Typeface Design Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Given the sheer number of typefaces available in the market and the predominance of intuitive criteria during the process, typeface selection for specific purposes is a difficult task for both, students and professionals of graphic design. A more rational, systematic approach is proposed, based on objective formal attributes and design parameters derived from Gerrit Noordzij's ideas and Erik van Blokland's Typecooker methodology. This paper states that algorithms could be used to choose typefaces for specific purposes, a convenient approach to most graphic designers, type designers, font foundries, and design educators with a theoretically wide range of applications.

- by
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- Graphic Design, Typography, Typeface Design

Building type explores interpretation as a creative strategy for developing experimental design processes that translate architecture into type. The research sits within the experimental area of the contemporary type design context. The methodology is based on a hermeneutic framework and establishes a cycle of research methods that enable the project to progress through several phases of inquiry. It is a practice-based project, but its intended outputs are not fully resolved typefaces, but rather a range of experimental type design strategies. These strategies translate aspects of selected New Zealand suburban architecture (a single-bay villa, a Californian bungalow and a state house) into letterforms and prototypefaces. The outcomes are communicated through two sets of publications, large format posters, plan print guidelines, card inserts and an exegesis.

- by Caroline Powley
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- Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Typeface Design, Experimental Design, Design process

A patent application for our new Natural Arabetic Input Method (NAIM). Bringing focus back to Arabetic scripts users, we have introduced an alternative text input method to the prevailing and only method available today: shaping. Our new method, NAIM, works in harmony with, and as close as possible to, how users actually write and visualize Arabetic characters in a word while it is being typed.

- by Saad D Abulhab
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- Computer Science, Arabic, Typeface Design, Arabic based scripts

Özet Grafik tasarım eğitimi sürecinin temel yapı taşlarından birini tipografi öğretimi oluşturmaktadır. Öğrenci, tipografi dersi ile harfleri ve yazı sistemlerini tarihi gelişim süreci içerisinde tanır. Yazının bir tasarım öğesi olarak... more

- by Aytaç Özmutlu
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- Typography, Typeface Design, Tipografi

L’Afaka est un syllabaire créole originaire du Surinam. Il a été développé en 1900 par Afaka, un membre du peuple Ndjuka, pour le langage du même nom. Découverte à partir de 1910, elle est au cœur d’enjeux à la fois politiques et culturels au sein du peuple Ndjuka, et de leurs relations extérieures. Comme beaucoup de jeune écritures d’Afrique qui lui sont contemporaines, le contexte (post-)colonial influence les conditions de la création de ces formes. Cette recherche questionne le contexte social et historique de ces écritures, et son influence sur la genèse de leur création, de leur usage, de leur diffusion... Au sein de programme Missing Script et dans un souci de valorisation de ces systèmes d’écriture absents de l’Unicode, les recherches se penchent également sur les usages actuels de ce système d’écriture, afin d’en déterminer la forme typographique.

- by Emilie Aurat and +1
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- Writing Systems (Languages And Linguistics), Typeface Design, Non Latin Typeface Design, History of Writing Systems

Typography reflects and expresses culture, and the limits we place on the use of type may reflect the limits we intend to place on our culture, including who is allowed to participate in it and in what way. An examination of typography critiques of “bad” typefaces often reveals the cultural biases and beliefs of the critic. Descriptions of type “character” tend to reflect the character of the critic, audience, or user, rather than the type itself. The use of “bad” type may also be a tactical form of resistance to power (de Certeau, 1984), visually conveying its intended audience or speaking back to assumptions about the message or author. Examples of “bad” type as tactical resistance include church bulletins; Comic Sans printed “I Can’t Breathe” shirts protesting police brutality against communities of color; and the website for a family-owned medical body donation service.

