© Heidi PettitCreated April 2012

Art 321: Typography Professor Tim Speaker

All photos courtesy of Flicker

N. “The forefront position in any movement, field, activity or the people who occupy such a position.”

4-5. Concept6-7. Construction8-8. Comparison10-11. Regular Miniscules12-13. Regular Majuscules14-15. Development16-17. Outline Miniscules18-19. Outline Majuscules20-21. Regular Numerals And Punctuation22-23. Outline Numerals And Punctuation24-27. The Final Showcase28. The Assignment

Vanguard was created to make a unique, coherent, and consistent system of signage for the Milan Fashion Week. A system was needed to unify the graphic material for this exclusive annual event. So far, there has been no continual system for advertising the week’s activities. Vanguard was created to achieve such a system. Since the event is in Milan, Italy, both the history of typefaces in the fashion industry and in Italy were explored.

Signage on old historical Italian buildings, municipal buildings and monuments consistently used a straightforward, plain, thin sans serif typeface. Two modern typefaces designed for Milan are Milano and Piccolo. Milano, created by Antonio Pace, is the official typeface of Milan. Piccolo was created as a tribute to a theater in Milan. The culmination of the research led to selection of News Gothic to represent the most predominant features in the old Italian typefaces, so as to bring the historical influence into Vanguard. Also, Italian restaurants are famous for their contrasting thick, thin, Bodoni-like structure and since Didot was

created from Bodoni and is now frequently used in the fashion industry, it became the second influential typeface for Vanguard.

Vanguard was based on historical influences, client design, and legibility. The goal was to make an elegant sans serif. After settling upon two influences, one of which doubled as the client’s industry’s influence, the exploration of what makes a typeface elegant began. For most, the curves are elegant, the weights are contrasting, the stresses are elongated, and the negative space is slanted. Being that the face was intended for a modern application set in a high society of events, it needed to be chic and sophisticated. Typically, sophistication comes with serifs, however, a sans serif face is extremely modern. For Vanguard to succeed in representing its influences and be modern at the same time, a compromise had to be made. The thick and thin weight decisions come from the Italian historical faces. The decision to make the face a sans serif was done to reach a modern feel.

The process started in a 5”x8 ¼” grid moleskin. The minuscules were drawn in 3x2 squares. Eventually, it changed to 6x3 ½ squares with the x-height at 4 squares high. Those were then traced onto 8 ½” x 11” vellum grid tracing paper, where the characters were expanded. Majuscules sat at 33sq x 16 with the x-height resting at 21 squares high. Miniscules were only 12 squares wide. Each miniscule was solved before its majuscule. Typically, the majuscule was much easier to build after the miniscule had been solved. The next step was to scan the vellum grid tracing paper into the computer. These were then placed into Illustrator and created with the pathfinder tool. However, when placed into words, it became apparent that the characters, which had curves, were comprised of dissimilar connections. The spurs were not consistent. Instead, the place where the thick part of the weight met the thin part came together differently. After striving

and attempting to rectify the complication, the best solution presented was to return to the drawing board. This time News Gothic was utilized purely for technique aspects instead of individual proportions. Didot was revisited and its curvatures applied to Vanguard. Then, the earlier process was repeated. This time around the proportion and weights were all consistent.

Vanguard is intended as display text and does not work well in body copy. Therefore a serif typeface such as Caslon or Clarendon would properly complement the display text.

Didot pt. 120

Didot pt. 75

Didot pt. 30

Didot pt. 72 News Gothic pt.

News Gothic pt. 30

News Gothic pt. 75

Didot pt. 60Vanguard pt. 120

Vanguard pt. 75Vanguard pt. 60

Vanguard pt. 100

News Gothic pt. 120 News Gothic pt. 60

x-height:

baseline:

ascender:

descender:

d dD DG Gg g

Since Didot and News Gothic inspired Vanguard, several characteristics are influenced from the two faces. Didot is characterized by elegant curves and strong contrasting weight shifts. In application, it was decided to create an A with a top. It is much more sophisticated. It also provides the opportunity to make use of extra space where the weights have more position to shift.

Standing almost one-third taller than Didot’s “a” at 120 points and a good one-third more narrow, Vanguard’s “a” appears as a thin statue, clearly destined for distinction. Vanguard’s extraordinary slenderness in addition to its additional height above a normal miniscule character makes it more than just a condensed sans-serif version of Didot. It contains grace and fluidity. It accurately mimics a runway model,

who would measure taller and skinnier than even women considered petite.

Vanguard’s comparison to News Gothic is less apparent when using the “a” as the example. A better example for noticing their similarity is the majuscule character “e”. In Didot, the bar extends two-thirds of the way out compared to the upper and lower arms. In New Gothic, the bar comes at least three-fourths of the way. This difference creates a more rectangular, structured character. Another influence of News Gothic assists with the majuscule to miniscule ratio. Similar to News Gothic, Vanguard’s x-height is over the halfway point, whereas Didot’s miniscules are a little more than exactly half its majuscules.

Vanguard Regular Miniscules

Vanguard Regular Majuscules

One thing Didot lacks is consistency throughout the alphabet. While following a completely same set width might be odd, Vanguard does a better job of sticking to similar set widths. To make sure of this the letters were created by copying, rotating and reflexing.

For example, the majuscule “V” and the “A” are the exact same shape, just the “V” has been flipped and the cross bar subtracted. The “n” mimics the shoulder on the “r” and are both placed in the “m”. The “l” and the “n” were fused together to form the “h”.

All of the majuscules and the miniscules with a straight vertical bar will overlap and line up perfectly. All of the circular characters in the miniscules will correctly overlap as well, as will all of the curvatures in the majuscules.

The letters “A” and “B” proved to be the most challenging.

Their solutions to problems were applied to the rest of the alphabet. Miniscule “a” was the first letter to appear on the drawing board. A struggle arose regarding how to show a weight change in the top structure of the A without making it too similar to a serif. Eventually, it was solved by replacing the finial with a thin line that slightly broadened as it made its way to the stem of the “a”. Another question arose about which side to locate the thick stem of the majuscule “A”. When the thick stem was on the left, the letter was hard to read when tested in words. It was abrupt and stopped the flow of a word. By having the thick stem on the right, one’s eyes are able to go up the thin part and down the thick stem, which is the correct direction the motion should go in. Also the majuscule “A” changed from a slanted stem and a straight vertical to two slanted stems to also help with the motion.

Vanguard Outline Miniscules

Vanguard Outline Majuscules

Vanguard Regular Numerals & Punctuation

Vanguard Outline Punctuation & Numerals

5 Via Gattamelata Milan Lombardy, Italy

The Assignment: Design a typeface for a specific function, the more specific the better.

The Solution: Vanguard, created for signage during the Milan Fashion Week.

Thank you Tim Speaker, for allowing your students to choose topics that they are passionate about.