Typographic Design

Rob Carter is Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, and has served as a visiting professor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He is the author of American Typography Today, Typographic Design: The Great Typefaces, the five-volume Working with Type series, and Digital Color and Type. He is also coauthor of Meggs: Making Graphic Design History. Sandra Maxa is Director of the Master of Arts Graphic Design program at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she teaches design process, theory and typography. She has served as visiting faculty at the Pratt Institute, Parsons, and at Rutgers University–Newark. As partner at Q Collective, her professional work reflects her deep interest in identity, interactivity and visual culture. Mark Sanders is Professor in the Graphic Design department at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he teaches typographic, system, and interaction design. He has also been a visiting assistant professor at the Pratt Institute and Rutgers University–Newark. As partner at Q Collective, he produces rich design systems that incorporate typography, identity, interaction, and space. The late Philip B. Meggs was School of the Arts Research Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University; visiting faculty at Syracuse University and the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland; and contributing editor to Print magazine. He authored more than a dozen books and 150 articles and papers on design and typography, including a section on graphic design in Encyclopedia Britannica. The late Ben Day was Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also taught at Boston University and had been a Visiting Designer at the University of Connecticut.

Foreword, Rob Carter viii

Introduction ix

1 The Evolution of Typography 1

From the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention of movable type 2

Typography from Gutenberg to the nineteenth century 7

The nineteenth century and the Industrial Revolution 12

Typography in the twentieth century 18

A new century and millennium begin 27

2 The Anatomy of Typography 33

Letterforms analyzed 34

The typographic font 37

Historical classification of typefaces 40

The type family 44

Typographic measurement 48

Measuring type on screen 51

3 Legibility 53

Basic principles of legibility 54

Typographic details 64

Legibility and digital typography 66

Rendering type on screen 68

Reading on screen 70

Selecting typefaces 71

Other legibility factors for on-screen typography 74

4 The Typographic Grid 77

Background 78

Structure and space 79

Proportion 80

The square 81

Single-column grids 83

Multicolumn grids 86

Modular grids 91

Improvisational structures 96

The grid and type on screen 97

5 Syntax and Communication 99

Typographic syntax 100

Typographic space 109

Visual hierarchy 112

ABA form 118

6 The Typographic Message 123

A multidimensional language 124

Verbal/visual equations 127

Function and expression 130

7 The Evolution of Typographic Technology 133

Hand composition 134

Machine composition 135

Phototypesetting 137

Digital typesetting 140

Digital typeface file formats 142

Screen-based typography 144

Generative typography 148

Hybrid typography 151

8 Typography in Time and Motion 153

Background 154

Using type in time-based media 157

How type changes and moves 161

Legibility factors 166

Expression 167

9 Case Studies in Typographic Design 169

Poster design: Integrating type and image 170

Book design: VAS: An Opera in Flatland 174

Type in motion: Process and presentation 178

Identity system: Exhibit Columbus 182

Information design: Bloomberg 186

Identity system: 17th Street Farmers’ Market 190

Interaction design: Helmut Schmid: Design Is Attitude 193

10 Typographic Design Education 195

Letter/digit configurations 196

Inventing sign systems 196

Comparative relationships: type and image 197

Sequential typographic forms in space 198

Unity of form and communication 199

Onomatopoeia in motion 200

Type chronology booklet 201

Typography in the browser 202

Typographic hierarchy 203

Calendar deconstruction 204

Experimental compositions with found typography 205

Directional poster: from your house to the university 206

Type, texture, tone and poetry 207

New York Times grid analysis 208

Type interface 209

Banknote design 210

Observing systems in our surroundings 211

Typographic cubes 212

Blending Latin and non-Latin typographic forms 212

Type and image in the third dimension 213

Typezine: my favorite typeface 214

Typeface design: mind/machine 215

Experimental typographic system 216

Expressive typography: form amplifies message 217

Type as metaphor 217

The book project: giving shape and voice to the typographic page 218

11 Typographic Design Process 219

A traditional model 220

Exploring typographic permutations 227

Exploring typographic transformation 232

Ludd: a typographic expedition 239

Composites 246

12 Type Specimens 251

Old Style 252

Garamond 254

Additional Old Style fonts 260

Sans serif 262

Franklin Gothic 264

Univers 270

Meta 276

Futura 282

Additional sans serif fonts 288

Transitional 290

Baskerville 292

Additional transitional fonts 298

Modern 300

Bauer Bodoni 302

Additional Modern fonts 308

Egyptian 310

Serifa 312

Additional Egyptian fonts 318

Selected Decorative fonts 320

Glossary 322

Bibliography 328

Credits 330

Index 334