Poster Design

Who was  Claude Garamond? (1490-1561)

Garamond was a french publisher from Paris. He is said to have introduced the apostrophe and the accent to the French language. Because of the soundness and legibility to Garamond's designs they have been used again and again throughout the years. The serifs used in the Garamond typeface means large bulks of text are almost effortless to read. The letter forms used in Garamond had slightly thicker lines then later serif fonts as it was due to the printing process of punch cutting.Claude Garamond's contribution to typography has lived on through many post inspired typefaces and will continue to live on through the years.


1925 Designed by D.Stempel Eg. Based on original works of Claude Garamond


1922 Designed by Monotype Design Studio. Based on: Jean Jannon
Cut in 1922, Monotype Garamond was the first of Stanley Morison’s celebrated typeface revival projects at the English Monotype Corporation. The design was patterned after type from the archives of the French Imprimerie Nationale, the centuries-old office of French government printing (broadly equivalent to the US Government Printing Office, or Her Majesty’s Stationery Office in the U

Designed by: D. Stempel AG
Year: 1925
Based on: Claude Garamond

This single font is a slightly different digital version from Monotype of the Roman style of Stempel Garamond.

I wanted to go with the idea of Claude Garamond being french, because he incorporated certain features into the french alphabet such as the cedilla and the accent.  This is why the larger header is in french and italic and I believe it works well with the theme. I like that the large 'G' i created for the background inverted looks a bit like a paint palette, this also works well with my 'french' theme to the piece. The paragraph however could have done with better alignment to the text, I know this now looking back.

Typographical Terminology and Hand rendered Type

Terminology

The letter forms exercise: we had to draw on the page the various parts that make up a letterform, I realised from this how much I had actually forgotten from this exercises and benefited from learning them again.

   

      

Hand-rendered Exercise 

This task was set we were standing on the opposite side of a room of a wall a good 8 metres from us had three letters on the wall. We had to draw these letters. After doing so and getting closer to the images I realised I missed a few things (the flick of the italic f was different, certain areas were straighter/rounder). It made me realise how type can be perceived and also how the smallest detail counts.

We also had another task where we were given letter-forms on a page and asked to copy the letterforms exactly how they were on the page. From doing this I realised how difficult it must be to create a typeface to be mathematically and anatomically correct. Letter-forms are complicated things and a lot of areas need to be taken into account, mathematically and decoratively. 

Typography

Modern/Legible Font - Helvetica?

This font is very popular in design due to it's wonderful softness and simplicity. It flows beautifully and works well large and small. The sans serif keeps it modern, yet it is classic at the same instance. There are so many possibilities of use with this typeface.

Old Fashioned - This typographic peice shows how old-fashioned type can still portray an interesting artistic and even modern appeal when incorporated into the right design.  The serifs make it easier to read text in bulks, so this font would probably be best used in books or on paper.

Funky/Trendy Fonts

I love the playfulness of these letterforms. Not only because of the colours but also the shapes. The slanted A and W for instance gives the font a quirky and modern appeal.  However the font could only be used with designs

Obviously this font could not be used in bulks, as it would be difficult to read and take the attention away from the content of the text - but I think it would be a fun alternative to use for headers on illustrations or posters.