- by Garrett W Nichols
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- Rhetoric, Composition and Rhetoric, Visual Rhetoric, Cultural Rhetorics
- by Gerry Leonidas
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- Typography, Typeface Design

Teoria del type design, la prima teoria completa del di-segno di caratteri, uscirà a settembre 2019 per i tipi di Ronzani Editore in prima edizione italiana. Scritta da Gerard Unger - designer e docente olandese internazionalmente riconosciuto come uno dei più autorevoli esponenti della disciplina - e pubblicata in edizione originale nel 2018, la Teoria si è affermata da subito come un classico della letteratura tipografica. Il libro si articola in 24 brevi capitoli, ognuno dei quali affronta un aspetto specifico del disegno di caratteri, dal rapporto con il linguaggio a quello con gli stili, dall'importanza dei modelli storici all'evoluzione digitale, dalla leggibilità all'espressività. I capitoli sono accompagnati da più di 200 immagini e da esempi pratici; la terminologia è chiarita da un esaustivo glossario. La Teoria si rivolge a chiunque nutra un interesse sincero nei confronti della tipografia; la completezza della trattazione e la chiarezza dell'esposizione la rendono adatta a un pubblico ampio: dai professionisti del settore agli studenti di tipografia e design, fino ai semplici appassionati di questa meravigliosa arte che da più di cinque secoli dà forma alle nostre parole. La traduzione e l'impaginazione dell'edizione italiana sono di Giorgio Cedolin, sul progetto grafico dell'edizione originale e con l'utilizzo dei caratteri Alverata e Sanserata, punto di arrivo della ricerca formale ed espres-siva di Gerard Unger sul disegno delle lettere. Volume rilegato, cartonato, di 240 pagine con numerose illustrazioni ed esempi.

- by Paolo Carta
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- History, Type Theory, Art History, Design
- by Thomas Milo
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- Discourse Analysis, Islamic Law, Design, Fashion design

Resumo O acesso à produção textual na sociedade moderna atingiu níveis até então não imaginados: nunca se escreveu tanto e nunca foi tão fácil divulgar a produção escrita. E nunca se escreveu de for-mas tão distintas, quer sob o aspecto literário (o que se escreve), quer sob o aspecto formal (com que tipo de letra se escreve). Este último aspecto põe em evidência a pluralidade tipográfica dispo-nível: crescendo exponencialmente após a invenção da imprensa, a variedade de fontes tipográficas disponível atualmente, com o advento da computação gráfica, é incalculável. Se por um lado isso pode ser considerado positivo, tal profusão também é fonte de divergências, na medida em que não é acompanhada de uma unificação de termos: o que um usuário considera como fonte, pode ser considerado uma família tipográfica por outro e mesmo como tipografia por um terceiro, o que não contribui para uma comunicação eficaz. Este capítulo resgata as bases teóricas, as principais definições e os contextos que relacionam e envolvem as formas de produção da escrita-a escrita manual, o desenho de letras e o design de tipos. Frente à democratização do acesso aos meios de produção textual, estas definições são necessárias para tornar claro o contexto que envolve a moderna tipografia e sua utilização em bases normatizadas e de compreensão unívoca. Palavras-chave: Escrita, Tipografia, Design de tipos, Nomenclatura. Introdução A escrita é uma das ferramentas mais básicas e fundamentais da humanidade. No entanto, não é uma habilidade natural 1 , precisa 1 A concepção da naturalidade, ou inatismo, no aprendizado da escrita pela criança é motivo de um amplo debate envolvendo as orientações construtivis-tas no campo da educação brasileira, conforme colocado por Magda Soares em Alfabetização: a questão dos métodos (2016).

- by Sandro Fetter
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- Typeface Design, Tipografía, Caligrafia, Design de tipos

Le nsibidi est un système d’écriture pictographique et idéographique originaire du sud du Nigeria. On ignore encore la date de création du nsibidi, mais les plus anciennes traces mises au jour sur un site archéologique au centre de Calabar, prouvent son existence aux alentours du IXe siècle. Le premier rapport de missionnaires britanniques qui confirma l’existence de ces signes fut écrit par le commissaire de district de Calabar, Thomas Doveton Maxwell en 1904. C’est ensuite le révérent J.K. MacGregor qui en 1909 rapporta 24 signes traduits, suivi en 1911 par Elphinstone Dayrell (également commissaire de district) et le botaniste et anthropologue Percy Amaury Talbot en 1912. Les efiks (ethnie de 200 000 individus habitant principalement la capitale de la Cross River, Calabar) sont considérés par beaucoup comme les inventeurs du nsibidi mais il est possible qu’ils l’aient acquis par les ekoïs (groupe ethnique de 400 000 individus vivant à la frontière Nigeria-Cameroun). Par les emprunts successifs et les échanges avec d’autres codes locaux, le nsibidi est donc commun à diverses populations de la région de la Cross River au sud-est du Nigeria, région où l’écriture, l’art et le rituel sont intimement liés.

