Exercise 5: Typographers Past and Present

Giambattista Bodoni

Designed by Bodoni in 1798, Bodoni  is characteised by its stroke contrast and geometric design. It is also know for its unique roll in the spur of the "R" ligature. The typography Bodoni produced is still regarded as some of the most refined and structraul ever produced. Bodoni's large x-height and high contrast makes it suitable and easily legible in a wide variety of applications, from posters to books.

Jan van Krimpen

Van Krimpen (1892-1958) specialised in elegant book typefaces, especially for monotype printing presses. His serif font, Haalemmer, features smooth serifs that allow the ligatures to flow into the next. Although this font is not monospaced, it has a large x-height allowing for practical use in typesetting.

Max Miedinger

Max Miedinger is best known for his role in the development of Helvetica. Helvetica is a grotesque sans-serif font and is primarily used as a display type due to its high clarity, although it has seen a variety of different applications. It is notable for its Swiss design, balance and harmony between the positive and negative spaces. This harmony is often seen to attribute neutral meaning to the type, and no meaning in its form. Instead the meaning was attributed to the words and phrases that it formed and has lead to use in signage.