Surveyor (typeface)

Last updated

Surveyor is a Didone serif typeface that recalls type found on engraved maps and charts. It was designed by Tobias Frere-Jones in 2001 as a custom typeface for use in Martha Stewart Living magazine and released publicly in March 2013, in a wider range of styles, by the type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones (now known as Hoefler&Co.).

Contents

Describing it Jonathan Hoefler said, "We had the twin goals of making a typeface that felt very handmade, to evoke the craft philosophy of the magazine, and that could handle all of the charts, tables, recipes, graphs, almanacs and step-by-step instructions that they run in the magazine. We had been waiting to do a typeface based on the distinct style of lettering you find on engraved maps.... A lot of the time, there are things that can be incorporated into the font that are relatively simple – like switching out an alternate character or interpolating a slightly different weight – that are easy for us to do in the process, but can save hundreds of hours in the client's production department." [1] [2] [3]

Surveyor has a vertical axis and a high contrast of stroke weight similar to Bodoni or Didot but a less strident, more organic, structure recalling early nineteenth century faces like Bell, Scotch Roman, and Thorowgood. The italics have a slightly more extreme forward slant than is common and curved strokes often terminate in a ball.

Styles

Surveyor's most notable feature is its extremely wide range of weights and styles, designed to provide many options for complex publications such as magazines. The typeface is created in weights from light to black, with italic styles offering designs with or without swashes. Swashes themselves are controlled programmatically so that they only appear where there is space for them, so words that are fully capitalised only have swashes at the start. It is also sold in three different optical sizes, for text printed in different sizes from small to large.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sans-serif</span> Typeface classification for letterforms without serifs

In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than serif typefaces. They are often used to convey simplicity and modernity or minimalism. For the purposes of type classification, sans-serif designs are usually divided into these major groups: § Grotesque and § Neo-grotesque, § Geometric, § Humanist and § Other or mixed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typeface</span> Set of characters that share common design features

A typeface is a design of letters, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size, weight, slope, width, and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodoni</span> Serif typeface

Bodoni is the name given to the serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) in the late eighteenth century and frequently revived since. Bodoni's typefaces are classified as Didone or modern. Bodoni followed the ideas of John Baskerville, as found in the printing type Baskerville—increased stroke contrast reflecting developing printing technology and a more vertical axis—but he took them to a more extreme conclusion. Bodoni had a long career and his designs changed and varied, ending with a typeface of a slightly condensed underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs, extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes, and an overall geometric construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italic type</span> Font style characterised by cursive typeface and slanted design

In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Along with blackletter and roman type, it served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caslon</span> Typeface with serifs

Caslon is the name given to serif typefaces designed by William Caslon I (c. 1692–1766) in London, or inspired by his work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoefler Text</span> Serif font by Jonathan Hoefler

Hoefler Text is an old-style serif font by Jonathan Hoefler released by Apple Computer Inc. in 1991 to showcase advanced type technologies. Intended as a versatile font that is suitable for body text, it takes cues from a range of classic fonts, such as designs by Miklós Kis and Jean Jannon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Hoefler</span> American type designer (born 1970)

Jonathan Hoefler is an American type designer. Hoefler founded the Hoefler Type Foundry in 1989, a type foundry in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didone (typography)</span> Classification of serif typefaces

Didone is a genre of serif typeface that emerged in the late 18th century and was the standard style of general-purpose printing during the 19th century. It is characterized by:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobias Frere-Jones</span> American type designer (born 1970)

Tobias Frere-Jones is an American type designer who works in New York City. He operates the company Frere-Jones Type and teaches typeface design at the Yale School of Art MFA program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Font</span> Particular size, weight and style of a typeface

In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece for each glyph. A typeface consists of various fonts that share an overall design.

Hoefler&Co. (H&Co) is a digital type foundry in Woburn, Massachusetts, founded by type designer Jonathan Hoefler. H&Co designs typefaces for clients and for retail on its website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarendon (typeface)</span> Slab serif typeface

Clarendon is the name of a slab serif typeface that was released in 1845 by Thorowgood and Co. of London, a letter foundry often known as the Fann Street Foundry. The original Clarendon design is credited to Robert Besley, a partner in the foundry, and was originally engraved by punchcutter Benjamin Fox, who may also have contributed to its design. Many copies, adaptations and revivals have been released, becoming almost an entire genre of type design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swash (typography)</span> Typographical flourish found on some letterforms, particularly in italics

A swash is a typographical flourish, such as an exaggerated serif, terminal, tail, entry stroke, etc., on a glyph. The use of swash characters dates back to at least the 16th century, as they can be seen in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi's La Operina, which is dated 1522. As with italic type in general, they were inspired by the conventions of period handwriting. Arrighi's designs influenced designers in Italy and particularly in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didot (typeface)</span> Serif typeface

Didot is a group of typefaces. The word/name Didot came from the famous French printing and type producing Didot family. The classification is known as modern, or Didone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Requiem (typeface)</span> Serif typeface

Requiem is an old-style serif typeface designed by Jonathan Hoefler in 1992 for Travel + Leisure magazine and sold by his company, Hoefler & Co. The typeface takes inspiration from a set of inscriptional capitals found in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi's 1523 writing manual, Il Modo de Temperare le Penne, and its italics are based on the chancery calligraphy, or cancelleresca corsiva of the period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overshoot (typography)</span> Overshoots are where letters extend.

In typeface design, the overshoot of a round or pointed letter is the degree to which it extends higher or lower than a comparably sized "flat" letter, to achieve an optical effect of being the same size; it compensates for inaccuracies in human visual perception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typeface anatomy</span> Graphic components of typeface letters


Typeface anatomy describes the graphic elements that make up letters in a typeface.

Typefaces are born from the struggle between rules and results. Squeezing a square about 1% helps it look more like a square; to appear the same height as a square, a circle must be measurably taller. The two strokes in an X aren't the same thickness, nor are their parallel edges actually parallel; the vertical stems of a lowercase alphabet are thinner than those of its capitals; the ascender on a d isn't the same length as the descender on a p, and so on. For the rational mind, type design can be a maddening game of drawing things differently in order to make them appear the same.

Memphis is a slab-serif typeface designed by Rudolf Wolf and released in 1929 by the Stempel Type Foundry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fat face</span> Style of display typeface and lettering

In typography, a fat face letterform is a serif typeface or piece of lettering in the Didone or modern style with an extremely bold design. Fat face typefaces appeared in London around 1805–1810 and became widely popular; John Lewis describes the fat face as "the first real display typeface."

References

  1. Twemlow, Alice. "Forensic Types". Eye Magazine. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  2. Fagone, Jason (2 June 2014). "A Type House Divided". New York . Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  3. McNaughton, Melanie (December 2010). "Martha Stewart's Graphic Design for Living". Bridgewater Review. Retrieved 7 October 2014.