5 Assignment 1

National is a sans-serif font that places itself in the tradition of the 19^th century grotesque. It was designed by Kris Sowersby in 2009, with the intention of creating a typeface for his native New Zealand. The impetus for creating the typeface came when he stumbled upon a copy of The National Grid, a design magazine in New Zealand with text set in Helvetica. Still in the depths of a Helvetica allergy at the time, he took to creating a local grotesque that would ensure that Kiwi writing could be typest with its own accent. The typeface has been adopted by Victoria University and by Methven, a New Zealand company which manufactures shower systems. Nonetheless, lincensing sales for the typeface have been far more generous outside of New Zealand. Through the co-op, Village, National has been successful, outselling his other typefaces combined.

National takes a slight spin on the original grotesque, imbuing the tradition with somewhat playful qualities. Unlike the tight horizontal terminals of fonts such as Helvetica, it has relatively-steep angled terminals making the letters seem quite open. The tail of the “Q” extends generously below the baseline, moving in a bending path rather than the rigid line more typical of the grotesque. Often, the lowercase “i” is used to represent the human figure in design and National preserves that quality quite well by using dots. A rather quirky feature to the font, which only becomes noticeable when viewed up-close, lies at the crotch of certain letters, such as the “V,” “Y,” and “X.” Instead of the stems meating at a sharp angle, they are pinched in at a bend and blunted at the crotch, as opposed to meeting directly and creating a sharp point. National’s roman lowercase “g” has a loop and a link, another quirky feature. The lowercase “a,” rather than having the stem meet the baseline directly has a tail that extends to the right.

{ 9:45 am

Tiempos Headline and Tiempos Text was designed by Kris Sowersby in 2010, to re-design typefaces used in a Spanish newspaper, beginning as a fork of Galaxy Copernicus. It is classified as transitional because of inheritance of some elements from Galaxy Copernicus and Times New Roman.
Each font has different weights and families; Tiempos Headline has 6 weights from Light to Black, and Tiempos Text has 4 weights with italic style.

To understand some features of these fonts, it is needed to consider general characteristics of newspapers.
First, Newspapers have limited space for articles though much information should be supplied for readers. It results in less line-spacing, and requires Tiempos not to lose legibility when used in such conditions. This is why at the same point size ascenders and descenders are shorter than Galaxy Copernicus.

Then looking into Tiempos’ shape, some characters are designed to adapt the newspaper, changing the figures of Galaxy Copernicus, and it is obvious in italic; some curvy elements are replaced with comparatively linear elements actually.

As a whole Tiempos seems is linear, sharp and has a stern taste. This seems to describe consistency or reliability which is required for the press company.

The difference between Tiempos Headline and Tiempos Text can be seen in some elements.
For example, the contrast/difference between heavier line and thiner line within a character is more comprehensive in Tiempos Headline, which leads it to express clear contrast to attract people’s eye. One of the reasons why Tiempos Text has less contrast is that reader’s eye should not stick to any characters which compose the sentence. If each of them is used in a wrong way, the print will get dull or lose legibility.

{ 6:28 pm

Released in 2010 Freya is a serif typeface designed by Saku Heinänen. It comes in four weights that are intended to be set at text sizes. The designer has recently completed Freya Display for larger applications ⁽¹⁾.

The Village website frames Freya’s proportions as “located somewhere between classical and post-modern ⁽²⁾.” While this is accurate I think is useful to break such a statement down further because it is not that the face simply falls firmly in one place between the two poles but rather that different elements of the face draw from the different eras to create something of this time.

Freya’s serifs are particularly interesting for instance. They are asymmetrical, alternating between tight curves on the one hand and angles on the other. It is a “postmodern” and dynamic touch and though the curves themselves are not so far from what we see in transitional faces I find the structural reference of the face is more oldstyle. The designer himself cites fonts as diverse as Matthew Carter’s Galliard, Monotype Plantin and Petr van Blokland’s Proforma as the faces he might have been inspired by; there is no single or direct model he worked from ⁽³⁾.

The finials seem to have a strong attack in the degree to which the full width of the stroke diminishes. And the angle at which the stroke exits the curve from the bowl also happens quickly. Freya is deceptive like that trickster Loki when the face moves quickly from being an “all-round serif face, useful in many situations” to being asymmetrical and playful ⁽⁴⁾. And, yet, it must also be said that the playfulness is understated. The face never feels schizophrenic, and at smaller sizes many of the clever details are no longer noticeable to the casual reader.

