Thinking With Type 21 40
Thinking With Type 21 40
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Bodoni and Didot.
21
thinking with type, third edition
REFORM AND Some designers condemned distortions of the alphabet, blam-
REVOLUTION ing industrialization for corrupting art, design, and typogra-
phy. Writing in 1906, Edward Johnston renewed the search for
an ideal alphabet and denounced exaggeration. Inspired by the
nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts Movement, he looked back
to the Renaissance and the Middle Ages for pure, uncorrupted
letterforms. Johnston and other reformers critiqued the com-
mercial mainstream.
Avant-garde artists and poets sought to dissolve the barri-
ers between art and everyday life. They drew experimental al-
phabets and arranged existing typefaces in new ways. The Ital-
ian poet F. T. Marinetti published the “Futurist Manifesto” in
1909. His typographic poems combine different styles and sizes
of type, working against the rigid rectilinear order of letterpress
printing. Futurism exposed the technological grid of letterpress
while pushing beyond it. Dada artists and poets used mass media
Edward Johnston based
this 1906 diagram of tools—from typography to film and photomontage—to attack
essential letterforms on conventional life and social institutions.
ancient Roman inscriptions.
While deriding commercial In the Netherlands, Piet Mondrian divided his paintings with
lettering, Johnston vertical and horizontal lines that seemed to expand beyond the
appreciated medieval
ornament. Writing & limits of the canvas. Theo van Doesburg, Piet Zwart, and other
Illuminating & Lettering (Sir
Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1932).
members of the Dutch De Stijl group applied this idea to design
and typography. Converting the curves and angles of the alpha-
bet into perpendicular units, they forced the letter through the
mesh of the grid. Vilmos Huszár built his hand-drawn logo for
the magazine De Stijl with modular blocks.
Constructivism, launched in the Soviet Union at the end of the
1910s, built on Futurist and Dada typography. El Lissitzky used
printer’s rules and ornaments to divide space vertically and hor-
izontally, foregrounding the mechanical matrix of letterpress.
The page was no longer a fixed, hierarchical window for viewing
content but an open expanse to be mapped and marked with let-
ters, rules, and ornaments. El Lissitzky traveled extensively in
Europe in the 1920s, where he met the German Dada artist Kurt
Schwitters and influenced many avant-garde designers.
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F. T. Marinetti attacked
the mechanical grid of
letterpress. “Lettre d’une
Jolie Femme à un Monsieur
Passeiste,” 1912, from Les
Mots en Liberté Futuristes
(Edizioni Futuriste di Poesia,
1919). Reproduced with
kind permission, Letterform
Archive.
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Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York / c/o Pictoright
Amsterdam.
Ponte Glitch | Emma Hall, 2019 | Text: Legacy Russell, Glitch Feminism, 2020
The Dutch typographers Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum
are programmers and designers. Their 1990 randomized type-
face Beowulf changes each time it is used.
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loved typefaces of its time. In 2009, Mrs Eaves was joined by Mr
Eaves, her sans-serif companion.
Rock-solid CONSTRUCTION
gotham | ultra | light | bold | Tobias Frere-Jones, 2000
अर््थ श ास्त्र
november | Typotheque
ஒற
ஒற
ஒற் ் ் றறக
றறக
றறக் ் ் கல
கல
கல વિધાનસભામાં
் ் ் વિધાનસભામાં
વિધાનસભામાં ଶର୍ମି
ଶର୍ମି
କ
ଶର୍ମି କ
କ अर््थ
अर््थ श
श ास्त्र
ास्त्र
ஒற்றறக்கல் વિધાનસભામાં ଶର୍ମିକ अर््थशास्त्र
compressed tamil extralight rounded gujarati black stencil odia medium devanagari bold
දේේශපාාලනය
දේේශපාාලනය
දේේශපාාලනය ਨਦੀਆਂ
ਨਦੀਆਂ
ਨਦੀਆਂ রাজনীতিতিদ
রাজনীতিতিদ
রাজনীতিতিদ രാഷ്ട്രീയം
രാഷ്ട്രീയം
രാഷ്ട്രീയം
දේේශපාාලනය ਨਦੀਆਂ রাজনীতিতিদ രാഷ്ട്രീയം
ಬ್್ರಹ್್ಮಾ್ಮಾ್ಮಾಾಂಾಂ ಡ ᱠᱚᱢᱚᱯᱤ
sinhala medium stencil gurmukhi black compressed bangla condensed
ಬ್್ರಹ್
ಬ್್ರ ಹ್ ಾಂ ಡಡ ᱠᱚᱢᱚᱯᱤ
ᱠᱚᱢᱚᱯᱤ పుస్పుస్ ్త ్త ్త కాలు
కాలు
hairline malayalam light
ꯈꯨꯨ
ꯈꯨꯨ
ꯈꯨꯨ ꯗꯤ
ꯗꯤ
ꯗꯤ ꯤꯡꯃꯛ
ꯤꯡꯃꯛ
ꯤꯡꯃꯛ ಬ್್ರಹ್್ಮಾಾಂಡ ᱠᱚᱢᱚᱯᱤ పుస్ ్త కాలు
ꯈꯨꯨꯗꯤꯤꯡꯃꯛ
stencil meetei black
పుస్కాలు
condensed kannada medium ol chiki heavy
stencil
telugu extralight
++ Ben Wittner, Sascha Curiosity and necessity compel designers to learn about different
Thoma, and Timm Hartmann,
Bi-Scriptual: Typography and
languages and different ways to read and write.++ Typography
Graphic Design with Multiple can preserve cultures, connect diverse groups, express identity,
Script Systems (Salenstein,
Switzerland: Niggli, 2019). and expand collective notions of beauty and history. Delight and
understanding are everywhere to be found.
