Characteristics, Personalities, Rhythm & Flow

Communications Studio I Project 3: Typeface

Bon Bhakdibhumi
11 min readDec 1, 2020

Project Overview

The focus of this project will be on the typeface: Caslon. By studying its unique forms, history, and usage, I hope to understand the basic typographic vocabulary and develop a keen eye for details in letterforms. In addition, I will also be experimenting with typesetting to achieve excellent readability in my design. Combining this knowledge with the 6 principles of design (Unity/Harmony, Balance, Hierarchy, Scale/Proportion, Dominance/Emphasis, and Similarity/Contrast), I will create a magazine spread for the typeface Caslon as a final deliverable.

Understanding Basic Typographic Terms & Researching Caslon

Nov 21, 2020

For this initial stage of the project, I began by searching up typographic terminology. To become familiar with typographic elements, I tried to identify them in the typeface sheet Vicki gave us. Next, I read about Caslon’s historical context, characteristics, and application.

Identifying Basic Typographic Elements
Notes from Research

Caslon Facts

Here are some noteworthy facts about Caslon:

Historical Context

  • Caslon was created by William Caslon in the early 18th century (possibly 1772) during The Age of Enlightenment and a little bit before the rise of The Industrial Revolution in London, England.
  • William Caslon was commissioned to design a typeface for the New Testament.
  • The typeface was created by punchcutting.
  • Caslon was the first original English typeface and marked the rise of English typography.
  • It was also widespread in the American colonies and was used in the first copy of The Declaration of Independence.

Characteristics

  • Caslon is an Old Style typeface(subtle difference between thick and thin lines).
  • It is known for its legibility(setting a new standard during the era).
  • Serifs are always bracketed.
  • Head serifs are almost angled.
  • short ascenders and descenders.

Here are some more details on Caslon’s characteristics…

Application

  • Having high legibility, Caslon is mostly used for body text.
  • The typeface can be found in books, essays, and scholarly articles.
  • It is very versatile; “When in doubt, use Caslon!”

Crafting a Narrative

I moved on to writing a narrative for the typeface. I started by listing out adjectives that best represent the typeface.

Adjectives

List of Adjectives

From this list, the three words that best represent Caslon were:

Graceful, Classic, & Immaculate

Essay

Next, I began writing my essay and my 50-words statement which would become the body copy of my magazine spread. The essay would give some context about the typeface and its characteristics. The main audience of this work would be the general public; people outside the design field should be able to understand this essay.

Essay
50-Words Statement

Creating the Typeface Spread

Nov 24, 2020

Making Thumbnail Sketches

For this next part of the project, I started creating thumbnail sketches for my spread. As I didn’t know what my imagery would be yet, my thumbnails can be divided into two categories: one highlighted the unique characteristics of the letterforms in Caslon, and the other provided basic layouts with placeholders for potential images. In my sketches, I played with white space, scale, and extending elements across the gutter, trying to achieve interesting layouts while still maintaining visual balance.

Thumbnail Sketches

Finding Images

To encapsulate the feeling of Caslon, the images I looked at were mostly representative of the 18th Century aesthetic. Through these pictures, I hoped to capture the grandeur and gracefulness that is evident in the typeface. I started by looking at old buildings–especially in England, the birthplace of the typeface–then at neo-classical artworks and early 18th Century attires. I also played with converting pictures to black and white, which added a more classic feel to them.

Typesetting and Applying Imagery

As I moved on to designing the actual spread, I used my thumbnails to guide my process. However, after making my first iteration, I realized that the images I found didn’t quite fit the proportion of the sketches I created. Therefore, I changed my approach to building the spread around the image on it, hoping that the image would unify the different elements of the spread. I also tried to extend different elements across the gutter in an attempt to create cohesion between the two pages.

For my first couple of iterations, I decided to play with the picture of the Elizabeth tower, a landmark in London. This picture helped lay the context for the typeface as London is its birthplace. The tower’s classic look also aligned well with the typeface’s characteristics. Later, I moved to experiment with using Caslon’s letterforms as the imagery for my spread. One glyph that I was drawn to was the ampersand, which is undoubtedly, one of the most unique glyphs I had ever seen. After experimenting with different type sizes, I found that 9/12 seemed to work best, so I decided to use this for my iterations.

Initial Explorations

Feedback

  1. Don’t forget that the ultimate goal is readability. Focus on typesetting more.

2. Use the proportion of letterforms to inform typesetting decisions. Think about hang lines, column width, etc.

3. Play with negative space. How can negative space support the flow of my layout?

Revising My Spread

Dec 1, 2020

Revisiting Typesetting

While working on my first couple iterations, I was too immersed in the imagery; I got lost in trying to incorporate my picture with the text and was not aware of the bigger picture. Taking time away from the spreads and now looking at my iterations from farther away, I saw that the spreads were too crowded; there was just too much going on, thus, decreasing the overall readability.

To resolve this problem, I decided to first create a layout with only text, then, work the image around that to achieve high readability and a good visual balance. Keeping Vicki’s recommendation in mind, I used the different letters in Caslon to create my layouts. The letters helped me establish hang lines, baselines, and column width in various proportions. To allow for more negative space, I also cut down on my text, taking away 170~180 words from my essay.

