Repeterende bewegingen bij het schrijven zorgen voor een herhaling van elementen in letters

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Frank E. Blokland Frank Eduard Blokland (Leiden, 1959) volgde van 1978 tot 1983 de opleiding Grafische en Typografische vormgeving aan de Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (kabk) in Den Haag. In 1986 ontwierp Blokland in opdracht van de ptt het Bulthuismonument in Bergum (Friesland), en een jaar later beletterde hij het Homomonument (Westerkerk, Amsterdam). In de periode 1989 – 1990 zette hij de Teleac cursus Kalligraferen, de kunst van het schoonschrijven op en schreef hij het cursusboek. In 1990 richtte Blokland de Dutch Type Library (dtl) op, de eerste producent en uitgeverij van digitale fonts in Nederland. Hiervoor ontwierp hij onder meer de lettertypen dtl Documenta en dtl Haarlemmer. Eind jaren negentig initieerde hij de ontwikkeling van dtl FontMaster, een set (batch) programma’s voor de professionele fontproductie. In 1987 volgde Blokland – als eerste van de jongere generatie – Gerrit Noordzij op als (senior) docent aan de kabk. Sinds 1995 is Blokland verbonden als docent aan het Plantin Genootschap te Antwerpen, waar hij onderwijst in letterontwerpen en digitale fontproductie. Momenteel doet hij promotieonderzoek aan de Universiteit Leiden naar de onderliggende structuren, patronen en dynamica van het Latijnse schrift. Typografie is een moleculair systeem. In de typografische microkosmos zijn de delen waaruit letters zijn opgebouwd de kleinste elementen. Als bouwstenen (‘atomen’) zijn ze bepalend voor de ‘hiërarchie van het wit’, dat respectievelijk bestaat uit het wit in de letters, het wit tussen de letters, het wit tussen de woorden, het wit tussen de regels en het wit rondom de tekst. Als een bouwsteen wordt veranderd, dan veranderen automatisch de letters en het hiërarchische systeem; alles in de typografische microkosmos is met elkaar verweven. Lettertypen en typografie zijn dus onlosmakelijk met elkaar verbonden. Een lettertype dat erg afwijkt van de anatomie van de archetypen uit de Renaissance is niet per definitie verkeerd maar het kan alleen worden beoordeeld op grond van de hierin nieuw opgestelde anatomische regels.

Repeterende bewegingen bij het schrijven zorgen voor een herhaling van elementen in letters.

De bouwstenen in deze twee varianten van een lettertype zijn bijna gelijk, alleen zijn in de onderste versie de ronde letters wat versmald.

Nicolas Jensons archetype, hier toegepast in Epistolae ad Brutum uit 1470. In de inzet is te zien dat naarmate de corpsgrootte toeneemt, meer afstand van de typografische conventies kan worden genomen.

Het wit in de letters, woorden en regels is nauw verbonden met het wit tussen de regels. In de vijftiende en zestiende eeuw werd de benodigde interlinie bij het gieten vaak al ‘ingebouwd’ door de letters op een groter corps te plaatsen.

Museum Plantin-Moretus

expert class type design


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In mijn Expert class Type design lessen leg ik de studenten de onderliggende structuren, patronen en dynamica uit van het Latijnse schrift en de hiermee samenhangende typografische conventies. Letters zijn de som der delen en deze delen worden niet alleen gevormd door de bouwstenen van de letters maar ook door alle factoren die van invloed zijn op de uiteindelijke lettervormen. Om lettervormen te verklaren, moeten eerst deze factoren tot in detail worden beschreven. 1. Harmonisch systeem, zoals kapitaal, Latijnse minuskel boekhand en Latijnse cursieve schrift, en de harmonische modellen die deze systemen omvatten. 2. Proportioneel systeem, oftewel de relatie tussen de horizontale proporties van de karakters binnen een harmonisch systeem en de relatie tussen de verticale proporties van de karakters (raamwerk). De aanpassingen van de proporties die noodzakelijk zijn om verschillende harmonische systemen samen te laten werken, zoals kapitaal met Latijnse minuskel boekhand, zijn ook onderdeel van dit systeem. Een harmonisch systeem kan meer dan één proportioneel systeem bevatten. 3. Relationeel systeem. Dit omvat het gewicht/de vetheid en het contrast van karakters en kan relatief worden gedefinieerd, bijvoorbeeld via de breedte van een pen in relatie tot de x-hoogte van letters (gewicht/vetheid) en de breedte van de pen in relatie tot de dikte van de pen (contrast). 4. Ritmisch systeem, dat de relatie beschrijft tussen de proporties van de karakters in een harmonisch systeem (proportioneel systeem) en hun ritme, d.w.z. de spatiëring (stelling). 5. Formalisatie, oftewel de mate waarin kalligrafische elementen in karakters worden onderdrukt en de vervanging van deze elementen door formele vormen, zoals schreven. 6. Idioom. De aangepaste en gepersonaliseerde patronen en structuren die karakteristiek zijn voor de stijl (‘hand’) van een letterontwerper.




