type Continum

8/10/2019 type Continum

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Sara Miller

Design and Typography

Higgins,

October 6, 2014


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Base-Line

X-Height

Beard-Line

Mean-Line

Cap-height

Desender

Ser

if

Stem

Cross

-Bar

Sh

ou

lde

r

Counter

Bowl

Eye

Kearning

T e r m

i n a

l

Ascen

der

Overlapping the four different types, one

discovers a remarkable range between

them. You realize that all type is designed

to sit on the Base Line, carefully crafted to

never change, no matter what. When mixing

familys you cannot mix all types because

the characters are different, in subtle ways

so it looks like a mistake when overlapping.

Despite the differences, there are some rules

that all types follow. One, all type sits on

the Base Line. Two, all ty pes are composed

of four basic keystrokes that are the core

of handwriting. They are vertical, diagonal,

horizontal and curved. All four of these are the

basic visual codes, or marks. No matter what,

all type will contain these.

There are two Major characteristic names

in types, Serif, and Sanserif. Serif originates

from old hand writing, all the little decretive

Assignment 2: understanding Anatomy

pieces that are on letters like the lowercase A,

R, and G. San-Serif is what we call modern,

just after the 20th century, and is where you

take all those little decretive pieces off. You

can mix serif and Sanserif letters together,

but you cannot mix a Serif type with another

Serif type, and you also cannot mix a Sanserif

with another Sanserif. The top half of the

world will always be more legible then the

bottom letters because of where our eyes are

positioned in our face. The top of the letters

run along the Mean line, the same as a horizon

line which our eyes automatically seek out.

You can also figure out a letter when a part is

missing as long as a particular section of the

letter is still available, such as the left side of a

lowercase H. when aware of how a letter sits

in space, and what its characteristics are, you

will always be able to read the letter.

m ersan

Ampersand

Assignment 1: Anatomy of Type

Individual letter forms have unique parts

which have changed in visual form over the

centuries. A nomenclature helps identify major

elements of their construction. The evolution

of lettering styles over time is a result of

optical adjustments to the basic components

by type designers over the ages.


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Assignment 4: Typographic Kinetics

Typography is unique in that it is both visual

and verbal. Every letter has a personality

you can identify even while part of a word.

In these examples, fragmentation is not the

goal in and of itself, but to demonstrate the

role of legibility as it pertains to reading, the

role of size and optical s pacing and emphasize

rhythmic form /counterform pattern of light

and dark. Its a case- by case decision of how

far a designer can push formal invention

before readability is lost.

Each letter, taken from your word, will be set

in 4 types of familes at 100pt reagular style.

Pick letters from each word and practice

cropping, using familes such as Serif and San

Serif.

The square they are placed in will be 1.5 by

1.5 pt and with a .5 stroke. The should be 2

pages of 12 examples of letters making 24

examples. Each indivula square and its letter

form should be seen as an independent

typographic composition that investigates

form and counter form, figure ground,

realtionships, Assymentry/symetry and

dynamic placement.

Assignment 3: Anatomy and Cropping.

SA

A sr and

A nds

mA r

s

nd

emp nA


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Assignment 5: The Structure of Letters

While upper and lower case letters are distinct

in structure, they all are built by combining

4 strokes; vertical, horizontal, diagonal,

and curvilinear. These elementary strokes

form the foundation, a visual code that is

recognizable through our long experience

with reading and writing regardless of style.

Therefore, letter forms derive their visual

character from combinations of these basic

strokes and not from being light or bold, wide

or narrow, Roman or italic, sans serif or serif.

An entire alphabet can be categorized using

only six basic underlying visual combinations

of strokes as the example illustrates.

EFHILT iltf

KNMY k

VWXZ

AZ

BPJPRUG

COQS

vwxy

z

adcdjmnopqr

eghsu

Since the time of the Greeks, capital

letterforms have consisted of simple

geometric forms based on the square, circle,

and triangle. The basic shape of each capital

letterform can be extracted from this roman

letterform template found on the Trojan

columns, which is composed of bisected

square, a circle, a triangle an inverted triangle

and two smaller circles.


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Fundamental to all typographic design

is the interplay between letterform and

background. An awareness of this inter-

relationship of form and counterform is

essential in typographic design. Every

letterform defines a particular counterform.

Form and counterform are reciprocal

values and completely interdependent and

integral to a letters completeness as a

design.

Assignment 6: Form/Counterform

The counterform is not just whats left

over in the background. The counterform

is a new entity that emerges through

interaction with the form of letters.

Typically these counterforms are either

geometric or organic in quality depending

on the structure or style of the letter. In

the counterforms of letters there exists

a fascinating world of form waiting to be

explored by the designer.

A

R

D

E

M

M

P


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Michele De Lucchi

First 1983

Manufacturer: Memphis s.r.l.,

Pregnana Milanese, near Milan

Unit 2 Typographic Page

Case, Face, Slant

LD

Case, Size

L

m


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ML

L

Weight, Face, Slant

Weight, Case, Slant size

Size, Weight

D

Weight, Slant

Unit 2: Chair 2


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1983

Michele

De

Lucchi

1983

Miche

leDe

Lucch

i

Slant, Face, size

Case, Size, face

Unit 2: Chair 2

1983

First

Lucch

i

De

1983

First

Weight, Face, Slant

Weight, Case, Slant size


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1983 First

1983First

Case, Width

Size, weight

Phase 3: Chair - Muti-page Typographic Lay-

out and the Grid

Type generally falls into two primary

categories; informational and or expressive.

Its not uncommon to have a strategy for

both present in layouts. Informational text is

more common and the form responds to long

traditions and conventions of size, spacing and

established habits of organization on the page.

In a book or website it is information design

that takes the lead. On a poster or motion

graphics expression could lead. The ratio is

determined by the designer and the needs of

the communication. An emphasis or hierarchy

must be clear and decisive so the roles each

plays in the communication are clear. In

design things are not equal.cover


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The ornamental style to

the world of electronics,

just as functionalism is

part of the world of ma-

chines

ichele De Lucchi was one of thecofounders of the Milan designergroup Memphis, which emergedat the end of 1980 around thecentral figure of Ettore Sottsass.Te groups very first exhibitionunleashed a frenzy of enthusiasmSince then, the shrill, sensual,and playful designs produced byMemphis have exploded all aca-demic convention and substantialy influenced the world of design.G. S. Sowden, also a cofounder ofMemphis, writes: Te ornamen-tal style belongs to the world ofelectronics, just as functionalismis part of the world of machines

Ther e

strained

useofd

ecorative

elements

givesFir

stanalm

ostclass

icairam

ongtheM

emphis

objects,


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and machine aesthetics. Teprevalent criterion for design wasno longer the ability to solve tech-nical problems, but rather the ob-jects capacity for communication.It was necessary to confront themultiplicity of Postmodern stylesin order to capture the Zeitgeist ina fast-paced, experimental designidiom. First by Michele deLucchi was one of the few designsintended for the broad public, andquickly became a bestseller. Teback and armrest construction isa true eye-catcher. It consists ofa steel tube, bent to form a circle,which supports a flexible backrestcomprising a round woodendisk on rubber bearings and two

wooden spheres as armrests. Tetube is welded to the front legsof the simple stool, which formsthe seat frame, almost completelyengulfing the sitter. Although theconstruction is extremely stable,the reduced elements radiate astrong impression of lightness.Te restrained use of decorativeelements gives First an almostclassic air among the Memphisobjects, making it suitable forfurnishing conventional interiors.MK


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ichele

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wooden

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imples

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, The ornamental style to

the world of electronics,

just as f unctionalism

is part of the world of

machines


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