Type Appreciation

Traced by Caroline Tilger in Adobe Illustrator, 2020

The typeface from Rob Roy Kelly's American Wood Type Collection I chose to emulate in this assignment was example #8. I was particularly drawn to this specific typeface because of its overall geometric nature and the fact that the letters seem to span more horizontally than they do vertically.

Tracing this font in Illustrator was challenging at times, particularly when it came to tracing the letters that involve curves and rounded edges. However, using the handles to manipulate the curves allowed for precise adjustments with minimal anchor points, which ultimately made copying the letters easier and more exact.

From the documentary, Helvetica, by Gary Huswit, the designer whose ideology resonated the most with my personal design philosophy was Massimo Vignelli. Vignelli, a true modernist designer, never underestimated the power of simplicity. In terms of typeface, Vignelli believed that a successful typeface is due to the negative space between the letters, rather than the letters themselves, and that a typeface has the ability to convey an intended message without being physically expressive.

The principles of design that are especially relevant to this typeface are Line, Plane, and Texture. The letters are made up of both linear and curvilinear lines, which seamlessly guide the viewer from one point of a letter to another, and even to the next sequential letter. Because of their geometric nature and horizontality in terms of orientation, each individual letter and the letters collectively as a group can both be interpreted as planar elements. The combination of the physical letters themselves contrasted against the negative space surrounding the letters contribute to the overall texture of this particular font.