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Ik ben er nooit van overtuigd geweest dat de vaak geciteerde beschrijvingen van de praktijken van de stempelsnijder en lettergieter door met name Joseph Moxon in zijn Mechanick Exercises (1694), en in PierreSimon Fourniers Manuel Typographique (1764 – 1766) volledig zijn (de informatie in de aan Christoffel Plantin toegeschreven dialoog over kalligrafie en drukwerk in Dialogues François pour les Jeunes Enfans [1567] is sowieso summier). In die gedachte werd ik gesterkt door het feit dat ik als docent en in mijn praktijk vaak heb gemerkt dat letterontwerpers en fontproducenten volstrekt niet op de hoogte zijn van het bestaan van andere voor hun beroep beschikbare software en technische middelen, dan die waarmee ze zelf werken. Technologische (digitale) ontwikkelingen van nog geen decennium geleden blijken ook vaak geheel onbekend te zijn. Mijn metingen in het Museum PlantinMoretus lijken te bewijzen dat er in de Renaissance standaardisaties en gerelateerde maatsystemen voor de productie van matrijzen en letters werden gebruikt . Iets dat, voor zover ik weet, voor mijn onderzoek nooit door iemand is overwogen. Mijn onderzoek naar de proporties van Renaissancistische letters leidde tot de ontwikkeling van geometrische systemen die in theorie door stempelsnijders gebruikt kunnen zijn voor het definiëren van de relatie tussen de x-hoogte, de lengte van de stokken en staarten, en de hoogte van de kapitalen. Door het beschrijven van harmonieën, patronen en dynamica van de formele representaties van het Latijnse schrift en het op basis hiervan ontwikkelen van systemen en modellen, heb ik de typografische microkosmos geherdefinieerd. De resulterende indexering heb ik gebruikt om mijn definitie van letterontwerpen en typografie als de som der delen te onderbouwen. De ontwikkeling van de systemen en modellen hebben geresulteerd in het programmeren van de dtl LetterModeller applicatie. Dit programma is een eerste aanzet tot geparametriseerd letterontwerpen.

Stempelsnijders als Claude Garamont lijken lettervormen én letterwit te hebben gestandaardiseerd. Op dezelfde diktewaarde gegoten letters van Van den Keeres /Garamonds Moyen Canon Romain.

Le Bés Double Canon Romain geplaatst op een geometrisch systeem dat is gebaseerd op de gulden snede (links), en Jensons romein in de Adobe versie op een hieraan verwant systeem.

De harmonieën, patronen en dynamica van de formele representaties van het Latijnse schrift in kaart gebracht (onder). Links een screendump van de LetterModeller applicatie, inclusief ‘splash’.

Voornoemde systemen en modellen én de dtl LetterModeller applicatie hebben als basis gediend voor mijn lessen aan de EcTd studenten, wiens werk op een aantal volgende panelen wordt getoond.




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Jacques François Rosart Een terugkerend onderdeel van de EcTd cursus is het door de studenten gezamenlijk maken van een revival. Daarvoor wordt materiaal gebruikt van de achttiende eeuwse stempelsnijder Jacques François Rosart (1714 – 1777). Jacques François Rosart werd in Namen geboren. Deze stad was economisch welvarend totdat zij in 1713 in Hollandse handen kwam, waarna het met de handel snel bergafwaarts ging. Rosart, die zichzelf het vak van stempelsnijder had geleerd, verliet zoals zovele anderen Namen en vestigde zich in 1740 in Haarlem. Drie jaar later kocht de firma Enschedé, die al zo’n veertig jaar als drukkerij in Haarlem was gevestigd, de lettergieterij van Wetstein in Amsterdam en verhuisde Wetsteins inventaris naar Haarlem. Niet alleen bestond een deel hiervan uit stempels en matrijzen van Johann Michael Fleischmann, maar Fleischmann zelf zou de daarop volgende vijfentwintig jaar voor Enschedé werken. De enkele opdracht die Rosart van Enschedé kreeg, woog niet op tegen de concurrentie die hij van dezelfde firma te duchten kreeg. Hij ging failliet, beproefde elders in Nederland zonder succes zijn geluk en week uiteindelijk uit naar Brussel. Daar lukte hem het om in 1759 alsnog een florerende lettergieterij op te zetten. In zowel 1761 als in 1768 produceerde Rosart een letterproef met als titel Epreuve des caracteres, Qui se gravent & fondent dans la nouvelle fonderie de Jacques François Rosart. Eén van de drie exemplaren van de 1768-proef in de collectie van de Koninklijke Bibliotheek te Brussel is in het voorjaar van 1998 integraal gescand door de Dutch Type Library (dtl). Het ging hierbij om hetzelfde exemplaar dat als facsimile in 1973 is verschenen en waarvan de introductie werd geschreven door Fernand Baudin en Netty Hoeflake.

Rosarts Grand Canon Romain uitvergroot

Pagina’s uit Epreuve des caracteres […]

De hiernaast en op het volgende paneel afgebeelde pagina’s zijn afkomstig uit de door dtl gescande 1768-proef van Rosart.




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Jacques François Rosart In 1768 verscheen ook de Proef van letteren van Enschedé. Daniel Berkeley Updike beschreef beide letterproeven in Printing Types, their history, forms, and use uit 1922. Updike was geen fan van Fleischmann en al helemaal niet van Rosart. Over de uitgave van Enschedé schreef hij: ‘An introduction, dated Haarlem, 1768, and signed by J. Enschedé, is printed in a very ugly cursive script letter – a fearful decline from the splendid cursive fonts in use a hundred and fifty years earlier. This is followed by a portrait of J.M. Fleischmann, their type-cutter. Then begins a series of types – capital letters in roman and italic of a very Dutch and ugly cut, a series of shaded capital letters, and a great variety of faces of roman and italic types, in some of which the size of the body of lower-case letters is unduly large in proportion to the capitals.’

Rosarts Petit Garamonde Romain uitvergroot

Het was natuurlijk een vergissing van Updike om de kwaliteit van Fleischmann niet te onderkennen (hij vond bijvoorbeeld Van Dijck veel beter) maar over Rosart en met name over diens proef is hij nog veel onaardiger: ‘The dedication of Rosart’s specimen is printed in one of his disagreeable script fonts, somewhat like that used for the introduction to the Enschedé specimen’ en ‘There is something pathetic about Rosart’s book. It is not very well executed. The capital letters with which it starts out are a little extreme in the delicacy of their serifs and in the thickness and thinness of contrasting lines.’ De kapitalen in kwestie zijn afgebeeld op het vorige paneel. Natuurlijk had Updike ongelijk; het œuvre van Rosart toont hier en daar verklaarbare sporen van haastwerk, waarschijnlijk als gevolg van Rosarts problemen als ondernemer, maar het bevat ook genoeg pareltjes, zoals hiernaast goed te zien is.

