Typeface Review: "Bodoni"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Bodoni is a modern serif typeface, with high contrast between thin and thick stroke weights, and a slightly condensed shape. It was based on the work of John Baskerville, but has taken his ideas to a more extreme conclusion. There are a few variations on Bodoni, some with more transitional shapes (including ITC Bodoni and Bodoni Old Face), and some more modern.

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"Bodoni was first designed by Giambattista Bodoni in 1798. In addition to the influence from Baskerville, Bodoni was also influenced heavily by the work of Pierre Simon Fournier and Firmin Didot." (Source #1)

What Type of Font It Is: Didone; "This category of types, also known as Modern, is based upon the typefaces produced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Italy by Giambattista Bodoni (1740 - 1813) and in France by Firmin Didot (1764 - 1836).

"Didones are most commonly used for display and semi-display purposes, where the accentuated contrasts of stroke width create dynamic and elegant graphic effects. While these characteristics are moderated in the smaller sizes to allow for their use in text setting, the extremes of contrast impair readability, making them a less practical choice where large amounts of copy are to be set." (Source #2)

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How You Can Design With It: "Bodoni, for the most part, is best suited to larger font sizes. Because of the extreme variation between thin and thick strokes, it can degrade at small sizes and become illegible (specifically, it creates an effect known as “dazzle”). There are some typeface variations though, that are optimized for use at smaller sizes (including Bodoni Old Face at 9 points, ITC Bodoni 12 at 12 points, and ITC Bodoni 7 at 7 points).

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"Bodoni is well-suited for use in modern designs where a serif typeface is desired. It’s a great serif for use in headlines and subheads, though some variations can be used for body copy, too. Some of its more recognizable uses can be found in the logo for grunge band Nirvana, and on the Mamma Mia! posters." (Source #1)

"Like most Didones, it can be effective in the setting of extended text, provided the printing and paper is of sufficient quality to ensure that the delicate hairlines and high contrasts are retained. All weights and widths of the Bodoni family can be used to dramatic effect as display faces." (Source #3)

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Where You Can Get It: You can download free versions of the font at FontSpace, UrbanFonts, CoolText, or DaFont. Or you can purchase the font at either MyFonts. There is also a newer version created by Heinrich Jost in 1926 called "Bauer Bodoni", which is slightly cheaper to purchase on websites, MyFonts and Linotype. (Source #3)

Descriptive Terms for It: Classic, Didone, display, large blocks of text, logo, logo design, logos, modern, old, and serif.

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/the-most-popular-fonts-used-by-designers/
- #2 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 94
- #3 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 96

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Warnock"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: Designed by Robert Slimbach and published in 2000 by Adobe. As part of the Adobe Originals type composition family, it was named after John Warnock, "the co-founder of Adobe Systems, whose visionary spirit has led to major advances in desktop publishing and graphic arts software.

"A full-featured, state-of-the-art OpenType family - with Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek character sets in a variety of weights and optical size ranges-Warnock Pro is a classic yet contemporary composition family that performs a wide variety of typographic tasks with elegance." (Source #1)

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What Type of Font It Is: Transitional; "Characterized by triangulated serifs and a lively angularity, Warnock is a Transitional with a suggestion of calligraphic form, particularly in the swash letters that form part of a very extended type family." (Source #2)

How You Can Design With It: "Transitionals are, as a general rule, well suited to the setting of large bodies of text, as well as revealing considerable elegance of individual form when used for display purposes.... The italic fonts of Transitional typefaces were designed as an integral part of the face rather than as independent faces, and as a consequence reveal far greater affinity of form with the roman letters, while varying quite widely in style. They are better suited to use for emphasis or differentiation within roman text than the italics of Garalde or Humanist faces." (Source #3)

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Where You Can Get It: You can purchase the font at Fonts.com, MyFonts, Linotype, Typedia, Veer, FontShop, and Adobe Systems Inc.  FontPalace has a free download of Warnock Pro-Bold available.

Descriptive Terms for It: Classic, display, elegant, large blocks of text, large bodies of text, serif, Transitional, and whole family.

Extra: There's even an open letter, penned by Andrei Michael Herasimchuk of Design By Fire, to JohnWarnock to make his namesake a part of the public domain, as well as other typefaces such as Adobe Caslon Pro, Adobe Jenson Pro, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Gill Sans, Helvetica Neue, and Univers.

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/warnock/
- #2 - "The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 91
- #3 - "The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 84

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Trajan"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Trajan was designed by Carol Twombly in 1989 as a faithful transcription of the 1st-century AD letters on the Trajan column in Rome.

