These, the forerunners of today’s pocket-size books, utilized another of Aldus’ unique innovations. Aldus correctly recognized a market for a smaller, easily transportable book which would fit conveniently in a pocket or saddlebag. Books of that time were very large, usually read while being supported by a lectern. He was quite adept at marketing his products to the upperclass and university scholars.Īmong Aldus’ many innovations was publishing personal versions of the classics in a small format which was easy to carry. All of the type designs which we call Old Style can be traced back the design of Bembo.Īldus is best known as a entrepreneur who devised many creative innovations in the process of realizing his business goals.

Its popularity spread throughout Europe and remained the major influence in type design for the next hundred and fifty years. The typeface, called Bembo after the manuscript’s author, was a Roman design of great typographic significance. As they also were of the highest technical and aesthetic quality of their day, they were in great demand, and the typefaces they employed were widely copied by other printers.Īldus’ most important type, designed by Francesco Griffo, was created for a 60 page essay by Cardinal Pietro Bembo, in 1495. The most influential Venetian work came from Aldus Manutius, a printer and publisher whose books were reknowned for their authoritative scholarship. The Roman style eventually prevailed, as its readability and appeal to the eye were markedly superior to the weighty, harsh Gothic.īecause of its location and status as a center of trade, Venice became the focal point of type design and printing in the late 15th century. When printing came to Italy a few decades later, type design was derived from their more rounded Roman letter style.

The typefaces of Gutenberg’s first prints mimicked the Germanic Gothic or blackletter manuscript style - a heavy, broad-nibbed form, constructed with straight and angular strokes, with almost no curves. The numerals, called old style figures, vary in size and have ascenders and descenders.The tops of lowercase ascenders often exceed the height of the capital characters.small, coarse serifs, often with slightly concave bases.minimal variation of thick and thin strokes.relatively thick strokes and heavily bracketed or curved serifs.designed in a time when inks and paper were coarse and type technology was still rather rough.The concept of adhering to manuscript models was the basis of the first 300 years of type design, and typefaces designed during this period are referred to as Old Style. No stress in rounded strokes Detailed Outline.Little or no variation between thick and thin strokes.These Characteristics are basic to visual communication with type. The families of type represent more than 500 years of development and each family displays distinct visual Characteristics. Very little contrast between thin and thick strokes.Type design, freed from technical constraints, became eclectic.Extreme contrast between stokes and hairlines.Designed in a time when printing technology was refined by leaps and bounds.

Numerals are cap-height and consistent in size.The height of capitals matches that of ascenders.Wider, gracefully bracketed serifs with flat bases.Greater contrast between thick and thin stokes.Strokes and the serifs are more sculpted.Designed in a time when inks and paper were considerably smoother and type technology was refined.The typefaces of this period represent the initial departure from centuries of Old Style tradition and immediately predate the Modern period. Numerals, called old style figures, vary in size and have ascenders and descenders.Tops of lowercase ascenders often exceed the height of the capital characters.In the round strokes, the stress is diagonal, or oblique, as their designs mimic the hand-held angle of the pen nibs of the scribes.Small, coarse serifs, often with slightly concave bases.Minimal variation of thick and thin strokes.Relatively thick strokes and heavily bracketed or curved serifs.Designed in a time when inks and paper were coarse and type technology was still rather rough.The typographic form has evolved and in order to effectively analyze this typographic evolution, the design of type characters over the last five and a half centuries is most often broken down into classifications of common visual Characteristics, called families of type: There are five classifications of type you will need to become familiar with for this class.

Transitional typeface examples