Emelia and Tibetan - MA Typeface Design

Emelia
a friendly
typeface family
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Emelia
a friendly typeface family
supporting
Latin and Tibetan
designed by
Sandra Adler

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Emelia the family
Introduction
The typeface family Emelia is the result of a nine
month study during the MA programme in Typeface
Design at the University of Reading, UK.
Starting with no experience in the field of Typeface
Design, a multilingual text typeface was developed.
The family provides a variety of weights and styles
to enable more design possibilities for magazines,
children's books, catalogues or similar print
publications where hierarchical typesetting is needed.
With nice, fluent curves and modulated strokes, Emelia
communicates a very friendly feel in the Latin as well
as in the Tibetan script. Furthermore, it is designed
with some playful details that get more distinctive in
the light and black versions of the family. Emelia is
a work in progress and is planned to be refined and
expanded in the near future.
mamulana
Himbeermarmeladenglas
hakuna matata
1.250 cm handkerchief & tablecloth
bei mami im pool
གལ་ཇ་ཞལ་དཀར་གང་ལ་ག་ཚད་ད།
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Emelia sans is in progress as well
Straßenkreuzung

Emelia Regular
» The greatest pleasure in life
is doing what people
say you cannot do.«

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About Emelia
Who is Emelia?
This specimen tells the story of Emelia, who was
willing to see the world and dreamed of being very
successfull one day. Because her mother was very
oldfashioned, Emelia in her early stages got inspired
by the taste of the 19th century. Out of her love to
ornaments and playful details she had a soft spot for
tablecloth and handkerchiefs. Not being confident
enough to go her own way she started working for
the well known business woman Mamulana Barsch.
Mamulana, born somewhere on an island in the
Atlantic, was a very beautiful, bubbly person with
long dark hair and a lot of temper. Being very
supportive, Mamulana encouraged Emelia to gain
confidence and explore her opportunities...
»When you are
courting a nice girl,
an hour seems like
a second. When you
sit on a red-hot
cinder, a second
seems like an hour.
That’s relativity.«
Albert Einstein
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Different weights
Emelia
in different weights*
During the last nine months Emelia went through
some transformations. From the outside it might
appear as if she had some weight problems. Instead
she just experimented and tested what size suits her
the most. Interestingly Emelia looks very attractive
in every available weight. Moreover she never looses
her friendly outer appearance.
Emelia is currently
avaiable in the
following weights:
Light
Regular
Bold
Black
transformation
*
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Emelia Black
Getting started with weight training
can be confusing. In the beginning
you might not know what exercises
to do or how much weight to use.
The routine you choose will be
based on your goals as well as the
equipment you have available and
the time you have for workouts.
If you are setting up your
own program, you will need
to know some basic weight
training principles.
These principles will teach
you how to make sure you
are using enough weight,
determine your sets and reps
and insure you are always
progressing.
20/25 pt, Light/Regular/Bold/Black

