Hrudaya Veena

PGDP
Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology

UNDERSTANDING
TYPOGRAPHY

Dedicated to Aleph and Beth.

CONTENTS
10

Introduction

Chapter:1 The Past to the Present

Evolution of Typography

12

Chapter:2 Aleph and Beths Anatomy

Anatomy of Type

18

Chapter:3 The Family Tree

Classification of Typography

26

Bibliography

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INTRODUCTION

Design is mainly about delivering a message. If your

message is unclear, or gets lost in a clutter, then your
design is not effective. Typography is one of the most
essential skills for a Graphic Designer. Typography
is an art form that has been around for hundreds
of years. Words and text are all around us everyday
in almost everything we do. In every piece of type
you see, somebody has considered how the letters,
sentences and paragraphs will look in order for it to
be read by us, or make us feel in a certain way when
we look at it. Sometimes it is done well, others not.
This book is a guide to understand typography.

10

11

The Past
to the Present

EVOLUTION OF
TYPOGRAPHY
Before proceeding with the more practical aspects of
typography, it would be helpful to understand how we
arrived at the twenty-six symbols we call our alphabet.
We tend to forget that the alphabet is made up of
sybols, each representing, more or less, the sounds
made in speech. Many of the symbols used today are
the same as those used thousands of years ago.

Pictographs

At some point in history, man began to communicate

visually. He made simple drawings of everyday objects,
such as people, animals, weapons, and so forth. These
drawings are called pictographs.

Fig.1.The pictograph is a symbol representing an object.

13

Ideographs

Greek Alphabet

As man developed the need to communicate more

abstract thoughts in writing, the symbols began to
take on broader meanings: ox, for example, could
also mean food. Abstract thoughts could also be
communicated by combining different pictographs:
a pictograph of a woman and that of a child could
combine to mean happiness, for instance. Now,
symbols no longer represent objects, but ideas.
These symbols are called ideographs.

The Greeks began to adopt the Phoenician alphabet

around 1000 B.C. They saw something quite different
in the potential of this new system: to them, it was
a means of preserving knowledge.Along with the
alphabet, the Greeks took the Phoenician names for
the letters and made them Greek. For example, aleph
became alpha, beth became beta. From these letters
we derive our word alphabet. The alphabet the Greeks
acquired had no vowels, only consonants.
Fig.3.Greek Alphabet

Fig.2. Ideograph of an Eye in Chinese

Roman Alphabet

Phoenician Alphabet

As a nation of traders and merchants, the Phoenicians

needed a simplified writing form that would allow
them to keep ledgers and write business messages with
a minimum of fuss. Around 1600 B.C, a new concept
written communication evolved: using symbols to
represent the sounds made in speaking rather than
using symbols to represent ideas or objects. Sounds
evolved. As this system had fewer symbols than the
older picto-ideograph system, it was easier to learn,
and the simplified letter forms made rapid writing
possible.
14

Fig.3. Phoenician Alphabet

Just as the Greeks had modified the Phoenician alphabet, the Roman adopted and modified the Greek
alphabet. Thirteen letters were accepted unchanged
from the Greek: A, B, E, H, I , K, M, N, O, T, X,
Y, Z. Eight letters were revised: C, D, G, L, P, R, S,
V. Two letters were added: F and Q. This gave the
Romans a total of twenty-three letters, all that were
needed to write Latin.The Romans also dropped the
Greek designation for the letters, such as alpha, beta,
gamma, for the simpler A, B, CS that we know today.
The letters U and W were added to the alphabet about
a thousand years ago, and J was added five hundred
years after that.

Fig.4. Roman Alphabet

15

Fig.6.The Small letter

Small Letters

The small (minuscule) letters, which were a natural outgrowth of writing and rewriting capital letters with a pen, came later with the scribes
of the Middle ages. Prior to Gutenbergs invention of printing from
movable type in the mid-fifteenth century, there were two popular
schools of writing in western Europe: the round Humanistic hand in
Italy and the pointed Gothic, or black letter in Germany. The Humanistic hand was a revival of the Carolingian minuscule of the ninth
century and is the basis of our small letters.A flowing form of this
same hand is the basis of our italic. The Gothic hand was the model
for typeface designed by Gutenberg in 1455.

16

17

Aleph & Beths

Anatomy

ANATOMY OF
TYPE
Have you ever really
looked at a letter? Lets
examine printed letters
more closely. The
alphabet, as you already
know, has capital and
small letters. In type
terminology, we call
the large letter caps, or

uppercase, and the small

letters lowercase. These
terms derive from the
early days of printing
when caps were kept
in the uppercase, or
drawer, and the small
letters in the case below.

19

20

21

X-Height.

The x-height refers to

lowercase letters only.
It is the height of the
body, or main element
of letterform, and is
equivalent to the height
of the lowercase x. The
letter x is used because
all terminals touch a line
of measurement.

22

Ascender.

The part of the

lowercase letter that
rises above the body
(x-height) of the letter.

Descender.

The part of the lowercase letter that falls below the body (x-height)
of the letter.

Serif.

The stroke that projects

from the or bottom of
the main stroke of the
letter. Serifs originated
with the Roman masons
who terminated each
stroke in a slab of stone
with a serif to correct
the uneven appearance
made by their tools.
Some printed letters
have no serifs at all;
these letterforms are
called sans serif (without
serif)

Stem.

The stem is the main,

usually vertical stroke

of a letterform excluding serifs. In
some fonts the stem
is roughly the same
thickness as other
parts of the letter. In
other fonts, the stem
maybe a little thicker,
perhaps tapering to
meet the other parts.

Counter.

Refers to the external

space, the hollow part
of the letter.

Shoulder.

The curved stroke

originating from a stem.

Bowl.

