Garamond

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1type innovationsDuring the sixteenth century the techniques of print ing

and moveable type were spreading throughout Europe.

In Germany, new print ing techniques and letter-forms

were advancing and being invented. These moderniza-

t ions spread rapidly. In France, a Renaissance man

cal led Geoffroy Tory set out to improve the French

language. He created systems of improving and add-

ing specif ic letter-forms; such as accent marks. Years

later Claude Garamond, also known as Garamont,

achieved a high reputation as a type designer. He

revolutionized the quality of print ing.

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2In 1480 he was born in Paris. Throughout his l i fe he

was greatly inf luenced by Geoffroy Tory, and Aldus Ma-

nutius; innovative designers of the t ime. First, he mas-

tered the art of punch cutt ing; cutt ing letter punches in

steel to make matrices for copper type. He learned the

trade under the apprenticeship of Antoine Augereau and

Simon de Clines in f i f teen-ten. They were customary

printers who created Greek fonts. Later, he studied with

Geoffroy Tory. Tory was already a well-establ ished type

designer and punch cutter who taught Garamond about

the punch-cutt ing techniques. Garamond also estab-

l ished some of Torys phi losophies and incorporated

them into his purpose for designing type.

3The typefaces he designed were based on roman

and ital ic types. He was highly inf luenced by Tory. He

wanted his letter-forms to be easi ly read; he purif ied

and enhanced them. Fifteen-thirty edit ion of Paraphra-

sis in Elganterium Libros Laurenti i Val lae, by Erasmus.

Every letter-form was drawn, engraved, and casted by

him alone Aetna roman, of Aldus Manutias, was de-

veloped and refined into a typeface of his own that he

thought was more legible. He was then approached

by Robert Estienne, a printer and establ ished scholar

from Paris, who wanted to employ Garamond and use

his font cal led Grecs du roi.

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4 This type included a new kind of ital ic type which

was cut into two sizes. Since he was from France his

types were widely accepted there, and his typefaces

became a signif icant inf luence in their roman letter

standard, in place of black-letter types. After his death

in f i f teen-ten, his typefaces were sold and are sti l l

used today. In recent t imes the font that is attr ibuted to

Garamond now, is actual ly not one of the fonts that he

created. It was produced by a French Printer, named

Jean Jannon. Because Jannon designed her font based

on his, many of the attr ibutes are similar. I t s viewed as

a contemporary restoration of his original designs.

Grec du roi was a Greek typeface which had a large

amount of l igatures. This request was sought out roy-

al ly, by the king if France himself, which furthered his

reputation as a type designer. Garamond often his fonts

from different forms of handwrit ing from specif ic people,

such as Angelo Vergecio (the kings l ibrarian at Fon-

tainbleau) and his young pupil Henri Estienne. Although

a lot of his types were based on handwrit ing, his ital ic

types were not because they were designed as metal

types. Eventual ly Garamond started publishing his own

type for himself.

52 history of garamondThe development of typography and writ ing through-

out history has advanced ever since the 15th century

when the letterpress and moveable type was invented.

After the humanist movement, type designers wanted

to continue to revolutionize type. The classif ication

cal led Garalde, also known as Aldine, was created to

categorize certain old style typefaces. At the t ime im-

portant Garalde fonts included Garamond and Bembo.

Claude Garamond was init ial ly recognized for the de-

sign of Garamond; however Jean Jannon was actual ly

the real creator of this i l lustr ious font.


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6Garamond in its true majestic form exemplif ies a pure,

classic and legible impression that has impacted the

progression of typography and print ing technology since

the 16th century to present day. The innate structure

of every letter was coherently designed; uti l iz ing thick

strokes and heavy bracketed serifs which defined old

styles primit ive aesthetic qual it ies.

