the typeface Isadora it began with handwritten forms and calligraphy. Isadora is based on the roundhand writing style used by master calligraphers in the 17th and 18th centuries. The typeface Isadora is not really a serif or sans serif style but a completely separate category called script because its directly based on flowing handwritten forms and cursive style letters. The letters are designed to flow into one another and have a continuous momentum as if written with pen and ink.

The inspiration for Isadora began while Holmes was a student. Her teacher felt that the same rhythm of movement that gives grace to a dancer brings life to the stroke of written letters and one day instructed her "If you're really interested in calligraphy, get interested in modern dance." So she began dance classes as well. But the actual typeface would not appear for sixteen more years.

In the meantime, she worked as a staff designer at Compugraphic where she used digital composition and type digitization tools to translate old format typestyles into digital ones. So she had both a classic sense of typography from her calligraphy experience as well as the understanding of modern tools and techniques.

After some years, she again turned her attention to designing her own original typeface. She began by drawing 12 test letters to quickly determine how each letter would relate to the others.

Handmade by Holmes. Early developmental drawings for the typeface, Isadora.

I think it's really interesting to look at her developmental drawings. You can almost see her thinking visually with a pencil. Hmm... exactly how is this lowercase "a" going to relate to the letter "s"? How will the strokes join to create a flow and rhythm? You can also see that she is trying to establish an overall consistency in the look of the individual letterforms.

Holmes says: "To keep the forms constantly alive in my mind, I wrote everything in the script! My drawing table became a mosaic of graffiti, covered with experimental capitals and swashes. I wrote shopping lists and valentines, memos and correspondence, all in proto-Isadora. I wrote in different colors and in different sizes, with different kinds of pencils and pens. Some forms emerged as my favorites, but others I abandoned or filed away in an archive of designs that were not ready to be brought into the world."

ITC Isadora. Early drawings of sample letterforms. Note her correction marks to the sketch. Designer: Kris Holmes, 1985.

Once the drawing are developed in their form and shape, then and only then, is it time to begin production with the computer. Back in 1985, when Isadora was finally constructed, the digital process was relatively new and it was a challenge to translate a delicate script typeface into bits and bytes.

In U&lc magazine, Kris Holmes tells us that: "As a type designer, everything you do has to be examined in order to create a beautiful system of shapes. But if that were all you did, the typeface would have a clinical, medicinal look, and not a sensual beauty. It is logic and beauty that work against each other to make things progress."

Kris Holmes wanted her typeface to be "inspired by classic forms but energized with a modern tempo" much like the dance of Isadora Duncan— thus we have the name, Isadora.

Jennifer Sterling

Jennifer Sterling's design practice is based in San Francisco. Her work explores both typography and the sensuous impact of materials. Her projects exploit the touch and feel of unique bindings, paper stocks, embossing and die cuts. But what makes her work fantastic is the expressive and detailed typography.

Typographic finesse. Annual report for Gilo Ventures. Design: Jennifer Sterling.

In this annual report for Gilo Ventures you can see her mastery of classic typesetting and attention to typographic details. She uses special uplifted letters and letterspacing as you might see in classic printing and handset typography. But at the same time, the style of layout is more contemporary. In this way I think Sterling is able to bring together both the past and present.

I have two more examples of Sterling's work—and you'll see what binds them all together is type, type, and more type. She's not using much in the way of illustration or photography. Type become the thing to look at, it becomes the illustration and image.

I think that in her work you can see a range of typographic use—tradition as well as experiment. The best designers show this kind of versatility and intelligence in their projects. Ellen Lupton (curator at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum) says that Sterling "...pieces together delicate lines of type with the eye of a jeweler and then drapes them with seeming abandon across the luxurious body of the page."

Perforated poster. Lecture Series for SCI-Arc. Designer: Jennifer Sterling, 1998.

You can see her playful elegance in the poster for SCI-Arc—the Southern California Institute of Architects. This large-scale poster is perforated into a grid of individual typographic experiments. In this case she has designed a small type sketch for each of the 32 guest speakers in a lecture series. But she is using three-four simple colors to lock the whole page design together as a pattern—it reminds me a bit of a quilt stitched together of individual parts.

Power type. Microsoft/Intel Package. Designer: Jennifer Sterling.

The AIGA-Wisconsin writes: "Clients don't go to Jennifer Sterling Design for "safe" visual communication. Or if they do, they won't get it.

The firm infuses its designs with a complex visual hierarchy in which the viewer can find messages on both a large scale and an intimate one. It is best known for its groundbreaking typography and throw-out-the-rules approach in poster and annual report design, even though its work also features a tactile side."

Exercise 1 Excerpt

Two Type Projects

There's the rub. Letters are unavoidable. In this exercise we'll go search them out in our environment.

The purpose of this exercise is to put type under the magnifying glass—to begin looking closely at the forms of letters. The exercise has two separate parts.

The first part is to actually draw specific letterforms (using good old-fashioned hand-and-eye coordination) in order to appreciate their visual characteristics. Digital designers, trust me—there is no better way to get familiar with the letterform!