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typeset in Noto Adlam, designed by
Diane Colier/Monotype, 2016.
convey the motion of the hand from right to left. Latinp33 typog-
Not all bodies are human. The Latin s has a beak, and y has a tail.
32
LATIN
x-line/median
arm
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x-height
The main
body of the baseline
lowercase stem bowl serif descender
letter
tail
ligature ascender
eye
finial
terminal ascender
beak
spine
Capital or
uppercase small capitals lowercase
cross bar
counter
overhang
Curves pass
slightly beyond
the baseline
and the x-line.
REQUIRED
LIGATURE LIGATURE
initial Nabirah
Medial Nabirah
Baseline Thickness
middle line
filament, forehead
HeliaH
top line
LIGATURE knot arch
initial Nabirah
Several guides are added to align letters When typesetting Arabic and Latin
that share similar structures. Guides for typography together, you can align
nabirah/loop heights are added for letters the middle line of the Arabic with the
above the middle line such as sin, qaf, and baseline of the Latin typography.
fa. Descender guides are added for letters
below the middle line such as ra and ya.
34 ANATOMY
CHINESE | WRITTEN BY CASPAR LAM AND YUJUNE PARK
central axis
dot Body
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frame
short
left-falling
horizontal
center of
right-rising gravity
core
vertical right-
left-falling falling surface
hook frame
Chinese characters employ subunits In type design, however, the typology of strokes
called strokes. Each stroke is a continuous differs slightly, along with variations in how they
writing motion. Strokes are often described are described.
anthropomorphically in terms of bones and
sinews. The strokes cluster around a core
and radiate from a focal point (the center of
gravity). There are eight traditional categories
of strokes, exemplified by the character for
eternity (above).
center of
gravity
There are no strict rules governing the alignment The cap height of the Latin typeface is
of Chinese and Latin scripts. Chinese characters typically centered vertically against the height
are aligned according to the center of gravity, of the Chinese characters. The descenders
while Latin characters are aligned along the are taken into account optically. Depending
baseline. Combining the two requires judgment. on the typeface, this means that the top of
Generally, the placement of Chinese characters the x-height may intersect with the Chinese
is judged relative to the cap height and x-height characters’ center of gravity, as shown above.
of the Latin typeface and the overall color Latin letters should never be aligned to the
(texture) generated by the two scripts. top or bottom edge of a character.
Horizontal
Knob Knob
Final Spur
Start Spur A buri is the bent tip of
a stroke in Hangeul. It is
Top similar to a serif in Latin
Knot fonts. Minburi means
Round "without buri," similar to
Stem sans serif.
Turn Spur or
Round A bo is a horizontal stem.
Ieung
It originated from an
essential building element,
the bo or daedeulbo on
Horizontal Stem the pillar supporting a
roof in traditional Korean
Short architecture.
Pillar
Angled Bo
Stem
Joint Stem
Vertical
Stem Short combined letters
Turn Pillar with the Buri and Bo
Final Spur
Curve
Descent Pillar
Dot
Joint Bo
Angled
Stem
IN COLLABORATION WITH
YEOHYUN AHN
Additional research by
Sandoll MyeongjoNeo1 | Soohyun Park Soyeon Kwon
36 ANATOMY
JAPANESE | WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY RYOKO NISHIZUKA
occupying 90–95%
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of the square 1000 x 1000 units
kanji
880
Baseline
120
occupying 83–88%
hiragana of the square
kana
katakana
DEVANAGARI
BANGLA
38 ANATOMY