Pagina’s uit Epreuve des caracteres […]




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EcTd Rosart-revival Een revival is een aan de huidige stand van de technologie aangepaste historisch letterontwerp. Veel van de thans in gebruik zijnde lettertypen zijn afgeleid van klassieke modellen uit de begintijd van het stempelsnijden. Voor de productie van revivals is kennis nodig van het stempelsnijden en het lettergieten. Ook is inzicht in de kenmerken van verschillende stijlperiodes noodzakelijk. Alleen zorgvuldig interpreteren van het oorspronkelijke materiaal (stempels, roetproeven, matrijzen en afdrukken) en het herkennen van de karakteristieke vervormingen als gevolg van de toenmalige stand van de (druk)techniek, garanderen een goede revival. De huidige druktechnieken vereisen aanpassingen van de oorspronkelijk voor lood gemaakte ontwerpen. Bij het afdrukken van loden letters ontstonden kraalranden doordat er inkt uit de door de letter gemaakte holte werd gedrukt. De mate waarin dit gebeurde was afhankelijk van de druk maar ook van het (eventueel bevochtigde) papier. Bij offsetdruk ontstaan geen kraalranden, zodat enige correcties in de digitale optekeningen van de letters moeten worden aangebracht om een met boekdruk vergelijkbare (dus relatief stevige) afdruk te krijgen. De studenten van de EcTd cursus moeten gezamenlijk een revival gebaseerd op de Grand Canon Romain van Rosart maken. Daartoe moeten ze onderling tot overeenstemming komen inzake de standaardisaties van stok- en schreefdiktes, ‘overshoots’, de relatie tussen de x-hoogtes van de onderkast en de kapitalen, et cetera. Dit geldt ook voor de mate waarin onvolkomenheden in de originelen moeten worden meegenomen. Verschillende manieren van digitaliseren, waaronder het handmatig omzetten van analoge tekeningen naar digitale contouren in het ikarus-formaat, worden onderzocht om te komen tot een workflow die perfect is afgestemd op het maken van revivals. Een bijzonder voordeel van de EcTd cursus is de toegang tot de collectie van het Museum Plantin-Moretus. Zo kunnen stempels en matrijzen van Rosart letterlijk onder de loep worden genomen.

Matrijzen van Rosarts Garamonde Romaine

Digitale microscoop, matrijzen en stempels Digitaliseren in ikarus formaat




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Instap- en eindniveau Het instapniveau van de EcTd-studenten kan onderling behoorlijk verschillen. Sommigen hebben al een opleiding of cursus op het gebied van letterontwerpen gevolgd, terwijl anderen voor het eerst dieper in deze materie duiken. Hierdoor ontstaat er een interessante wisselwerking tussen de studenten; de meer ingewijden assisteren de ‘nieuwkomers’ en worden daarbij gedwongen om de meest basale zaken te definiëren. Onder het toeziend oog van de docent wordt veel informatie uitgewisseld via de speciaal daarvoor opgezette EcTd Google Group. De basis voor het ontwerpen van letters kan worden gevormd door het schrijven met brede en spitse pen, in de traditie van Edward Johnston en Gerrit Noordzij. Omdat de cursus tien lessen in ruwweg een half jaar omspand, is de tijd feitelijk te kort om diep in te gaan op het schrijven. De dtl LetterModeller applicatie (LeMo) brengt in dit geval uitkomst omdat het de onderliggende patronen, structuren en dynamieken van de Humanistiche minuskel (die ten grondslag lag aan de romeinse letter) en de morfologisch gerelateerde Textura in kaart brengt. Daarbij is het mogelijk om de via verschillende parameters, zoals voor de penbreedte en de penstand (-hoek), de uitkomst te veranderen. De met LeMo gegenereerde letters kunnen worden geëxporteerd in een glyph-database die ofwel direct in LeMo kan worden bewerkt ofwel in andere font editors. Zoals geschreven, het niveau van de studenten verschilt onderling. Aan het eind van de cursus halen sommige studenten een uitzonderlijk niveau, zoals Henrik Kubel die tijdens de EcTd 2010 – 2011 cursus het lettertype Antwerp ontwierp. Henrik is mede-eigenaar van de in Londen gevestigde succesvolle letteruitgeverij A2-Type. De overzichten hiernaast tonen overduidelijk het uitzonderlijk hoge niveau van Antwerp.


A N TW E R P / H E N R I K KU B E L

Aa Aa Aa Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ & ŒÆÇ [{1234567890}] abcdefghijklmnopqrstu vwxyzœæfiflß?!;:çøáñó €£¥¶@%1234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ & ŒÆÇ [{1234567890}] abcdefghijklmnopqrstu vwxyzœæfiflß?!;:çøáñó €£¥¶@%1234567890 expert class type design

i n s i d e /o u t s i d e

Blondina Elms Pastel Artist, calligrapher, designer, typographer, teacher, and type designer from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Blondina has been in practice as an independent designer since 1999. Her focus in type design is children's literature. ¶ In 1999, Blondina graduated summa cum laude from the graphic design programme at the Institut régional d'art visuel de la Martinique. She founded her atelier Elms in 2002; her clients can be found across the globe. From 2007 until 2010, Blondina was a visiting tutor/lecturer in typography at the Fine Arts Department, Barbados Community College. Here, she taught at 2nd year Associate Degree and 1st year Bachelor of Fine Art (Graphic Design) levels. In 2011, she was awarded a Master of Arts in Typeface design from the University of Reading where her research was focused on children and typography. Her practical work focused on Latin, Hebrew, and Kannada letterforms and type design. In 2012, the German type foundry URw++ published Naej, Blondina’s first typeface design. ¶ Currently, Blondina lives in the south of France. In addition to running her studio — where she now specializes in type design for children's books — she teaches typography at the École intuit.lab. Calina is a typeface design to be used for setting children’s books. The aim is not to create a typeface specially for children because they need special typefaces — research has shown children have no problem recognizing different a’s or g’s — but rather to create a typeface which enhances a child’s reading experience. Clear distinction between characters is one of the main design objectives. ¶ The design of Calina follows the contrast sort of the pointed nib, therefore the emphasis is on the vertical strokes. Another main feature of the design is generous ascenders and descenders, creating clear distinction between characters. The design features infant characters, supports major european languages, includes regular and italic styles as well as bold and black weights. Ornaments are also included in the family.

