Type Choice - Studio Brief 03 - OUGD504

Type is an extremely important aspect of this project, as I will be laser etching onto the wood for the cover, I will need to pick a relevant and effective typeface that won't need any other elements on the page for it to look complete and imply with the concept of the book.

Display:

To begin, I looked at industrial fonts that were created and actively used within the periods that my images were taken, for example Clarendon:

Clarendon was the first introduction of the slab serif (Known as Egyptian at the time) during the industrial revolution, it's relevancy, justified by it's place of origin; the United Kingdom.

This would be an excellent type to use for things that need emphasis, like headings and is a possibility for the front cover as a display typeface. However, this would be far too bold to use as a text font.










Not forgetting Times Extra Bold for use as a display font, and essentially, with its versatility, it could be used for a text font as well, however I do feel as this wouldn't be necessary. I am thinking a better idea would be to use a different typeface for body copy to compliment the slabs of the display fonts.

Below is a specimen from Sheffield that shows Clarendon alongside another typeface called Granby. Granby would be a more modern alternative to the slabs that were used in the early transition of the industrial revolution. This is purely a consideration, it is also possible I could use this for a copy font, but I have a feeling something like Helvetica will provide a really nice contrastive effect against the older typefaces to further emphasise the use of modern digital images of old authentic industrial signage.

Body copy:

As stated above, my choice of a body copy font needs to be contrastive to the slab display typefaces used in headings.

So to begin, I wanted to look at Helvetica:

To add a really nice twist to the industrial theme, I feel Helvetica will only compliment that of the rest of the publication. As long as I choose an effective display type that will set the tone of the book, then I can use this to my advantage and use a text font that would throw somewhat of a curveball into the book.

To provide something with a bit more authenticity and relevancy, I have chosen to also look at Baskerville, something which needs no introduction. It goes without saying, Baskerville was heavily used within the time of the industrial revolution, further validating the theme of the book. Using this typeface would provide me with a reason to use a more modern type as a display. However, I am more inclined to go with with the former to really solidify that idea of a pair of contrastive types.