7 Al l the letters in Garamond are proport ional to one

another. Only a l ight contrast between thick and thin

strokes exists. The weight of every letter is similar

and consistent. A sl ight t i l ted stress is present in let-

ters l ike O and Q. Letters contain deeply brack-

eted serifs which are long and prominent. The serifs

change shape, becoming curvier, when the letters are

ital icized. The serifs attached to al l of the letters are

tapered, giving them a sophisticated sensation. Some

serifs are disproport ionate. Both serifs on the capital

T are different; the left serif has a descending slant

whereas the r ight serif is vert ical and upright.

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8Every aspect within Garamond is rounded. The tai l on

the Q is bowed and elongated, adding f lare. Letters

a and e have noticeable characterist ics which make

them unique. The bowl in the a and the eye in the e

are small in relat ion to other typefaces. Capital letters

are also shorter than the ascenders on the lowercase

letters, and the x-heights are small. I tal ic Garamond let-

ters are more decorative than regular style letters. For

example, the ampersand & is l ike cal l igraphy, extreme-

ly decorative and elaborate. Garamond was designed to

be curvi l inear and open for the purposes of readabil i ty;

similar to the more modern typeface Helvetica.

Q

9Unlike Garamond, Helvetica is contemporary and

was created in the 20th century. I t is a sans serif font

which means there are no brackets or serifs. Al l letters

in Helvetica are simplif ied and contain equal strokes.

Besides the fact that their styles are completely dif-

ferent, specif ic aspects of the letters are not de-

signed the same way. Helveticas letters are boxy and

straight, while Garamonds letters vary more in stroke

and are tapered. Since Garamond was based on

handwrit ing and cal l igraphy the strokes almost resem-

ble the same quality. Helvetica is bare, mechanical,

and block-l ike. Stress within certain characters does

not exist within Helvetiva; they are al l directly upright.

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The tai l in the Q is stout and short in Helvetica. As-

cenders in Garamond appear long and extended, com-

pared to Helveticas. Garamonds lowercase g con-

tains a fancy loop, whereas Helveticas lowercase g

is short l ike a tai l. I t is fascinating how both fonts are

extremely diverse, yet contain the same purpose of leg-

ibi l i ty for their t ime.

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3 technology of garamondThe sixteenth century was a t ime period in which

the art of booking making was becoming revolution-

ized and prevalent. Garamond was highly inf luenced

by past type-designers so he set out his career as a

printer, punch-cutter, and type-designer. At the t ime,

propaganda and rel igious texts were highly sought

after; which was essential to the progression of soci-

ety at the t ime. Different standards of print ing became

widespread and signif icant in any type-foundry. Since

there were few ski l led in the f ield of print ing, there was

often a lot of competit ion. There were not many art ists

who could actual ly master the craft of punch-cutt ing

and typecasting because it was tedious and and

part icularly diff icult process.


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In order to acquire the tools for print ing one had to pur-

chase punches and matrixes from the spouse of a de-

ceased printer. There was also an off-chance that they

could bargain with a competitor for their letters. This

interaction was rare which made the designers valuable.

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Garamond became well-known throughout France. At

f irst he was hired by a Parisian scholar-printer, cal led

Estienne. He wanted Garamond to design a new series

of fonts. He ended up creating innovative Roman fonts

which became extensively desired. As he became

popular he was eventual ly noticed by King Francois

I. The King was especial ly interested in book-making

so he commissioned Garamond to produce a specif ic

Greek font that was unique and exceptional. This font

would only be able to be uti l ized by the king, himself.

This was a chal lenge for Garamond because he need-

ed to make this font incomparable to other typefaces

that already existed. It needed to be more readable

and superior for the great King.

