You are on page 1of 11

Co

nga Conga Brava: A Type Specimen Book


Design by Barrett Kincheloe
Text by Robert Bringhurst
Published in 009
Ay
Bee
See
Dee

ABCDEFGHI Ee
Ef
Gee
Aych
Eye

JKLMNOPQR
Jay
Kay
El Now eye no mye ay bee sees,
Em
En
Oh
next tyme woent you bee
STUVWXYZ Pee
Cue
Are
Es
Tee
phonetical with me?

1234567890
You
Vee
Double You
Eks
Wie?
and
Zee
The typographer’s one essential task is
to interpret and communicate the text.
Its tone, its tempo, its logical structure,
its physical size, all determine the
conga regular 14/17
one
two
three light
choose
tempo
possibilities of its typographic form. four!

Tt
A novel often purports to be a seamless river of
words from beginning to end, or a series of
regular
tempo
unnamed scenes. Research papers, textbooks,
cookbooks and other works of nonfiction rarely
look so smooth. They are often layered with chapter
semibold
tempo
heads, section heads, subheads, block quotations,
footnotes, endnotes, lists and illustrative examples.
conga light 24/29
bold
tempo
The typographer is to

conga bold 17/20.5


the text as the theatrical
director to the script, or
the musician to the score.
black
tempo
Such features may be obscure in the manuscript, even if Ken Kesey’s novel Sometimes a Great Notion (New York,
they are clear in the author’s mind. For the sake of the reader, 1964) seems to flow like conventional prose, yet it shifts
each requires its own typographic identity and form. Every repeatedly in mid-sentence between roman and italic to
layer and level of the text must be consistent, distinct, yet distinguish what characters say to each other from what
(usually) harmonious in form. The first task of the typogra- they say to themselves.In poetry and drama, a larger ty-
pher is therefore to read and understand the text; the second pographic palette is sometimes required. Some of Doug-
task is to analyze and map it. Only then can typographic in- lass Parker’s translations from classical Greek and Dennis
terpretation begin. If the text has many layers or sections, it Tedlock’s translations from Zuni use roman, italic, bold,
may need not only heads and subheads but running heads small caps and full caps in various sizes to emulate the
as well, reappearing on every page or two-page spread, to dynamic markings of music. Robert Massin’s typographic
remind readers which intellectual neighborhood they hap- performances of Eugene Ionesco’s plays use intersecting
pen to be visiting. Novels seldom need such signposts, but lines of type, stretched and melted letters, inkblots, pic-
they often require typographic markers of other kinds. Peter tograms, and a separate typeface for each person in the
Matthiessen’s novel Far Tortuga (New York, 1975; designed play. In the works of other artists such as Guillaume Apol-
by Kenneth Miyamoto) uses two sizes of type, three differ- linaire and Guy Davenport, boundaries between author
ent margins, free-floating block paragraphs and other typo- and designer sometimes vanish. Writing merges with
graphic devices to separate thought, speech and action.
conga light 10/16
typography, and the text becomes its own illustration.

K
conga brava 10/12
B
G
D
RNPA
The typographer must analyze and reveal the inner order of the Light text, as a musician must reveal
the inner order of the music he performs.

Y
But the reader, like the listener, should in retrospect be able to close her eyes and

see what lies inside the Regular words she has been reading. M
The typographic performance must reveal, not replace, the inner composition.

Typographers, like other artists and craftsmen - musicians, composers and Semibold
authors as well-must as a rule do their work and disappear.

If the text is tied to other elements, where do

they belong? If there are notes, do they go at the side of the Bold page, the foot of the
page, the end of the chapter, the end of the book?

If there are photographs or


other illustrations, should they be embedded in the text or should they form a special
J
section of their own? And if the photographs have Black
captions or credits
or lables, should these sit close beside the photographs or should the ybe separately
housed?
If is than one
there
more

text
issued in countless
as
Will they run side by No matter what their
conga bold 46
side to emphasize their relation to the text,
publications Canada, in
equality (and perhaps photos or maps must
Belgium
Switzerland,

conga black 50
and
to share in a single set
of illustrations) or will
sometimes be grouped
apart from it because
other multilingual
conga light 42
countries - they be printed back-
to-back, to emphasize they require a separate
how will
separate the
but their distinctness? paper or different inks.
equal
conga regular 23/28 conga regular 22/32
conga regular 47

texts arrayed? conga semibold 72


be
These and similar questions, which confront the The typographic page is a map of the mind; it is frequently
working typographer on a daily basis, must be also a map of the social order from which it comes. And for
answered case by case. better or for worse, minds and social orders change.
conga regular 20/24 conga regular 18/22

This is the beginning, The type

middle
conga regular 72/86
choose
and and
end use
of the practice of typography: with sensitivity and intelligence.
conga regular 25/30
Colophon
Fonts used:
Mrs. Eaves
Conga Brava

“Alphabet Song” by Charles Bradlee


Conga Brava was designed by Michael Harvey.

This book was printed at St. Edwards University, with


an HP printer and printed on Cougar Opaque Smooth
paper.

Designed with InDesign.

You might also like