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Notes on multi-script typeface design

Notes on multi-script typeface design

Slides from a talk given at Granshan 2014 Design & Identity, in Munich.

Gerry Leonidas

July 19, 2014
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  1. Notes on multi-script 

    typeface design
    Gerry Leonidas

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  2. Introduction:
    A comment on the current state of
    typeface design for non-Latin scripts,
    summarising the points made on 

    “Going Global” [next four slides]

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  3. 1. two and a half steps

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  4. 1) Providing basic, 

    but correct, support

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  5. 2) Covering mainstream 

    genre requirements

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  6. 3) Innovating in typeface design 

    to support rich typography

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  7. 2. Multi-script or Other-script?

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  8. Distinguishing between designing
    typefaces for documents integrating
    more than one script, and designing
    typefaces for scripts that the designer 

    is unfamiliar with, for overwhelmingly
    single-script use.

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  9. One script:
    Typographic adaptation 

    to typesetting processes

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  10. In the case of new single-script
    typefaces, the main challenge has been
    the adaptation of script complexity to
    the limitations of type-making and
    typesetting systems developed for
    another context.

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  11. Risk:
    research is time-consuming, costly,
    difficult, or even impossible

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  12. Commercial pressures (time allocation,
    budget limits, lack of sufficient clarity at
    the project definition) and the variable
    access to trustworthy information and
    feedback jeopardise projects.

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  13. Multi-script:
    Parallel texts or embedded 

    words and sentences

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  14. Distinguishing between one column 

    of a script next to, or opposite to, one 

    in another script (e.g. in a translated
    text) and embedded use (e.g. a word 

    or a phrase in one script within
    sentences in another).

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  15. Risk:
    the assumptions of the dominant 

    script determine design decisions

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  16. Features from the original script can be
    shoehorned onto the “secondary” script.
    These may include vertical proportions,
    stroke dimensions and modulation,
    terminal formation, handling of
    punctuation, and so on.

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  17. Latinisation
    and / or
    Typographicisation*
    !
    !
    * invented word

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  18. Latinisation: the design of a non-Latin
    script using design patterns and even
    specific formal elements from the Latin,
    usually with a mismatch between the
    typographic and stylistic connotations
    of the two scripts (e.g. “modern” ).

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  19. Typographicisation: the adaptation of 

    a script that has forms and behaviour
    determined by written forms to the
    constraints of a type-making and
    typesetting system. This script may 

    often be used on its own.

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  20. 3 Design challenges

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  21. Type-making and typesetting tools
    Legacy “typewriter” fonts
    Latin-centric terminology

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  22. Limitations examples: character sets,
    many-to-many substitutions.
    “Typewriter” fonts: from actual type-
    writers, to early digital. Of marginal
    formal quality, developed under extreme
    limitations, but still influential.

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  23. Character set determinism
    Algorithmic line-level behaviours
    Changes within a community’s

    memory

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  24. Character sets change over time, across
    documents, and communities. The
    “definitive” versions might not exist.
    Intensely context-dependent
    substitutions.
    Changes to a script across generations.

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  25. Western type-family compositions
    Input conventions
    Minority scripts, dialects, and 

    regional “parallel identities”

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  26. Type family conventions for weight /
    width / style from Latin typefaces that
    do not transfer easily to another script.
    Communities sharing a complex script,
    but not a language, an orthography, or
    international visibility.

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  27. Stroke modulation and proportions
    Range of curves and counters
    Range of in/out points
    Number of continuous strokes

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  28. The variability of radii and counter
    shapes are most likely more complex
    than in the Latin; stroke dimensions
    tend to respond to these factors.
    Transferring the logic of the ductus into
    the typographic forms.

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  29. Parity with existing styles
    Opportunities for expansion

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  30. The fewer the existing relevant typefaces
    for a script, the more pressure for new
    ones to relate to them.
    Conventional ways to expand a type
    family may not apply to a non-Latin
    script, requiring innovative thinking.

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  31. The cultural moment!
    Modernity vs. convention
    Variety and differentiation
    Identity and exploration

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  32. Typefaces respond to and reflect the
    range from language preservation to
    mainstream textual communication, 

    to imported / novel genres that express
    aspirational classes and generational
    identification.

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  33. p.s. Where’s the intelligence?

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  34. As a typeface project develops, how do
    we capture the design decisions and the
    knowledge generated? And how is this
    built upon across projects? Our current
    workflows aim at final outputs, not
    capturing and analysing processes.

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  35. N.b.
    No part of this discussion 

    needs to stem from the 

    technology of type-making.

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  36. We lack a clear, shared language 

    to discuss typeface design decisions 

    for shapes and behaviours that is
    independent of the means of making
    fonts.

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  37. Thank you!
    !
    @gerryleonidas
    @typefacedesign

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