Overall the face is very stable and easy to read. The x-height feels current and yet not overly large. Freya is a typeface that could be used to set a large body of text, but it would shine if the playful details were made apparent through the typography as well.

Crops (revised):

Notes
⁽¹⁾ www.typogra.fi
⁽²⁾ vllg.com/Incubator/Freya#panel=usage-poster-about
⁽³⁾ Personal correspondence (September 29, 2011)
⁽⁴⁾ vllg.com/Incubator/Freya#panel=usage-poster-about

{ 4:17 pm

About Doko
• Type family for magazines inspired by cartoons, illustration and hand-lettering
• Balances display type faces and functionality of text faces
• Expressiveness of typography in travel posters
• Serifs and extended stroke of the swash alternatives are reminiscent of Asian lettering
• Organic, expressive serifs and cross strokes
• The typeface offers only four weights, but the inclusion of the swash alternatives give the typeface a lot of variety

About the designer
• Doko was the final project of Ondrej Job at Type and Media masters program at The Royal Academy of Art, KABK The Hague
• Ondrej is a graphic and type designer from northern Slovakia; he’s young, born in 1984
• He often uses his own custom lettering in his projects which give them a certain energy and vitality
• Recently, he designed Ico, an icon typeface family, and redesigned the Typotheque website
• Runs a design studio called Urtd based in Bratislava, Slovakia; Urtd specializes in type design as well as design for both print and screen

Ondrej’s inspiration
• “I have some constant influences … I’m really into comics, classic Hanna-Barbera animations, illustration, art of Eastern Asia or the visual stuff from our late communist years here in Slovakia.”
• “In November 1989, the communist regime ended in Czechoslovakia, and I think the effects of the open environment we were thrown into overnight is not only visible in our society and economy today but in our design scene as well. I mean, this is a good thing, the fact that design is evolving and maturing here is exciting, and I am quite optimistic about the development of our design culture.”
• Source: http://thecaseandpoint.com/2011/01/ondrej-job/

My croppings (updated slightly from class):

{ 3:49 pm

The design for Founders Grotesk was inspired by a 1912 series of Grotesques by Miller & Richards Typefounders. The designers were attracted to the rudimentary geometric of the typeface, and for their contemporary interpretation used an amalgamation of inspirations from several typefaces, rather than reviving or strictly reinterpreting the Miller & Richards model.

The first widely used sans-serif typeface, Akzidenz Grotesk, was designed in Germany in 1896. The German word Grotesk translates to sans-serif, and Akzidenz to commercial, thus Akzidenz Grotesk, to commercial sans-serif. William Thorowgood, who was incidentally also the first person to produce sans-serif lower case type in 1832, coined the English term Grotesque. From this bit of history the link between Grotesks and the beginning of sans-serifs and their usage for commercial type is quite clear.

Founders Grotesk is classified as both sans-serif and monoline, with relatively narrow kerning, which the designers felt complimented display work at all points. I was drawn to it because of its very graphic, austere, and symmetrical properties. Upon first examination, Founders Grotesk reminded me of Constructivist type, Franz Kline, Bauhaus curvature, and Richard Serra. In terms of its associations, but prominent sans-serif logos such as Apple and Volkswagon come to mind.

In examining the typeface and creating the letter croppings, I noticed Founders Grotesk’s sleek, architectural lines, and the versatility within its multiple weights. Founders Grotesk is incredibly versatile because of its clarity, modernity, and strong graphic presence; it would work especially well in signage, headings, advertisement, and print.

{ 12:30 pm

Shift was designed by Jeremy Mickel (mickeldesign) in 2011. This font family consists of 6 weights (extra light, light, book, medium, bold, black) and comes in roman and italics, for a total of 12 faces.

It was originally inspired by 1800s American slab-serif fonts, and so features relatively prominent serifs. As might be expected with a heavier slab-serif feel, it is primarily intended for display use, however it can also be used for text. In the lighter weights, Mickel notes that the letters resemble typewriter text. The heavier weights, however, feature quite thin counterspaces and thin spaces between letters. So there is a broad variety of “looks” between the thinnest and the heaviest faces.

I was struck by the contrasting shapes that come together to make this font family. There is an abundance of organic, curvy forms and counters, but there are also many letters that appear very architectural and almost rigid. In the heavier weights especially, I was impressed by the flow and rolling feel created along the x-height line of the letterforms. I would say this font has a smart, contemporary feel, perhaps slightly feminine in some weights.

My letter croppings:

{ 12:38 pm