- by Morgane Pierson
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- History, Typeface Design, Non Latin Typeface Design, Nigeria

The anatomy of letterforms defines the structural formation of letters. The study is based on semiotic approach. The methods used here are Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic analysis. The anatomy is developed through analysis based on the work on Latin letterforms from three different aspect which are structural grid lines, anatomical features and parameters. This syntagmatic analysis is yielded in identification of various structural features of letterforms like terminal, bowl, blob, stem, dot or nukta, ascender and descender. The analysis has been carried out using two techniques, repeated forms and unique forms of letters. The paradigmatic analysis discusses the comparative study of structure and feature of letterforms across different typefaces such as Lohit Bengali, Vrinda, Solaimanlipi and etc. The analysis offers distinct anatomical nomenclatures after analyzing paradigmatic transformations. Further the study categorizes the letterforms according to the appearance of common features.

- by Subhajit Chandra and +1
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- Semiotics, Typeface Design, Anatomy of letterforms, Syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis

Producido originalmente en plomo, en 1942, por la Fundición Tipografica José Iranzo (Barcelona), el tipo Súper-Veloz de Joan Trochut (1920-1980) era una colección de piezas móviles, combinables entre sí, que constituían un completo sistema modular. La versatilidad de este sistema permitió a los impresores desarrollar alfabetos, diseñar logotipos y marcas comerciales —e incluso crear ilustraciones— sin las limitaciones propias de los tipos de plomo y a unos costes de acuerdo con sus modestas economías.

- by Andreu Balius
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- Graphic Design, Printing History, Typeface Design, Tipografía

Після конференції, присвяченій пам’яті Володимира Юрчишина, що відбулась 5 вересня 2015 року під час посмертної виставки художника в Музеї книги і друкарства України, було вирішено видати збірник з текстами конференції. Ці матеріали поділялися на три частини: статті з дослідженнями різних аспектів творчості Володимира Юрчишина, спогади про нього та деякі листи до художника. Видання, що містить архівні фото та документальні матеріали, проілюстроване творами митця з фондів Музею книги і друкарства України, Інституту рукопису Національної бібліотеки України імені В. І. Вернадського, Шевченківського національного заповідника та приватних збірок.

- by Ihor Dudnyk and +1
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- Graphic Design, Lettering, Typeface Design, Calligraphy

Matière physique de l’écriture et de la pensée qu’elle matérialise, la typographie est le lieu d’une rencontre entre un contenu linguistique et une forme plastique, entre une idée et une mise en forme destinée à la fixer. Le caractère typographique cependant, de par sa forme, son origine et son style, engage dans cette rencontre sa propre histoire, se faisant ainsi le vecteur d’une signification concurrente impossible à négliger. En ouvrant des pistes de réflexion et des itinéraires croisés, ce numéro treize se propose d’explorer les rapports que la typographie entretient avec le langage.

- by Vivien Philizot
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- Graphic Design, Typography, Typeface Design

On January 25th, 1962, Kayhan, one of the leading Tehran newspapers, announced on its front page that a new headline typeface called Horuf-e 84 siyah-e Kayhan [Kayhan 84 Black] had been designed for the newspaper. According to this report, the design and production of this type had been initiated one year earlier and in collaboration with the Elham type foundry in Tehran; however, there was no mention of the designer of this typeface. On January 23rd, 1962, Kayhan’s main headline was for the first time set in Kayhan 84. Around two years later, Ettela’at, another leading Tehran newspaper, gradually began to use Kayhan 84 that was first used for typesetting its main headline on 3 November 1963. Ultimately on 4 March 1969, Ettela’at introduced the designer of Kayhan 84, Hossein Abdollahzadeh Haghighi (1937 Tabriz – 2003 Tehran), who had designed this typeface when he was only 25 years old.

