Monday, October 10, 2011

phobia. I think i just found out that I have "swipephobia"










Asymmetriphobia- fear of non-symmetrical forms and clusters. argh!! Some swipes. Alphabet that I drew based on a non-symmetrical grid of circles.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Helvetica 1957

Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) ofMünchensteinSwitzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with the successful Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, its design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage.
When Linotype adopted Neue Haas Grotesk (which was never planned to be a full range of mechanical and hot-metal typefaces) its design was reworked. After the success of Univers, Arthur Ritzel of Stempel redesigned Neue Haas Grotesk into a larger family.
In 1960, the typeface's name was changed by Haas' German parent company Stempel to Helvetica (derived from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland) in order to make it more marketable internationally. It was initially suggested that the type be called 'Helvetia' which is the original Latin name for Switzerland. This was ignored by Eduard Hoffmann as he decided it wouldn't be appropriate to name a type after a country. He then decided on 'Helvetica' as this meant 'Swiss' as opposed to 'Switzerland'.

Eurostile 1962

The Eurostile type font style is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Aldo Novarese in 1962. Novarese originally made Eurostile for one of the best-known Italian foundriesNebiolo, in Turin.

Novarese developed Eurostile because although the similar Microgramma, which he had also designed, came with a variety of weights, it had only upper-case letters. A decade after he had designed Microgramma, Novarese remedied this flaw with his design of Eurostile, which added lower-case letters, a bold condensed variant, and an ultra narrow design he called Eurostile Compact, for a total of seven fonts.

Univers 1957

Univers is one of a group of neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces, all released in 1957, that includes Folio and Neue Haas Grotesk (later renamed Helvetica). These three faces are sometimes confused with each other, because each is based on the 1898 typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk. These typefaces figure prominently in the Swiss Style of graphic design.
Different weights and variations within the type family are designated by the use of numbers rather than names, a system since adopted by Frutiger for other type designs. Frutiger envisioned a large family with multiple widths and weights that maintained a unified design idiom. However, the actual typeface names within Univers family include both number and letter suffixes.

Sabon 1964

Sabon is the name of an old style serif typeface designed by the German-born typographer and designer Jan Tschichold (1902–1974) in the period 1964–1967. The typeface was released jointly by the LinotypeMonotype, and Stempel type foundries in 1967.
Design of the roman is based on types by Claude Garamond (c.1480–1561), particularly a specimen printed by the Frankfurt printer Konrad Berner. Berner had married the widow of a fellow printer Jacques Sabon, the source of the face's name. The italics are based on types designed by a contemporary of Garamond's, Robert Grandjon. The typeface is frequently described as a Garamond revival.
A distinguishing feature of the typeface was that the roman, italic and bold weights all occupy the same width when typeset – an unusual feature, but this meant that the typeface then only required one set of copyfitting data (rather than three) when compositors had to estimate the length of a text prior to actual typesetting (a common practice before computer-assisted typesetting).

Egyptienne 1955

Egyptienne is a serif typeface belonging to the classification slab serif, or Egyptian, where the serifs are unbracketed and similar in weight to the horizontal strokes of the letters. Egyptienne was designed in 1956 by Adrian Frutiger for the Deberny & Peignot Foundry and was the first new text face created for the process of photocomposition.
The x-height is high, and some lowercase characters, especially a and e bear comparison with other Frutiger typefaces, especially Meridien and Serifa. Egyptienne shows historical influence of the Clarendon faces.

Universal 1925

The Bauhaus's leading typographer Herbert Bayers is responsible for much of their Iconic work. In 1927 hisUniversal Typeface mixed upper and lowercase lettering and with not a serif in sight conventions were shattered. Not satisfied with mixing cases he standardised on a lowercase typeface for many later Bauhaus publications. He went on to be art director at German Vogue.

Kabel 1928

Kabel is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by German typeface designer Rudolf Koch, and released by the Klingspor foundry in 1927. The face was named to honor the newly completed trans-Atlantic telephone cable. Today the typeface is licensed by the Elsner+Flake GbR foundry.
Like its contemporary Futura it bears influence of two earlier geometric sans-serif typefaces; the 1919 Feder Schrift, drawn by Jakob Erbar, and more so his 1922 design called Erbar. Still, Kabel comes less out of the influences of German modernism, but more German expressionism. Stroke weights are more varied than most geometric sans-serifs, and the terminus of vertical strokes are cut to a near eight-degree angle. This has the effect of not quite sitting on the baseline and making for a more animated, less static feeling than Futura. Uppercase characters are broad and show influence of monumental roman capitals. The capital W is splayed and the G has no terminal. Lowercase characters a, e, and g show a link with Carolingian script. Also their use of text in white in lettering in the Kabel font for the credits. Let's Boogie also used the font for its credits.