14 Emelia Italic
Emelia Italic
kk
To build more confidence Emelia went through an
experimental shift of her style. After some unsuccessful
approaches, she found herself dancing in a funky pub
called »Up the Junction«. In the darkness, with the
help of neon lights, the well-behaved Emelia suddenly
showed a new, more outgoing aspect of her interesting
personality. This experience illustrates how much
movement and fluidity Emelia can demonstrate if she
wants to. Since this event she is able to change her
persona whenever it needs to be emphasised. In this
appearance Emelia gets courageous, is keen to be more
playful and not afraid of showing her curves.
10 / 13 pt
10 / 13 pt
10 / 13 pt
»Up the Junction« is arguably Reading’s finest bar and
venue. Tony has reworked the back room to provide
us with plenty more, late opening, fun times! Please
invite your friends to this group and I’ll try to keep you
up to date. Up The Junction takes its name from its
proximity to Cemetery Junction in east Reading.
I have been in here once after driving past it every
day on my way to work and being curiously drawn to
the neon lights like a moth to the flame. It resembles
an american diner with the bar stretching down the
narrow width of the building, a terraced house con version.
It is definitely a working man’s club and the locals
prop up the bar gathering dust and cobwebs as they take
their time over their drinks. I was not comfortable being
there but the music and drinks were good.
(written by jorsayboy)
Odd little place this. It’s a good standard pub with a good
selection of drinks and a good jukebox but at certain
times they only keep the front bar open which is a little
on the small side. The regulars don’t seem to mind the
squeeze but you can feel a little guilty if a lot of you
happen to come in at once and cramp the place. This
is a nice place to hang out in if you catch it at the right
time. (written by Lady_B83)
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Language support & Swashes
Emelia is very good
at learning languages.
So, if she doesn’t speak your’s yet,
just sponsor her a language course!
czech Nechť již hříšné saxofony ďáblů rozzvučí síň úděsnými tóny
waltzu, tanga a quickstepu. danish Høj bly gom vandt fræk sexquiz
på wc. dutch Lynx c.q. vos prikt bh: dag zwemjuf! english The
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. estonian Põdur Zagrebi
tšellomängija-följetonist Ciqo külmetas kehvas garaažis. finnish
Albert osti fagotin ja töräytti puhkuvan melodian. french Dès Noël
où un zéphyr haï me vêt de glaçons würmiens, je dîne d’exquis rôtis
de bœuf au kir à l’aÿ d’âge mûr & cætera! german Xaver schreibt
für Wikipedia zum Spaß quälend lang über Yoga, Soja und Öko.
italian Quel vituperabile xenofobo zelante assaggia il whisky ed
esclama: alleluja! norwegian Vår sære Zulu fra badeøya spilte jo
whist og quickstep i min taxi. polish Pchnąć w tę łódź jeża lub ośm
skrzyń fig. portugese À noite, vovô Kowalsky vê o ímã cair no pé
do pingüim queixoso e vovó põe açúcar no chá de tâmaras do jabuti
feliz. slovenian V kožuščku hudobnega fanta stopiclja mizar in
kliče. spanish El veloz murciélago hindú comía feliz cardillo y kiwi.
La cigüeña tocaba el saxofón detrás del palenque de paja. swedish
Flygande bäckasiner söka hwila på mjuka tuvor.

18 Emelia at work
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Your PErSonAliTY,
SummArizEd
in A TYPEfAcE!?
BY CLIFF KUANG
Design firm Pentagram provides a quick, fun bit of
psychoanalysis for type geeks. If you’ve ever sat down
with a type designer, what you quickly realize is that
they rarely talk about fonts in purely aesthetic or even
functional terms: They talk about assertiveness or
calm or friendliness. In short, they talk about personality
traits. It makes sense, then, that your personality could
be translated into a typeface.
Pentragram has done just that, in this lovely microsite:
What Type are You?
It takes you through four simple personality questions,
guided by a faceless psychoanalyst. (The analyst’s
1920s Bauhaus office setting is a witty touch.)
After answering the questions, the analyst spits out
one of 16 typefaces, and an explanation about the
design and how it exemplifies the characteristics you
laid out.
There’s even a bit of history about each, and a list you
can see of who else had the same results.
If you are interested, visit:
http://www.pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/
and enjoy!
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The font of
all personality.
Graphology for the new century:
The choice of font used in Emails and typewritten
letters could say more about an individual’s
personality than their creative writing skills.
Graphology - the art of studying handwriting
- has been used for centuries
to try to analyse people’s characters,
but since the demise of personal
handwriting, the experts have moved
on to typefaces to look for clues to our
identities.
If the experts are correct, choice of
font could prove important when writing
a letter to your bank manager or a
spurned lover.
The Psychology of Fonts, commissioned
by Lexmark Printers and written
by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman
explains how a typeface will significantly
influence what the reader thinks
about you. Courier is seen as the choice
Courier is seen as the choice of “sensible
shoes” type of people or “anoraks“ and
curvy icons like Georgia or Shelly suggest
a bit of a “rock chick” personality.
of “sensible shoes” type of people or
“anoraks“ and curvy icons like Georgia
or Shelly suggest a bit of a “rock chick”
personality.
The study suggests fonts can be
matched to top personalities, and cites
the following examples:
Kylie Minogue (the sex kitten):
Shelley
Ian Beale (the cheapskate anorak):
Courier
Richard Branson (professional
yet appealing): Verdana
Anna Ford (trustworthy and
respectable): Times
Dr Sigman said: “Using the wrong font
may give people the wrong impression
about you and could affect decisions
that will shape your future.”
Size matters
Font size is also important, especially
for power letters where less is more
and a smaller typeface is preferable.
Applying for a new job? Then choose
Times for your CV for a traditional
company and Verdana for a more
contemporary firm. Use Courier New
for “automaton-like” coldness, perhaps
when resigning from a job on
bad terms.

