For fourth week we get into the visual effects that can be applied to typography.In the lecture section we will be discussing the voice of type, and corporate branding with type.
For the hand's on portion we discuss what type attributes you can use on type to gain readability or prominence.
Go to the homework section,to see what has to be done for the class project.
At the bottom of this page I have shared with you my thoughts on font recogition, and the process I take in trying to identify a font.
Font recognitionFirst and foremost, nothing will take the place of personal experience. Without spending time flipping through the pages of font catalogs, keeping your eyes open to visual examples that surround you, taking mental notes of particular fonts, the act of identifying a single font is futile. You need to make it a point to gather as much typographic resouce materials as you can to draw information out of.
Fonts have unique characteristics that differentiate them from other fonts. These characteristics are much like fingerprints. While some fonts are unique enough to make themselves very identifiable, most appear very similar at first glance. It's identifying the nuances that makes font recognition so difficult.
Look at the sample of the font you have very closely.
Identify the font's classification.
Locate a key character and examine it.
Compare your key character to your reference guides.
Cross-match another character. There it is in a nutshell. So where do we start? You need to have a couple of reference guides to look through. I suggest font catalogs, foundry display listings, or specification books. You can order many types of these materials online for free, from major font foundries (I will be supplying a list of links of popular foundries and typographic sources). You need to see in print (black and white) the entire fonts character set; this should include the capitals, lowercase, numerals, and major punctuation marks.
For specific books on font recognition, I can only think of one, and sorry to say it is in need of an update. The book is Rookledges International Type Finder. It was last published in 1991 (ISBN#1-55921-052-4). The number of fonts actually displayed in the book is very limited. Fonts are broken down by classification, and variations within each. It gives you the opportunity to search by class or by specific characters. I would say this book is great for finding the most popular fonts and getting you close to what you are looking for.
Classifing the font.
Every font falls into one of six classifications*: Old Style, Italics (Scripts), Transitional, Modern, Egyptian (Slab Serif), and Sans Serif. In each of the classifications there are many subclasses. For example, in the Italics class there is a scripts subclass, which is subdivided again into hand-drawn fonts like Keunstler Script versus a more stylized, evenly weighted font such as Magneto Bold.
* The classifications I am referring to are described in detail in the book Typographic Design Form and Communication.
Identifying unique or key characters.
These individual characters will aid you in identifying the font. What makes certain characters special or unique? The uniqueness of a character has to do with the strokes it comprises. The subtle nuances of the strokes are what we are looking for. Some sample questions you can ask yourself when you look at the strokes of a font are: are the strokes straight, evenly weighted, squared off at the ends or are they round? The points where the strokes intersect- are they blunt, sharp, pointy, angled, or rounded. Again, there are lots of questions for every stroke and intersection, but now we get into the position of the strokes. Position has to do more with the relationships between one stroke and another. Are they parallel, slightly slanted away, or canted in? Remember to think about how you would describe the character to someone else.Is the left-hand stroke on the capital N slightly canted in, with splayed ends that form a wedge serif? Once you get to this level of detail you can quickly eliminate all those fonts that don't fall into the parameters of this particular font.
In most alphabets the key characters you will want to look for are the lowercase a, g, k, p, and r and the uppercase, or capital, letters A, B, M, and W. You don't need a lot of characters, just a few important ones.
So what makes these characters so unique throughout all fonts?
In this next section I will offer some insight on how to make visual comparisons from one font to another. The process is simple: ask a lot of questions. When I want to closely examine a font, I ask multiple questions about the look and style of the font, which will eliminate fonts that at first glance appear close, but after further review fall by the wayside. In most cases you can ask the same questions for most of the characters I have identified as key characters.A:
The capital A is great for examining the angle that forms the triangular shape of the letter. Compare the proportion of the triangle shape: is it wider than taller or just the opposite? Look at the position of the crossbar that joins the sides; is it closer to the baseline or the meanline?
B:
The capital B holds the relationship to the eyes or counters to the stroke widths. Are the eye's narrow or extended? Are they close together or spread apart? Looking at the strokes and the point where the two bowls intersect, is this point exactly in the middle of the height of the letter, does it sit above the middle, or below? What about the differences between the widths at various points in the same stroke?
M/W:
The arms of the capital M and W share similar traits that make them unique. Notice if the outside strokes are straight, or slightly curved. They can be perpendicular to the baseline or angled. The points where the strokes intersect can be above or below the cap height or baseline, and either have or not have serifs. The central point of the character, where the two angled middle arms intersect, tells a lot about the font. This point can also share the same characteristics that the other intersections have, but the key here is its position. Is it above the baseline and if so how much? If it is on the baseline, does it have a sharp point, or is it cut off to form a stable wedge?
a:
The lowercase a has quite a few unique characteristics to it. What is the shape of the bowl? At what angle does the arm that forms the bowl come off the back stroke? Is the bowl fully inclosed? Examining the end of the strokes, are they round and bulbous or are they more of the shape of a teardrop? Does the tail of the stroke flair up or stop suddenly?
g:
The lowercase g is probably the one character with the most unique features. Depending on the classification of the font you are looking at, this character may have a ear coming off the upper bowl; the link that connects the bowls can have a subtle upwards hitch in its stroke, or be very fluid and graceful. The lower bowl like the lowercase a can either be fully inclosed or open. Some styles of the lowercase g don't have a lower bowl, they are simply a leg that drops below the baseline with a small curl at the end. This one character will make identifying fonts easier than you think.
k/ p/ r:
All of these characters share similar characteristics that I have already explained. These letters are important because you need to cross-match several characters to make a positive ID of a font.
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