Cooper 1919

Cooper Black is a heavily weighted, old style serif typeface designed by Oswald Bruce Cooper in 1921 and released by the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. The typeface is drawn as an extra bold weight of Cooper Old Style. Though not based on a single historic model, Cooper Black exhibits influences of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and the Machine Age. Cooper Black was a predominant lettering style popularized by Oswald Bruce Cooper in Chicago and the Midwest of America in the 1920s, given typographic form. An earlier weight of Cooper's type designs, Cooper Old Style (later just "Cooper") was released first, though Cooper Black was what BB&S foundry was after. Cooper Black was advertised as being "for far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers", as well as "the Black Menace" by detractors.

My Futura version


In typographyFutura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933.[1] Commissioned by the Bauer Type Foundry, in reaction toLudwig & Mayer's seminal Erbar of 1922, Futura was commercially released in 1927.

The family was originally cast in Light, Medium, Bold, and Bold Oblique fonts in 1928. Light Oblique, Medium Oblique, Demibold, and Demibold Oblique fonts were later released in 1930. Book font was released in 1932. Book Oblique font was released in 1939. Extra Bold font was designed by Edwin W. Shaar in 1952. Extra Bold Italic font was designed in 1955 by Edwin W. Shaar and Tommy Thompson. Matrices for machine composition were made by Intertype.
Although Renner was not associated with the Bauhaus, he shared many of its idioms and believed that a modern typeface should express modern models, rather than be a revival of a previous design. Renner's initial design included several geometrically constructed alternative characters and ranging (old-style) figures, which can be found in the typeface Architype Renner.
Futura has an appearance of efficiency and forwardness. The typeface is derived from simple geometric forms (near-perfect circles, triangles and squares) and is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast. This is most visible in the almost perfectly round stroke of the o, which is nonetheless slightly ovoid. In designing Futura, Renner avoided the decorative, eliminating non-essential elements. The lowercase has tall ascenders, which rise above the cap line. The uppercase characters present proportions similar to those of classical Roman capitals.



Gill Sans, my version



Gill Sans is a sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill.
The original design appeared in 1926 when Douglas Cleverdon opened a bookshop in his home town of Bristol, where Eric Gill painted thefascia over the window in sans-serif capitals that would later be known as Gill Sans.[1] In addition, Gill had sketched a design for Cleverdon,[2] intended as a guide for him to make future notices and announcements.
Gill further developed it into a complete font family after Stanley Morison commissioned the development of Gill Sans to combat the families of ErbarFutura and Kabel which were being launched in Germany during the latter 1920s. Gill Sans was later released in 1928 by Monotype Corporation.

Gill Sans! I forgot to add it to my previous list- 1928-30

GillSansEG.svg
"The original design appeared in 1926 when Douglas Cleverdon opened a bookshop in his home town of Bristol, where Eric Gill painted thefascia over the window in sans-serif capitals that would later be known as Gill Sans.[1] In addition, Gill had sketched a design for Cleverdon,[2] intended as a guide for him to make future notices and announcements.
Gill further developed it into a complete font family after Stanley Morison commissioned the development of Gill Sans to combat the families of ErbarFutura and Kabel which were being launched in Germany during the latter 1920s. Gill Sans was later released in 1928 by Monotype Corporation."




Assignment #2: typographic responses to NY articles

It was a good opportunity to do some quick research about the type families. Type is essential for designing and I feel that I am still crawling.


First I was intended to focus o one time period. I skip Helvetica, cause it is beyond the probabilities to be chosen.


So 20's, 30's were my first choice: Futura 1927, Kabel 1928, Bauhaus 1925,  Universal 1925, Cooper 1920. But then it occurred that would be nice to get a different approach, cause some of them go around the same aesthetic.


50's- early 60's are the second time frame. Palatino 1950,  Egyptienne 1955, Helvetica 1957, Univers 1957, Sabon 1964, Eurostile 1962. Yes I surrendered to Helvetica. How obvious am I.