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པEmelia Tibetan
Emelia
and Tibetan
Emelia Tibetan
Being very open-minded and always
interested in other cultures and countries,
Emelia travelled around the
world. On her trip she discovered a
unique and very special nation: Tibet.
Amazed by the people and the Script
style dbu-can, she felt motivated to
learn the Tibetan language. Sometimes
she still has some issues with her
artic ulation and she cannot find the
right words, but she is willing to keep
practicing to become an expert in
that field.
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ཁགདངག
Mouth, Eyes and Ears
་་གས་་་་ལགས་ག་ལ། ་་ལགས། ང་་ཚང་
མར་་ག་གས་་དང་ག་གས་་ད་ང་ཁ་གག་
ལས་ད་པ་གང་ན་ནམ། ས་བཀའ་འ་ས་པར། ་་
ལགས་ས། ངས་བྱས་ན་ང་ར་་ག་གས་་ད་པ་་་
གཞན་་བསམ་འཆར་མང་ཙམ་ན་ར་བ་དང་། ག་གས་
་ད་པ་་ཡ་རབས་ལ་མང་ཙམ་་ར་བ་ན། ན་ང་ཁ་
གག་ལས་ད་པ་་་ད་པ་ད་ཆ་ང་ཙམ་ད་ར་བ་
ན་ན་པ་འ་འག་བས་གངས་པ་ད།།
Two children asked an old man. »Old man,
we all have two ears and two eyes, but how
come we only have one mouth?« The old
man answered, »my point of view is that we
have two ears so we can better listen to other
people’s advices, and we have two eyes so we
can better observe other people’s respectable
conduct. Having said that, it seems to me
that we have only one mouth so we have less
means of engaging in meaningless talk«.
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24 Proportions of Emelia / Emelia Tibetan
Hfap ཀ
Emelia:
Fair and sensitive
When communicating in Tibetan, Emelia
always keeps her friendly appearance
and tries to talk in the same voice as if
she speaks English. As she does not want
anybody to feel discriminated, she is very
sensitive with balancing the audibility
between those two languages.
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The Tibetan Script consists of
30 consonants and four vowels
that build the Tibetan syllables.
The basic consonants can
possibly be subjoined and build
consonantal clusters (above).

Emelia is full of surprises
and offers features that are
not visible on the first sight.
Therefore its worth having a chat
and getting to know her.
basic characters
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
small caps
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
alternates
v w x y z
ligatures and discretional ligatures
ff fi fj fl ffl fb fh fk gj ct st Em
lining and oldstyle Figures
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
punctuation and symbols
« » { } [ ] ( ) / | \ ~ ‘ ’ ‚ “ ” „ … < > = + - × ÷ · ! ? − © ® € $ @ & * °
swashes and ornaments
Features and basic character sets
basic consonants
ཀ ཁ ག ང ཅ ཆ ཇ ཉ ཋ ཏ ད ན པ ཕ བ མ ཙ ཚ ཛ ཝ ཞ ཟ འ ཡ ར ལ ཤ ས ཧ ཨ
vowels
ི ུ ེ ོ
numerals
current ligatures and conjuncts
གྷ དྷ བྷ ཛྷ
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Emelia is
constantly
developing and
some parts of
her personality
haven’t fully
come to the
surface yet...
Acknowledgements
*
thanks to
Gerry Leonidas, Fiona Ross, Gerard Unger, Victor Gaultney,
Jo de Baerdemaker, Michael Twyman, James Mosley,
Burkhard Quessel (Tibetan Curator of the British Library),
Mathieu Réguer, Miguel Sousa, all the visiting lecturers,
Mamulana and all my lovely class- & roommates for their
help and support during this wonderful year of typedesign.
Last but not least I would like to thank my dearest Frieder
and my parents, Edith & Walter, for always believing in me
and encouraging me throughout.
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30 Credits
*
This specimen and the presented typeface Emelia were designed by
Sandra Adler. The texts, if not noted below, are written by the author.
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
Master of Arts in Typeface Design, University of Reading, 2012
additional resources
p. 7/9 quotes from http://funny-quotes-life.com
p. 13 text from http://exercise.about.com
p. 15 Assessments from upthejunction.biz and qype.co.uk
p. 16 Pangrams from wikipedia
p. 18/19 articles from http://www.fastcompany.com and
http://news.bbc.co.uk; picture from http://www.pentagram.com
p. 22/23 texts from http://learntibetan.net
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© Sandra Adler 2012
sandra@dialux.de