"Because of its origins, Trajan does not have a miniscule lowercase but has instead a small-cap lowercase, comprising capital forms of a slightly lower height. It has proved an extremely popular titling face, combining classical authority with great refinement of form." (Source #1)

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What Type of Font It Is: Glyphic; "This is a category of carved or inscribed type with its origins in both the history and the contemporary practice of letter cutting, and its main exponents have been equally distinguished in the letter crafts.

"Glyphics are primarily a titling form and many have no lowercase. Mantinia and Trajan exist only in capital form. Some of the Germanic Glyphics can be effectively used for limited amounts of text setting, providing a tonal depth similar to that of the heavier Humanist revival faces. Their weight can create a more dramatic color in a text page but their application in this context is fairly specialized." (Source #2)

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How You Can Design With It: "Trajan is available in regular and bold weights, and is suitable for a range of titling functions. It is also suitable for architectural and environmental use, particularly in contexts involving reference to classical concepts or values. If it is to be paired with a text face, this should be based upon similar classical proportions, and care should be taken to compliment the delicacy of the strokes and serifs." (Source #1)

Where You Can Get It: You can download the font at FontPalace or you can purchase the font at MyFonts.

Descriptive Terms for It: Classic, Glyphic, Greek, headings, no lowercase, old, Roman, serif, sub-headings, and titles.

Sources:
- #1 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 144
- #2 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 142

Examples:

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And every movie poster ever.
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Typeface Review: "Sabon"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Sabon is an old style serif typeface designed by Jan Tschichold between 1964 and 1967. It was released jointly by Linotype, Monotype, and Stempel foundries in 1967. It’s based on typefaces designed by Claude Garamond, particularly the one printed by Konrad Berner of Frankfurt, as well as the italics by Robert Grandjon." (Source #1)

"One of the finest modern adaptations of the Garamond model, Jan Tschichold's Sabon stands as the culmination of a hugely influential typographic career in which type design developed alongside book typography and critical writing.

"It is names for the punchcutter and type founder Jakob Sabon of Lyons, who is credited with bringing the Garamond types originating with Plantin or Granjon into use in Franfurt, thus introducing the Garamond model into German printing. Sabon is, however, far more than a literal revival, since it incorporates characteristics drawn from the different sizes of the Garamonds to form one consistent and definitively 20th-century interpretation of the ideas that they embody." (Source #2)

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What Type of Font It Is: Garalde - "Garaldes include some of the most attractive and well-designed text faces in current use. They are highly legible but visually lively. As with most historically based faces, the adaptation of these letters for changing print technologies has had varying effects upon their integrity of form.

"All typefaces originating in hand-cut punches showed a considerable variation of form according to size, with the serifs relatively heavier and the modulation of stroke width less pronounced at smaller sizes. These considerations are crucial to the effective design or adaptation of Garalde faces, and distinguish quality recuts and original faces in the Garalde tradition." (Source #3)

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How You Can Design With It: "One of the distinguishing features of Sabon is that the roman, italic, and bold weights all take up the same width when typeset. It’s an unusual feature, but meant that only one set of copyfitting data is needed for all three styles.

"Sabon is a highly legible typeface, with moderate contrast between thick and thin strokes. That makes it suitable for use in a variety of sizes.

"Sabon is a favorite for typesetting book copy, and is well-suited to any traditional or formal design." (Source #1)

"It has an elegant bold font, and it is exceptionally balanced and legible across italic and roman in both its weights. It has a harmonious visual consistency and few obtrusive distinguishing features - an inclined stress, open counters, and a complementary interaction between characters. It incorporates expert set features, including small caps, ligatures, and non-lining numerals." (Source #2)

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Where You Can Get It: You can buy the Sabon font and the whole font family at LinoType, Adobe, Fonts.com, FontShop, MyFonts, or Webtype.

Descriptive Terms for It: Book copy, Garalde, Jan Tschichold, large blocks of text, large bodies of text, legible, Old Style Serif, serif, traditional, and whole family.

