ƒutur

futur
futu
 futura
simple process of making marks on paper
futura simple process of making marks on paper
This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven —If the Devil is Six then God is Seven by Elliot Earls

Editor/ Designer : Kathryn O’Neill

April 25, 2010

GDES 1314
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ light condensed
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z light condensed
The simple process of making marks on paper is less of an intellectual process than a biological process. 10pt
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ One must cultivate a feel for proportion, solidity, balance, etc. 12pt
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z light oblique condensed
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Manipulative skills, first person, hand/eye-coordinated, flesh based skills.14pt
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medium condensed
Excuse the digression, but when I talk about developing a
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
feel, I know that some of you are rolling your eyes.Some of
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z medium oblique condensed you may think that the term “feel” might be likened to the
0 1 2 3 4
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term “taste,” with all of its class overtones and
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bold condensed attendant critiques. 24/24pt light condensed oblique

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abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
What in jazz they call “chops,” and in design they call “fundamental graphic
bold oblique condensed exercises” — line rhythms, gradation, and figure/ground studies. 14/14pt
6 7 8 9
And what would those skills be to which one must dedicate him or herself only to eventually forget? 12pt
extra bold condensed I’m suggesting that one develops a feel not magically, or through attendance at the finest schools, but through rigorous application, and through
working damn hard at acquiring a set of very concrete skills, then forgetting them. 10/12pt
extra bold oblique

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condensed
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 medium condensed
When one is giving birth to a font not spawned directly from an existing model, what
is needed most is the establishment of a biological discourse between looking and
11/14pt drawing—between retina and cortex.

The Foundation Program at the School of Design in Basel,

Switzerland placed clear emphasis on understanding form
16/18pt through drawing.

medium condensed oblique

It is in traditional figure drawing studio classes that one learns that the mind must
11/14pt be quieted.

The hand and retina must move in symbiotic lock step as

16/18pt they both trace the physical line.

Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj
Condensed
Bold

12pt
14pt
18pt
VS
How do you design
letterforms?

Draw them big, with a ruling pen and Plaka,

and some Pro White.

Then draw them again.

Kick it old skool style.
14pt

12/14pt
18/24pt

Bold

Making them thinner here and thicker there.

Oblique

Sit back, evaluate them optically

Condensed
 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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CONDENSED 0
A
a
1
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b c d
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E F G H I J K L M N O
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p q r s t u
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v w x y z medium

CONDENSED 0
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a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z medium oblique
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A BCD EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU VWX YZ

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z book
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A BCD EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU VWX YZ
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a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z heavy
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a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z heavy oblique
Extra Bold Condensed 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

I stress that this process, in order to be ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

successful, is non-linguistic. 11/12pt a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z bold
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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The hand moves, the mark changes, a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z bold oblique
and the eye responds. 14/14pt 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
The eye, and how it relates to mark making, abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz extra bold
or more accurately, how it responds to the 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
mark made, is the most important thing. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
11/12pt
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz extra bold oblique
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Extra Bold Condensed Oblique


I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no
HEAVY MEDIUM LIGHT
correlation between time and quality, and that all
things historical are not necessarily bad. 11/14pt
BOOK
I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no
correlation between time and quality, and that all
11/14pt things historical are not necessarily bad.

The geezers didn’t get The geezers didn’t get

everything wrong. 16/18pt 16/18pt everything wrong.

I am resolute in my belief that there is

BOLD EXTRA
I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no
simply no correlation between time and
correlation between time and quality, and that all
quality, and that all things historical are
things historical are not necessarily bad. 11/14pt
11/14pt not necessarily bad.

The geezers didn’t get The geezers didn’t get

everything wrong. 16/18pt
16/18pt everything wrong.

I am resolute in my belief that there

I am resolute in my belief that there is simply no
correlation between time and quality, and that
all things historical are not necessarily bad.
is simply no correlation between
time and quality, and that all things
11/14pt
11/14pt historical are not necessarily bad.

The geezers didn’t get The geezers didn’t get

everything wrong. 16/18pt
16/18pt everything wrong.
 book
12/ 24pt Students who begin drawing book oblique

24 pt typefaces must first learn to look

oblique
at typefaces. I am often shocked and 14pt

amazed at my students first attempts 14pt

8pt to construct, for instance, the termination

of a stroke. It usually involves a student

using Fontographer. And when looking

20pt closely at the letterform, one often
light oblique 14/36 pt
Quite possibly the biggest challenge facing
notices a complete lack of rigor, coupled

book oblique 14/ 36pt

9pt with a hyperkinetic line quality, which almost
type designers who are just starting out is
always leaves me with the impression that

Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo
medium oblique 14/36pt
that most cannot see, nor can they draw
18pt I’m teaching type design to a class of
heavy oblique 14/36 pt
methamphetamine addicts. (Which I have found 10pt
(I should amend that slightly; most
is usually not the case.) One need look no
bold oblique 14/36 pt
haven’t looked, nor can they draw.)
11pt further than the plenitudinous offerings of

foundries such as T-26 or Garage Fonts to

find textbook examples of this undisciplined 12 pt

methamphetamine line.
 Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt

ë ö
» It’s through this p®ocess th@t one ¢an learn
tö trust nøt the mind, ßut the retinª. medium18/24pt
æ œ
The ability to see,(no, to feel) the correlation between the ruling pen, nib, chisel
1
and/or brush and the final letterform is essential.
Does this imply that all letterforms must have
serifs or strokes that are in some way informed 2
1. light 11/14pt
2. light 18/20pt by the ruling pen, nib, or chisel?
Although Modernism has become shorthand
for dogmatic, imperious, doctrinaire, dry and 3
anal, it is also rigorous, studied, quintessentially
optimistic and highly formal.

O
3. bold 14/18pt
4. bold 12pt
But anti-mastery comes after mastery. 4
futura uses geometirc In a recent Print magazine article, Kathy McCoy encourages educators to abandon
shapes such as hand-based exercises in favor of the computer. 5
5. medium 10/12pt
squares and circles to 6. medium 12/16pt The great artist or designer is
create its form. s/he who is no longer constricted by the rules.
6

As a matter of fact, some of the most

interesting typographic specimens bear no 7

correlation to these tools.

7. extra bold 14/18pt

Of course not! 8. extra bold 24/30pt 8

simple simple simple simple I would absolutely agree if it pertains to typographic skills for tracking,
24pt light condensed medium condensed bold condensed extra bold condensed kerning, leading, comping, font selection, etc. 9

24pt light medium bold extra bold I would completely disagree when it comes to the
simple simple simple simple
10
9. heavy 11/14pt typographic skills of letterform design.
10. heavy 14/18pt
 BOLDER
“Type design has lost its
urgency, and has regained
its soul.” extra bold oblique 24/30 pt

“God (or the Devil,or

possibly both) is in the
details.” bold oblique 18/30 pt

Colophon. This type specimen book is comprised of

the Futura std family font which was designed in 1928 by german

Well, back the f@*k up. heavy oblique 14/30pt artist/painter Paul Renner
futura