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His masterpiece that was generated was known as

Grecs du Roi. I t consisted of three fonts which were

inf luenced by the handwrit ing of Angelos Vergestios. He

cut the largest size f irst, which were sixteen point-bod-

ies. Later he produced ital ic letters that were impera-

t ive to the way in which typefaces and print ing methods

were evolving. Ital ics were beginning to be used in dif-

ferent ways; they had various connotations in a body of

text. His new ital ics revolutionized how they are used.

abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ$%^& grecs du ro i

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Garamond wanted to achieve the highest qual ity

of print ing; he wanted to be the best. He molded his

designs and ideas off of the works of Venetian print-

ers, such as Aldus Manutius. Their work embodied the

superiority of the el i te and aesthetics of high class so-

ciety. Everything he created was careful ly thought-out

and made in relat ion to the evolution of the develop-

ment of type. The books that he printed were laid out

in his own dist inctive style. He focused on clarity and

therefore gave his pages substantial margins. His de-

signs were so extensive that they sti l l are important for

designers to this day. His letters are extremely com-

prehensible and have been used for over 450 years.

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He put thought into every detai l from the type of paper

to the emphasized binding methods. The spaces in-be-

tween letters were important and directly correlated with

the layout and legibi l i ty of books at that t ime.

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4 evolution of garamondClaude Garamonds work as a printer rendered him

one of the most exquisite designers of the sixteenth

century. Printers and punch-cutters that preceded

Garamond were inf luenced greatly by his styles. I f i t

was not for Garamond France may have only used

black-letter fonts, even today. Garamond replaced

black-letter forms with his, more elegant, roman let-

ters. His more modern oblique capitals complimented

the ital ic lowercase creating a new kind of style that

became popular. His letterforms were more del icate

than ones before. He made his own refinements, such

as using larger counters and capitals, and using more

openly curved strokes. His intentions were purely

based on legibi l i ty and purpose of his typeface.


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Years after Garamonds death designers uti l ized his

work. A Frenchmen, named Jean Jannon, was infatu-

ated with Garamonds style so much that he produced

his own font, which was soon to be mistaken for Gara-

monds. Garamonds type was reproduced many t imes

by popular type foundries. In nineteen-twenty seven the

Intertype Foundry made use of his type. Fol lowing this

trend Mergenthaler Linotype and Monotype both made

use of his typeface. They came up with different names

for the letters such as Garamond No.3 and American

Garamond. Afterwards, the International Typeface Cor-

poration released a large Garamond family that included

sixteen designs.

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ITC Garamond was created as a harmonious, yet

whimsical family. Even though a lot of the designs

related to Jannons work, other designs being made

were created from Garamonds original blueprints. A

man named George Jones made type this way, and it

was released by the Linotype & Machinery of London

in nineteen twenty-four. In this case it was given the

name Granjon, instead of Garamond. The technology

of punch cutt ing and movable type has not been used

in years since the age of computers. At the t ime this

technology greatly affected the layout of letters. I t was

a very in depth process which Garamond mastered

from his mentor, Geoffroy Tory. As a humanist Tory

was inspired by human anatomy.

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His sketches were created scientif ical ly. The propor-

t ions he used for his alphabet directly related to his

idea of the ideal form. He even said that, the cross-

stroke covers the mans organ of generation, to signify

that modesty and chastity are required, before al l else,

in those who seek acquaintance with well-shaped let-

ters. In this he bel ieved that scientif ic reasoning and

logic, relat ing to the human f igure, was needed in order

to make the perfect letterforms.

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He engraved sketches for the font Romain Du Roi that

incorporated a grid system and exact measurement-

sl ibrarian at Fontainbleau) and his young pupil Henri

Estienne. Although a lot of his types were based on

handwrit ing, his ital ic types were not because they

were designed as metal types. Eventual ly Garamond

started publishing his own type for himself. Garamond

learned to design his fonts this way, and it was the

highest form of expert ise that they had at the t ime.

Now that computers exist his font has been re-made

in order to f i t into modern type foundries, so that they

can sti l l be used in advert ising in the media, and on-

l ine. The edges of each letter have to be f lawless for

legibi l i ty. The letters that were made in Garamonds

t ime may have sl ightly evolved since than in order to f i t

today standards.

