A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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The designer is Eric Gill. He was born 22- 2-1882 in Brighton, England and died 17-11-1940 in Uxbridge, England.
The font that Eric is known for, Gill Sans, belongs in the HUMANIST SANS SERIF classification. This can be seen when looking at the ‘a’ in the alphabet. There is a lilting counter in the letter ‘a’, and there are calligraphic variations in line weight. This classification was created in the nineteenth century, “when printers wanted to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history.” Humanist letterforms are very closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of a person’s hand while Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. “This classification reveals to a careful investigation some "anti-geometric" features, such as uneven width of strokes (especially in bold variants), non-perpendicular cuts, and slightly bent off tips of strokes (e.g. the bottom of the vertical stroke in "d"). All these subtleties were intended to smooth out the too harsh edges of the generic sans serif design and improve legibility of characters, and their net result is a relatively warm and friendly-looking typeface---especially if we compare it to the apathetic Helvetica or phrenetic Futura.” Some different typefaces that fall under this classification include: Agenda Thin, Berlin Sans Demi and Comedia Medium.
During the year 1926 there were many different events and recognizable moments. Some examples of these include when Winnie-the-Pooh was published by Author A. A. Milne, along with the invention Liquid Fuel Rocket USA by Robert Goddard Aerosol Sprays Norway by Erik Rotheim, Hirohito was crowned emperor of Japan, Pontiac Cars were made, U.S. Route 66 was created running from Chicago to Los Angeles, Radio network National Broadcasting Co ( NBC ) was launched, Fidel Castro, Marilyn Monroe, and Hugh Hefner were born, and the President was Calvin Coolidge.
Some of the fonts other than Gill Sans that Eric Gill designed include: Perpetua (1929/30), Gill Sans (1927-1930), and Joanna (1930/31).
Eric was a sculptor, graphic artist and type designer. He studied at the Chichester Technical and Art School and he became a letter and stonecutter. “A devout Christian, Eric Gill converted to Catholicism in 1913. Between 1913 and 1918 Eric Gill produced fourteen reliefs with scenes for the Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral in London.” “From 1924 Eric Gill designed book layouts and most of his typeface designs date from around 1930. From 1928 Eric Gill had his own printing press at Speen, Buckinghamshire.” Gill Sans was originally created in 1926 by Eric and later was released by Monotype Corporation in 1928. Gill Sans font can be seen in railways, BBC, Penguin Books, advertisements, signs and it is distributed as a system font in Mac OS X. “’ Gill was one of the chief protagonists in the movement for the revival of direct carving, and his work usually has an impressive simplicity of conception; he wrote that his "inability to draw naturalistically was, instead of a drawback, no less than my salvation. It compelled me ... to concentrate upon something other than the superficial delights of fleshly appearance ... to consider the significance of things.’ He tried to revive a religious attitude towards art and craftsmanship in opposition to the social and economic trends of the time, and in life, as in his work and writing, he was a vigorous advocate of a romanticized medievalism. His unconventional behavior was well known in his own time, but the most bizarre and unpleasant aspects of his life were not revealed until the publication of Fiona MacCarthy’s biography in 1989; he had incestuous relationships with two of his sisters and two of his daughters and sexual congress with a dog.” It was Stanley Morison who worked at Monotype who persuaded Gill to design this lettering into a typeface. The only weakness that Gill Sans has is that its weight does not work well in certain environments. The light typeface is too light for continuous text and the regular is too heavy. It is a font that is specifically modeled after roman proportions and the typeface “has a friendly warmth” to it. “The series was originally produced as hot-mail letterpress type, so when it was designed it is most likely that the original Monotype office drawings were used.” It is a font that has a very extensive range of weight, ranging from light to ultra bold with italics and Old-style figures. Gill Sans also has two display weight: Bold and extra bold, four condensed weights and two fonts used for decoration: Gill Sans Light Shadowed and a titling Gill Sans Shadowed. Gill was a very inspirational man who described himself on his gravestone as a stone carver. He stated, "The shapes of letters do not derive their beauty from any sensual or sentimental reminiscences. No one can say that the O's roundness appeals to us only because it is like that of an apple or of a girl's
breast or of the full moon. Letters are things, not pictures of things."
My favorite quote by Eric Gill: "There are now about as many different varieties of letters as there are different kinds of fools.”
http://www.linotype.com/391/ericgill.html
http://www.ascenderfonts.com/info/gill-sans-fonts.aspx
http://www.papress.com/thinkingwithtype/letter/classification.htm
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1926.html
http://www.modernbritishartists.co.uk/ericgill_biog.htm
*I will post the names of the books that I researched when I can see the titles of the scans I made of them on Monday!
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