CLARENDON

TYPEFACE

SPECIMEN BOOK

By Zoe Todd

Clarendon Typeface

Specimen Book

By Zoe Todd

Out of all of the typefaces we were given, I was really drawn

to Clarendon and Rockwell. They’re both very similar and I

love chunky slab serif typefaces.

I chose to work with Clarendon because the research was a

lot easier to carry out and I thought of a very nice concept

along the way, whereas with Rockwell, research and finding in

depth information was a bit harder and I wanted to gain

enough information for my book.

Clarendon is also used in a lot of business and companies

today compared to Rockwell.

IDEAS

When start ing my research I turned to the internet to see what I could f ind and I found a lot of background information about how Clarendon was created and extended over the years.

I also checked out what was wri tten about slab seri f fonts and Clarendon in Just My Type and Thinking With Type.

I started off with the history behind slab seri f types and their al ternative name, Egyptian typefaces.

Slab seri f typefaces got their Egyptian name from a cultural fascination with everything to do with Egyptians. This was started by elaborate furnishings and paintings.

Even though slab seri f typefaces are nothing l ike Egyptian wri t ings there was a confusion between this cultural fascination and our typefaces and this then lead to our slab seri f typefaces being named Egyptian or Egyptienne.

MY RESEARCH

The term “Egyptian” came from a craze In the 19 th century, about

Egyptian art i facts throughout Europe. Thus inspiring type founders

creating slab seri f typefaces and cal l ing their typeface designs,

Egyptian.

The Clarendon family does have bracketing within the typeface, which

most other Slab Seri fs don ’ t . The sizing of the seri fs are also di fferent

compared with most other slab seri f typefaces.

When looking at what companies had used

Clarendon, the most famous was Starbucks

Chocolate and that ’s when my ideas real ly kicked in. I

started thinking of concepts and colour themes quite

quickly.

MY RESEARCH

The other companies that Clarendon was used for, I was part icularly

famil iar with as they were al l American companies.

I have also been looking at previous type specimen books of not just

clarendon but other typefaces and seen some very good concepts and

formats, which I have wri t ten al l about on my blog.

Clarendon is an Engl ish slab seri f typeface that was created in England by

Robert Besley for Thorowood and Co.

Thorowood and Co were a type company, but Clarendon wasn ’ t off ic ial ly

publ ished unti l 1845 when Besley became a partner in the business.

Designs for wood type were also made for Clarendon in the mid 1840’s.

Clarendon was used mostly by the government and the Germans in the f i rst

world war but was also seen in a lot of American West WANTED posters.

MY RESEARCH

EXPERIMENTATION

Here is some of my

mood board that I

have collected for

research/experime

ntation. The full

version is on my

blog.

I found lots of

different specimen

books and will take

note of each to

generate further

ideas for my own

book.

EXPERIMENTATION

Here is my first sketch for a front page.

I just wanted to jot down any ideas I had so I

could experiment.

By using the sharp edge boarder and other

aspects of Starbucks design, it already looks like

Starbucks menu style.

I also sketched out the Clarendon typeface just to

get to know the letters and their serifs so that

when it comes to my book, I know the most I can

about my chosen typeface.

EXPERIMENTATION

Here is my sketch book with

layout designs and plans.

I have yet to do research on

layouts and grids, but from my

research so far on existing

specimen books and their layouts,

this is the kind of thing I’d like to

come up with.

Now I have these designs, I can

work around them and research

grids and layouts further to get

more ideas for my book.

I 've come up with the idea of making my type specimen book

with the Starbucks colours (Green, white/cream and black)

and formatting the book to look like a typical Starbucks menu.

So by writing in columns and taking ideas from the Starbucks

menu, it will give the book a different twist and hopefully make

i t stand out from the ordinary layout that most books will have.

AESTHETICS/TECHNICAL

I would like to make a conceptually strong book, which includes the right content and explains Clarendon and its history, as it should. To do this I need to process my ideas further and establish a workable and successful plan to work forwards with.

I believe I have a strong concept and ideas which will help my specimen book to be different from most others.

From here, I will continue to develop my ideas and progress my sketches in order to start making the book. I will also have to consider what type of print method and binding I want to work with before I start making my book.

OUTCOME