Superfamily blackletter typeface9/4/2023 Gutenberg created and perfected small metal single letters and characters called moveable type which revolutionised printing. Both methods were incredibly time consuming, extremely expensive and prone to error, all of which made them impractical for mass production. Prior to Blackletter, manuscripts were scribed by hand or were printed from hand carved wooden blocks. Created by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in the 15th century, Blackletter had a profound impact on written communication. A typeface is a collection of fonts which share the same name and aesthetic and is sometimes referred to as a font family which leaves the individual size and style of a typeface being known as the font, for example, Helvetica 12 point Bold.īlackletter is generally considered the world’s first typeface. Today, the terms ‘typeface’ and ‘font’ are generally used interchangeably although technically they are in fact different. So here’s a whistle stop tour to give you a broad overview. So how much do you know about typography, it’s history, how we use it and the impact it has on your design? Unless you’re a type designer or a scholar of historical letterforms, probably not much. The art of choosing a typeface for a particular branding project or design brief comes down to a mixture of skill, experience and intuition, but the background behind the decision is firmly rooted in history. Typography and choice of typeface is far more than simply making words legible it is how we make content work with layout and it is absolutely fundamental to good design. As with everything visual, how the written word looks is just as important as what it says and the power of effective typography should never be under-estimated. Typography is, quite simply, the art and technique of designing and arranging type. Typeoff have an excellent Blackletter resource page.As a design agency and particularly one with a core focus on branding, typography is a big part of our every day and is central to our work. I love typography has a nice article about Moyenage, a blackletter typeface for a modern age.Ĭreative Pro discusses Amador, a new blackletter font. If you’d like to lend a medieval look to your design, there are now a huge number of free blackletter fonts available to download. Other familiar sightings include newspaper nameplates where it may be considered the font lends gravitas to the publication.īlackletters have more recently become associated with beer labels, heavy metal bands, gangsta’ rap and oh, Disneyland. If you’ve received a certificate, diploma or degree there is a strong chance some or all of the text was set in Blackletter. Check out the Eye Magazine article on the meaning of type for more on this topic.Īs already mentioned, these typefaces are not easy to read in body text so they are best used for headings, logos, posters and signs. Some people associate all blackletters as Nazi fonts but this is clearly an uneducated view and wipes out several hundred years of the typefaces’ history. The Nazis continued to use Fraktur extensively until 1941 when it was replace with more readable fonts. In 1933 Hitler declared the new typography to be un-German and declared Fraktur to be “Volk”, i.e. In the 1920’s it was considered to be antiquated by German designers and publishers and fell out of favor and was replaced by the “New Typography” of sans serif typefaces. Germany continued to use Blackletters until the early twentieth century. For these reasons, in the 1500’s, blackletter became less popular for printing in many countries except Germany and the German speaking countries. Blackletters are difficult to read as body text and Roman and Italic faces were easier to print with movable type. While Gutenberg used blackletters for his bible and books, this signaled a new era in typefaces used for printing. Image Credit: Wikipedia (with small change by the author) It’s beyond the scope of this article to go into each one, but if you look at the letter “o” in the chart below you will see the difference. Over time a wide variety of different blackletters appeared, but four major families can be identified: Textura, Rotunda, Schwabacher and Fraktur. They evolved in Western Europe from the mid twelfth century. Blackletter typefaces are based on early manuscript lettering. This style of typeface is recognizable by its dramatic thin and thick strokes, and in some fonts, the elaborate swirls on the serifs. The Blackletter typeface (also sometimes referred to as Gothic, Fraktur or Old English) was used in the Guthenburg Bible, one of the first books printed in Europe.
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