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/the-most-popular-fonts-used-by-designers/
- #2 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 76
- #3 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 72

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Rockwell"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Rockwell is a slab serif, with no real variation in stroke weight. It was designed in-house at Monotype in 1934, supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont. It’s a geometric typeface, with upper- and lowercase 'O' more of a circle than an ellipse. The serif at the apex of the uppercase 'A' is a distinctive feature of Rockwell that sets it apart from many other serif type faces." (Source #1)

What Type of Font It Is: Slab Serif; "At their best, Slab Serifs are both robust and colorful, with the serifs providing a strong continuity of line. The historic Slab Serifs are generally most effective in the heavier weights.... the substantial serifs and consistent stroke widths retain their form when printed upon rough or absorbent papers or at low digital resolutions. They also survive reversal better than any other serif form, and are excellent for display and semi-display contexts. They were widely used in publishing, packaging, and art/editorial design in the late 1950s and early 1960s." (Source #2)

"Rockwell is a largely geometric face with a well-defined slab serif and is available in four weights. Rockwell has a fairly high x-height and noticeably short descenders. The italic is a somewhat undeveloped oblique form of the roman." (Source #3)

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How You Can Design With It: "The geometric forms of Rockwell make it more similar to sans-serif typefaces, making it a good choice for combining with geometric sans serifs.

"Rockwell is best-suited for use as a display typeface due to its thick, monoweighted strokes." (Source #1)

Where You Can Get It: You can buy it at Fonts.com, or you can purchase all the complete pack from Monotype Design Studio.

Descriptive Terms for It: Display, headlines, poster design, Slab serif, and serif.

Bonus: Here is a very well constructed video describing "Rockwell". Enjoy!

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/the-most-popular-fonts-used-by-designers/
- #2 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 102
- #3 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 105

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Clarendon"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Clarendon is a slab-serif typeface, and is considered to be the first registered typeface with the original matrices and punches remaining at Stephenson Blake and later residing at the Type Museum, London. They were marketed by Stephenson Blake as Consort, though some additional weights (a bold and italics) were cut in the 1950s. It was named after the Clarendon Press in Oxford. There’s only moderate contrast between thick and thin strokes, common of slab-serifs. It was originally designed by Robert Besley [in England] for the [Thorowgood and Co. then known as] Fann Street Foundry in 1845. It was later copied heavily by other foundries. Due to its popularity, Besley registered the typeface under Britain's Ornamental Designs Act of 1842. The patent expired three years later, and other foundries were quick to copy it." (Source #1 and #2)

"It was polished by Edouard Hoffmann and Hermann Eidenbenz at Haas Foundry a little over a century later. Haas’ revival of this typeface in 1953 precipitated the revivals that follow." (Source #3)

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What Type of Font It Is: Slab Serif. Slab Serif typefaces developed from large-scale display letters used in both woodblock letterpress printing and architectural lettering. The robust forms and substantial serifs of the Clarendons and Egyptians were perfectly suited to casting as relief forms in metal, and as a result they feature in many Victorian engineering projects as well as appearing in posters, playbills, and other promotional materials of the time.

"At their best, Slab Serifs are both robust and colorful, with the serifs providing a strong continuity of line. The historic Slab Serifs are generally most effective in the heavier weights. Clarendons, in particular, are useful in text setting, particularly in cases where a greater weight is required than might be provided by more traditional text faces." (Source #4)

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How You Can Design With It: "Clarendon is among the most evocative and colorful of the Victorian faces. The lighter weights are a later development that extends the functionality of the face, being more suitable for text setting than the bold form that is the basis of the genre. [....] Clarendon will hold its legibility fairly well when used as a screen font in web applications or when printed onto low-quality paper. [....] It is also effective for architectural and environmental applications, because the strong serif forms can be easily cut out and reproduced in three-dimensional media." (Source #5)

"Clarendon has strong letterforms common to slab serifs. It’s also a very readable typeface, which makes it appropriate for use at somewhat smaller sizes. Strong letterforms make Clarendon a great choice for things like signs, logos, and headlines. It’s already used by companies like Sony and Wells Fargo in their logos." (Source #1)

"The font was used extensively by the government of the German Empire for proclamations during World War I, and was also common in wanted posters of the American Old West. Craw Clarendon Bold was used by the United States National Park Service on traffic signs, but has been replaced by NPS Rawlinson Roadway. In 2008, the typeface was utilized extensively by the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain in the re-launch of their corporate identity. Via, the travel magazine of the American Automobile Association, uses the typeface for its logo and headline copy." (Source #2)

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Where You Can Get It: You can purchase it at these locations for varying prices: Adobe, LinoType, FontShop, and MyFonts.

Descriptive Terms for It: Display, large blocks of text, old, poster design, serif, Slab Serif, Victorian, and whole family.

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/the-most-popular-fonts-used-by-designers/
- #2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon_(typeface)
- #3 - http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/clarendon/
- #4 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 102

- #5 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 104

Examples:

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