Mrs Eaves

Mrs Eaves 

pe Specimen 

Mrs Eave 

Type Specimen

02 04 

Introduction 

Background 

10 16 

Type Terminology 

Characters & Characteristics 

56 88 

Emigre Excerpts 

Conclusion

Con 

tents 

Table of Contents

Sans serif typefaces, geometric shapes, limited color pallets, 

and a variety of overlapping elements that push the boundaries 

of the page; these are the design elements I often use and 

they’re what I’m comfortable with. I’ve decided to create a 

type specimen that contradicts that. The typeface I’ve chosen to 

do my research over is “Mrs Eaves”, a font inspired by John 

Baskerville’s popular and historically significant typeface 

“Baskerville” and that is completely different from what I 

typically use in my designs. I discovered Mrs Eaves through 

the interest I have in the sans serif typeface Mr Eaves that 

was also designed by Zuzana Licko. I decided to create a type 

specimen where I will combine all of the elements I enjoy 

using with a serif typeface. This type specimen will include 

in depth information about the Mrs Eaves typeface, the 

history of the typeface and its creator, information about 

typography, and designs inspired by quotes found in Émigré 

Magazine that was also created by Zuzana Licko.

Introduction 

Introduction 

2

Zuzana Licko was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1961 and 

moved to the United States seven years later. She obtained a degree 

in Graphic Communications from the University of California 

at Berkely in 1984. That same year she founded Emigre magazine. 

Her designs became increasingly popular when she began incorporating 

her digital typefaces created with the first generation of the Macintosh 

computer. The success from her magazines led to the creation of 

Emigre Fonts, which is now distributed worldwide.

Zuzana Li 

zana Licko 

Background 

4

Mrs 

Eaves 

Inspired by 

Baskerville.

“There is a softness about the Mrs Eaves typeface that is quite 

intentional. Licko rounded the serifs and terminals, lowered 

the x-height, widened the lower case and reduced the contrast 

of Baskerville’s thicks and thins. The result is very attractive, 

more organic.” 

[Helina Vora 

[ 

Background 

6

6 

9Mrs Eaves was designed in 1996.

Creation 

“In my rendition of this classic typeface, I have addressed the highly 

criticized feature of sharp contrast. To a great degree, the critics were 

wrong; it did not prevent Baskerville from becoming assimilated as a 

highly legible text face, and in fact, the high contrast between stems 

and hairlines became quite desirable, as is apparent in typefaces such 

as Bodoni, which followed in the lineage. However, the criticism did 

make me wonder about possible alternatives. Thus, I was prompted to 

explore the path not taken.” 

Zuzana Licko 

Background 

8

Type face

Typeface (noun | type-face) 

:a set of letters, numbers, etc., that are all in the 

same style and that are used in printing 


10

Typo 

graphy

Typography (noun | ty-pog-ra-phy) 

:the work of producing printed pages from written 

material 

:the style, arrangement, or appearance of printed 

letters on a page 


12

Serif 

Typeface

Serif Typeface (noun | ser-if type-face) 

:any of the short lines stemming from and at an angle 

to the upper and lower ends of the strokes of a letter 


14


x-height 

cap line 

baseline 

Type Specimen

Setting 

Boundaries 

Cap Line: 

The imaginary line representing the upper 

boundary of capital letters and the ascenders 

of some lowercase letters. 

X-Heignt: 

The height of lowercase letters in a typeface 

with the exception of ascenders and descenders. 

Baseline: 

The imaginary line on which the majority of 

letters and other characters sit. 


16

Size 650 


Size 100

Size 16 

Mrs Eaves was designed in 1996. 

Size 24 


Size 32 


Size 40 


Size 48 

Mrs Eaves was designed in 199 


Size 56 

Eaves was designed in 


Size 64 

Eaves was designe 


Size 72 

Eaves was desig 


Size 80 

Eaves was des 


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Characters & Characteristics 28

aball serif 

contrasting line weight

spur serif 

angled serif 

contrasting line weight 


30


[cball serif

d 


angled serif 


32

wide lower case letters 

[econtrasting line weight

f[ 

ball serif 

braketed serifs 


34


gdouble story lowercase

hbraketed serif 

angled serif 


36

angled serif 

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braketed serif

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angled serif 

ball serif 


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angled serif 

kdouble junction 

braketed serif

aketed serif 

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braketed serif 

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angled serif 




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uangled serif

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wbraketed serif 

different line weight

[x 

short x-height 

different line weight 


52

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different line weight 

yball serif

zcontrasting line weight 



54

Emigre Magazine 

Founded by Zuzana 

Licko in 1984

E M I 

GRE 


56

AVA 

N T 

GAR 

D 

E

“A new avant-garde 

to right commercial 

design humanism.” 

