Type Design

Contact

About

Writing

Illustration

Calligraphy

Typography

Type Design

Keywords: Comparative Study of Newspaper Fonts | Devanāgarī typefaces | Type Design | Legibility in Typefaces | Economy in Typefaces. Abstract: In this paper, we describe a methodology we used to design a new Devanāgarī typeface for newspaper use. The main aim of this exercise was to find a balance between the aesthetic and functional requirements of newspaper text typefaces. Our design process is mainly focused on following issues: 1. Advantages and disadvantages of using modulated verses mono-linear typefaces for text in newspapers. 2. Structure of Devanāgarī script. 3. Functional requirements of newspaper body-text typefaces. 4. Aesthetic parameters for Devanāgarī type design. 5. Comparative analysis of developed design in terms of the economy of printing, legibility and readability of characters and users’ aesthetic preference in letter designs. A newspaper is a print media which communicates authentic, unbiased and transparent information. Type sets the tone and mood for its communication with the readers and so this ‘voice’ of newspaper needs to be carefully considered and crafted. Currently, Devanāgarī newspapers are set in fonts like ITR Mitra, CDAC Surekh, Linotype Devanāgarī, Shree Lipi 701 for text and for display sizes. Text fonts such as Surekh are derived from the modulated stroke approach of calligraphic writing. This approach is also seen in Latin Typography. In Latin, a large number of modulated stroke fonts come under ‘Serif’ category. Such fonts have a significant contrast in the stroke widths of the letter and they have small finishing strokes (serifs) at the terminals of the characters. As of today, in Latin Typography serif fonts are widely preferred for body-text in newspapers. Similarly, modulated stroke fonts are preferred in Devanāgarī newspapers. Hence it becomes important to understand why modulated stroke fonts which have their roots in early manuscripts; are preferred by people while reading a newspaper. Are they more legible and readable than San serifs or Mono-linear fonts? Are they easier and/or faster to read? This had been an unsolved argument for years. Earlier researches in Latin presents certain arguments in favor of Serif typefaces, and gives reason as to why probably people prefer Serifs over San serifs: 1. Serifs are used to guide the horizontal “flow” of the eyes; the lack of serifs is said to contribute to a vertical stress in sans serifs, which is supposed to compete with the horizontal flow of reading. [De Lange, R. W., Esterhuizen, H. L., Beatty, D. (1993)] 2. Serifs are used to increase spacing between letters and words to aid legibility. [Rubinstein, R. (1988); Sassoon, R. (1993] 3. Serifs are used to increase contrast (and irregularity) between different letters to improve identification. [Reynolds, L. (1979)] 4. Serifs are used to bind characters into cohesive 'word wholes'. [Poulton, E.C. (1965)] 5. Readers prefer the traditionalism of body text set in serif typefaces, so they must be more legible. [Lund, O. (1999)] There are also some arguments in favor of Sans serif typefaces, these include: 1. Sans serifs are robust in nature and better at small sizes. Sans serif fonts are better suited to survive reproduction and smearing because of their simple forms. [Morris, R. A., Aquilante, K., et al. (2001)] 2. Sans serif is better on the web hence it can be better adopted for the online PDF’s of newspapers (e-paper). [Poulton, E.C. (1972); Reynolds, L. (1979); Bernard, M., Mills, M., Peterson, M., Storrer, K. (2001)] In spite of these arguments reader’s preference and likeness in terms of type always differs. Newspaper readers will always prefer the modulated approach for type over mono-linear typefaces, probably because it is affirmative, authentic, doesn’t give fatigue to a reader in large text reading. Also it gives importance to the content (represents a silent font) than the look of it. This led us to following conclusions: 1. Type for Devanāgarī newspaper should follow modulated text type approach: It reflects the discipline, convention, tradition, something that to be taken seriously. 2. A text face is not supposed to be noticed: We read the article and the typeface disappears into the background. It’s not supposed to draw our attention. (A headline typeface on the other hand is meant to grab our attention and keep it. It’s loud, and can be very expressive.) 3. Impression behind type or the impression it leaves with the reader: All typefaces give the reader a certain feeling or impression. While most readers won't consciously notice that the font is conveying anything more than the words on the page. Typeface does make a subconscious, aesthetic impression. After studying the construction of Devanāgarī letter it further led us to fix on certain type design parameters which would help us imbibe the above qualities. Parameters for Devanāgarī font design, which include, structural guidelines and letter nomenclature were consolidated from (Gokhale, 1983) (Saynekar, 1996) and (Dalvi, 2010). 