I Know Your Type #9 Caslon

Caslon's earliest design dates to 1722. Caslon is cited as the first original typeface of English origin, but some type historians point out the close similarity of Caslon's design to the Dutch Fell types.

The Caslon types were distributed throughout the British Empire, including British North America. Much of the decayed appearance of early American printing is thought to be due to oxidation caused by long exposure to seawater during transport from England to the Americas. Caslon's types were immediately successful and used in many historic documents, including the U.S. Declaration of Independence. After William Caslon I’s death, the use of his types diminished, but saw a revival between 1840–80 as a part of the British Arts and Crafts movement. The Caslon design is still widely used today. For many years a common rule of thumb of printers and typesetters was "when in doubt, use Caslon," particularly if no typeface was specified. (Hat Tip - Wikipedia)

Several revivals of Caslon do not include a bold weight. This is because it was unusual practice to use bold weights in typesetting during the 18th century, and Caslon never designed one. For emphasis, italics or a larger point size, and sometimes caps and small caps would be used instead.

With the rise of hot metal typesetting beginning at the close of the 19th century, existing foundry metal typefaces such as Caslon's had to be adapted to specific typesetting technology. This was true again with phototypesetting, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s, and then again with digital typesetting technology, mostly since the mid 1980s. As a result of that, and the lack of trademark on the name "Caslon" by itself, there are many typefaces called "Caslon" with some other distinguishing element, which reproduce the original designs in varying degrees of faithfulness.

I know your Type #8 Futura

Futura is a geometric sans-serif designed between 1924 and 1926 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933. Commissioned by the Bauer type foundry, Futura was commercially released in 1927.

The family was originally published 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.

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, but the shape is actually 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.

I know your Type #7 FF Meta

FF Meta is a humanist sans-serif typeface family designed by Erik Spiekermann. It was originally developed in 1984 as a commission for a corporate typeface for the Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post), but was never adopted for use. Meta was designed to be a readable, sturdy, basic sans serif typeface, working on the postage stamp scale, but also as livery for post boxes and Deutsche Bundespost vehicles. Attention was paid to creating a face that was easily readable from an angle, and in smaller point sizes. In 1989 it was digitised again using Fontographer in the Macintosh, and three styles were made by Just van Rossum. In the period 1991 to 1998 a larger typeface family was developed, adding small capitals. A serif companion, entitled FF Meta Serif, was completed in 2007. (Hat Tip: Wikepedia [sorry!])

Here's a little movie of the designer of FF Meta speaking about his relationship to the Mac, and the way it changed his trade. You will need to have some knowledge of the German language to fully appreciate it however. Speaking of which... I'm off to Germany on Saturday!

I know your Type #6 Letterpress Printing

A smashing little movie from 1947 about letterpress printing. I remember composing by hand at Newcastle Printing School in 1964, and the great satisfaction of seeing the result locked into the press and the first pristine sheet being run off.



These days the type is set on a computer and the results are usually printed on high speed lithographic presses, but there is still a place for the artisan printer, where individual craftsmanship can be expressed through short-run work. (Hat Tip: www.typedu.org)

I know your Type #5 Baskerville

Monotype Baskerville was the first true recutting of type shown by John Baskerville of Birmingham, England circa 1754. Baskerville is an important typeface historically because it represents a deliberate move away from the Old Face of preceding centuries, and was to influence the development of the Modern face undertaken by Bodoni and Firman Didot. Baskerville has become one of the most widely used book faces available. It imparts an elegant and distinctive look to text without distracting the reader. The Monotype Baskerville font family can be used with success in display and advertising work where an air of refinement is required. (Hat Tip - Fonts.com)

I know your Type #4 Times New Roman

Times New Roman first appeared in 1932 in The Times of London newspaper, for which it was designed. It has subsequently become one of the world’s most successful type creations. The original drawings were made under Stanley Morison’s direction by Victor Lardent at The Times. It then went through an extensive iterative process involving further work in the Monotype Type Drawing Office. Based on experiments Morison had conducted using Perpetua and Plantin, Times New Roman has many old style characteristics but was adapted to give excellent legibility coupled with good economy.

The Times New Roman font family is narrow in relation to its apparent size, and is strong in color with a crisp and clean appearance. Both Times New Roman and its condensed companion combine vertical and diagonal stress, but achieve utility and even color by a logical and skilful manipulation of both weight and condensation. Widely used in books and magazines, for reports, office documents and also for display and advertising. (Hat Tip: Fonts.com)

I know your type #3 Gill Sans

Eric Gill studied under the renowned calligrapher, Edward Johnson, the designer of the London Underground sans serif typeface. This influenced Gill who later experimented with sans serif designs, and in due course produced a set of capital letters. These became Monotype series 231, produced in 1928, and the forerunner of the extensive Gill Sans font family now available.

Gill Sans is a twentieth century sans serif that has a simplicity of form which does not reject traditional forms and proportions, and gives the face a humanist feel. The lighter Gill Sans fonts remain highly readable in text and suitable for magazine and book work, whereas the heavier weights are best used for display in advertising, packaging and labels. The light and medium Gill Sans fonts are good for text and all weights look good in display work. [Hat Tip - Fonts.com]

I know your Type #2 Bembo

The history of Bembo originates in Venice, an important typographic center in 15th and 16th century Europe. Many printers established businesses in Venice at this time, but none so significant as Aldus Manutius. Next to Gutenberg, Aldus was perhaps the most influential printer of the Renaissance and the first of many great scholar-printers. Late in the 15th century, Aldus published a relatively insignificant essay by the Italian scholar Pietro Bembo. The type used for the text was a new design commissioned by Aldus and cut by Francesco Griffo, a goldsmith-turned-punchcutter.

Griffo’s design was lighter and more harmonious in weight than earlier romans. Text set in the face was also more inviting and easier to read than previous designs. Three years later, the basic font was enhanced by the introduction of a suite of corresponding capital letters. (Hat Tip: Fonts.com)

I know your type #01 Helvetica

Helvetica is one of the most popular typefaces of all time. It was designed by Max Miedinger in 1957 for the Haas foundry of Switzerland (the name is derived from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland). More…

The design is based on the grotesques of the late nineteenth century, but new refinements put it in the sans serif sub-category of neo-grotesque. Shortly after its introduction, the Stempel foundry purchased the original Helvetica typeface and developed a full series of weights. In the 1960s Helvetica came to the United States, where alignment standards differed; Mergenthaler Linotype copied the Stempel series and then added several new versions of the design. I visited the Stempel type foundry in June 1966 as part of a RSA travelling bursary award.