INFOGRAPHICS

T Y P E   B A S E D

INFOGRAPHICS

N O N   C O M P U T E R (kinda)

INFOGRAPHICS

I M A G E   B A S E D

               

  

SERIF TYPEFACES


OLD STYLE
Characteristics:
- wedge shaped serifs
- more upright stress
- horizontal crossbar
FONTS:
- Bembo
- Berkeley Old Style
- Calisto
- Garamond
- Goudy Old Style

TRANSITIONAL
Characteristics:
- thick/thin contrast increases
- serifs become thinner
- base serifs are barely or not rounded at the bottom
FONTS:
- Bakersville
- Concord
- Times New Roman
- Century
- Georgia

MODERN
Characteristic:
- sharp contrasts
- serifs are as thin as the thin parts of the letters
- Symmetry and sharp transitions to the straight serifs
FONS:
- Didot
- Bodoni
- Walbaum
- Linotype Centennial
- Onyx

SLAB SERIF
Characteristics:
- little if any contrast between thick and thin
- usually have no bracket
- bold rectangular appearance, with sometimes fixed widths
FONTS:
- Clarendon
- Rockwell
- Courier
- Apex
- Cholla Slab

SANS TYPEFACES 

HUMANIST
Characteristics:
- Overall a more organic structure
- Low contrast between horizontals and verticals
- Short and thick bracketed serifs
FONTS:
- Verdana
- Allerta
- Calibri
- Gill Sans
- Tahoma

GOTESK & GOTHIC
Characteristics:
- some degree of contrast between thick and thin strokes
- terminals of curves are usually horizontal
- typeface frequently has a spurred "G" and an "R" with a curled leg
FONTS:
- Monotype 215
- Universe
- Franklin Gothic
- Akzidenz Grotesk
- Helvetica

GEOMETRIC
Characteristics:
- Constructed from simple geometric shapes
- Same curves and lines are repeated throughout letters
- Minimal differentiation between letters
FONTS:
- Futura
- Eurostile
- Avante Garde
- Erbar
- Neuceite Grotesque

A B O U T   F U T U R A  

Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933.  

                                                                                      

B I O G R A P H Y

Paul Renner (August 9, 1878 – April 25, 1956) was a typeface designer, most notably of Futura. He was born in Wernigerode, Germany and died in Hödingen. He was brought up to have a very German sense of leadership, of duty and responsibility. He was suspicious of abstract art and disliked many forms of modern culture, such as jazz, cinema, and dancing. But equally, he admired the functionalist strain in modernism. Thus, Renner can be seen as a bridge between the traditional (19th century) and the modern (20th century). He attempted to fuse the Gothic and the roman typefaces. 

Adrian Frutiger

Adrian Frutiger

As a Swiss designer born in 1928, Adrian Frutiger has been a major contributor to the typeface community through out the 20th century and remains a prominent figure to this day. Doing much of his work in France, he has designed dozens of typefaces, along with variations, that have become staples in typography. His fonts have influenced the design world by providing designers with legible, uniform, and unique typefaces and by providing an example of impeccably designed typefaces for typeface designers. Some of his most famous typefaces are Univers, Frutiger, Srifa, and Avenir. Univers and Frutiger. Univers and Frutiger, along with many other Frutiger typefaces, are known for clean lines and legibility. These have been in use for signage throughout the 20th century and are still used today. Besides designing classic typefaces, Frutiger also introduced the idea of a numbering system to describe the width and weight of a typeface. Along with the standard typeface of Univers, Frutiger created multiple variations where Univers would be more or less condensed and thicker or thinner. Using a numbering system, rather than names, was unheard of at the time. Today, Frutiger continues to contribute to the typeface world and refining his own typefaces that have set the standard for current and future typeface designers.

Typography Bio's

Firmin Didot was born in Paris in 1764, Didot is an established printer, engraver, and typographer. His family has a strong history in the publishing, designing, and typeface industry. In attempt to break away from the calligraphic typefaces and achieve something more legible, Didot created a typeface named after himself called Didot. Didot was much cleaner and high contrasting stroke widths. The Didot typeface was the beginning of a modern style and became a standard typeface in France. Other variations have been made, but the most famous interpretation was made for Harper's Bazaar.


Max Miedinge is a typeface designer whom created one of the most widely-used typefaces known as Helvetica. Helvetica, which is Latin for Miedinger's home of Switzerland, was created in 1957  and instantly had success. Miedinger started as a typesetter  and eventually became a typographer before becoming a freelance designer.


Herb Lubalin was an American graphic designer and typeface designer that graduated from the prestigious Cooper Union. His work with logos, layout, and type throughout the 60's and 70's became extremely influential and popular. Lubalin gained reputation for his work and signature bold headlines in magazines like Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde. The Avant Garde Magazine is obviously where the font Avant Garde was first used by Lubalin. This became his trademark and became widely used despite his disappointment with it's poor use by other designers.


Eric Gill was born in the United Kingdom in 1882, Gill is known for creating popular typefaces such as Aries, Gill Sans, Joanna, and Perpetua. He was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and most well popular for Gill Sans. This typeface is known for it's signature letters Q, R, a, g, and t. The BBC and Penguin Books use Gill Sans, as well as many other companies and designers.


Paul Renner was born in Germany and lived from 1878-1956. Renner is well known for creating on of the most influential geometric typefaces known as Futura. Even though Renner was not directly involved in the Bauhaus movement, the modern design element in Futura made it a good representative of the movement. Futura remains an extremely popular and influential typeface that can be found in several variations.




Living Typographers
Tobias Frere-Jones is still currently a prolific type designer from New York City that works with his partner Jonathan Hoefler at their type foundry called Hoefler & Frere-Jones. After graduating from RISD and joining the Font Bureau, Inc., Frere-Jones  was a critic for the Yale School of Art before starting Hoefler & Frere Jones. Together they have created over 700 typefaces including Gotham, Knockout, Archer, and Surveyor.


Herman Zapf – Zapf is a working typeface designer from Germany. All of his typefaces are influenced by calligraphy and the hand written. He has created several successful typefaces including Palatino and Zapf.


After becoming interested in typography in high school, Jesse Ragan attended RISD and realized he would be interested in typography as a career. He has been a working typographer for both the Hoefler & Frere-Jones foundry and Joshua Darden Studio. Some of his more popular typefaces include Archer and Gotham (both made with Tabias Fere-Jones and Jonathan Hoefler.


Matthew Carter was born in London in 1937, Carter is currently a type designer in the United States. Carter worked as a freelancer as well as typographic advisor. In 1981 he created Bitstream Inc. with his colleague Mike Parer that focused on digital type. SOme of his more well known typefaces include Georgia and Verdana.


Gunter Gerhard Lange was born in Germany, Gerhard is one of the most influential script typographers. He works for the Typefoundry Berthold and has created classic script fonts such as Berthold Script, Berthold Imago, and Berhold Book