Absolute Measurement- measurements that are expressed in finite units such as centimeters, inches or picas.
Relative Measurement- measurements that are not expressed in an actual size. Type that is measured by point (which is concerned only with the height of a character) would be considered a relative measurement.
Point- a unit of measurement used to gage the height of a fonts type block.
Pica- a font that was most commonly used on typewriters, designed to fit ten characters to an inch.
Em (and em dash)- a unit of measurement used determine spacing functions; 1 em is equal to the number of points that are being used to represent the current font. An em dash is a punctuation mark commonly used to express a lull in dialogue. It is the length of one em.
En (and en dash)- a unit of measurement that is half the size of one em. Consequently the en dash is half the size of an em dash.
Legibility- the extent to which a typeface can be read.
Rag- the ragged edge of a block of text.
Flush left- type is aligned to the left with the left side of the page.
Flush right- type is aligned with the right side of the page.
Centered- type is positioned in the center of the left and right margins and is not flush with either.
Justified- characters are spaced so that the type is aligned to both the right and left of the margins
advantages/disadvantages- can make text more accessible to the reader or more visually appealing. However, it can also do the opposite.
Word spacing (ideal)- as the character increases in size, so should the word spacing.
Rivers- a vertical white space that occurs when spaces between words line up.
Indent- the space at the beginning of a paragraph. Used to make the layout more accessible to the reader.
Leading-the direction the viewers eye was intended to be guided.
Kerning- when the space between tow letters is modified to something other than what is normal.
Tracking- the adjustment of space between all letters in general.
Weight- the thickness of a typeface (bold).
Scale- the point size of a font.
Typographic variation- the variation of how type is used by typographers.
Orphan- a small amount of lines that are pushed beyond the margins, creating a new column.
Widow- a last line of a paragraph that consists of only a few words.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Josef Muller-Brockman
Josef Muller-Brockman is considered the most prominent figure in Swiss graphic design by most critics. He is well known for his use of the grid and his clean and clear use of text. He was also a teacher, founder and head editor of New Graphic Design, and author of many books on design.
After leaving an apprenticeship, attending courses as the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, doing some freelance design, and serving as a lieutenant in the Swiss military, Brockman pushed away from his previous illustrative style and reworked his studio for graphic design. His first successful poster, many critics agree was “Watch that Child!” which was designed for the Swiss Automobile Club. A few years later, now more established in the feild of graphic design, he became a teacher at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, where he once attended.
While teaching he created the New Graphic Design Magazine along with Richard Lohse. There were only eighteen issues, however, Brockman’s modular grid system was used to keep the layout between all of the issues uniform. He describes this system nearly two decades later in his book Grid Systems in Graphic Design. This book, quite possibly his most notable written work, offers a complete description of how the grid can be used to achieve visual harmony and rationality. Nevertheless, it does not encourage the designer to obey the grid in every respect. As one can see in Brockman’s work, he feels as though it is necessary to sometimes break our of the grid; the book describes this too.
After leaving an apprenticeship, attending courses as the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, doing some freelance design, and serving as a lieutenant in the Swiss military, Brockman pushed away from his previous illustrative style and reworked his studio for graphic design. His first successful poster, many critics agree was “Watch that Child!” which was designed for the Swiss Automobile Club. A few years later, now more established in the feild of graphic design, he became a teacher at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, where he once attended.
While teaching he created the New Graphic Design Magazine along with Richard Lohse. There were only eighteen issues, however, Brockman’s modular grid system was used to keep the layout between all of the issues uniform. He describes this system nearly two decades later in his book Grid Systems in Graphic Design. This book, quite possibly his most notable written work, offers a complete description of how the grid can be used to achieve visual harmony and rationality. Nevertheless, it does not encourage the designer to obey the grid in every respect. As one can see in Brockman’s work, he feels as though it is necessary to sometimes break our of the grid; the book describes this too.
Jan Tschinchold
Jan Tschinchold may be best known for the creation of the Sabon font, however, he was also a teacher, writer, and designer. Primarily trained in calligraphy, Tschinchold developed various work habits which set him apart from other typographers at the time. For instance, in his early years, he never used custom fonts, and he always preferred to use commercially produced hand paper, throughout his career, rather than hand made paper.
After visiting the first Bauhaus exhibit in the early 1920’s, Tschinchold devoted his intrests to modern design. This eventually resulted in the publication of his most notable book, Die neue Typography. In this book he advocates only serif fonts which is a bit ironic seeing how Sabon was in fact, a san-serif font. Other than this, the book also goes into detail about a number of his other design principles but puts a large emphasis on their application to book design. For example, Tschinchold strongly disliked centered type.