Above, some of my practise with the pointed nib.

Above is an example of three letterforms in the same typeface with no differentiation.

Calina is based on the construction principle of the pointed nib pen. Noordzij describes this as expansion. Pressure can only be made in a vertical direction and hence the vertical strokes are accentuated as compared to the horizontal strokes.

Bodoni and Baskerville are two historic examples of typeface design based on the pointed nib construction principles.

Sassoon Primary and Read Regular are two typeface designs created specifically for children and they seem to be very popular with publishers. Read has short descending letters (relative to the x-height) and this increases similarity between the infant a and g.

Above is an example of varying ratios of x-height to ascender and descender. When the x-height is compared to ascender height ratios in the figure above, #3 has a word shape that is more distinct. Hochuli in Detail in typography (London, 2009) states that the x-height, ascenders and descenders of lowercase letters produce characteristic wordforms; this means that distinct forms of ascenders and descenders should be a fundamental design choice. Furthermore, it is well-accepted theory that the informative segments of Latin letters are in the top halves of the text. ¶ The ascenders and descenders of Calina are pronounced and the design of its proportions are based on transitional text face designs.

expert class type design 2012– 2013


The design approach to creating Calina is very different from the one used to create Naej (published by URW++). That is to say the approach to Naej was free, where as in the case of Calina the design approach is established within a framework governed by models also know as parametric design. I have always thought of type design as a craft and this approach taught by Frank E. Blokland treats it as such. ¶ Firstly the contrast sort (expansion) was established. Why is this important? This is fundamental as the type of contrast sort applied to letterforms determines their construction (basic shape). As I had never written with a flexible nib and to better understand the construction and contrast of this grapheme system, writing exercises were done with a pointed nib. These writing exercises helped me to see and understand exactly where the thin stops and the thick begins. This is the contrast-flow. ¶ The first sketches were the letter m. The m can be used to build other letters, however, I also discovered it is a unit of measure with regards to the proportions of the other characters including those with ascenders and descenders. This theory of the ‘msquare’ is put forward by Frank E Blokland in his research on Harmonics, Patterns, and Dynamics in Formal Typographic Representation of the Latin Script. ¶ In defining what the m would look like, the focus was placed on the serif. Why? Serifs define and give an idea of what the typeface should resemble. Serifs show the angle of the stroke, the weight of the stroke, and also represents the contrast flow (the way the contrast goes from thick to thin). The length of the serif will also give information on stem thickness. Generally, the length of the serif will not exceed stem thickness. Serifs will also have consequences on the arch of the shoulder of letters such as n. The initial structure of the flat serif of Calina is refined and becomes slightly and partially inclined for two reasons: firstly because I did not want the shoulder flat as this would have resulted in a much too high contrast letterform for the purpose it is intended; secondly because of the absence of bottom serifs and an inclined exit stroke.

Above, some of my first writing exercises with the pointed nib.

Above shows exercises with the pointed nib on contrast and contrast-flow.

Above are some of the preliminary drawings for Calina. Here the objective is to define the basic structure of the family. The typographic a (as shown below) was constructed using the method The design of a in five steps as applied by Frank E Blokland.

The drawings above are working drawings — from which Calina was digitized — produced from the original sketches. Notice, the serif is still flat. At this point it was not yet decided what was the best solution for the serif. I knew that the serif had to change, but first, I wanted to consult other designs within this grapheme system before finalizing my decision. ¶ Compared to the original sketches, the m is narrower. The orignal m was much too wide. All the other letters here were constructed from the m, with the exception of the typographic a (as shown to left).



The working drawings were autotraced in Tracemaster to test the results of the autotrace as compared to FontLab. The results were very good. However, as I am more familiar with FontLab as compared to FontMaster tools, I chose to work directly by importing my working drawings as background images and tracing them manually in FontLab. I later discovered I could import the .ik format (one of the formats saved by TraceMaster) into FontLab. ¶ The digitization and addition of characters revealed multiple issues. The first issue to attend to was the serif. Having by this point reviewed fonts from the same grapheme system, I concluded the best solution was to apply a slightly and partially inclined serif. ¶ Blokland also suggested I might add some weight to the stems. A comparison was then made between my drawings, Blokland’s suggestion and Bodoni 72 Book. Observing the letters there was an inconstant rhythm, this was caused by variance in the aperture as well as letter stress. Working from the adjusted m, all the other letterforms were reconstructed. Version 4 of Calina shows a bit more consistency. ¶ It was about time to test the characters in a text to see how they would behave. As you will see to the right, it looked like a mess. I thought maybe the ascenders and descenders were too long and creating too much of a distraction, so I ran a test shortening the ascenders and descenders. The shortened ascenders seemed to work a little better, however, the letters now seemed too wide visually. ¶ One final issue I will write about regarding Calina regular is the counter shape and shape of the bowl of the b,d,p,q. These letterforms were causing a problem in the rhythm. After discussion with Blokland, I thought it best to formalize these shapes in order to create harmony in the glyph set. Once this was done, a harmony was created throughout the glyphs. ¶ The idea for Calina italic was to have an italic that could accompany the roman but also function in a text on its own. The images to the right show the beginning stages of the italic. All of the letterforms were distilled from the lowercase n. ¶ Alternate swash capitals were also designed. These were based on some of my writing practise with the pointed nib. Some adjustments had to be made to the angle and width so that they would conform with the other italic letterforms. ¶ Calina is still a work in progress, the black weight has to be completed, and the entire design needs to be refined. See specimen for details.

Above are the first digitized glyphs: Calina Ver.0.

Above, comparison of Bodoni 72 Book in red, Blokland’s suggestion in blue and my drawings in black.

