CASLON | FF DIN | HELVETICA | COURIER | FUTURATERM TWO, SEMESTER ONE, 2012LITERARY RESEARCH ESSAY - ICONIC FONTS

LIBBY BERRIEGRAPHIC DESIGN ASSIGNMENT

LIBBY BERRIE 2012 GRAPHIC DESIGN RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

Courier~

~“A letter can be just an ordinary messenger, or it can be the courier, which radiates dignity, prestige, and stability.”

~ Howard KettlerCourier was designed after the output of mechanical strike-on typewriters by Howard “Bud” Keller for IBM’s electric typewriters in 1955. This font was redrawn by Adrian Frutiger in For the IBM selectric series. Even though the was commissioned by this company, IBM didn’t buy exclusive right and therefore Courier became the universal font for all electric typewriters.

Courier has been redrawn to be updated to current digital technology. Their newer iterations are Courier New, Courier Final Draft and Courier standard. The fonts are near identical, apart from minor monospacing tweaks and modified ascenders.Courier itself comes in 2 weights (Regular and Bold) and has an oblique option for each of them.

Courier is a monospaced font. The make of electric typewriter dictated that each glyph was given the same amount of space - no matter if it was an m or an i. Monospaced fonts are now currently used for coding and ASCII art online. The font is also classified as slab serif - The glyphs have serifs but they are squared and at

a perpendicular angle to the original line. This characteristic is common in most fonts designed to emulate the classic typewriter style. Courier is most commonly referred to as the ‘typewriter font’ as it replicates the most common characteristic associated with typewriter test. This would be the slab serifs and monospaced glyphs.

The most notable characteristics of Courier are its slab serifs and the tail of the Q - as it descends instead of hanging off at the left like most other fonts.

Courier is still used today, mainly it is an industry standard typeface for manuscripts and film scripts. All scripts are meant to be printed out in 12 point courier. Some business use it for documents such as invoices as the classic, recognisable typewriter font makes the document more ‘trustworthy’, especially for people who are not completely accustomed to modern technology. Up until 2004, the American government used 12pt Courier on all their legal documents. They changed over to a 13pt Times new Roman for its legibility

SPECIMENSQFig. 1: Comparing the Q’s tailGrey: MyriadOrange: Courier

Fig. 2: Monospacing of glyphs M[[Hoodie vice seitan, forage mcsweeney’s voluptate pop-up ut organic.]]

VERDICT:Positives

Courier’s monospacing means the typeface can be eas-ily set into black paragraphs. other fonts that do not have monospacing are harder to layout in this manner.

often to achieve a similar effect you’d have to vary the spaces between each word, resulting in large blank

spaces in each line.Negatives

Because of the unified spacing between charac-ters, no matter what their intended width, the kerning ends up inconsistent and makes blocks of texts hard to interpret. In order to make

paragraph text readable in this font you’d have to individually kern between characters. The

iconic slab serifs of this font unfortunately make the typeface less legible - especially

when set in thicker font weights. Certain let-ters like the lowercase q and g can be mistaken

for each other because of the large serif on the q’s tail.

LIBBY BERRIE 2012 GRAPHIC DESIGN RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

Futura~

~The first font to ever set foot on the moon

io oooooo

Paul Renner created Futura after being issued to by the Bauer foundry in 1928. The style was based on the Bauhaus movement from 1919 to 1933. The creation of Futura introduced the idea of geometric modernism to the typographic world, as Paul tended to stick to the bare bones of a glyph - he’d rely more on shapes and minimalism to convey the letter rather than fancy serifs or flourishes. Originally, the font was commissioned for use by the Bauer foundry, but in the 1950s it was a popular for for business. In 1969 A plaque was made to be sent up to the mood - the font was set in Futura.

Since the 1960s, IKEA used Futura for it’s corporate Identity’s font and in all of their publications and brochures. It wasn’t until 2010 that they changed the font from Futura to Verdana, to match their print font up with the font they used on the web. This led to a worldwide revolt, as customers and typographic enthusiasts alike complained to IKEA about ruining their design oriented image by replacing Futura with such a bland, web-oriented font. This issue has been joking referred to as “Verdanagate”. Aside from IKEA’s use, this font is used for the labels of Louis Vuitton and the branding or Red Bull.

This Modernist, Sans Serif font can also be classified as Geometric Grotesque. The reason for this is due to the minimalist drawing of each glyph. Paul relied

on nothing but shape and line to convey each letter. Renner focused on the function of each letter in order to dictate its form. Futura comes originally in 6 weights; (Lightest to heaviest weight) Light, Book, Medium, Heavy, Bold and Extra Bold. All six of these weights contain an oblique version of each font. A condensed version of Futura has also been created in four weights: Light, Medium, Bold and Extra Bold. Again, all of these weight contain on oblique variant.

