Volume 21–2.pdf

tion. Holly's task is to
preserve the feeling and
the gesture of the orig-
inal letters sculpted at
size on a bar of steel.
This has to be done with-
out making the type a
photo-realistic interpre-
tation showing every
bump and lump from the
enlargements of printed
letters.
Janice Prescott
Fishman begins working
on the large size based
on the Papale. Here the
challenge is different.
We want to capture the
Papale's engraved ele-
gance. In both the small
and large sizes care is
taken not to introduce
oversimplified geome-
try into the characters—
a common practice in
making previous Bodoni
revivals.
Shortly after return-
ing from Parma, we real-
ize that we would need
more opportunities to
HOLLY GOLDSMITH created the
small size of ITC Bodoni roman by
enlarging tiny samples of
Bodoni's original metal types.
ITC Bodoni:
A Size-Sensitive
Design
This new digital typeface
release emulates
the master type designer's
attention to detail.
FROM THE TIME MOVABLE type
was invented by Gutenberg
until metal type was replaced by
phototype, punch cutters painstakingly
created each weight
of a font of type with design and
proportional changes in mind.
As a result, each size of a given
typeface was usually slightly dif-
ferent in design
and proportion
from the next
size up or down.
When comparing
fonts at
extreme ends
of the size
spectrum, the
overall differ-
ences could be quite dramatic.
These adjustments were
necessary to ensure optimum
readability of the font. In a
serif typeface, for example, the
thin parts of a character were
designed proportionally heavier
for small sizes than for large
sizes. If they were kept the same
weight, the contrast between
thick and thin would be too
great, causing an effect called
"dazzling:' which makes text diffi-
cult to read.
When metal typesetting was replaced
by phototype in the 196os,
most manufacturers of phototype
fonts did not take the time and
effort necessary to produce sizesensitive
typeface designs. This
practice has spilled over into digital
fonts, so that the number of
fonts that have been created to be
size-sensitive can be counted on
one hand.
Giambattista Bodoni was a
master at creating fonts that took
the best advantage of their size.
Not only did he create different
designs for each point size, he
also produced a range of fonts for
text composi-
tion which had
smaller than
half-point size
changes—each
version subtly
BODONI created d ifferent designs for
each point size, so the differences with-
in one typeface could be dramatic.
look at and photograph
the Manuale. David Pankow, curator for the Cary Collection
of printing history at Rochester Institute of Technology, is gra-
cious enough to lend us one of the Cary's two original copies of
Manuale which we then use extensively for further reference.
Having prepared some trial characters
for the small and large sizes of the roman, we
now come to a critical stage in the project.
Can we get the com-
puter to make the text
size by interpolation
from the large and the
small versions, or
will we draw the text
size as well? Every-
one is skeptical about the success of the interpolation. The two
sets of drawings seem so different.
Remarkably, it works. After some experimenting we pro-
duce a text size which has not only the right weight but also
different from
the next size up
or down. To the
left is a show-
ing of an "a" in one of Bodoni's
smallest fonts, compared to one
of his largest. The differences
are obvious.
Unfortunately, none of the
modern revivals of Bodoni's work
took into account his mastery of
size-sensitive designs—until now.
With the release of ITC Bodoni,
finally there is a range of fonts that
begins to do justice to Bodoni's
genius.
Allan Haley
The computer created
new fonts by 'averaging'
4711 all and large sizes