Text above red line shows sample of first print test. Below red line shows sample text with shortened ascenders and descenders.

Adding weight and adjusting serif.

Above, notice how the change in the bowl of the lowercase b affects the flow. It does so for the better.

Above Ver.4: serifs, counters and weight adjusted. Below, some initial sketches for Calina italic. Digitization of the n italic. My hand from which the swash italic letterforms in Calina are based.

Above is a sample text. Once I had adjusted the bowls I returned the ascenders and descenders to their original length. Below, sketches for Calina bold.

Below is previous digitization workflow and below right is new digitization workflow. Draw

Draw

Photoshop

TraceMaster Batch convert to font editor formats.

FontLab Import individual .bmp to background, resize, manual trace.

FontMaster or Fontlab Import all outlines into font editor.



Blondina Elms Pastel Expert class Type design 2012-2013 Plantin Institute of Typography, Antwerp. Assignment: Working with enlargements of the original Grand Canon Romain type, we were to study the enlargements and come to agreements about the interpretation of details. The idea was to produce the revival together, however, this did not come to pass. We had to make working drawings in outline and digitize them manually using IKARUS as well as investigate other methods like scanning and autotracing.

This project focused on making a revival, based on the work of Jacques François Rosart, from enlargements of the original type of his ‘Grand Canon Romain’.

Typeset in Grand Canon Romain Revival.

Do you see what I see? Hi there, I wanted to know what are the point of views on the serifs regarding Rosart? To my eye they seem slightly bracketed and there seems to be a triangular shaped area at the foot of stems where the stem and the serif meet.

Rosart’s portrait from his 1768 2nd edition of the type specimen ‘Epreuve des caractères’. My initial study of serifs.

Born in Namur, the son of a goldsmith, Rosart was a punchcutter from Brussels, which at that time was part of the Austrian Netherlands as Belgium did not exist as yet. He ran one of the main typefoundries in Brussels in the middle of the 18th century. At this period, he was acknowledged as one of the most skilled and productive punchcutters in Europe. W hen compared with other foundries from the Netherlands, it was said that Rosart in his italics was getting closer to the cuts from Fournier de Paris. The image to the left commemorates Rosart’s skill in creating musical types. He played a major role in the development of typographical music printing. His ‘Grand Canon Romain’ can be found in his 1768 edition of ‘Epreuve des caractères, qui se gravent et fondent dans la nouvelle fonderie de Jacques François Rosart’.

W hat is the best way to digitize? I did not use the IKARUS program to digitize, therefore, I cannot remark on this method of digitizing. However, when discussing this method with my colleagues they mentioned the results were not much better than autotracing. I used TraceMaster to autotrace the enlarged originals and the outlines from my drawings. The cleaner the input the better the output. Working from my drawings as compared to working with the enlarged originals made the process more smooth as I had already decided things like stem-width, body-height etc. If my sketches were more precise my autotracing would have resulted in a more precise outcome.

Annelies Devriese’s interpretation.

W ith the data collected from the enlargements, I set out to complete my working drawings. Baseline, over-shoot, x-height, descender and ascender metrics were established. The capitals are taller than the characters with ascenders, therefore a cap-height was also established. The preliminary drawings could not be used as working drawing as there was still too much inconsistency and I had yet to define the details of elements such as serifs, arches, contrast i.e. defining the contrast flow. Concerning the capitals, starting with the H and G allowed me to establish an idea of verticals and curves for the rest of the character set.

Images above shows measurements taken on the enlargements of the originals. The capitals are approximately 10cm in height.

I then took a systematic approach where the enlarged originals were measured for over-shoot, stem-width and serif thickness to get an average. Base on the data collected I established metrics for the revival.

Images above & below show my attempts to create working drawings from tracing the enlargements of the originals.

Image from the Grand Canon Romain specimen sheet. Notice how the serifs differ.

Above are my initial observations sketches. Frank E Blokland showing how to draw smooth drawn outlines.

We can see the notions of the Rococo style which is very evident in Rosart’s work. Rococo style features asymmetric design, curved and elegant forms. The style is lighthearted, playful and full of vitality. Rosart’s characters feature a vivid contrast of inside and outside shapes which make the characters very lively, a strong trait of the Rococo period. Some research on the Rococo style as seen in the images to the left assisted in understanding the period in which Rosart created his designs and therefore this was a great help in the interpretation of details of his Grand Canon Romain. Listening to Johann Ludwig Krebs while constructing the working drawings found on this page was also a form of inspiration.

Above the images show details of Rococo furniture and ceramics. Vase, 17581760 and Dressing table mirror, 1756-1758.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1732-1806. French Rococo - The swing.

Johann Ludwig Krebs, 1713-1780. Baroque musician and composer primarily for the pipe organ.

I like to draw, and I aim to produce detailed working drawings which allow me to get as much of the design stage completed with my pencil and some paper. Based on my method of design, I find TraceMaster to be a perfect integration for my workflow and it speeds up my digitization process. It is best to autotrace filled outlines so that you will achieve one outline when digitized.

Leandro Salvati’s interpretation, which appears to be similar to my view.

My initial impression of Rosart’s Grand Canon Romain was that it seemed to be a mix between types that are classified as transitional style (large x-height, wide serifs) and old style (slightly concaved serifs).

How are serifs, stroke-width and characters not included in the specimen best interpreted ?

Images to the right show digitization via TraceMaster using enlarged originals. Here we see the active trace in BezierMaster. There is some clean up to do but the main outline is very clean. The lowercase a was cleaned up quickly.

My preliminary research used the outline that can be found inside the ink fringe of the enlarged originals. This was not a good option as it resulted in very narrow stem widths which did not relate to the character of the Grand Canon Romain.

Questions that arose from the study: Do we all see the same? W hat is the best way to digitize the material? How are serifs, stroke-width and omitted characters best interpreted ?