Quote from Emigre 58, “Everyone is a Designer: Manifest 

for the Design Economy” (2001) 


58

Everyone is a 

Designer. 

at is once done out 

cessity will later be 

ted for amusement.”

“What is once done o 

of necessity will later 

imitated for amusem 


for the Design Economy” (2001) 


60

What are you 

reaching for? 

“

If we’re standing on the 

shoulders of giants, what 

are we reaching for? 

Quote from Emigre 65, “If we’re standing on the shoulders 

of Giants, what are we reaching for?” (2003) 


62

“Graphic design as it is 

currently defined has 

too many moving 

parts: commercial, 

academic, professional, 

service-oriented, 

artistic, experimental.

commercial, academi 

professional, 

service-oriented, 

artistic, experimenta 

If design criticism has a 

role to play, it may be in 

teasing these things apart, 

in trimming some of the 

fat, and challenging 

assumptions like the idea 

that design has a social 

function.” 

Quote from Emigre 67 Graphic design vs. style, globalism, 

criticism, science, authenticity, and humanism (2004) 


64

eativity at its 

epest, is a 

turn to a 

imary process 

ther than a 

sponse to 

ternal stimuli.” 

Quote from Emigre 19 Starting From Zero (1991)

ather than a 

external stim 

“Creativity a 

deepest, is a 

return to a 

primary pro 

response to 


66

N 

randy nakamura

“THE GRAND 

UNIFIED THEORY 

OF NOTHING.” 




68

Sometimes I feel lik 

traveling to some 

godforsaken place 

Quote from Emigre 2 The Magazine That Ignores Boundaries (1985)

etimes I feel like 

eling to some 

forsaken place 

Sometimes 

I feel like 

traveling 


70

This is perhaps the 

most exciting of 

times for designers. 

Quote from Emigre 11 Ambition/Fear (1989)

haps the most 

exciting of tim 

ps the most 

exciting of times 


72

this issue is about 

type. it is about our 

interest in the design 

of new typefaces, and 

our concern for their 

legibility and why we 

need new typefaces in 

the first place. 

Quote from Emigre 15 Do You Read Me? (1990)

Do You 

? 

74 

Read Me 

Emigre Excerpts

“This monkey’s gone to 

Heaven & if the devil is 

six then God is seven.” 

Quote from Emigre 65, “If we’re standing on the shoulders 

of Giants, what are we reaching for?” (2003)

seven. 

is seven. 

God is seven 


76

aphic 

esign 

Graphic Design vs. Style, 

Globalism, criticism, 

science, authenticity 

and humanism 



raphic 

esign

D 

No. 

67 

G 


78

“Design must answer these 

three questions: In a world 

that is continually 

transformed by computers 

and communication 

technologies, how can 

design help us find our way 

through that sprawling 

landscape, make us at home 

in it, and make sense of it.” 


for the Design Economy” (2001)

and make sense of it? 

make us at home in it, 

sprawling landscape, 

through that 

us find our way 


How can design help 

80

Out of thousands of 

typefaces, all we need 

are a few basic ones, 

and trash the rest. 

Quote from Emigre 18 Type-Site (1991) 

trash

a few basic basic 

ones 

trash trash th 

the rest. 


82

In an underground 

don’t have the notion 

success or failure.

“In an underground you 

don’t have the notion of 

success or failure. You 

just have the notion of 

making something and 

that’s what saves you. It’s 

not how professional it 

looks. It’s because you are 

doing what you are doing 

because you believe in it.” 

Quote from Emigre 24 Neomania (1992) 


84

familiarit 

legibility 

legibi 

familiarity

Typefaces are not intrinsically 

legible, rather, it is the reader’s 

familiarity with faces that 

accounts for their legibility. 

Studies have shown that readers 

read best what they read most. 

Legibility is also a dynamic 

process, as readers’ habits 

are everchanging. 

Quote from Emigre 15 Do You Read Me? (1990) 


86

Prior to my research of Mrs Eaves and serif typography I 

hoped that I’d be able to achieve successful compositions 

that paired the design elements I’m accustomed to using 

with a more traditional serif typeface. I thought it would 

be a challenge for me and a lot of questioning whether 

or not I was doing it ‘the right way’. I soon realized that 

I could just design in the same ways I always have and that 

simply changing from sans serif typefaces that I’m more 

comfortable with to a serif type didn’t take away from or 

lessen the designs. To my surprise the same overlapping 

of text, pushing the boundaries of the page, and simple 

geometric designs worked well with traditional Mrs Eaves 

typeface. During my exploration I became more and more 

comfortable combining these design elements.

Conclusion 

Conclusion 

88

Mrs Eaves

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