What is a Typeface Specimen?
A type specimen showcases the specific typeface. It may display all the different variations of the typeface, such as, bold, italic, medium, and condensed. A typeface specimen can include special characters and numbers.
What typeface did I choose for this project? Why?
The typeface I selected for this project was Baskerville. I liked this typeface because of how crisp and classic it looks. As well as this, there are certain characters within Baskerville that look very interesting when using different variations of the type. For example, an upper-case “Q” looks very unique in comparison to that in other typefaces. In addition to this, an italic ampersand looks very graceful. I want to somehow include either (or both) of these characters within my work as the hero.
What is the history of Baskerville?
Baskerville is a serif typeface created by John Baskerville in 1757. It is a transitional typeface, a refinement of ‘old-style’ typefaces of the period. Baskerville was inspired by calligraphy that John Baskerville had learnt as a child, and as a result it sports an increased contrast between thick and thin strokes, making serifs appear sharper. In addition to this, curved strokes are more circular, and characters are slightly irregular.
Families:
Baskerville has many variations/families, and they include:
- Baskerville Normal
- Baskerville Old-Face
- Baskerville Regular
- Baskerville Light
- Baskerville Bold
- Baskerville BT Roman
- Baskerville BT Italic
- Baskerville BT Bold
- Baskerville BT Bold Italic
Inspiration:
I researched examples of Typeface Specimens to inspire my work.