Behance Link

Done with the typography weather project!

See it at ...... http://www.behance.net/egrigone

Design Questions

Adrian Frutiger was born in 1928 in Unterseen, Switzerland. At a young age, Frutiger showed interest in letterforms. He emulated writer and teacher, Ernst Eberhart’s freer method of handwriting. Frutiger quickly developed his own style, as he would cut his pens down to a broad nib to make letterforms open and round. He was trained in type and graphics at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts from 1949 to 1951. After moving to Paris in 1952, he worked as typeface designer and artistic manager at Deberny & Peignot. Here, he created some of the earliest typefaces for photocomposition. In 1957, he established his international position after designing the Univers typeface. Overtime, he has reworked and expanded it to include 63 fonts. His other typefaces include Serifa (1967), Frutiger (1975), and Avenir (1988). Soon after, Frutiger found his own studio in Paris with Bruno Pfafi and Andrea Gurtler, where Linotype became his namesake typeface and remains the best regarded.

Frutiger is also a respected painter, sculptor, symbologist, and mathematician and has written many books about type and design. He has taught at the Ecole Estienne and the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs. 

Univers is a unique typeface cause it is the first family to use numbers as a naming system for its various weights. This family is extensively varied and has a very systematic structure. Univers is suited for long bodies of text. It uses optically even strokes and a large x-height that increases legibility when used large or small. It is slightly elegant and rich in form.

The Univers grid utilizes a numbering system to define various widths, weights, and styles. The first digit, which runs from top to bottom, denotes weight, with 3X the thinnest and 8X the thickest. The second digit running from left to right denotes width, with X3 the most expanded and X9 the most condensed. Odd and even numbers are used to differentiate between roman and italic styles.

 

Type Spelled

Heather and I spelled out the word 'type' with found objects as we walked around campus

Type Defined (continued)

Weight - density or lightness of the individual letterforms

Width - the linear extent or measurement of something from side to side

Style - level of boldness or kind of letter within a typeface; could be narrow, condensed, italic, extended, small capitals, etc.

Font - collective name for a typeface but refers to a single style; used only to refer to a specific style within a typeface

Typeface - used to describe a complete alphabet including letters, numerals, punctuation marks, accents, etc.; the whole typeface should be used when designing to ensure consistency

X-height - the height of the lowercase letter 'x'; an important feature because it largely determines the apparent size of a typeface

Cap height - height in millimeters of a capital letter in a particular typeface; not directly related to the body size

Leading - derives from metal type; the extra white that was added between the lines of metal type in the form of strips of lead or lead alloy

Letterspacing (tracking) - the amount of white spacing between letters



How is type measured in inches, mm, points or picas?
The inch is defined as 25.4 millimetre. Twelve pitch letter is used, which means that 12 letters fit into an inch width-wise. The pica is a duodecimal system that is divided into 12 points. A pica measures 0.351461 mm. An inch is divided into 72 pica points.

Define point.
Point is the unit used for the measurement of letterforms. It is equivalent to 1/72 of an inch (1 inch = 72 points).


Define pica.
Pica is a type of point. It is the type of measurement most frequently applied to printing. A pica measures 0.351461 mm.

How many points in an inch?
72

If a letter is set in 36 pts about how many inches tall is it?
1.5 in

How many picas in an inch?
6
 
How many points in a pica?
12