Blackletter

Blackletter is a type of font predominately used from 1150 to the early 1500s. The ornate curving characters that make up blackletter fonts reflects the carefully crafted calligraphy used by monks to make manuscripts during the middle ages. Some forms of blackletter made the transition from hand-written to printed text, but the ornate nature of the font makes it difficult to read in a large quantity. Since the world was moving towards lager books with more text printed quickly and easy to read, blackletter was no longer used in books, but it still has its place as a decorative touch in titles, certificates and other important documents.

 

There are many different forms of Blackletter, shown below:

-Textualis- The most calligraphic form of blackletter, commonly used by French, English and German printers in the 14^th and 15^th century.

-Schwabacher- A predominately German type that was widely used for the printing of Bibles and used rarely ever since.

-Frakture- The most popular blackletter in Germany, especially during the mid 16^th century. It was so popular that any blackletter in Germany was called “Fraktur.”

-Cursiva- The induction of paper rather than parchment made cursive writing much more feasible. Thus, this blackletter form was introduced.

-Lucida- This is the modernized form of blackletter, simplified for more legibility and readability.

Question: What caused the large-scale transition from blackletter to more modern types?

Terms Defined

• Absolute Measurement - a unit of measurement that is expressed in finite terms and cannot be altered based on the measurement of any other object.
  
• Relative Measurement - a unit of measurement that have no prescribed, absolute size and change based on the measurements of other factors relative to it.
  
• Points - The unit of measurement used to measure the type size of a font. 1 point = 1/72 inch = 1/12 pica
  
• X-height - The key reference relative measurement of a typeface described as the hight of the letter "x."
  
• Em - A relative unit of measurement used in typesetting to define basic spacing function. The em describes the horizontal space in which a character is set and changes based on the point size. 1 em = 2 ens = 3 hyphens
  
• Dashes - Short horizontal rules that serve various specific functions such as em rules, en rules, and hyphens.

-Hyphen - 1/3rd em rule. Used to link word.

-En dash - 1/2 em rule. Used to separate page numbers, dates and to replace the word 'to.'

-Em dash - 1 em rule. Used to form lies and house nested clauses.

• Paragraph Alignment - The position of type within a text block, in both horizontal and vertical planes.

-Justification - An alignment that spaces words out evenly in a line, giving irregular spacing from line to line.

-Flush Left - An alignment that places text tight on the left margin and leaves the right margin ragged and choppy.

-Flush Right - An alignment that places the text tight on the right margin and leave the left margin ragged and choppy.

• Letterspacing - Addition of space between letterforms to open up text.
  
• Kearning - The removal of space between characters to close the text up tight.
• Tracking - A value of a text block that adjusts the space between characters.
  
• Wordspacing - Adjusts the space between words.
• Widow- A single word that starts its own new line at the end of a paragraph.
• Oprhan - A single word that starts its own new column or page at the end of a paragraph.
• Hypho - A hyphenated widow that leaves half a word on a line.
• Leading - The space between lines of text in a text block, measured in points.
  
• Indent - An instance were some or all of the text lines in a paragraph are moved in from teh margin by a specified amount.

-First Line Indent - Text indented from the left margin in the first line of the second and subsequent paragraphs.

-Hanging Indent - An indentation from the left or right margin, which affects the second and subsequent lines of a text block.

Universe and Frutiger

Adrian Frutiger (March 24th, 1928 - Present)

He started as a 16-year-old printer's apprentice in Switzerland and ended as the producer of some of the most widely known and used typefaces available. As a graduate of the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, Frutiger joined Deberny & Peignot typefoundry, where he worked on converting conventional type printing methods into more modern practices. Soon, he began to create his own original typefaces, many of which gained him world-wide recognition.

Frutiger's Fonts:

-President (1952)

-Phoebus (1953)

-Ondine (1954

-Meridien (1955)

-Egyptienne (1956)

-Universe (1956)

-Apollo (1962)

-Serifa (1967)

-OCR-B (1968)

-Iridium (1975)

-Icone (1980)

-Breughel (1982)

-Versailles (1982)

-Avenir (1988)

-Vectora (1990)

Frutiger's most notable font, however, is Univers. It is a new-grotesque, sans serif font that features a higher x-height and even stroke weight to improve legibility. This font was a breakthrough, as it was the first typeface to implement the numbering system (ex. 46 Univers, 45 Univers) as opposed to using names (ex. Bold Italic Universe). This system was spawned with the use of the Univers Grid, or a chart which documents the different variations of the font based on stroke weight and kerning. This system has helped to organize fonts in a way not before conceived. Not only was the system useful, but the font itself grew quite popular. With 27 different variations, it is one of the most adaptable fonts available. In the 1990's, Frutiger began to work with Linotype to produce a Linotype Universe family that contains 63 different weights, each one carefully drawn to be compatible with the other weights.

The Universe Family:

Baskerville

John Baskerville (Jan 1st, 1706 - Jan 8th, 1775)

John Baskerville was an English typographer, designer, print-maker and engraver of the 18th century. He and William Caslon individually produced the two greatest and most innovative fonts from that time period. The font "Baskerville," John's own creation, is still in use today.

Baskerville started his venture into typography as a writing teacher and stone engraver. He soon developed a fascination in the way letters appear on a page and eventually began his career in printing. He would print such classic works as "Aesop's Fables," "Paradise Lost," the Bible, and the work of works of Hora

ce and Virgil. As a perfectionist, Baskerville insisted on being in control of the entire printing process, from design to fruition. He began to create types of paper and design layouts, but his most famous creation was the release of his completely new type face. Baskerv

ille believed in the efficient an

d the useful, and thus, his type face reflected t

his belief. Baskerville stands as a very visually appealing, and yet not overly ornate font that led the way for many more to follow in later years. This font was widely rebuked as an amateur's work in Baskerville's time, however, and he did not receive sufficient recognition until after his death.

The font, Baskerville, is so important to typography because it was a "transitional" font, meaning it helped to bridge the gap between old ornate type face styles to the new, sharp and contrasting modern styles. It featured a variation of alternating thick and thin strokes and very frugal use of ornate designs like those used by its predecessors. Baskerville and its spartan image gained some slight popularity in its inventor's time, but only received real recognition in the early 20th century, when typographer Bruce Rogers began to take interest in it and brought about its revival. It is thought to be one of the first ushers of the modern font styles. Hugh Williamson quoted it as being "one of the most readable and pleasant designs now in use."

Examples of the Baskerville font:

The Designer's Grid

They are indeed...

Simply put: Grids are "a series of intersecting axes that create horizontal and vertical divisions of space on a page." (Layout Workbook)

To a graphic designer, however, a grid is an invaluable tool to assist with the placement of visual elements (mostly text and images) and their alignment to each other in order to create compelling and interesting visual forms and compositions.

It is commonly thought that the origins of the modern grid originate from the time of World War II, when designers Max Bill, Emil Ruder, Josef Müller-Brockmann all questioned the conventional page layout and set to work creating a new, more aesthetically pleasing alignment system. As a result, the International Typographic Style was born, and grids became a necessity for graphic artists.

Grids make Illustrator's and Graphic Design artist's work appear neat, tidy and aligned. Without them, our work would appear out of place, crooked and wholly unprofessional. Grids give us consistency to make our work as close to perfect as humanly possible.