Using my typeface letterforms to guide my layout

Revisiting Images

After carefully generating a range of ideas for the type on my spread, I then started putting in images once again. Still drawn to images of old European buildings, I began placing in the image of London that I used before, tweaking them to fit the layout while considering the entry point, exit point, scale, and negative space.

Layouts utilizing old buildings for imagery

Although I was more satisfied with these new spreads than my first set of iterations, I wanted to continue exploring the possibilities of using images. Therefore, I went back to my image folder and chose another image to play with.

I chose to use the image of a woman in a rococo dress as it also provides a good context for the spread. The rococo style became popular during the Enlightenment when the educated middle class (bourgeoisie) gained influence in salons and cafes, which was during the same time Caslon was created. The dress–in many ways– also resembles Caslon’s visual characteristics; it is very graceful and has a baroque-esque feel to it.

Changing Imagery

Looking at what I created, I really enjoyed the imagery and tried using the ornaments that came with the typeface to create a distinct entry point and frame the text. Moving on, I would try extending the image over the gutter. But before I did so, I scheduled a meeting with Jaclyn to get some feedback.

Feedback

  1. Think about how you can extend the movement in the fabric to your right page. Some nice movements are going on there. How can you incorporate that into your text?
  2. Adding a tint of color to your black and white picture might create more depth to the spread. Play with that.
  3. Ornaments might be too much, especially if you are planning on extending the picture over the gutter.

Final Stretch: Finishing My Spread

Keeping Jaclyn’s feedback in mind, I continued developing my spread. I decided to move the image up and extend it across the gutter so that fabric flows from the left page to the right. Next, I adjusted my columns’ positions. I tried to align so the natural line of flow from the image continues to the text. I also took away the ornaments as they were in the way of the image and made the two pages less cohesive.

Tweaking the Spread

Meeting with Vicki

Since I had been staring at my spread for the entire day, and Vicki had not seen any of my progress apart from my initial exploration and sketches, it was nice to have a pair of fresh eyes to look at my work.

To increase the neatness of my spread, Vicki showed me how to align the baselines of two columns, adding a touch of completeness to my spread. Next, she taught me how to choose the appropriate drop cap size(usually no less than 3 lines but no more than 8 lines). It is really important to pay attention to these small, subtle details as they can help bolster the craft of my work.

On the macro level, Vicki walked me through how I can further incorporate the flow of the image into the text, uniting the visual language of the two pages even more. Utilizing my 20-word short statement I had on one of my spreads, Vicki showed me when it is appropriate to challenge the typesetting convention. The statement used unconventional margins, mimicking the flow of the fabric. The three adjectives were set in the same manner on the left page. Altogether, the changes helped create an interesting visual balance and harmony between the two pages, and a more distinct hierarchy for the spread. This was a 😮 (wow) moment for me and broaden my horizons on how text can be arranged.

Small Changes

I touched up my spread by adding a spot color to emphasize the short statement I had. The color I chose was a shade of red on the rococo dress before I turned the picture black and white. I added other small elements at the bottom of the pages to give my spread a more complete look.

The Spread I Brought to Crit

Feedback

Here was the feedback from my peers, professors, and the two guest designers:

  1. Let the all caps at the top breathe. Adjust kerning or change to mixed caps so it doesn’t pop out too much.
  2. Is the picture even necessary? Maybe the words are enough.

Final Touches

Dec 17, 2020

I came back to my spread during my final meeting with Vicki for Project 4. Vicki gave me some advice on fine-tuning the rags at the end of the first three sentences. By shifting the drop cap to the left and doing manual tracking adjustment, I can allow more space and resolve the awkwardness at the end of lines. We also talked about when to use optical kerning versus metrics kerning and the differences between kerning and tracking, which I was confused about. I then decreased the size of my footer and header to make them pop out less. Overall, I did not change much as I believed I have brought my spread to a pretty good point and didn’t want to overthink or overdo my spread.

Final Spread

Reflection

Although this project felt a bit rushed because of the class missed during Thanksgiving break, it was a great introduction to typesetting and typeface analysis. I enjoyed researching and creating a narrative for the typeface giving meaning to the work I did. Seeing the spread slowly came to life was also very rewarding since at first I wasn’t sure what direction to take this project in. Moreover, from this project, I am now more sensitive to small details in typographic work and their contribution to the composition of a work.

Besides the technical knowledge I gained, this project also helped me build an effective approach to my work. Since the spread had to be fully developed in the time span from Tueaday’s class to before Thursday’s class, I got a bit overwhelmed as imagery, scale, color, and other aspects of design ran around in my head like crazy. However, after stepping back from the work, I was able to break down the process into simpler steps; first I dealt with the text, then I moved on to the imagery, and later, I built up upon that. Although, now, I see that all the projects I have done so far utilized this approach, this was the first time I was really aware of it. While no projects will have a definitive, linear approach, to create something well-designed, it is imperative to break the process down into simpler steps, approach each step with thorough care, build upon the step before, and not feel overwhelmed by the complexity–or what might seem as “complex”–presented.

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Bon Bhakdibhumi
Bon Bhakdibhumi

Written by Bon Bhakdibhumi

Hi! I am a design student at Carnegie Mellon University.

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