didot

Edited and designed by Caroline Penca, GDES 1314.02

didot
didot
Text from The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert
Bringhurst
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R ST UVW XY Z
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(regular, 18 pt., center justified)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R ST UVW XY Z
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(bold, 18 pt., center justified)

Like oratory, music, dance, calligraphy

-like anything that lends its grace to language -
typography is an art that can be deliberately misused.
It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning)
can be clarified, honored and shared, or knowingly disguised.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R ST UVW XY Z
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(headline, 18 pt., center justified)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R ST UVW XY Z
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(italic, 18 pt., center justified)
 1234567890!@#$% ^&*()

There is a style beyond style.

There is a style beyond style.
(regular, 12, 24 pt.)

There is a style beyond style.

Literary style, says Walter Benjamin, “is the power to
move freely in the length and breadth of linguistic
thinking without slipping into banality.”Typographic
1234567890!@#$% ^&*()

1234567890!@#$% ^&*()
style, in this large and intelligent sense of the word,
does not mean any particular style my style or your
style, or Neoclassical or Baroque style - but the
power to move freely through the whole domain of

(headline, 12, 24 pt.)

(bold, 12, 24 pt.)

typography, and to function at every step in a way

that is graceful and vital instead of banal. It means
typography that can walk familiar ground without
sliding into platitudes, typography that responds
to new conditions with innovative solutions, and
typography that does not vex the reader with its
own originality in a self-conscious search for praise.
Typography at its best is a slow performing art,
worthy of the same informed appreciation that
we sometimes give to musical performances, and
capable of giving similar nourishment and pleasure
in return. (regular, 12 pt, center justified)
1234567890!@#$% ^&*()

There is a style beyond style.

(italic, 24, 12 pt.)
 Even an
Letters have a life and dignity of their own. Letterforms that h
honored in their turn. Well-chosen words deserve well-chosen
intelligence, knowledge and skill. Typography is a link, and it

Shakesp
as strong as the others in the chain. Yet in order to be read, it
with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesqu
not immunity to change, but a clear superiority to fashion. T
timelessness and time. One of the principles of durable typo

certain
legibility: some earned or unearned interest that gives its liv
various names, including serenity, liveliness, laughter, grace
In a world rife with unsolicited messages
text:
attention to itself before it will
(bold, 16 pt., left aligned)
pa
be read.

Letterforms have tone, timbre num

and character,just as words the c a
what the typographer must se
must play, is simply passage publis w
n edition of Plato or
honor and elucidate what humans see and say deserve to be
n letters; these in their turn deserve to be set with affection,
ought, as a matter of honor, courtesy and pure delight, to be

peare will contain a

t must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography
ue transparency. Its other traditional goal is durability:
Typography at its best is a visual form of language linking
ography is always legibility; another is something more than

n amount of routine
ving energy to the page. It takes various forms and goes by
and joy. (headline, 16 pt., left aligned)
s, typography must often draw
age numbers, scene
mbers,
e, textual notes
and sentences do.
copyright claim, the Some of
et, like what any musician
sher’s name
work. (italic, 48 pt, left aligned)
(regular, 50 pt., right aligned)
 The func
as I understand it,
(regular, 48 pt.)

The satisfactions of the

and perhaps even ennobling, the text,
by applying scents, paints an
(italic 18 pt., ce

But humble texts, such as classified ads or the

telephone directory, may profit as much as
anything else from a good typographical bath and
a change of clothes. (heaadline 20 pt.)
ction of typography,
is neither to further the power of witches
nor to bolster the defences of those, like this
unfortunate parliamentarian who live in terror
of being tempted and decieved. (bold 18 pt.)
craft come from elucidating,
not from deluding the unwary reader
nd iron stays to empty prose.
enter justified.)

e
s

And man
d
)

(regular, 100 pt.)

 & many a book
(regular, 42 pt.)

& many a book

(italic, 42 pt.)

(bold, 42 pt.) & many a book

& many a book
(headline, 42 pt.)

The moment a text and a typeface are

chosen, two streams of

ny a book
like many a warrior
or dancer
or priest of either sex, (italic, 24 pt., left aligned)
may look well with some paint
on its face, (regular, 30 pt., left aligned)

or a bone in its nose.

(bold, 36 pt, left aligned)

thought,
thought,
thought,
thought, (bold, 72 point)

two rythmical systems, two sets of habits,

or if you like, two personalities, intersect.
(bold, 24 point, right and left alilgned)
The typographer’s one
essential task is to interpret
and communicate the text.
(regular, 30 pt, left aligned)

The typographer is to the te

to the script, or the m (bold, 30 pt
In poetry and drama, a larger typographic
palette is sometimes required. Some of Doug-
lass Parker’s translations from classical Greek
and Dennis Tedlock’s translations from Zuni
use roman, italic bold, small caps and full
caps in various sizes to emulate the dynamic
markings of music.(headline, 18 pt, right aligned)
 Robert Massin’s typographic performances of Eugene
Ionesco’s plays use intersecting lines of type, streched and
melted letters, inkblots, pictograms, and a separate type-
face for each person in the play. xIn the works of other
artists such as Guillaume Apollinaire and Guy Davenport,
boundaries between author and designer sometimes van-
ish. Writing merges with typography, and the text becomes
its own illustration.(headline, 14 pt, left aligned.)

ext as the theatrical director

musician to the score.
t., centered)

Its tone, tempo, its logical

structure, its physical size, all
determine the possibilities of its
typographic form. (italic, 32 pt., right aligned)
colophon
Didot was created by Firmin Didot of the Didot
typefoundry in the late 1700’s. Didot is known for it’s
characteristic contrast between thicks and thins and is a
neoclassical font.
But just as a good musician can make a
heart-wrenching ballad from just a few banal
words and a trivial tune,

so the typographer can make poignant and

lovely typography from bibliographical
paraphernalia and textual chaff.