Chapter two covers the anatomy and basic language of typography. First, the fundamental element constructing each letterform is the linear stroke, which we have derived from handwriting. Tools such as the brush, reed pen, and chisel influenced the early forms of the alphabet we use today. The transition we have made from rudimentary marks to letterforms with graphic clarity and precision is a matter of design. Over time we have developed a vocabulary to describe the various components of individual letterforms. This helps us as typographic designers describe and create typefaces. Also, proportions of the individual letterforms are an important consideration in typography. With regards to old style typography, designers attempt to capture some of the visual properties of pen writing such as the high contrast in stroke weight. Next, a font is a set of characters of the same size and style containing all the letters, numbers, and marks needed for typesetting. Typographic fonts exhibit structural unity when all of the characters relate to one another visually. Display fonts can contain just 26 characters while others can reach over two hundred.
With the diverse forms within the alphabet, it can be very difficult to make mechanical and mathematical letterform construction. This is due to the characters looking optically incorrect causing spatial problems. For example curved letterforms are drawn above and below the guidelines to prevent them from appearing too small. With the advances in todays technology there has been an influx in the design of countless new typefaces. Our measurement system for typography was originally developed for the handset metal type, and many of the vocabulary is still used today for digital typefaces and design. A type family consists of a group of related typefaces, unified by a set of similar design characteristics.
No comments:
Post a Comment