Jacques François Rosart, (1714-1777)

One of the aims in this revival project was to faithfully reproduce in my drawings and digitization the notions of openness and ‘bonheur’ that transpires from Rosart’s Grand Canon Romain. Hence, the shapes of characters were studied in detail, via observation, drawing and also consulting Rosart’s other works. Rosart also worked a lot with music. At the EcTd, Frank E Blokland formed us on the music from Rosart’s epoque. Baroque music was the music of Rosart’s time. Already having an appreciation for the music of J.S. Bach, it was a delight to discover Johann Ludwig Krebs. Krebs was privileged to be a student of Johann Sebastian Bach on the organ. It was finally noted that Rosart was somwhere between Baroque & Rococo.

Image above shows initial tracing from the enlarged originals of the Grand Canon Romain. The stem width is much too narrow.

François Boucher, 1703-1770. French Rococo - The four seasons.

Above is a template created to apply reoccurring forms to different characters.

It was important to gather correct data regarding the serifs as this would distill into all parts of the design. Serifs represent contrast-flow i.e. the way the contrast goes from thick to thin. Serifs will give information on pen angle, and on arches in rounded characters. The length of serifs will also give information on the stem thickness.

Above are specimens from Rosart’s 1768 Epreuve des caractères. These were used in defining characters not included in the Grand Canon Romain specimen. The R to the left was constructed based on data collected from the above specimens. Left, some of my working drawings for the lowercase and capitals based on the enlarged originals of Rosart’s Grand Canon Romain.

Images to the left shows autotraces in FontLab, using the .ik format file one of the 3 formats saved by TraceMaster. FontLab renders the autotraced originals less accurate than BezierMaster. The rendering of my working drawings were similar in both FontLab and BezierMaster.

Since my working drawings were not perfect, and due to the fact that FontLab did not open the autotraces on a fixed baseline, I encountered some problems with stem thickness and also with x-height variations. These issues were eventually fixed.

Here the R on top has more blackness than the other characters. I returned to the specimen to see what had gone wrong. I had missed some details, like an open counter to let more light out of the R. This was revised as shown below.

Images left show digitization via TraceMaster using my working drawings. Here we see the active trace in BezierMaster. There is practically no static but there is some clean up to do as the outline has been doubled.

Similarly as for the R, the w needed to be opened up a bit to let more light out, thus rendering the character less black.

Below are some details of the digitization. Initially I had overlooked the details of the lowercase u; it was when setting type that I noticed my original interpretation was incorrect. The u did not have flat top serifs, in fact they are slightly inclined. Also, the serif on the bottom was different to that of the top serif of the n.

Grand Canon Romain revival character table

abcedfghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzáàéèçíìóòúù ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW 1234567890 “‘,.;:?&!-…’” expert class type design 2012– 2013

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Fernando Mello

With a mixed background comprising the study of architecture, illustration and graphic/typeface design, Fernando Mello is a type designer from São Paulo, Brazil, currently living in London and working for Fontsmith Ltd. He visited the Plantin Moretus Museum for the first time in 2007 when attending the matd masters course at the University of Reading, England, and driven by a wish of keeping studying and developing further his skills in typeface design, he decided that revisiting the museum and the city of Antwerp regularly through the ectd course would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill this need. Fernando thinks that type designers nowadays should be driven by a search of creating innovative, yet functional and well-constructed typefaces, and that constantly studying, analysing and investigating the subject is the only way of doing it properly.

The course initiated with a solid deal of presentations of theoretical and practical subjects concerning the design of a typeface, which were complemented by afternoon practical activities. We started our practical activities by trying to create a group revival of J. F. Rosart's Grand Canon Romain, which was a very good exercise in terms of drawing curves by hand with precision. We've learned how to prepare these drawings for digitization in the Ikarus system, and we have also been presented to some of the dtl design tools, with which I have experimented a bit. The dtl LetterModeller was the real beginning of my practical design during the course, as I have defined main proportions (also the basic spacing) by going to LeMo, taking the 'Renaissance' preset with visible serifs as a starting point, and adjusting proportions and dimensions from there. After that a basic schematic font was exported from LeMo, and then imported into Fontlab. Modifications in spacing and general dimensions of the font were made as long as the design progressed, but the core essence of the dimentions and the broadnibbed pen scheme generated through LeMo stayed through the whole design process like a skeleton.


Top: Pencil tracing of photocopy enlargements of J. F. Rosart’s Grand Canon Romain; Bottom: Learning to prepare the drawings for digitization through the Ikarus system

Top: Notes from a class in which were explained the principles of designing serifs in a typeface; Bottom: Initial studies with a broad-nibbed pen for the practical module of the course

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Starting the practical design: (1) the original weight/proportion/spacing scheme originated through the customization of the ‘Renaissance’ preset in DTL LetterModeller; (2) The LeMo font data imported into Fontlab and being redrawn, maintaining general proportions and spacing; (3) First version of the lowercase set expert class type design 2012–2013

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The outcome of the practical module of the course is the typeface shown here at bigger sizes. Although a lot of investigation was done through studies on paper with the broad nibbed pen at the beginning, the experimentation with the automated LetterModeller schemes seemed to be a more straightforward/precise way of giving a start to the design. The main volume of drawing work was carried out directly in Fontlab, the tool I use on my everyday job for years and to which I'm very used to. However, as said before, the influence of the LetterModeller and the concepts and principles discussed during the course, such as the design of the serifs or the measured relation in between different aspects of a typeface, were also kept in mind and proved to be very important for the development of the design. ¶ In general lines, the design is influenced by some of the 16th century types examples constantly seen in the museum and reference materials, yet it is also pretty much a personal interpretation of a garalde, with a hint of a modern and personal touch. The broad-nibbed pen principle was the starting point as said before, but it was somehow slightly deviated gradually, making the family a bit close to transitional types as well, in a way. The contrast is a bit lower than the usual contrast found in fonts from the 16th century, which allied to the presence of generous counters, give the family a sturdy, resistant character in texts. The serifs were also generally designed in a slightly more chunky and less delicate way than the ones currently found in garaldes, usually presenting sharp cuts and squared edges. ¶ The italics are much more cursive and related to the broad-nibbed pen than the romans, and were also inspired by types from the 16th century, such as Granjon's Gros Parangon,but trying to be slightly more sharp and modern. They bring a set of capital and ending swashes and ligatures, which confers great versatility to the family in terms of ornamentation and display use as well. Although very characteristic when displayed on their own at bigger sizes, the italics also prove to work well when set next to the romans at text sizes.


