American Type Design in the Twentieth Century, with Specimens of the Outstanding Types Produced During This Period
A 64-page survey, published in Chicago by Robert O. Ballou, of the type faces issued in the United States over the previous twenty years.
What it is
A 64-page survey, published in Chicago by Robert O. Ballou, of the type faces issued in the United States over the previous twenty years. Frederic W. Goudy's introduction argues that copying the old masters is the safe road but not progress. McMurtrie splits the field into revivals, led by Morris Benton at the American Type Founders Company, and new designs, led by Goudy, and gives the reason new faces were needed: printing offices had moved from book work to display work for advertising. He explains Linn Boyd Benton's punch-cutting machine and how the Monotype and Linotype makers copied foundry faces. Then he judges dozens of faces, from 471 Caslon, Bodoni, Kennerley, Cloister, Garamond and Baskerville to Cheltenham, Cooper Black and the new cursive capitals, each printed with the same opening lines of the Gettysburg Address and each given a short verdict.
Why read it now
The method is the part to keep. McMurtrie held the copy constant, one passage at one size in every face, so the only thing that changed was the letter. That is a fair test, and it is how creative should be compared now: same message, same size, one variable. Most of his rules still hold. Type serves the reader first, a family needs enough contrast in stroke weight to work at many sizes, and novelty faces belong in headlines, not in body text. Later research agrees that ease of reading shapes judgment: Song and Schwarz (2008) found that exercise instructions set in a hard-to-read font made the routine seem harder and people less willing to try it. What has dated: the metal and machine detail, the foundry politics, and his claim that advertising messages are always brief, which the long-copy mail-order ads of the same decade disproved. Use: when choosing Arabic and Latin fonts for a Gulf brand, set your real offer line in each candidate at the size and on the screen where it will run, and compare them side by side.
Passages worth keeping
Advertising messages are always brief. They are generally set off by ample white space. And the effect of the small type blocks must be as beautiful as complete legibility permits.
الإعلانات في رأيه قصيرة تحيط بها مساحات بيضاء، ولذلك يجب أن تكون كتل النص الصغيرة جميلة بقدر ما تسمح به سهولة القراءة.
Letters are to be read, not to be used as practice models for designers, or to be molded by caprice or ignorance into fantastic forms of uncertain meaning.
الحروف وُجدت لتُقرأ، لا ليستعرض المصمم مهارته أو يحولها إلى أشكال غريبة يضيع معها المعنى.
The appearance of most commercial or magazine printing will be improved by the simple expedient of denying any variants of the Cheltenham design to the compositors.
حكم صريح على حرف كان منتشرًا جدًا: يكفي منع العمال من استخدامه لتتحسن معظم المطبوعات التجارية والمجلات.
Some advertisers require exceptionally bold and black types. Personally I do not see the necessity for them even to obtain smashing display.
لا يرى الكاتب حاجة إلى الحروف شديدة السواد حتى في العناوين القوية، وهذا رأي شخصي لا تؤيده دائمًا ممارسة الإعلان.
it seemed that the most intelligent form of presentation of the various faces, for purposes of comparison, would be to have the same copy set in uniform style in each type discussed.
لكي تكون المقارنة عادلة، طُبع النص نفسه بالأسلوب نفسه في كل حرف، فلا يختلف بين العينات إلا شكل الحرف.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.