The second part involves collecting letterforms that inhabit the world around you. You'd be surprised at how many outstanding examples of typography are etched into your everyday environment. In the exercise, you'll collect some rubbings and post a report on your findings.

Project requirements: Sharp pencil, ruler or straight edge, broad tip black pen or fine-tipped pen, dark-colored wax crayon or pastels or soft-leaded pencils. Standard copier paper or thinner paper for tracing exercise.

Part I: Letterform Squares

Visually replicate the letterforms using the downloadable grid.

Your goal in this task is to visually replicate four letterforms. I've made a 4x4 grid onto which I've placed a few letterforms. By looking carefully at the images you should copy them onto another gridded layout.

I've selected two letters from the Clarendon typeface and two from the Bodoni typeface. As you are copying them you should compare the visual differences. You'll need some materials for this task: a sharp pencil, a ruler or straight edge, perhaps a fine point and broad tip black pen.

First, download the grid in your course download area and print four or more pages. This is the grid onto which you will hand-draw the letters.

You may want to download the squares file, also in the course download area, and then print the page for your visual reference. It's hard to see the details on the screen.

Four-letter Project

Carefully examine the letters and look at how the curves and straight lines intersect with the gridded background. First, rough in the letterform one grid unit at a time. Then, stop and look at the overall drawing. It's difficult to do perfectly at first. Look for odd proportions, curves that don't flow smoothly, and then touch up the details.

Once you're satisfied, use the fine tip black pen to finalize the outline of the letter you've made. Then, fill in the letterform solid either with pencil or a broad-tip black pen. We do this because it’s much easier to appreciate the positive-negative forms of a solid, filled-in letterform rather than an outlined form.

Repeat the process for each of the four supplied letters.

Typography Show and Tell

Now repeat the process with a single letter of your choice: it could be x, y, z, or even p (or something else). Find an interesting letterform, enlarge it to a workable size, and grid it off. Take this letterform, and mark it up to explain the elements of typography you see. Imagine you are diagramming the letter to explain its component parts to your youngest nephew. The elements you might illustrate include the following:

	Baseline, descender, ascender, x-height, arm, ear, stem, counter and all the other type terminology you've learned.

Scan or take a digital photograph of your results (both the four-letter project and the show-and-tell) and send them to your instructor for review (see How to Post below).

Department of Extra Credit

If you want an additional challenge, draw your own 4x4 grid on a large sheet of paper and replicate the letterforms at a giant scale. Or, supersize the project by using chalk on the sidewalk and make each grid unit one foot by one foot.

Before you begin, refresh your memory on the essential vocabulary of typography with the following Review Kit:

Part II: The Great Letterform Dig

Frauka. I found these letters on my old WWII-era camera and used a pencil to make the rubbing.

Type is everywhere. It's not only on printed materials but also made of plastic, metal, wood, glass, stone, and other materials. Some of the earliest examples of typography come from those carved into ancient stone monuments that have endured through the ages.

And today you can find type on the bottom of your running shoes, on sewer covers, on your car, on architecture. It's carved into gravestones, molded into plastic signage, punched into leather.

The focus of this task is to find examples of type in unusual places like those mentioned above and use a "rubbing" technique to gather the samples. We are looking for type that is extruded from or indented into materials—something that is not on a printed page. Look in the kitchen, go outdoors, walk to the city park, explore widely. Try to gather at least 10 examples from a variety of sources. Look for different styles of letters.

Found but not lost. Search in parks or public places—look for statues, monuments or plaques. Look on the street and on industrial equipment. Look on your automobile. Visit your local graveyard (be respectful). Check out signage on buildings.

Materials: A dark-colored wax crayon works the best. You might also try pastels or soft-leaded pencils. Also, standard copier paper should work fine but thinner paper may help you capture more small details.

Change your rubbings into black and white by using a copier or scanner. Enlarge the small ones so they are about 2 inches in size. They'll be grainy and gritty. Don't stress out about that. In fact, enjoy the imperfections and illegibility. Those will help us to recognize letters as image and part of our environment rather than as something to be read and forgotten.

Report Your Findings

Present your findings like an anthropologist might present ancient artifacts. Select the five (5) most interesting and tell us the details. Include some of the following:

	What product or item was it on? What material? Where did you find it? Were there any special circumstances or difficulties? Write a short three-sentence statement about the visual character of the letters themselves. Be poetic, evocative. Are they beautiful or ugly? Why? Do they reflect a time period or fit the nature of the place or product?

Attached a scan or digital photo of your favorite rubbing along with your posting.

Exercise 3 Excerpt

1. Choose a Person

Select a famous person. Make a list of 15 historically important people that you find interesting. These could be scientists, musicians, philosophers, leaders, and so on. This person should have made a positive contribution to culture and society. We're looking for famous, not infamous persons.

Synthetic. Matt Bessette communicated the concept of "synthetic vs. natural" by evenly spacing heavy slab-serif letters on the page.

Important note: Generally, you should also avoid famous artists or designers because our project will be about translating concepts into visual forms. With an artist, the visual style is almost predetermined.