Futura is a font that is very minimalist. No serifs are involved in any letters as Paul only relied on line and shape to jonvey letters. For example, the lowercase j has no tail. As opposed to most other fonts, there are no ‘squared off’ corners. they are left sharp and more often that not exceed the ascended and median line of each typeface. A good example of this is through the uppercase M and W Closed counter letters such as G, O and Q take up considerably more space than the thinner letters because they’re perfect circles, as opposed to skewed ovals like most other paragraph fonts.

SPECIMENS

Fig. 1: Demonstrating the key smilarities and unity between most glyphs in this typeface

fig. 2: Comparison of font weights throughout futura. Not including oblique and condensed weights.

Fig 3: Futura in use: IKEA and Redbull (Slightly altered)

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VERDICT:Positives

Futura successfully puts function above form when trying to convey words. The minimalist style of glyph Paul utilises keeps the letters clean and appealing to the eye. In most weights the font is com-

pletely legible.Negatives

Due to the minimalist nature of font, there are no serifs or swashes to give us more visual cues on each letter. Fore

example, if you were to skim over text the ‘a’ and ‘o’ look to similar, as with the ‘i’ and ‘j’.

LIBBY BERRIE 2012 GRAPHIC DESIGN RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

FF DIN~~--When traffic control becomes Modernist Design--

FF DIN is a modern adaptation of DIN 1541 Mittels-chrift, A font created by the D Stempel AG foundry in 1923. The latest version, named FF DIN was created by Albert Jan-Pool in 1995 It was Renamed FF DIN to fit in with the Font Foundry which now owns it (FontFont). The name DIN is an acronym for Deutsches Institut für Normung. A rough transla-tion of this is the German institute for Standardisa-tion.DIN 1451 was originally chosen as the industry standard font for engineering and traffic signs all across germany. The earliest Iteration of the font known as DIN was in 1902, however the font was officially released by the D Stempel AG Foundry for the Linotype printing press in 1923. Albert-Jan Pool was introduced to the idea of modernising the type-face after meeting with another typographer Eric Speikermann (Known for creating the fonts FF Meta and FF Unit). At this point there was already a ver-sion of DIN in 2 weights on the market, however it was too geometric and only in two weights. The idea was to fix the inconsistencies of the original and expand it to contain more weights, An alternate set of glyphs with subscript numbers as well as con-densed and rounded versions of the font. Pool also included Greek and Cyrillic glyphs into the font so it became more accessible to different languages.

FF DIN is a modern, Greek and Cyrillic sans serif font that has three different styles(Regular, Italic and Condensed) - As well as one alternate version

and it comes in 5 different weights; Light, Regu-lar, Medium, Bold and Black. FF DIN is a massive expansion of DIN 1541, which only had 2 weights. Mittelschrift (Regular) and Engscrift; a condensed weight which was only to be used when there wasn’t enough room on the vehicle or sign to fit the text on otherwise.

The main characteristics of FF DIN are that is is very smooth whilst still keeping it’s original geo-metric qualities. It does so by having a consistent line weight for each horizontal and vertical line in each glyph. The lines end with squared edges which keeps the architectural element of the font. The ascending and descending glyphs of this type-face do not deviate too far away from the median. In the alternative glyph set the numbers 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 are descending glyphs, the tittle on the I is rounded and the aperture of the uppercase C and G is wide. Compared to DIN 1451, the curves are smoother (Most apparent in the A and S) and the line weight on the tail of the uppercase Q is more consistent.

Compared to older popular fonts, the popularity of FF DIN is astounding. This font has now been a massive part of the graphic design community. Notable uses of this font include: The PORTAL and HALF LIFE branding, as well as Valve Software’s corporate font. The University of Canberra uses FF DIN for all its official publications.

SPECIMENS

artfig. 1: DIN 1451 (Grey) and FF DIN (Orange)

FF DIN in use: PORTAL 2 (c) VALVE, Header text on the University of Canberra Website, Poster from the London Festival of Design, 2008.

1234567890fig. 2: Dropped Numbers

fig. 3: Filler Text Sample

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VERDICT:Positives

The modernisation of DIN 1451 has been quite successful. It effectively increases the font’s usability by broadening its range of font weights whilst retaining its geometric and architectural

style. The unified line weight per letter and the clean style of each glyph make it suitable for uses in text and web format.

NegativesIf there was one negative i could say, it would be in the alternate font styles, the rounded tittle s on the ‘i’s are not consistent with the test of the font, thus detracting from the entire typeface. the

lost unity is not a pleasant distraction.

