Upon reading Chapter 2, I discovered there is so much more to a font than its superficial appearance; the structure of the letters - individually and collectively as a family - are all significant. Proportion is key, and aids in defining the font as unique from others. Proportion consists of the x-height relationship to the height of capital letters, ascenders, and descenders, the distinction between stroke (what makes a font more bold or condensed), the letter width and stress, and finally, the ratio of stroke to letterform height.
Prior to reading this chapter, I never knew that there were names for certain characteristics of letters, such as a "bowl," "ear," or "eye." This makes the fonts feel more organic and lifelike to me. It was also interesting to read about the historical significance of fonts, when they were introduced in the world, and what their characteristics are. For example, the rectangular nature of the Egyptian font came about when there was hype over Egyptian artifacts in the early 1800's. Chapter 2 also assisted in helping me better understand the type anatomy assignment, and the importance of the typography ruler.
No comments:
Post a Comment