Background
Type specimen posters are used to demonstrate visual examples of how a font performs. This is important for designers as it is an effective way of conveying a fonts aesthetic before using it. Type specimen posters show how the font would look in a range of different weights and sizes, the fonts punctuations, upper and lower case, numerical styles and how it looks when typographical emphasis’ is applied.
Process
Research and sketches
Before designing I carried out research on the typeface Baskerville. The Baskerville font dates back to the 1730s, when John Baskerville worked on engravings for tombstones where he used a style on writing that would in future resemble his typeface. In the 1750s John Baskerville wanted to design a thinner version of the typeface Caslon, resulting in the Baskerville typeface being created in 1754. The Baskerville typeface is known for its “crisp edges, high contrast and generous proportions”
The Baskerville font was designed as a book face and is available as a popular font on PC’s and Macs on various writing and design software’s.
Today, Baskerville is available on both PCs and Macs, solidifying it as a popular font. Just as different letterpresses offered slightly tweaked variations of the original font, there are several digital varieties of the font, too; some are crisper, with thinner downstrokes, while others are heftier, and easier to read for several pages.
“I think its enduring appeal with professional designers is largely down to the fact that it’s got a certain flair and a handmade character. It was designed as a book face and it still excels at that today ― at least in the right kind of book anyway. Otherwise it’s good for invoking an historical feel to text without coming across as too stuffy.” – Tony Seddon, designer and author of “Lets talk Type: An Essential Lexicon of Type Terms.”
Sketches
