A framework for discourse in typeface design

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A framework for discourse in typeface design Gerry Leonidas

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Discussing priorities | Developing a ﬁeld Visual communication is now an established discipline with a burgeoning professional practice, varied educational systems, critical research, national and international conferences and competitions, trade magazines, and academic journals.   Across many areas, visual communication is entering a period of sustained growth and expansion. This calls for strategic decisions for directions of development, setting priorities for action, and clarifying relationships with related areas of activity.

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Developing a ﬁeld: discussing priorities Visual communication is now an established discipline with a burgeoning professional practice, varied educational systems, critical research, national and international conferences and competitions, trade magazines, and academic journals.   Across many areas, visual communication is entering a period of sustained growth and expansion. This calls for strategic decisions for directions of development, setting priorities for action, and clarifying relationships with related areas of activity.

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Typeface design is a social enterprise.

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practice instructions compendia, indirect records historical accounts speciﬁcations for practice narratives of interpretation and explanation [theory]

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practice compendia, indirect records historical accounts instructions and speciﬁcations for practice interpretation, explanation [theory]

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Volume and intensity of practice obscure interpretation

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1 Typemaking environments are commoditised

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2 The added value of design is redeﬁned   away from the visible acts of practice

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3 A typeface does not contain enough   information to explain itself

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Channels of distribution

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“Rejection or ignorance of the rich and varied   history and traditions of typography are  inexcusable; however, adherence to traditional   concepts without regard to contemporary   context is intellectually lazy and a threat   to typography today.” Jeffery Keedy  The rules of typography according   to crackpots experts   Eye 9, 1993

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Visible Language* 50th anniversary issue *Journal of Typographic Research

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Visible Language 50th anniversary issue 240+ submissions

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Adobe. (1990) Adobe Type 1 Font Format Sutton, J., & Bartram, A. (1968) An atlas of typeforms Ahrens, T., & Magicura, S. (2014) Size-speciﬁc adjustments to type designs Lawson, A. S. (1990) Anatomy of a Typeface Lund, O. (1999) Knowledge construction in typography: the case of legibility research and the legibility of sans serif typefaces Hochuli, J., & Kinross, R. (1996) Designing books: practice and theory Poynor, R. (2003) No more rules: graphic design and postmodernism Spiekermann, E. (2013) Stop stealing sheep and ﬁnd out how type works Spiekermann, E. (1986) Ursache und Wirkung. Ein typographischer Roman

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Twyman, Michael   (1998) The British Library guide to printing: history and techniques Twyman, Michael   (1970) Printing 1770–1970

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Framework for enquiry

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1. Approaches to historiography 2. Paradigms for typemaking 3. Discussions of typefaces in the context of use 4. Examinations of speciﬁcation for making 5. Explanations for typeform construction 6. Approaches to validation

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1. Discussions the past 2. Ways of making type 3. Typefaces in documents 4. Capturing knowledge for others 5. Explanations of lettermaking 6. Does it work for that?

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Approaches to historiography

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Paradigms for typemaking 1. letters made to size, mostly by hand 2. typefaces engineered for proprietary reproduction 3. typefaces as platform-independent products 4. typefaces as formal relationships within systems

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Discussions of typefaces in the context of use 1. lines and paragraphs 2. persistent documents and ephemera 3. Type families, type systems 4. global type, global typography

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Implications of speciﬁcation for making 1. models for letters 2. emerging disciplines of practice 3. typeface design as an open-ended system

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Explanations for typeform construction 1. Gerritt Noordzij’s moving pen 2. Richard Southall’s models and patterns 3. organic / sampled / constructed patterns

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adhesifny adhesifny EssayText by Ellmer Stefan

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adhesifny adhesifny Fenland by Jeremy Tankard

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Approaches to validation 1. systems with deﬁned constraints 2. the “performance” of rendered text

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1. Approaches to historiography 2. Typemaking paradigms 3. Type in the context of use 4. Speciﬁcation and making 5. Typeform theories 6. Approaches to validation