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Spacing
Home
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TYPE
DESIGN
Design
notes
Basics
Decisions
Modules
Bold
Italic
Scans
Spacing
Method
Capitals
Lower
case
Numerals
Imitation
Joined
letters
Bad
shapes
Kerning
fun
Useful
texts
Elbow
grease
Glossary
The
old
Jan Tschichold, one of the great typographers of the
twentieth century, published in 1952 some examples of good
spacing and bad (Meisterbuch der Schrift, Otto Maier
Verlag, Ravensburg). He made these
comments.
“Legible,
and attractive.”
“Unsatisfactory. A thicket of letters. Frequent
mistake.”
Tschichold
examples were meant to “serve not just the
moment,” as he put it, but provide a lasting standard
for lettering and typography. But time passed. Technology
moved on. Tastes changed.
The
new
In 1950, two years before Tschichold’s treatise, the
Stempel typefoundry released Hermann Zapf's Palatino. (It,
too, has changed.)
This
example of Palatino was scanned from a sample of the first
version. The letter A slants slightly to the right and has a
high bar. The second arms of the letters E and F have no
serifs. The curve of the letter D is unusually high.
The design stood out. The lettershapes were striking. The
spacing was tight. (I thank my friends at Linotype for
copies of the original work
drawings.)
Forty years later, Palatino has changed. In proportions and
lettershapes, it is closer to conventional text faces. It
has more serifs.
The
spacing is even tighter and more demanding. What Tschichold
condemned, Hermann Zapf practised. It carried the
day.