- by Borna Izadpanah
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- Typeface Design, Arabic Typography, Persian Typography

- by Gerry Leonidas
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- Higher Education, Typography, Typeface Design

Dass Schriften gerne übersehen werden, liegt in ihrer Natur. Dennoch dienen sie nicht aus- schliesslich dem Übermitteln und Speichern von Informationen – Schrift-Typen können sogar zu National-Mythen werden. Diesem Phänomen will ein... more

Dass Schriften gerne übersehen werden, liegt
in ihrer Natur. Dennoch dienen sie nicht aus-
schliesslich dem Übermitteln und Speichern von
Informationen – Schrift-Typen können sogar zu
National-Mythen werden. Diesem Phänomen will
ein Projekt von Forschenden der Universität Bern
und mehreren Fachhochschulen nachgehen.

- by Robert Lzicar
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- Historiography, Typography, Typeface Design, Swiss Graphic Design
- by Thomas Milo
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- Art History, Design, Ottoman History, Persian Literature

Pada setiap permainan olahraga pasti ada peraturan yang harus di patuhi oleh setiap orang yang terlibat di dalam pertandingan tersebut. Untuk peraturan sepak bola atau yang biasa disebut " Laws of The Game " sendiri sudah diciptakan oleh FIFA sebagai induk organisasi Internasional. Ketika belum ada peraturan tentang permainan sepak bola olahraga ini cenderung bermain kasar dan tidak tersistem. Akhirnya FIFA membuat peraturan baku yang wajib dilaksanakan ketika melakukan pertandingan profesional. Berikut ini adalah beberapa peraturan yang kamu harus ketahui sebelum menjadi pemain profesional. Peraturan Permainan Sepak Bola Resmi yang Dikeluarkan FIFA 1. Peraturan Memulai Pertandingan Sebelum melakukan pertandingan sepak bola, para pemain harus berbaris ke arah penonton dan berjabat tangan antara sesama pemain maupun lawan. Kemudian wasit membawa uang logam, dan kapten dari setiap tim akan memilih salah satu sisi uang logam. Kemudian wasit melemparkan uang logam ke udara dan menangkapnya, maka uang logam yang terbuka dipilih oleh kapten yang akan memilih tendangangan permulaan atau tempat lapangan.

- by helvisa alung
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- Typeface Design, Web Based Learning Modules

The Sirijunga script is an important cultural artefact of indigenous identity
for the Yakthung community living in the south eastern Himalayan belt. It is
a script that has been overlooked by conventional printing practices, instead
developing alongside language politics imposed by their acculturating nations,
Nepal and Sikkim.
This dissertation provides an original contribution in the understanding
of the Sirijunga script's development. There is little existing literature on the
Sirijunga script and its development, with the subject often treated as a side
note in a larger discussion on the Yakthung language or culture.
This dissertation first establishes a history of the Yakthung people, focusing
on language politics which limited the space for typographic development
and forced the script to fall out of use two times. Then, through a comparative
analysis of document marks from the script's three centuries of use,
this dissertation analyses the reconstruction of the Sirijunga script through
three defined periods. The dissertation concludes with a comprehensive
account of the modern Sirijunga script, discussing typographic practice, as
well as a review of all current digital Sirijunga typefaces to highlight the need
for more and higher quality typefaces in the script.
This dissertation is based on sound research and is beneficial to academics
studying Himalayan languages and to type designers wanting to cover the
Sirijunga script.

- by Ryan Williamson
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- Himalayan Civilization-Nepal, Typeface Design, Digital Typography, Limbus

The history of the typewriter has been covered by writers and researchers. However, the interest shown in the origin of the machine has not revealed a further interest in one of the true reasons of its existence, the printed letters. The following pages try to shed some light on this part of the history of type design, typewriter typefaces. The research focused on a particular company, Olivetti, one of the most important typewriter manufacturers.
The first two sections describe the context for the main topic. These introductory pages explain briefly the history of the typewriter and highlight the particular facts that led Olivetti on its way to success. The next section, 'Typewriters and text composition', creates a link between the historical background and the machine. It shows the typewriter as a subsidiary cause of social changes and new habits in typography. The core contents of this research are included in the last two sections. They offer a description of the type design process in Olivetti, a comparison between typefaces, and some examples of the influence of the typewriter in digital type.
Due to the large number of typefaces included in this dissertation, there is no room for an exhaustive analysis of the lettershapes. Instead, this paper provides an overview of type design in the 20th century for a specific product, typewriters.