Narrow down your list to people with really flamboyant personalities. From that smaller number, you can choose two to three with which to begin concept work and sketching. If you would like any feedback on the personalities, email your instructor through Course Mail.

2. Conceptualize

Develop a concept to guide the exercise. This (I think) is the hardest part of the exercise. Think abstractly about the significance of this person. Can you summarize it in two or three words?

Let's say you chose the pop-singer Madonna. What makes her unique? She is known for reinventing herself and her style. She is adaptable in the same way a chameleon is ever-changing. How could I show that concept of adaptability?

Likewise, maybe you chose the film director Alfred Hitchcock. Although he has a famous rotund profile, you want to stay focused on his importance in filmmaking. Also, he didn't just make good scary movies—he invented techniques of cinematography. Perhaps you'll need to research your famous person more deeply.

Ignorance. Genevieve McCann expresses the idea of ignorance using inverted letters within a odd egg shape lodged in the corner of a dark space.

Or maybe you chose the escape artist, Harry Houdini. He is known for his suspenseful escapes from shackles and jail cells. How can I show the concept of "escape from shackles" using only typographic forms?

3. Make a Sketch

The raw material for this exercise will be the letterforms (or parts of letterforms) that make up the name of your famous person. Begin thinking by "drawing with type." You should work in a square composition area—about 7" x 7". Get out your pencils, markers, and tracing paper.

I have made downloads of two typefaces—News Gothic and Sabon—in PDF format that you can use as a reference. You can access these in the course download area. You could print them out or copy them at various sizes, some smaller, some bigger. The idea is to not use the computer for the early sketching process so turn it off and go work outdoors in the sunshine or something.

Use tracing paper and the News Gothic/Sabon printouts to trace and compose letterforms. You should try to express the concept you developed for your famous person. Work on two to three solutions and then see which one works out the best.

Try not to be directly "pictorial" with the type. For example, if you have chosen Henry Ford (a developer of the automobile and the production line) you wouldn't use type to illustrate his face or even an old-fashioned Model T car. The idea would be to get across the concept of motorization of wheeled-vehicles or the process of the assembly line.

In the first phase of sketching we'll use only the typefaces News Gothic or Sabon, any size, any arrangement. Later you'll be able to also use the powerful elements of color and typestyle to express your famous person.

Scan (or photograph) your sketches and include the best two to three of these early compositions/concepts along with your final project submission. Save the sketches as JPEG files. If you would like feedback on your sketches prior to your final project submission, email your JPEGs to your instructor through Course Mail.

4. Design

OK, now we'll open the floodgates. It's the final phase. You can start to use up to three colors as well as other typefaces to help communicate your concept/famous person. Try to stay focused on the concept you need to communicate. Keep asking yourself: Does this typeface or color add anything significant to my visual solution? Does it make the communication more clear or does it confuse the issue?

Stench. Tim Jackson tried to communicate an oppressive smell. The heavy odor seems to push off the page.

You can also now begin using the computer and software program. The best tool to use would be a vector drawing app like Adobe Illustrator. But if you don't have one, you might use your imaging program (like Photoshop) or layout tool (like InDesign) instead.

I find Illustrator a great tool for exploring variations of color and type. Many times, I think, using the computer detracts from the early concept stage of a project and is best used to finalize the details of a visual design. You don't need a computer to design—just a hand, eye, and mind.

5. Make a Presentation

The final step of the project is to produce the advertisement. Use a page layout of 8 x 10.5 inches. You can download the A&E logo in Illustrator or EPS format from the course download area. You could add some extra copy like "The Arts & Entertainment Network is proud to present the story of JOE SMITH the well-known inventor of the WOODEN SPOON. Useful for stirring and for people who come last! Premiering Wednesday, June 5 at 8 p.m. EST on A&E."

The work you submit in this assignment will test your skill in the Sessions program standard for typography. Please review the standard before you continue:

6. Submit Your Work

Submit your final project to your instructor with a comment. Be sure to include your 15 names, your sketches, and your final design.

Important: You will be graded on your process (names and sketches) as well as your final project, and your assignment will not be considered complete unless all of these items are provided in the Dropbox.

Additionally, address these questions in your post:

1. Who is your famous person? What two to three word concept are you trying to express?

2. How does your choice of typestyle, color, and arrangement visually communicate the concept?

Grading Criteria: What your instructor expects you to do:   Brainstorm and effectively narrow 15 names of famous personalities that lend themselves to interesting typography treatments. Conceptualize a project to render the persona of a famous person with a typography rendition of his/her name, beginning with a creative execution of two or three hand drawn sketches for possible design solutions that utilize the News Gothic and Sabon typefaces provided. Translate one of your sketches into a refined digital presentation of your concept in the form of an advertisement for an A&E program featuring your famous person. Present a brief written description of your approach to this exercise including the name of the person you chose to represent, a two to three word description of your concept, and an explanation of how you arrived at your chosen type style, color, and arrangement. How to Post: Once you're done, go to the Dropbox for this exercise and attach your sketches and final file (as GIFs or JPEGs) with a brief comment that includes the 15 names and your answers to the questions above. If you have a question before sending your completed exercise for grading, use the Send Mail area to contact your instructor.