Fraktur, Type Style

Fraktur typeface founded in the early 15th Century, came from ‘Fracture’ in Latin established after the gothic textura. This explains why the letters are broken into sharp angles. It was often used until the end of the great World War II mainly in Germany having the first German newspaper printed in this particular type style and also documenting birth certificates and land purchases by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Now occasionally used by the American Journalists writing their mastheads and also found on beer steins.

References
http://german.about.com/od/readinggerman/a/fraktur.htm
http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/SearchPage.htm?kid=Fraktur

Aashni Shah

Bodoni, Giambattista

Giambattista Bodoni was an Italian printer and typographer born in Saluzzo, Italy in 1740. He is most renowned for designing a typeface now known as Bodoni (see fig 1). Both his father and grandfather were printers, and his first apprenticeship was one of a high standard — Propaganda Fire, the Vatican's printing house in Rome. He finished his apprenticeship and thanks to his dedication, enthusiasm and skill attained management at the Royal Press, the press of the Duke of Parma. The printing house was a great success, and it was not long before his own works made an appearance. The success lead to the Duke allowing Bodoni to open a printing house of his own, the Officina Bodoni, with which he produced more than 300 typefaces. The Bodoni typeface is characterised by its contrast of the thick main body of the letterform and the thin, sharp serifs (the short lines at the ends of the strokes of the letter). This contrast makes the font look delicate and fragile yet still evokes an edginess, qualities which many designers seek to obtain. Bodoni's typeface has had a huge impact on contemporary typography with Bodoni-esque font being used widely within all aspects of design.

Bibliography
Books
Cleland, T.M, (1916) Giambattista Bodoni of Parma, Society of Printers, Boston.
Internet
B-net. 2009. Giambattista Bodoni: King of typographer, typographer of kings. [Online] Available at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3992/is_200107/ai_n8978403/ [Accessed 27 October 2009]
Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2009. Giambattista Bodoni. [Online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/71084/Giambattista-Bodoni [Accessed on 27 October 2009]

Scott English

Bembo, Pietro

Pietro Bembo was an Italian cardinal who made himself an important figure in the history/development of Italian language. Literary theorist and writer Bembo’s ideas and interests were important to redefine literary interests in his XV century Italy. He was born in 1470, Venice. During his lifetime he was dedicated to the study of Italian literature, and wrote himself a treatise about Italian poetry that latter became his most notorious work; Prose della vulgar lingua. His ideas were also important in the formation of the musical form called madrigal. The typeface named Bembo was named after him.

Rafael Camisassa

Akzindenz Grotesk, Typeface

Akzindenz Grotesk is a sans serif typeface which was first published in the late 1800s (under the title Accindenz Grotesk) by one of the most successful and largest foundries in the whole world, the German type foundry H.Berthold. Akzindenz Grotesk was the first sans serif to be used across the board as it became popular and known by the public immediately. This typeface is seen everywhere as it is very useful to use it in magazines, newspaper headlines, price lists, forms and text because of its clearness, ''They gave Akzindenz-Grotesk the ultimate accolade a typeface can have: a functional, formal rightness, transcending whims of fashion'' by Karl Gerstner. It has influenced plenty other typefaces later.

Bibliography:
http://www.rightreading.com/typehead/akzindenz_grotesque.htm

Basma AlMashat

Garamond typeface

Garamond typefaces offer elegance and readability, making them suitable for a wide range of applications. Since it is such a popular typeface, it may be interesting to also explore alternatives, such as Sabon, Granjon, Maiola and Fabiol.

Claude Garamond (1480-1561) was a French publisher and type designer whose designs are the basis for many modern Garamond versions. Others are based on designs of Jean Jannon, a French printer who was also inspired by Garamond’s work. Over the years, their designs have inspired many foundries.

At the beginning for the 20th century ATF, Monotype and D. Stempel AG released new revisions. ITC Garamond was designed in 1975 by Tony Stan for the International Typeface Corporation. Robert Slimbach created the Adobe version in 1989.

From 1983 to 2001 Apple used ITC Garamond as their corporate font. They actually had Bitstream condense it 80% because the existing ITC Garamond Condensed, at 64%, was considered too narrow. This version of Garamond is known as Apple Garamond. For years Bitstream sold it under the name of ITC Garamond Narrow.

Pian Pian Zheng

Bembo, typeface

Bembo is an old style serif typeface, first printed in February 1496. It was first used in
a book entitled De Aetna, published by the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius. At this
time Italian typographers had moved away from attempting to imitate calligraphy and handwriting, and instead were inspired by classical Roman inscriptions. What is known today as Bembo is a revival of the original, and was created by Monotype Corporation,
under the directions of Stanley Morison. Bembo’s longevity is remarkable, especially with the technological advances and changes in trends, and the design can still be appreciated outside its historical context.