Studio Brief 1: Vignelli's Six Basic Typefaces research

"Out of thousands of typeface's, all we need are a few basic ones, and trash the rest."

The logotype brief focuses on the 6 typefaces that Vignelli suggests to be the only ones a designer would ever need to use. The task was to research all 6 and then decide on the most suitable one to manipulate for the logotype of our decided brand. I briefly researched all 6, but the ones most suitable were then done in a lot more depth.  

Garamond was designed by the French Renaissance punch cutter, Claude Garamond around 1530. It is seen to be an old-style serif typeface with a relatively organic structure resembling handwriting with a pen, but with a slightly more upright structure. The typeface is known for its elegance and readability, allowing it to be used for a number of applications. The anatomy of each letter means that on as a whole, the text takes up less space than other typefaces, but the readability is not reduced because of it. 

Helvetica was designed in the late 1950s by Max Miedinger who also collaborated with Eduard Hoffmann. The starting point was 'Akzidenz Grotesk' which needed to be made more neutral and universal. The characteristics of the typeface is that it has rounded sans-serifs, large x-heights, oval counters and the 'a' is double-storied with a teardrop counter.

Bodoni is a typeface designed by Giambattista Bodoni and the aim was to produce a geometric appearance and extreme contrasts between thick and thin strokes. The ascenders and descenders appear long in comparison to x-height, making it less legible as a text typeface, it is mainly used as display type. The typeface is commonly used by fashion brands 

Times New Roman was designed in 1929 by typographer Stanley Morison. It is named after 'The Times' newspaper as this is what it was designed for. It is a workhorse font as it is designed for a purpose, making it slightly narrower than other text fonts. The typeface has short ascenders and descenders with sharp bracketed serifs. The adaptations to make this Times 'NEW' Roman all add to making look more professional and easier to read when used in large pieces of texts. 

Futura was designed by German type designer Paul Renner, between 1924 and 1926. The geometric proportions of the typeface means that there are no extra frills or serifs. This typeface was purely functional and the form followed. The typeface uses perfect circles, triangles and squares in each of the letters. The typeface is popularly used for corporate logos, commercial products, films and advertisements for years. The tittles are the same thickness as the letters, making them very bold and brave.

Century was designed by Linn Boyd Benton with the purpose to be used in Century magazine 1896. The aim was to design a perfectly legible typeface as each letterform has its own characteristics. This is like the human handwriting, so this makes Century an easy one to engage with and understand. 

Bodoni

"I don't believe that when you write dog the type should bark!"