In typography, the
curved part of the
character that encloses
the circular or curved
parts (counter) of some
of the letters like d,
b, o, D and B is the
bowl. Some sources
call any parts of a letter
enclosing a space a bowl,
including both parts of a
double-storey g and the
straight stem of D and
B. The curved strokes
of a C are sometimes
also referred to as bowls
although they arent
closed
23

Bar.

The usually horizontal

stroke across the middle
of uppercase H and A is
a bar. The horizontal or
sloping stroke enclosing
the bottom of the eye
of an e is also a bar.
Although often used
interchangeably, the bar
differs from an arm and
a cross stroke because
each end connects to
a stem or a stroke and
doesnt usually intersect
or cross over the stem
or stroke. The varying
positioning, thickness,
and slope of the bar is
an identifying feature of
many type designs.
24

Beardline.

The bottom rung

defines the limit of the
length of the descenders
of a letterform.

Meanline.

It is the line that

determines where nonascending lowercase
letters terminate in a
typeface

Baseline.

The baseline is the

imaginary line upon
which a line of text
rests. In most typefaces, the descenders on
characters such as g or p
extend down below the
baseline while curved
letters such as c or o ever-so-slightly below the
baseline. The baseline
is the point from which
other elements of type
are measured including
x-height and leading.
The baseline is also significant in the alignment
of drop caps and other
page elements.

Capline

A line marking the

height of uppercase
letters within a font.

25

The
Family Tree

CLASSIFICATION OF
TYPOGRAPHY
A basic system for classifying typefaces was devised
in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to
identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to
that of art history. Humanist letterforms are closely
connected to calligraphy and the movement of the
hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more
abstract and less organic. These three main groups

correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and

Enlightenment periods in art and literature. Historians
and critics of typography have since proposed more
finely grained schemes that attempt to better capture
the diversity of letterforms. Designers in the twentieth
and twenty first centuries have continued to create
new typefaces based on historic characteristics.

27

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT GARAMOND BOLD

Humanist or
Old Style

The roman typefaces of

the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries emulated classical
calligraphy. Sabon was
designed by Jan Tschichold
in 1966, based on the
sixteenth century typefaces
of Claude Garamond.

Fig.7.Palatino Bold

ABCDEFGHIJKL
MNOPQRSTUVWX
YZabcdef ghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
40 POINT GARAMOND BOLD

28

29

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT PERPETUA BOLD

Transitional

These typefaces
have serifs and more
vertical axis than
humanist letters.
When the typefaces of
John Baskerville were
introduced in the mideighteenth century, their
sharp forms and high
contrast were shocking.

30

Fig.8. Baskerville Bold

ABCDEFGHIJKL
M N O P Q R ST UVW X
YZabcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
40 POINT PERPETUA BOLD

31

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT BODONI72 BOLD

Modern

The typefaces designed

by Giambattista Bodoni
in the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth
centuries are radically
abstract. Note the thin
straight serifs; vertical
axis; and sharp contrast
from thick and thin
strokes.

Fig.9.Didot Bold

ABCDEFGHIJK
LMNOPQRSTUV
WXYZabcdefghi
jklmnopqrstuvw
xyz
40 POINT BODONI72 BOLD

32

33

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT SUPERCLARENDON BOLD

Egyptian or
Slab Serif

Numerous bold and

decorative typefaces
were introduced in
the nineteenth century
for use in advertising.
Egyptian typefaces have
heavy, slablike serifs.

Fig.10.SuperClarendon Bold

ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZabc
defghijklmn
opqrstuvwxy
z
40 POINT SUPERCLARENDON BOLD

34

35

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT FUTURA MEDIUM

GEOMETRIC
SANS SERIF

Some sans-serif
types are built around
geometric forms. In
Futura, designed by
Paul Renner in 1927,
the Os are perfect
circles, and the peaks
of the A and M are
sharp triangles.
36

Fig.10.Futura Medium

ABCDEFGHIJKL
MNOPQRSTUVW
XYZabcdefghijkl
mnopqrstuvwxyz
40 POINT FUTURA MEDIUM
37

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT HELVETICA BOLD

Transitional
Sans Serif

Helvetica designed by
Max Miedinger in 1957,
is one of the worlds
most widely used
typefaces. Its uniform,
upright character makes
it similar to transitional
sans serif letters. These
letters are also referred
to as anonymous sans
serif.

Fig.11. Helvetica bold

ABCDEFGHIJKL
MNOPQRSTUVW
XYZabcdefghijk
lmnopqrstuvwxy
z
40 POINT HELVETICA BOLD

38

39

THE QUICK BROWN FOX

JUMPS OVER A LAZY DOG
30 POINT GILL SANS BOLD

Humanist
Sans Serif

Sans-serif typefaces
became popular in
the twentieth century.
Gill Sans, designed by
Eric Gill in 1928, has
humanist characteristics.
Note the small, lilting
counter in the letter
a, and the calligraphic
variations in line weight.

Fig.12. GillSans Bold

ABCDEFGHIJKL
MNOPQRSTUV
WXYZabcdefgh
ijklmnopqrstuv
wxyz
40 POINT GILL SANS BOLD

40

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
James Craig,
Designing with
Type, NewYork,
Watson-Guptill
Publications, 1971.
Ellen Lupton,
Thinking with
Type, Princeton
Architectural Press;
2nd Revised Edition
(6 October 2010)

42

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/
typeanatomy/g/stem.html
http://typedia.com/learn/article/shoulder/
http://www.typographydeconstructed.
com/category/anatomy-of-type/
http://make-lemonade.co/2013/04/02/
the-basics-of-typography/
http://www.creativebeacon.com/
wp-content/uploads/2014/02/good-typography-hierarchy.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.
com/236x/af/1c/a0/af1ca0801ce479b96c22d0e0d83295e8.jpg

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