Tschinchold, originally from Germany, was tagged as a communist at the start of the Nazi’s rise to power. He was arrested, and the Nazis began to burn his books including Die neue Typography. Nevertheless, he somehow managed to flee to Switzerland, where he spent the majority of the rest of his life. He did, however, live in England for a short while where he worked for Penguin Books. While there, he redesigned hundreds of their books, leaving Penguin with a set of ground rules for typography. The company called it the Penguin Composition Rules. It was after his presence at Penguin that Tschinchold created Sabon. It does seem a bit odd that the designers most renown font happens to be a serif font, after he wrote a book which made a point to criticize all typefaces of that nature. However, he did, a few decades after the publication of Die neue Typography confess that he thought the book may have been a little too radical. Also, Sabon does happen to be a less elaborate serif font. Regardless, it is the only serif font Tschinchold created. He was also responsible for the production of the Transit and Saskia font’s, but those were finished much earlier in his career.
After visiting the first Bauhaus exhibit in the early 1920’s, Tschinchold devoted his intrests to modern design. This eventually resulted in the publication of his most notable book, Die neue Typography. In this book he advocates only serif fonts which is a bit ironic seeing how Sabon was in fact, a san-serif font. Other than this, the book also goes into detail about a number of his other design principles but puts a large emphasis on their application to book design. For example, Tschinchold strongly disliked centered type.
Tschinchold, originally from Germany, was tagged as a communist at the start of the Nazi’s rise to power. He was arrested, and the Nazis began to burn his books including Die neue Typography. Nevertheless, he somehow managed to flee to Switzerland, where he spent the majority of the rest of his life. He did, however, live in England for a short while where he worked for Penguin Books. While there, he redesigned hundreds of their books, leaving Penguin with a set of ground rules for typography. The company called it the Penguin Composition Rules. It was after his presence at Penguin that Tschinchold created Sabon. It does seem a bit odd that the designers most renown font happens to be a serif font, after he wrote a book which made a point to criticize all typefaces of that nature. However, he did, a few decades after the publication of Die neue Typography confess that he thought the book may have been a little too radical. Also, Sabon does happen to be a less elaborate serif font. Regardless, it is the only serif font Tschinchold created. He was also responsible for the production of the Transit and Saskia font’s, but those were finished much earlier in his career.
The Font Family
Fonts are categorized by, but not limited to, family and style. The style usually refers to a single typeface, which normally includes roman, italic, and bold. However, many fonts have extensive typefaces which incorporate different variations of the type that may be condensed or extended or have some other difference in display. These other styles are considered to be part of the same family of the same font because they are usually distinct but like enough to be related.
Graphic Heirachy
A hierarchy is a system of ranking in which items are ranked in an order which is typically based on status or authority. However, when applied to design and typography these items are ranked according to visual importance to the viewer of a two dimensional spread. Visual hierarchy can be achieved in typography in many ways, these all deal with varying the text. Some examples include, position on the page, weight of the characters, size, and graphic element.
The Grid
A grid is intended to break space or time into regular units. Often, these units are separated by spaces called gutters. The spaces surrounded by the gutters are referred to as modules; this kind of grid is called a modular grid. When applied to typography, this grid is used to make type selection simpler and more useful.
The modular grid is made up of five elements: the module, gutter, margin, column, and flowline/hangline.
The module is the rectangular area that is defined by the negative area between gutters.
The gutter as mentioned in the previous description of a grid is the space which falls between the modules and separates the modules from the edge of the layout.
Margins are the areas that lie at the top and bottom of the pace, ending with the first and last modules.
A column is an area that occupies the width of one module and ranges from margin to margin (top to bottom).
Flowlines and Hanglines refer to the lines of the modules; the flowline referring to those that are horizontal and the hangline referring to those that are vertical.
The modular grid is made up of five elements: the module, gutter, margin, column, and flowline/hangline.
The module is the rectangular area that is defined by the negative area between gutters.
The gutter as mentioned in the previous description of a grid is the space which falls between the modules and separates the modules from the edge of the layout.
Margins are the areas that lie at the top and bottom of the pace, ending with the first and last modules.
A column is an area that occupies the width of one module and ranges from margin to margin (top to bottom).
Flowlines and Hanglines refer to the lines of the modules; the flowline referring to those that are horizontal and the hangline referring to those that are vertical.
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