- by María Ramos
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- Typography, Typeface Design, Typewriters, Typeface and Typography

This is the sixth and main chapter of my doctoral dissertation, written at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig and defended in January 2019. The PDF uploaded here also include the whole book’s extended image captions (starting... more

- by Dan Reynolds
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- Design History, Typography, Printing History, Typeface Design
- by Thomas Milo
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- Art History, Design, Fashion design, Art

Vaya por delante que el título del artículo se lo debo al gran Gerard Unger; tras una conferencia en el tercer congreso internacional de tipografía (Valencia, 2008) le pregunté si utilizaba o, al menos, si había probado sistemas paramétricos de diseño de tipos como metafont. Fue entonces cuando oí por primera vez la distinción entre tipografía sintética y orgánica, y la impresión que me produjo fue la de una genialidad de una sencillez abrumadora, de esas que distinguen a los grandes maestros. Aquí el término sintética no tiene connotaciones negativas, hace referencia a una manera de fabricar letras descriptiva, artificial e industrial, basada en secuencias de vectores que crean/dibujan los límites entre grafismo y contragrafismo. No se trata más que de una continuación de la idea subyacente en los arquitectos renacentistas, la Romain do Roi y el pantógrafo. Se trata de un sistema poco limitador: en esencia, permite colocar los puntos que definen los perfiles en cualquier posición dentro de un espacio gráfico bastante amplioun sistema de coordenadas de 1.000 x 1.000 unidades en el formato PostScript o de 2.048 x 2.048 en el formato TrueType-y, por lo tanto, capaz de generar un número prácticamente infinito de formas diferentes. 1 Fig. 1: Representación geométrica de Francesco Torniello (1517), Romain do Roi (1702), Fontographer 4.1. (1998).

- by Daniel Rodríguez-Valero
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- Typography, Typeface Design, Typeface and Typography

This was my final dissertation for the MA in typeface design at the University of Reading (UK). The paper deals with several aspects of rhythm construction in type designing, sometimes as associated to concepts coming from other disciplines. It may be useful for type designers looking for insights rather than technical information. (Note: Bear in mind this was written in 2000, the type scene has changed much since then, although most issues raised in this paper should remain perennial after all.)

- by Alejandro Lo Celso
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- Type Theory, Typography, Printing History, Typeface Design

Words; they are everything. Words are the symbols we use to create meaning for our actions, ideas, and thoughts. Words reside in two all encompassing worlds: oral and written. This project will focus on the mechanical written word, also known as type within the context of the English language in Western civilization through mediums like print and screen, and how our gendered perspectives will forever influence those words.
Throughout the history of typography (the art of arranging type) the ability to choose the characteristics of type remained in the realm of the esoteric few, mainly white males. Those anointed with this design task experienced a level of control over their choices of how the written word looked that neither script writer nor calligrapher could ever reach. Control was key.
After the Industrial Revolution there was a typographical shift of who controlled the way words look from the elite realm toward the majority. This once mysterious process of manipulating the look of type has been democratized and can be enjoyed by anyone who has access to a computer.
The computer with a word processor is already filled with a library of pre loaded fonts (various styles and sizes of type) that allow a word to manifest meaning beyond itself (the internal content) and be dressed in external attire that can range from matching its meaning all the way to contradicting the words’ intent. This is the power of the mechanical written word, of type, and this is intertwined with our power to produce gender.

- by Alyssa Duprey
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- Feminist Theory, Typography, Feminism, Typeface Design

