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typeface film thoughts

so we watched "typeface" on monday. at the beginning, the film presented me with a lot of interesting little facts about the beauty of letterpress. i guess i never really thought about the historical significance and rich history until i learned that it dates back several hundred years and that many print shops could be found within a half-mile of each other in their prime time. as the film progressed, it took a sort of tragic note. after looking at the shots of the hamilton museum, it did not surprise me to learn that the process is actually dying with the growth of digital processes, and that overall demand for letterpress is just dropping. the film obviously advocates for the preservation of letterpress through the tone it takes in the latter half, which is fine, but i honestly do not believe that it will ever make a full revival. as tragic as that sounds, that's the reality of it. i think anyone that really loves letterpress will make sure it remains known, for the sake of themselves or for history.

goudy old style

Goudy Old Style:

Through its many distinct features like rounded serifs and unique charm, one can carefully see all the intricate details of Goudy Old Style’s form. As all letters of a typeface should be considered a part of a whole group and not seen merely as individual forms, Goudy Old Style does well to stay highly formulated and consistent throughout the entire typeface. With little contrast between the thick and thin lines that make up this typeface, Goudy Old Style still somehow remains slender in overall form. Goudy Old Style is orchestrated so meticulously, it is virtually as if the font itself is held to such high standards that it must have a perfect presentation every time. The font has had the pleasure of gracing the covers of Harper’s Magazine, and it is proudly presented as text on Western Union and Heritage Bank’s logo. It has also been the typeface of choice for such esteemed universities as Emory and Kellogg School of Management. Its grace and balance has made it one of the most legible and readable typefaces in both print and digital applications.

In most cases, Goudy Old Style is seen in companies and organizations with a highly regarded image and reputation. It is of certainty that this font is dignified in its conception as being introduced into the Old Style font family in 1915. Even from the designer of the typeface alone as grounds, the font is held in high regard and with good reason. One of 122 typeface products of the esteemed Frederic W. Goudy, its precision takes on an especially traditional stance. Goudy is considered to be one of the greatest contributors of typography having studied it for many years. The better part of his consisted of publishing and designing typefaces such as Camelot Old Style and Copperplate Gothic. Goudy Old Style came to be after Frederic continuously examined the inner workings of a typeface and how to correctly formulate one. After much research and experimentation, Frederic Goudy had the formulations down to a science. Goudy studied masters of font creations such as the 15th century graphic artist, Albrecht Dürer, who meticulously formed his letters using graphs, lines and circles. The process of breaking down a letter’s form into a mix of handmade uncials and capitals gave way to a new style of writing. At the time, letters were being employed with more rounded curves to emulating handwriting due to the introduction of new materials like parchment and vellum that the letterforms were being placed upon.

The main characteristic that sets itself apart from the rest is the distinguished and famous diamond shape diacritic that rests above the letters, “j” and “i,” and also lies at the end of a sentence. Its charismatic diamonds are just one attribute that set it apart from many of the Old Style typefaces. Frederic Goudy once stated, “All writing or lettering is a form of drawing--Simple of course. The characters of our alphabet were originally pictures or symbols.” Typical of many Old Style fonts, Goudy has sturdy, scooped serifs. These serifs are also rounded and slopped. The stress is angled, and the heads of many of the lowercase letters are oblique. When comparing the stem each letter, design carries a unified theme through a distinct upwards curl. One example is the lowercase “t.” Unlike Egyptian or slab serif fonts, the filets and serifs of the letter are curved upward at an angle. The uppercase “w” deviates from other Old Style fonts as its form contains a crossbar rather than an apex. It resembles two “v’s” that have overlapped rather than connected.

Other characteristics of this typeface are the thin hairlines and stroke-to-height ratio. Examination of the uppercase “P” reveals that the bowl is left open and exposed therefore almost creating a counter. The typeface consists of a short beardline but it has a medium x-height, which can almost visually exaggerate the typeface’s ascenders, thus leaving less focus on its descenders. Because the typeface contains curved and wavy serifs, it leaves for an uneven looking baseline. It also leaves no terminals in the typeface. Despite these uneven looking characteristics that do reflect that handwriting style Old Style advocates, the arms and legs of Goudy Old Style do remain straight. Also, the ampersand, or “&” of this typeface is created with an open bowl rather than a closed one, a more common attribute seen in Old Style typefaces.

