Tuesday, September 29, 2009
caslon
caslon
- Who designed it, dates of birth and death: William Caslon designed the Caslon font. He lived from 1692 until 1766.
- When was the font designed? The font was designed around 1722.
- Which classification does it belong to? Caslon falls into the Transitional classification.
Transitional or baroque serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century. They are among the most common, including such widespread typefaces as Times New Roman (1932) and Baskerville (1757). They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional." Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts.
- Name three fonts that are from the same classification: Times New Roman, Baskerville, Wyld
- What was happening in the world when this font was designed?
Czar Peter the Great begins civil system
Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st U.S. divinity professor (Harvard)
Afghan monarch Mir Mahmud occupies Persia
Willem K. H. Friso appointed mayor of Drente
Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island
Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards
19 VOC "komplotteurs" in Batavia executed
Game of Billiards is mentioned in New England Courant
Pierre de Marivaux' "La Double Inconstance," premieres in Paris
Hungarian Parliament condemns emperor Karel VI's Pragmatic Sanctions
Russian troops occupy Baku and Derbent on Persia
French C. Hopffer patents fire extinguisher
Willem KH Friso (11) appointed viceroy of Gelderland
Richard Steele's "Conscious Lovers," premieres in London
- Other fonts William Calson designed include, ITC Caslon, Caslson Graphique and Calson Bold.
- Designer History: William Calson:
William Caslon, also known as William Caslon I (1692–1766-01-23) was an English gunsmith and designer of typefaces. He was born at Cradley, Worcestershire, and in 1716 started business in London as an engraver of gun locks and barrels, and as a bookbinder's tool cutter. Having contact with printers, he was induced to fit up a type foundry, largely through the encouragement of William Bowyer. The distinction and legibility of his type secured him the patronage of the leading printers of the day in England and on the continent.
Caslon's typefaces were inspired by the Dutch Baroque types, the most commonly used types in England before Caslon's faces. His work influenced John Baskerville and are thus the progenitors of the typeface classifications Transitional (which includes Baskerville, Bulmer, and Fairfield), and Modern (which includes Bell, Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum).
Caslon typefaces were immediately popular and used for many important printed works, including the first printed version of the United States Declaration of Independence. Caslon's types became so popular that the expression about typeface choice, "when in doubt, use Caslon," came about. The Caslon types fell out of favour in the century after his death, but were revived in the 1840s. Several revivals of the Caslon types are widely used today.
The grave of William Caslon is preserved in the churchyard of St Luke Old Street, London.
Caslon Foundry
William Caslon founded the Caslon Foundry at around 1720, which became the leading English typefoundry of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
After the death of William Caslon I, his son William Caslon II took over the Caslon Foundry business, which lasted until William Caslon IV sold the foundry to Blake, Garnett & Co. In 1792, William Caslon III sold his share of Caslon Foundry to his mother and his sister-in-law, the widow of his brother Henry. In the same year, William Caslon III purchased the Salisbury Square foundry from the recently deceased Joseph Jackson, and renamed it to Caslon & Son. In 1807, Caslon & Son was passed to William Caslon IV. In 1819, William Caslon IV sold the Caslon & Son to the new Sheffield foundry of Blake, Garnett & Co. In 1837, the Caslon Foundry became the property of Stephenson, Blake & Co. The family of William Caslon III's sister-in-law kept the main Caslon foundry running until 1937, when Stephenson Blake acquired the remaining H.W. Caslon & Sons foundry.
H. W. Caslon and Company Limited
In 1998, Justin Howes reestablished the Caslon foundry, under the name H. W. Caslon & Company Limited, with an expanded version of ITC Founder’s Caslon as the company's initial product. However, following the death of Justin Howes in 2005, the revived H.W. Caslon & Company was no longer in business, and the expanded Founders Caslon is no longer offered in retail market.
- Quote about Caslon font:
"The typographical epitome of the English baroque."
— Robert Bringhurst
Font Classification
Define and give 3 examples of fonts that fit each classification listed below...
- Old Style- Bembo, Caslon, Garamond
- Transitional- Baskerville, Caslon, Perpetua
- Modern- Bodoni, Bauer Bodoni, Walbaum
- Slab Serif- Rockwell, Memphis Clarendon, New Century Schoolbook
- Sans Serif- Futura, Foilio, Gotham, Avant Garde
- Script- Banco, Brush, Inform
- Blackletter- Textura, Uncial, Rotunda
- Grunge- Addlethorpe, Airflo, Alta Bold
- Monospaced- Letter Gothic, Lucida Typewriter, MICR std
- Undeclared- Optima, Copperplate Gothic
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
why is univers unique?!
Univers is unique because it is one of the first familys of uniform
font. With a sans serif font that includes a higher x-height and
even stroke weight to improve legibility. The Univers grid is grid,
or a chart which shows the different variations of the font
based on stroke weight and kerning.
adrian!
Adrian Fruitger
Adrian Fruitger was born on May 24, 1928. He is famous in the world of type because he was one of the best type designers in the 20th century. His most famous works are creating the typefaces Univers and Fruitger.
Adrian was born in Switzerland. His father was a weaver giving Adrian some art experience at an early age. As a child Adrian didn’t follow the correct guidelines for penmanship at school and was also getting in trouble for creating different ways of writing. Because of this his teachers recommended that he work as a printer for a profession.
When Adrian was sixteen he was an apprentice for the printer Otto Schaerffli. Then Adrian decided to the to a school for fine arts. At school he learned a lot about calligraphy since this is what he was most interested in. He became very interested in hand making type by mixing different kinds of media.
Soon after he finished school a company hired him by the name of Deberny and Peignot. There he designed the typefaces “President”, “Phoebus” and “Ondine”.
His career took off and he became a famous designer creating more typefaces and becoming more interested in many different looking kinds of type.
Adrian Fruitger continues to work and reside near Bern, and will most likely keep designing until his death.
What makes Baskerville unique?
Baskerville is different from other fonts because of its unique use of thicks and thins to create contrast.
Johnny
John Baskerville
John Baskerville was born on January 28, 1706 in Birmingham. After he finished school he became a printer in Birmingham, and a member of the Lunar Society. Baskerville later opened up his own business. The business was mainly offering services of the printing sort but include japanning and papier-mâché as well. One of his famous works is the Bible he printed for Cambridge University in 1758. Around this time he gained more popularity and his style (font) became known as ‘Baskerville’. His typeface was more modern, and dealt with a lot of contrast between the thickness of the lines used and the serifs. His works besides having a different typeface were slightly larger in page size, had wider margins, and had a great deal of thought and craftsmanship. John Baskerville prided himself on his new more type forward thinking and workmanship. After Johns Baskerville’s wife died he became extremely depressed and stopped printing. He then sold most of his type to private businesses and the wealthy. The Beaumarchais, a wealthy family, bought most of his types. Soon after John Baskerville died. Although his later years he didn’t produce much he has still made his mark in the world of type.
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