type specimen book: bodoni std
DESCRIPTION
A type specimen book showcasing the Bodoni Std. font with a given set of text.TRANSCRIPT
b o d o n i
! @
#$
%*
)
:
;
? [~+
Bodoni std.
Bo
do
ni std
.
Bodoni std.
^-&
Bodoni std.
#( =
“<{|
\
/
]}
, >
1
Bodoni std. . ‘-
Bodoni std.
Bodoni std.
Bbodoni std.2
bodoni std.
Designed & Edited by: Andrea Blanco
Text from: “This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven- If the Devil is Six
then God is Seven. Against Anti-foundationalism”
By: Elliot Earls
3
Bbhigh contrast between thicks and thins
very tall x- height
horizontal and vertical intersections are perpendicular
noticable serifs
lowercase4
uniq
ue c
hara
cter
isit
cs
uppercaserounded edgeshang below base line
5
Fontographer (the computer)
is a great tool for some,
but a terrible tool for the tenderfoot,
the greenhorn, the neophyte,
novice, rookie, or initiate.
How do ou design letterforms? Kick it old skool style.
Draw them big, with a ruling pen and Plaka, and some Pro White.
Focus on the serifs or the termination of the character.
Don’t so much understand how a letter is drawn:
experience how a letter is drawn.
Then refine the letterforms through successive redrawing.
Sit back, evaluate them optically (with your retina).
Then draw them again. Making them thinner here and thicker there.
Become
intimatelysimilar with the
French curve. It is possible to
achieve all of the above using
only the computer? Of course...
Walter Gropius was famous for his exhortationto his students in Weimar to
“start from zero.”poster compressed
15/13
book
11/25
book
14/50
roman
12/20
Students who begin drawing typfaces must
first learn to look at typefaces. I am often
shocked and amazed at my students first
attempts to construct, for instance, the
termination of a stroke. It usually involves
a student using Fontographer. And when
looking closely at the letterform, one often
notices a complete lack of rigor, couple
with a hyper-kinetic line quality, which
almost always leaves me with the impression
that I’m teaching type design to a class of
methamphetamine addicts. (Which I have
found is usually not the case.) One need
look no further than the plenitudinous
offerings of foundries such as T-26 or
Garage Fonts to find textbook examples of
this undisciplined methamphetamine line.
italic
6/12
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
postercompressed
book poster italic bookitalic
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
012345678901234567890123456789012345
6
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
012345678901234567890123456789012345
012345678901234567890123456789012345
012345678901234567890123456789012345
bold roman posteritalic
bolditalic
bold condensed
7
012345678901234567890123456789012345
012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
P O I N T
The gap between language and experience becomes a gaping hole as
one begins to discuss issues of craft. At this point, it would be prudent
to have a lengthy discussion about technical considerations. We shoulddiscuss what lead hardness to use in your drawing pencil or the benefit
of vellum over plate bristol. The gap between language and experience
becomes a gaping hole as one begins to discuss issues of craft.
It’s all about craft. And craftsmanship demands
practice. It is through the practiceof type design that one will
develop mastery and
8.point9.point10.point11.point
12.point
14.point
18.point
24.point
30.point
36.point
8
S I Z E S
come to a deep understanding
of all of the technicalissues. How doyou design letterforms?
40.point
48.point
55.point
60.point
9
I am not suggesting that the type design process necessarily adheres to a strict taxonomic progression. And I’m certainly not an advocate of a rigid categorical approach to design of any form. Quite the contrary. Its my contention that the edge condition, the tension that exists in the gap, is where the action is. But for the designer interested in beginning to come to grips with letterform design, locating ones work within the three categories...is often helpful. Sudents who begin drawing typfaces
b a r k i n g u p t h e w r o n g t r e emust first learn to look at typefaces. I am often shocked and amazed at my students first attempts to construct, for instance, the termination of a stroke. It usually involves a student using Fontographer. And when looking closely at the letter form, on often notices a complete lack of rigor, coupled with a hyper-kinetic line qulaity, which almost always leaves me with the impression that I’m teaching type design to a class of methamphetamine addicts. (Which I have found is usually not the case.)
Access to Fontographer enabled the designer, for better or worse, to cut the development time and cost of creating an alphabet to almost nothing. The “Blend” menu in Fontographer would take two fonts and mathematically extrapolate, to produce a third new font. This process took seconds, and the results were fluid, kinetic, and seemed, from an historical perspective,
If at this point you feel the need to accuse me of anti-intellectualism, you’d be
bold condensed 13/ 15
r e f r e s h i n g .
10
b a r k i n g u p t h e w r o n g t r e eIf at this point you feel the need to accuse me of anti-intellectualism, you’d be
“Where do you
begin?How do you get an
ideaor a concept for a
typeface?”My answer is twofold.
roman 23/28
roman 51/42
roman 23/38
roman 51/50
roman 23/28
roman 51/42
roman 23/29r e f r e s h i n g .
11
bodoniv. didot
optical endeavoroptical endeavor
optical endeavor
optical endeavor
roman-15 pt.
italic-15 pt.bold-15 pt.
regular-15 pt.
12
similar typface
optical endeavor
optical endeavoroptical endeavor
italic-15 pt.
bold-15 pt.
13
Typfaces are not
they are formal
...mosthaven’tlooked,th
e bi
gges
t cha
lleng
e fa
cing
type
des
igne
rs
poster compressed 140/168
14
...mosthaven’tlooked, 15
THE ABILITY TO SEE, (NO,
TO FEEL) THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE
RULING PEN, NIB, CHISEL
AND/OR BRUSH AND THE FINAL
LETTERFORM IS ESSENTIAL...THE
GREAT ARTIST OR DESIGNER
IS S/HE WHO IS NO LONGER CONSTRICTED
BY THE RULES. BUT ANTI-MISERY
COMES AFTER
St. Edward’s University3001 S. Congress Ave.Austin Tx, 78704Printed on:HP ColorLaseret 5550Trustee Hall #108Created in Adobe IndesignBy: Andrea Blanco in 2009Typeface created by:Giambattista Bodoni in 1798
16
there is simply no correlation between time and quality, and that all things historical are not necessarily bad. The geezers didn’t get everything wrong. Although Modernism has become shorthand for dogmatic, imperious, doctrinaire, dry and anal, it is also rigorous, studied, quintessentially optomistic and highly formal.
I AM
RESOLUTE
IN MY
BELIEF
THAT
s t d .