There are a number of variations to the Goudy Old Style font family worth noting. Frederic Goudy designed Goudy Cursive, a “loose italic” variation of Old Style in 1916. Morris Fuller Benton designed Goudy Bold in the same year. Frederic returned to the typeface in 1918 by designing Goudy Old Style italic. Goudy Title, a full size variation on Goudy’s small capitals from his Old Style and was designed again by Morris Fuller Benton in 1918, who also designed Goudy Bold Italic in the subsequent year. Goudy Catalog and Goudy Catalog Italic, medium weight companions to Old Style, were designed again by Morris Fuller Benton in 1919. In 1922, Goudy Handtooled Italic was born. Goudy Heavy Face Open and Goudy Heavy Face Condensed were designed by Sol Hess in 1926 and 1927 respectively. Once again, Morris Fuller Benton extended his series of variations with Goudy Extra Bold Italic in 1927. To appeal to children’s books, Goudy Old Style Infant was conceived but is rare to find in this day and age.

At a glance, one might believe that Goudy Old Style reflects the same philosophy of Albrecht Dürer’s geometry of lettering: rounded curves and less right angles for an easier flow of writing. But closer looks at the small characteristics reveal quite the contrary. Out of 122 typefaces Frederic Goudy created, this particular one carries his name. It was neither the first nor the last typeface created by Goudy. One theory may by that this typeface must have more of his personality implied than over any other one created by him. It is quite possible that he is most proud of this typeface, for it has gone on to define him, as well as Old Style, long after his time.

History

In 1915, World War I was under way, but the United States was not yet an allied power. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a predecessor of NASA, was founded. Pluto was photographed for the first time, but not yet classified as a planet. Babe Ruth hit his first home run in this year. The United States began to occupy Haiti in the summer. The first prototype tank was tested for the British Army in the early fall. The theory of general relativity was formulated. Ambrose Heal founded the Design and Industries Association in London. The Dada Movement began in Switzerland in response to the outbreak of World War I. Much of history was centered on the actions of the Allied and Central Powers during said war.

Frederic W. Goudy

Frederic W. Goudy was born in Bloomington, Illinois on March 8, 1865. A man of irrepressible energy and determination, he began working as a bookkeeper, where he taught himself printing and typography. Moving from job to job, until he finally set up a small print shop with a friend but sold his share of the business in 1896. Whilst looking for another job, Goudy designed his first set of capitals in the alphabet, which he named Camelot. This lettering was quickly bought by the ATC and Goudy began his freelance career as a lettering artist. He worked for numerous publishers and department stores while simultaneously teaching lettering at the Frank Holme School of Illustration.

In 1903 he started his second print shop, Village Press, with Will Ransom in Park Ridge, Illinois. The shop was moved to Boston, Massachusetts and later New York City, New York in 1908, where it burned down that same year. After losing the majority of his printing equipment to the fire, Goudy took the opportunity to concentrate his time entirely on type design. He designed his first type, 38E, for the Lanston Monotype Company in 1908, but it was later marketed as Goudy Light. Around this time, the private-press movement was at its height, and in 1911 Goudy was commissioned by the New York publisher Mitchell Kennerly to produce a typeface that he simply named Kennerly. This typeface was his first important book type and popular success.

Soon the American Type Founders Company began to garner interest in Goudy and commissioned him for a typeface. It was here that Goudy created the most widely used type he ever designed, Goudy Old Style. By 1920, Frederic Goudy was made art director for Lanston Monotype, a position he held for twenty years. In 1925 he moved to Marlborough, New York where he opened up a type foundry where he studied the skill of engraving his own matrices. In 1927 he was made vice president of the Continental Type Founders Association. From 1927 to 1929 he taught type at New York University.

Unfortunately in 1939 Goudy’s home and foundry burned down. After losing the majority of his work, Goudy resolved to dedicate the remainder of his life to teaching. In 1940 he began teaching calligraphy at the University of Syracuse.

Starting his type career at the age of 40, Goudy often considered himself a failure. However, over the next 36 years, starting almost from scratch at an age when most men are permanently set in their chosen vocations, he had produced 113 fonts of type, thereby creating more usable faces than many inventors of type and books. By the end of his life in 1947 Goudy had designed 122 typefaces and published 59 literary works. Notable typefaces designed by Frederic W. Goudy include: Camelot (1896), Devinne Roman (1898), Pabst Old Style (1902), Powell (1903), Copperplate Gothic (1905), Goudy Old Style (1915), Collier Old Style (1919), Marlborough (1925), Remington Typewriter (1927), Goudy San Serif (1929), Bertham (1936), Murchison (1938), and Goudy Thirty (1953, posthumous).

Bibliography

Robin Dodd. From Gutenberg to Opentype

Christopher Perfect, Jeremy Austen. The Complete Typographer

Alexander S. Lawson. Anatomy of a Typeface

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/239950/Frederic-W-Goudy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Goudy

http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typetalk/goudy2/goudy.html