This thesis introduces and discusses a new method for analysing printed type and applies it to 15th-century Venetian romans. It aims to review and improve the tra- ditional methods of type analysis employed in bibliographical research. It is based on photographic enlargements of printed type, on image editing and on detailed analysis of the letterforms. Comparisons of printers’ letterforms are made by means of overlaying images – a practice that clearly highlights differences and similarities among the letters.
Drawing on printed matter held in Italian and British libraries, this new method
is applied to four important samples of early Venetian type design, including Nicolas Jenson’s roman, which can safely be considered the prototype of all roman types up to the present. The historical extent of the research covers the last three decades of the 15th century and focuses on printing presses active in Venice and in the Venetian ter- ritories. Presses in the rest of Italy and throughout Europe that employed the Venetian types discussed in the thesis, both before and after 1500, are also taken into account.
The thesis documents the trade of type material (cast type and matrices) and the extensive dissemination of certain types – areas which historians have generally ignored for this early period. It also documents the punchcutters’ ability to imitate existing types so closely that it can be very hard to distinguish them from their origi- nal models – a practice that has not been previously studied.
This research is supported by an extensive apparatus of images of letterforms shown at different sizes of enlargement. It intends to provide new insights into the early development of roman types and aid bibliographical research by providing increasingly thorough information on the types in use.
It also provides a method of type analysis that can be successfully applied to the productions of other printers and to other time periods. This new method allows the researcher to gain information from printed books that was not possible previously.

- by riccardo olocco
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- History, Renaissance Studies, Renaissance Humanism, Typography

Tifinagh is an ancient script used in several areas of North Africa to write the Amazigh language. This dissertation discusses its context, history and development, and how they influence the making of Tifinagh digital fonts today. It looks particularly into the work of the Moroccan Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe (ircam) and the challenges associated with the design of typefaces in the context of complex ongoing standardisation processes. Specifically, it analyses the phenomena of cursiveness and bicameralism and the IRCAM’s recent exploration of the possibilities of the Tifinagh script in that direction.

- by Juan Luis Blanco
- •
- Typography, Typeface Design, Type design

A fonte Lobster .... 6
Othmar Motter, 84 .... 8
Viajando com estilo (etiquetas de bagagem) .... 9
Gyotaku. A arte de imprimir com peixes .... 15
Os forais da chancelaria manuelina, a letra com que foram escritos .... 26
Uncialis, round versal letters .... 46
Entwicklung der Unziale .... 47
Unciais: as versais redondas .... 48
Unciais em pedra .... 97

- by Paulo Heitlinger
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- Typeface Design, Estilo Manuelino, Forais manuelinos

The path a student takes is undoubtedly a slow and methodological journey and the educational journey of the type designer perhaps among the slowest. That Gerrit Noordzij has had an influence on contemporary type design is indisputable. Exactly how he has been able to accomplish this feat is altogether another matter of discussion. The intent of this study is twofold. First, however brief, it examines how Noordzij approached the classroom environment, the way he approached student learning and the method by which he relayed information. Second, it examines the techniques and conceptual apparatus Noordzij introduced in the classroom and in the discipline. It does not, however, make the assumption that Noordzij’s success can be codified and reproduced. Quite the contrary, such a naïve assumption is detrimental to the learning environment and precisely counter to Noordzij’s success as a teacher. Rather, this essay attempts to treat teaching and learning as a discursive practice with its own language, mutable theory and practical outcomes. This paper will be a reworked form of my MA dissertation from the University of Reading under the direction of Gerry Leonidas.

- by David Cabianca
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- Critical Pedagogy, Typeface Design

A critical approach to serial typefaces also known as 'multi style' families. I wrote this short essay when I was a student at the MA in Typeface Design, University of Reading (UK), in 2000. I must deeply thank my tutor, Dr. Christopher Burke, and credit him for his assistance in shedding some light on this topic. From 2000 until today some excellent serial typefaces have been created, and so this text is unjustly lacking some good examples. I apologize for that, as well as for some concepts that may be a little bit outdated today, but also believe that this may be a good stimulus for other designers or authors to conduct more profound research on the matter. I must also thank Mark Jamra for his interest in publishing this as well as his many language suggestions.

- by Alejandro Lo Celso
- •
- Type Theory, Typography, Printing History, Typeface Design
- by Thomas Milo and +1
- •
- Art History, Design, Arabic Literature, Islamic Archaeology

Tools and technology have always had a strong influence on new type designs. The second half of the 20th century is particularly determined by linear and concurrent developments in an environment of constantly changing and transitioning technologies that were used to design and produce type—with manufacturers rising and disappearing as well as new tools eclipsing in and fading out again.

- by Ferdinand P Ulrich
- •
- Digital Media, Digitization, Typography, Typeface Design
- by Mark Lemon
- •
- Semiotics, Visual Semiotics, Graphic Design, Typography