![]() ![]() Future generations of type designers are very lucky to have a resource like this book, rather than having to cobble together the knowledge wherever they can find it.” “As technology for rendering text on screen evolves, and the dream of dynamic optical scaling on the OS or browser level finally comes true, this book will be an important guide for preparing typefaces that will take advantage of this in an informed and deliberate way. Sample sections on Suppression and emphasis of features in typeface design and on Spatial frequencies can also be found on our blog. This 2014 edition is co-authored by Shoko Mugikura, who joined extending and updating the content and designed the book.įor more about the difference from the previous edition read our blog entry. In 2013 we obtained the publishing rights and, since we have been constantly receiving requests for the book, decided to update, extend, and re-publish it ourselves. This first edition was produced as print-on-demand, which regrettably resulted in a very high unit price and restricted production quality. The following year, it was published by Mark Batty Publisher. The original version of this paper was written as part of Tim Ahrens’ MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading in 2007. It includes the authors’ comments on each typeface and provides cross-references to other designs and the relevant principles in the main part of the book. The type specimen section shows various metal and digital designs. The most extensive section, “Design advice”, gives comprehensive guidance to size specific designs based on interviews with contemporary designers as well as our analysis on contemporary and old masters. ![]() Their answers, along with the analysis of existing fonts, form an important basis for the principles explained in the book. We interviewed a number of designers such as Robert Slimbach, David Berlow, Akira Kobayashi, and Christian Schwartz. The book looks into type history and perception psychology, and analyses designs by old masters and numerous contemporary designers. This lack of resource lead Tim Ahrens to research and write about it himself in 2007, in the hope that the outcome would become a useful source for practitioners who wish to create fonts with size specific styles. Even today the design process of optically sized typefaces has rarely been recorded or analysed. The skills and insights were passed on from one master to the next by demonstration. This practice was continued during the early years of digital type.ĪTF Garamond, from left to right: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 72 pt Why we wrote this bookįrom the metal type era, hardly any documentation on the subject is available since punchcutting, like other crafts, was not discussed much in writing. In phototype, size-specific adjustments were largely given up and single-master designs dominated. Characters intended for use in small sizes typically show an increased width and x-height, reduced stroke contrast and looser spacing. Since punches had to be cut separately for each type size, adjusting them accordingly did not involve any additional effort and the optical compensations were built into the fonts. They were practiced for 500 years of metal type printing. ![]() “Optical sizes” are size-specific adjustments to type designs. ![]() The aim of this book is to determine principles underlying the design of optical sizes, with a view to giving useful advice to practitioners who wish to design such sizes for their own fonts. ![]()
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