LIBBY BERRIE 2012 GRAPHIC DESIGN RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

Helvetica~

“And I think I’m right calling Helvetica the perfume of the city. It is just something we don’t notice usually but we would miss very much if it wouldn’t be there”

- Lars Müller

~

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Helvetica was originally designed by Max Mei-diger with help from Eduard Hoffman in 1956. It was originally designed to compete with a popular sans serif font known as Akzidenz Grotesk (Günter Gerhard Lange, 1896) Origi-nally, Max intended the font to be called Haas Grotesk due to the font foundry he was working with at the time, however in 1960 the font was changed to Helvetica to be more appealing to an international market. They decided to call it Helvetica because it was the latin word for ‘Swiss’.Nowadays, the font is immensely popular. It is the go-to font for most designers to the point where it is becoming overused. Some notable uses, however, include brands like Apple Inc.(Default font for iOS), Microsoft and Panasonic. It has commonly been referred to as the hipster font, as popular culture tends to stereotype the hipster clique as Helvetica obsessed.

Helvetica is a Modern, Sans Serif type-face. This typeface is also known as a Grotesque(Sometimes spelt Grotesk) as that was the term given to the earliest iterations of sans serif fonts. The reason for this term is because back then it was a foreign and strange concept to have fonts without their serifs. It

is also classified as greek and Cyrillic as it supports all european languages. Although it wasn’t originally created for this purpose, Helvetica is classified as a good web font as well as being intentionally a high performing page font. This is mainly due to the clean lines of each glyph

After its original creation, Helvetica has many iterations after it. These include Helvetica Neue, Inserat, Light, and Compressed. There is also a version of Helvetica for universal languages called Helvetica World. Most, if not all of these fonts come in these weights: Ultra-light, Light, Roman, Regular, Bold and Black. All of these have an oblique variant.

To define Helvetica against Akzidenz Grotesk or the newer Arial the best thing to look for are the distinct squared ends. Especially with the lowercase t. other defining characteristics include the aperture of open counters being closed up- the square ends of letters like c end parallel to each other, instead of at an angle. Furthermore, letters like ‘a’ in Helvetica have attached slab serifs, and the f and t in the glyph set are distinctly narrower.

SPECIMENS

Left: Helvetica; the movie (Documentary) Top: Toyota logo Above: iOS screenshot

VERDICT:Positives

Helvetica is a timeless font. It’s simple lines and straight finials mean it is very adaptable. The neutrality of this font makes it versatile for

designers to use. The even lines on each glyph make the font more suitable to the web, but not in the thinner weights.

NegativesThe issue with helvetica is that there are many fonts out there that look

almost identical to helvetica, to the point where the font is less appreciated. The overuse of helvetica and similar fonts have ruined this iconic font’s

reputation.

LIBBY BERRIE 2012 GRAPHIC DESIGN RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

CaslonCommon phrase used in the design world: ‘When in doubt, Use Caslon.”~

~Caslon as a font describes a suite of fonts based of the typographic designs by William Caslon. Caslon’s main font was created in 1725. At the turn of the 18th century, William Caslon filled the empty niche for english based fonts, as previously the country relied on holland for their letterpresses. The creation of Caslon was a turning point of Type Foundry in England. William based Caslon on the typographic lettersets sent from holland, but he added delicate serifs and ligatures to glyph conversation The most popular version of Caslon’s fonts is Adobe Cas-lon Pro - Redrawn by Carol Twomby for Adobe in 1990, Based on William Caslon’s original printed specimens.It is classified as an old-style Serif font.

Caslon is disputed to be the first letterset created by an english foundry. Therefore, its purpose was to provide a legible font for all letterpresses and therefore all pub-lications, whist still remaining appealing to the eye. A notable use of Caslon is the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence. Caslon is a popular font to use for most publications nowadays. It is intended for print view so is more suited to books and, because of its distinct style, Business magazines.

Different Caslon replicants could contain many different font siblings. For this example we’re going to be covering Adobe Caslon, but there have been a lot of replications on the original font created by many different designers. Adobe Caslon comes in three different weights; Bold,

Semibold and Italic. All three weights have an Italic variant.

Some distinct characteristics of Caslon are the flourishes and swashes that William Caslon included in the origi-nal glyph set. For example, the uppercase Q has a long tail that can span up to 3 glyphs. When italicised, some glyphs in Caslon change a lot. For example, the tail of the Q curls around and the double story a turns into a single story a when when it is oblique. There are also spefic ligatures for specific character types. Some gould examples of this is with the combinations of ‘fi’, ‘ffi’ and in some cases ‘ft’.

SPECIMENS

Fig. 1: some of the largest differences between the regular and italicised Caslon

VERDICT:Positives

Caslonas a font is very timeless. the varied line weight greates in-trigue and gives the reader more visual cues towards the glyph being presented. This font is a great font for printed documents, of course, this is mianly because the font was intended for that medium, and

internet was not around in the 18th century.

NegativesIn smaller font sizes, the ascenders and descenders of each font appear to taper towards the ends despite the serifs on them. this could result

in a font that looks slightly ‘wrong’ when used in small paragraphs.

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