1. Large kana-height (Base character height). 2. Large open counters. 3. Setting the letter, word and line spacing by measuring widths of news- paper column and frequency of number of words in one line of column so as to achieve a right balance between base character height, length of the line and distance between two lines. 4. Moderate modulation in stem widths of the letter. 5. Slightly condensed structure of characters to allow more text efficiency. Our design process began with handwriting which can be easily read by children. This resolved for us the position of strokes, their start and end points, joineries, etc. We then tried to emulate same structure by adding weight through a dimensional tool. Simulating formal calligraphy on handwritten Devanāgarī gave us an understanding of proportions of stroke to character height, optical judgment of counter space; letter, word and line spacing. Such approaches in Devanāgarī type design have been earlier articulated by (Gokhale, 2001) (Saynekar, 1996) and (Dalvi, 2010). We studied and compared fonts like Natraj, Surekh, Yogesh, ITR Mitra and Firang. It gave us an understanding of inter-dependency of structures within character, character widths, character heights, stroke widths to character height proportion, difference in stroke widths within a character, character axis, balance of inner and outer character space, etc. While designing, we tried out several variations of these parameters and such experimentation further led us to more robust, legible and readable typeface. In conclusion the advantages of our developed font are as follows: 1. Text will occupy lesser space in news columns and hence more content can be incorporated in smaller space of columns. This improves economy of newspaper by saving the space required for content. This saved space can be effectively used for more content and hence indirectly improves effectiveness of newspaper. 2. Due to its semi-handwritten structure, moderate modulation of strokes and large counter spaces; our type is more legible and readable at smaller sizes. 3. Developed type design has balance in simple structure of characters, tracking and leading in the font. It gives a rhythmic movement and helps to improve the pace in reading. 4. Although the font has been carefully designed in terms of its form; it has a silent character and does not draw reader’s attention to its design. Rather it gives importance to the content, news or information in newspaper. 5. The design takes inspiration from traditional reed-pen dimensionality and hence it gives the reader a ‘feel’ of traditional Devanāgarī font while retaining a look of contemporary Devanāgarī typeface. References: 1. De Lange, R. W., Esterhuizen, H. L., Beatty, D. - Performance differences between Times and Helvetica in a reading task. Electronic Publishing, 6(3), 241-248, 1993. 2. Rubinstein, R. - Digital Typography. Addison Wesley Longman, 1988. 3. Sassoon, R. - Computers and Typography. Oxford: Intellect Books, 1993. 4. Reynolds, L. - Legibility studies: Their relevance to present-day documentation methods. Journal of Documentation, 35(4), 307-340; 1979. 5. Poulton, E.C. - Letter differentiation and rate of comprehension in reading. Journal of Applied Psychology, 49(5), 358-362; 1965. 6. Lund, O. - Knowledge Construction in Typography: The case of legibility research and the legibility of sans serif typefaces. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Reading: The University of Reading, Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, 1999. 7. Morris, R. A., Aquilante, K., et al. - Serifs slow RSVP reading at very small sizes, but don’t matter at larger sizes, 2001. 8. Poulton, E.C. - Size, style, and vertical spacing in the legibility of small typefaces. Journal of Applied Psychology, 56(2), 156-161; 1972. 9. Reynolds, L. - Legibility studies: Their relevance to present-day documentation methods. Journal of Documentation, 35(4), 307-340; 1979. 10. Bernard, M., Mills, M., Peterson, M., Storrer, K. - A Comparison of Popular Online Fonts: Which is best and when? Usability News 3.2 Online, 2001. 11. Dr. Dalvi, Girish - ‘Conceptual Model for Devanāgarī Typefaces’ (Industrial Design Centre, IIT, Mumbai), 2010. 12. Gokhale, Mukund Vasudeo – ‘Design Parameters of Devanāgarī’, Caltis, pp 66-67, 1983. 13. Gokhale, Mukund Vasudeo – ‘Composition and Construction of Devanāgarī Script’, Caltis, pp 60-62, 1984. 14. Gokhale, Mukund Vasudeo – ‘An Experiment on Devanāgarī Type Design System’. Pune: Script Research Institute, 2004. 15. Saynekar, Vinay – ‘Akshar Saundarya’ (अक्षर सौंदर्य). Mumbai: Phulrani Prakashan, 1996. 16. Naik, Bapurao S. – ‘Typography of Devanāgarī’, Volume II. Mumbai: Directorate of Languages, 1971.

This paper has been presented as a case study at 'Typography Day 2012' . You can read the whole research paper here .