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ONG TEXTS OF ANS SERIFS ARE ARD TO READ, T ANY RATE, ND THE LACK OF ISTINCTION OF HE SEEMINGLY MODERN” A AND INCREASES HIS DIFFICULTY. 11 TYPE SPECIMEN BOOK |
A beautifully letter must naturally have unity of form. It must, for instance, have the same thickness of the basic strokes, of serifs, of related curves, and so forth. But if the number of these form elements is excessively reduced, as happens when the characteristic features are suppressed, legibility is threatened. The a and g of some sans serifs and Egyptians, which, in the manner of the italics of type styles that have serifs (a and g), are designed as a and g, reduce the legibility of the word image. They are falsely considered up-to-date. Viewed by themselves they may seem "simpler." than the forms a and g, but that is not the point. The primary purpose of a letter is not simplicity but legibility. And a and g are less intelligible. The upper half of a and g are identical and, furthermore, the same as that of q. We thus have three letters with the same upper half. No two characters of the roman alphabet have an upper half of the same shape, which is what makes them legible. If there are suddenly three different, important characters with the same upper half, the word images are bound to become more blurred than normal word images whose upper halves are distinct and different. The use of a and g in sans serif, roman or Egyptian letters is, therefore, a poor innovation. This can be demonstrated with several words. Long texts of sans serifs are hard to read, at any rate, and the lack of distinction of the seemingly “modern” a and g increases this difficulty. 12
Page 1 and 2: T Y P E SPECI— MEN BOOK NARRATIVE
Page 3 and 4: N T Aa Aa Aa 29 DESIGNER: JOHN BASK
Page 5 and 6: N T 71 Aa AVENIR DESIGNER: ADRIAN F
Page 7 and 8: y Ilene Strizver OLD STYLE 02
Page 9 and 10: HE OLD ETTERING ASTER OLLOWED THE U
Page 11 and 12: m brachium brachium The upper line
Page 13 and 14: unworthy Satisfactory unworthy Unsa
Page 15: pq pq pagos pagos pagos Lower case
Page 19 and 20: pagos pagos pagos pagos Sans Serif
Page 21 and 22: allegory allegory Descenders of cor
Page 23 and 24: OLD STYLE 18
Page 25 and 26: Aa Caslon Regular 10pt/16pt The Eng
Page 27 and 28: garamond OLD STYLE 22
Page 29 and 30: Aa Garamond Regular 14pt/18pt Aa Ga
Page 31 and 32: hoefler text OLD STYLE 26
Page 33 and 34: Aa Hoefler Text Regular 9pt/14pt Ho
Page 35 and 36: ville OLD STYLE 30
Page 37 and 38: Aa Baskerville Regular 9pt/13pt In
Page 39 and 40: perpetua OLD STYLE 34
Page 41 and 42: v Ww Xx Yy Zz Aa Perpetua Regular 9
Page 43 and 44: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzOLD STYLE
Page 45 and 46: 55 Rom 56 Italic 75 Bold 76 Bold TR
Page 49 and 50: Aa Bodoni Book 24pt/28pt Aa Bodoni
Page 53 and 54: The strong clear forms of this alph
Page 55 and 56: monotype modern OLD STYLE 50
Page 57 and 58: Aa Monotype Modern Condensed 13pt/1
Page 59 and 60: don OLD STYLE 54
Page 61 and 62: t was named fter the Clarendon ress
Page 63 and 64: a OLD STYLE 58
Page 65 and 66: 35 Thin 45 Light 55 Roma 65 Bold 75
Page 67 and 68:
is OLD STYLE 62
Page 69 and 70:
Aa of the geometric basis of its fo
Page 71 and 72:
lubalin graph OLD STYLE 66
Page 73 and 74:
F HIJ PQRS YZ OLD STYLE 68
Page 75 and 76:
Aa Lubalin Graph Extra Light 8pt/14
Page 77 and 78:
OLD STYLE 72
Page 79 and 80:
35 Light 45 Book 55 Roma 65 Medi 85
Page 81 and 82:
century gothic OLD STYLE 76
Page 83 and 84:
Aa Century Gothic Regular 14pt/18pt
Page 85 and 86:
futura OLD STYLE 80
Page 87 and 88:
Aa Futura Light Condensed 9pt/13pt
Page 89 and 90:
Aa Futura Light 9pt/13pt Aa Futura
Page 91 and 92:
hic OLD STYLE 86
Page 93 and 94:
ABCDEFGHI JKLMNOPQR STUVWXYZ abcdef
Page 95 and 96:
izver 90
Page 97 and 98:
FONT VS. TYPEFACE Many people who u
Page 99 and 100:
a B CHARACTER VS. GLYPH A character
Page 101 and 102:
nz Grotesk is very legible. Example
Page 103 and 104:
L O PAPER ACCENT OPAQUE DIGITAL TEX
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