expert class type design 2012–2013

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So far four weights were concepted, yet all of them are in progress and not finished (for instance, there is a lot of kerning pairs still missing in all weights). These correspond at present to Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic.There are at least two more text weights planned to be designed (Light and Medium, with corresponding italics), and headline variants with shorter ascenders and descenders and a finer contrast are also planned in different weights. A sans-serif counterpart was initiated during the course and shall be developed as well. It will relate to the exhisting serif designs in terms of dimentions and similarity of shapes, however following a more monolinear, sans-serif approach. These future members of the family will reinforce the idea of achieving a type system which covers different editorial needs. The typeface will be intended for book typography and varied other editorial purposes, such as small publications and magazines as well. All weights will support all European languages and will come with diferent sets of numbers (proportional and tabular), as well as small caps. The family is still under construction, and still has no name so far. Its publication will happen at some point by Fontsmith Ltd in London. This panel show how far each weight is in terms of character set so far. [point sizes were omitted due to re-scaling of the panels]



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Geraert van der Leye (1430/40? – 1499) was born in Harelbeke, in West Flanders. He has been a printer, bookseller, calligrapher, schoolmaster and cantor at the Cathedral of Treviso. After apprenticing with Schöffer and Fust in Meinz, Germany, he started his own activity as a printer in Treviso, in the Venetian hinterland, in the late 60s of the Fifteenth century.

Francesco Storer

Francesco Storer comes from Treviso, a town in northeastern Italy. He has a Master degree in Art & Literature from the University of Venice. Since he was a child, he has always been attracted by books and letters. In 2012 he attended a calligraphy workshop held by Giovanni De Faccio, where he learnt basic techniques and the use of different calligraphic tools. He hasn’t got a background as a graphic designer. All his knowledge in typography comes from self-teaching.

I decided to attend “Expert class Type design” to explore the origins of typography, not only from a historical point of view. Regarding my project, I chose to develop a digital revival of one of the early, forgotten, unconventional roman types. Most of these have been neglected by designers and historians, who have been more concerned with Jenson’s and Griffo’s masterpiece models. The opportunity was offered me by Geraert van der Leye (latinised into Gerardus de Lisa when he moved to Italy), the first punchcutter and typographer of my hometown. The most difficult part of the process has been to decide upon the “faithfulness degree” to the original typeface. We are so familiar with JensonGriffo’s proportions that it is so easy to fall into another “Jenson-Griffo” revival. Geraert’s typeface presents evidently calligraphic serifs on lowercase ascenders. At the same time it is primitive, badly cut and awkwardly aligned. Using the software “dtl LetterModeller” as a starting point, I am still looking for a well-balanced combination of calligraphic and typographic forms. My typeface Geraert is still work-in-progress…

Johannes Tinctoris, Terminorum musicae diffinitorium, Treviso, 1495.

Pen angle: 45° dtl LetterModeller, n variants (45° & 30°) Serifs, e crossbar angle: about 15° Cicero, De Oratore, Florence, 1428. Manuscript on paper, calligraphy by Poggio Bracciolini

ascender = x-height = descender

Calligraphic details in Geraert typeface

Poggio Bracciolini developed the new humanist script in the first decade of the 15th century. In the history of Western typography humanist minuscule gained prominence as a model for the typesetter’s roman typeface.

Notes and measurement of Geraert typeface. As evident in the images above, adopting a 45° angle implies wider and rounded letters.

abcdeghilpqr minimum Geraert digital revival


Jacopo di Porcia, De rei publicae Venetae administratione, Udine, 1492 (thanks to Emanuele Galluzzo for providing me with the high-resolution scan) expert class type design 2013–2014


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Katya Voitko

Katya Voitko was born in Kiev (Ukraine). After accomplishing her Master in Book Design in the National Technical University of Ukraine, she worked as a graphic designer for publishing houses and design bureaus. In search for new forms to express her own design style, Katya enrolled in the Expert class Type design at Plantin Instituut voor Typografie. Pithonus is the first type design experience of Katya. The goal was to create a display typeface where letters are drawn with vertical stress, uniform width and extreme contrast. Katya found an inspiration for creating her own typeface in the original Manuale Tipografico of the famous italian typographer Giambattista Bodoni, who lived at the turn of the xviii–xix century.

Barbara Lettany

Barbara Lettany behaalde een Master Fotografie en een Master na master in de kunsten Transmedia in SintLukas, Brussel, en een Bachelor Informatietechnologie in Mechelen. Ze werkt als docente en freelance fotografe, grafisch ontwerper en webdesigner. In het kader van haar studie Transmedia werkt ze in 2011 samen met de italiaanse kalligraaf Massimo Polello. Tijdens een bezoek aan Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Firenze geraak ik geïnspireerd door het evenwichtige en vloeiende schrift van Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459). Door een visuele analyse van het document en het handschrift komen onvolkomenheden in het schrift, gerelateerd aan het gebruikte materiaal de veer op het perkament, naar boven. Dit handschrift, samen met de opgedane kennis tijdens de lessen Expert class Type design waarbij ondermeer de wetmatigheden van de onderliggende structuur van de fonts uit de doeken wordt gedaan, vormen de basis en inspiratiebron voor een eigen displayfont, waarbij esthetiek, evenwicht en ritme centraal staan.


In Pithonus one can see an attempt of a modern interpretation of Bodoni’s four basic principles: uniformity of design, sharpness and neatness, good taste, and charm.

Bodoni was the author of hundreds of fonts, characterized by a high contrast and perpendicular strokes, ultimate geometrization, thin serifs and vertical angles of the oval elements. Katya was impressed with its technical sophistication and a unique feeling of «air» in the pages of the books of that time.

Handschrift van Poggio Bracciolini Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Firenze, 1434-1442

Font File: E:/__Plantijn/work/03_DTLletterModeller_output/LetterModeller_Bracciolini_12mm_103_043.ik Encoding: URW Number

Met een brede pen werden letters overgeschreven, zodat de kalligrafische beweging vanwege de grootte duidelijker naar voren komt.

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Aan de hand van de innerlijke kenmerken van het handschrift wordt door middel van de dtl LetterModeller een model gegenereerd. LetterModeller 3.1.000

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Merijn Dietvorst Merijn Dietvorst () studeerde Grafische Vormgeving aan het GLR Rotterdam —) daarna Grafisch Ontwerpen aan AKV | St. Joost Breda (—) en studeerde vervolgens aan de tweejarige opleiding van het Plantin instituut voor Typografie te Antwerpen (—). Hij werkt sinds  als zelfstandig ontwerper en ontwerpt logo’s, huisstijlen, magazines, campagnes, illustraties, websites en fonts. www.vorstontwerp.nl

Eerste digitale schetsen van de tussenvorm. Er is duidelijk te zien dat de letters niet eenduidig zijn.

Aa

In mijn onderzoek wilde ik op zoek naar een tussenvorm van een romein en een fraktur. Hierdoor ontstonden schitzofrene lettervormen die ik niet eenduidig kreeg. Als gevolg is de focus van het ontwerp meer richting fraktur gegaan. Wellicht zullen mijn ervaringen met deze fraktur later gaan resulteren in een tussenvorm.

Maaike Ongena Schetsen van de fraktur.

Vorig jaar haalde ik mijn masterdiploma ‘Grafisch ontwerp’ aan Sint-Lucas Gent. Eén van de opleidingsonderdelen was de module letterontwerp van Frederik Berlaen. Dit vak was bedoeld als introductie, en na mijn opleiding wou ik mij hier verder in verdiepen. www.maaikeongena.be Voor deze ‘Expert class Type design’ ben ik vertrokken van een lettertype dat ik eerder ontworpen had. Deze keer maak ik echter geen cursief, maar een rosief: een lettetype dat kenmerken heeft van zowel een romein als een cursief. Hiervoor bestudeer ik mijn eerder ontworpen lettertype en zoek ik uit welke vormen binnen deze letters eigen zijn aan de cursief. Daarnaast analyseer ik de letters van de Lettermodeller op eenzelfde manier om een beter besef te krijgen van de constructie van een romein. Mijn tekeningen zijn schetsen, bedoeld om meer grip te krijgen op de lettervormen. Het ontwerpen zelf gebeurt met de computer. Dit is een bewuste keuze, ik denk dat de software die in de lessen is aangeboden, het toelaat om op een efficiënte manier digitaal te ontwerpen.

Ik kon het onderzoek van Frank Blokland linken aan een lettertype dat ik tijdens mijn opleiding had ontworpen. Dit lettertype is ontworpen op het grid van een bijhorend pixelfont, en is op die manier ook ‘gestandaardiseerd’. Toen Frank dit ontwerp zag, merkte hij op dat er twee sporen in het ontwerp aanwezig waren. Voor deze lessenreeks is het een doelstellingen om bewuster met deze keuzes om te gaan.



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Nicolas Portnoï

Freelance graphic designer based in Paris since 2004, Nicolas Portnoï works mostly for cultural institutions. He graduated in 2003 from the kabk (The Hague) after studying several years at the ensav de La Cambre (Brussels). More recently, he followed the cas Type Design at the zhdk (Zurich) which offered him his first extensive experience in type design before the Expert Class Type Design at the Plantin Institute for Typography (Antwerp). This project aims to ‘revive’ a typeface from the end of the sixteenth century by Robert Granjon: the Double Pica Roman or Grosparangon. Both the punches and two sets of matrices of this character are present in the Plantin-Moretus Museum’s collections. A rhythmic system in Granjon’s typeface was investigated, in line with Frank Blokland’s theories about the standardization and formalization for type from the Renaissance. To this effect, close-up photographs of the punches and matrices using a digital microscope were taken and one of the sets of punches was measured. Using the stem width as a base unit shows a very strong indication of an underlying unitization of the characters’ drawing. While the proportions of the type itself appear to be standardized, the measurements made of the matrices do not seem to show enough consistency for casting with fixed registers. Further analysis and historical investigations could help to give a better understanding of the matrices’ dimensions. Finally, the digitized characters were laid on top of a sample print from the Renaissance to assert the coherence with the original spacing of the typeface. A lot of work remains to complete this ‘revival’. Aside from the digitization of the remaining characters, interpretations and choices will also have to be made. All of which contribute to making this project particularly exciting.


Set of matrices (ma8) of Granjon’s Double Pica Roman or Gros-parangon (1570).

n Unitization and digitization of the characters from close-up photographs of the matrices.

ceps,donec ad annum currenten redeundum eſt ad principium. Digitized characters layed over a printed sample of Granjon’s Double Pica Roman from Psalterium (1571).

ascendonica

alfonſus rex arrag. idem dicere ſolet, ita demum matrimonium tranquille citraque querimonias exigi poſfe, ſi maritus ſurdus fiat, vxor caeca: innuens, opinor, foemineum genus obnoxium eſſe zelotypiae, atque hinc oriri rixas et querimonias: rurſum maritis permolſtam eſſe vxorum garrulitate: qua moleſtia cariturus ſit, ſi fiat ſurdus: nec illa vexabitur adulterij ſuſpicione, ſi careat oculis. Sample text with the first digitized characters (text from Plantin’s folio specimen c.1585).

Characters arranged in 10 groups (vertical) according to their width and in accordance with the spacing of the printed sample (top). It is argued that the spacing could be revised in order to reduce the number of groups. expert class type design 2013–2014

Repeterende bewegingen bij het schrijven zorgen voor een herhaling van elementen in letters

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