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5 contemporarygaramondGaramonds letterforms are sti l l being used today; they

are essential ly used for popular corporation advert ise-

ments, books, and logos. Garamonds purpose for his

font has sti l l been maintained throughout history. He

original ly created it for the purpose of legibi l i ty, mainly

for books. It was used for print ing books. His work

was considered ground-breaking and he used in to

produce books l ike Paraphrases in Elegantiarum Libros

Laurenti i Bal lae, by Erasmus. Later it was used for im-

portant books l ike Gull iver s Travels, in nineteen-fi fty. I t

was used for advert isement in Paris Worlds Fair in the

beginning of the twentieth century.


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Recently it was used for the American edit ions of J.K.

Rowlings Harry Potter books. They are al l set in eleven

and a half point Adobe Garamond. It is used in chi l-

drens books, l ike Dr.Seuss. The scientif ic world also

uses Garamond for their scientif ic documents. Nvidia,

which is a global technology company, uses it for their

companies PDFs.

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Logos for trendy companies l ike Abercrombie & Fitch,

and Neutrogena both base their design on Garamond.

It is even used in prestigious logos for col leges, such

as Duke University. They used Garamond three for the

word DUKE. This specif ic one was also used in the

U.S. Department of Transportations highway signs.

Garamond is largely used for programming because it

is easy to read and fol low.

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Duke U N I V E R S I T Y

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The usage of Garamond has not changed much since

it s origin. I t is st i l l ut i l ized because of its readabil-

i ty, and its usage in books. It has only been changed

throughout the adaptation of web and media. There

are many revivals based on his original design that

are not exactly the same. Digital versions were used

in major design works. One example is Sabon, cre-

ated by Jan tschichold. When Tony Stan developed

his font into ITC Garamond minor changes had to be

made. The x-height was increased, and large ranges

of weights from l ight to ultra bold were produced.

Some have a condensed width that were not present

in Garamonds original design.

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Fonts based directly from Garamond include Stempel

Garaond, Adobe Garamond, Sabon, Garamond Pre-

mier, and Garamond Antiqua. The fonts more closey

related to Jean Jannons works are Monotype Ga-

ramond, Simoncini Garamond, Linotype Garamond,

Linotype Granjon, ATF Garamond, LTC Garamond,

Storm Jannon Antiqua, and Garamond Classico. The

Newest revivals of the font are ITC Garamond, and

Apple Garamond.

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Throughout history the design of typefaces and the

technology of print ing has been extremely important.

The idea of print ing revolutionized the world in every

area of technology. Print and text is used in almost

everything to this day. Garamonds designs withstood

changes because he scientif ical ly designed it to be

legible and convenient to al l kinds of media. His work

was intended for the French king, so it was signif icant

pol it ical ly. His designs sti l l exist today because Gara-

mond succeeded in his designs and intentions for his

alphabets. He created his own commercial enterprise

specif ical ly to sel l his punches and str ikes to other

printers. His letterforms make sense and are the basis

of typefaces that were developed after his. His elegant

letterforms stand out and were one of the f irst old-style

fonts to become renown and used world-side.

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6 anatomy of garamondRounded Forms

Round-Square Forms

Square Forms

Diagonal Square Forms

Diagonal Forms


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A B C D E F G H I JK L M N O P Q R ST U V W X Y Z fl fia b c d e f g h i j k l mn o p q r s t u v w x y z1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 &. , ; : ! ? { }a b c d e f g h i j k l mnopqrstuvwxyz& 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

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41

history. He created it for the purpose of legibility.

Garamonds letterforms are still being used today; they are essentially used for popular corporation ad-vertisements, books, and logos. Garamonds purpose for his font has still been maintained throughout

Garamonds letterforms are still being used today; they are es-sentially used for popular corporation advertisements, books, and logos. Garamonds purpose for his font has still been maintained throughout history. He created it for the purpose of legibility.

Garamonds letterforms are still being used today; they are essentially used for popular corporation advertisements, books, and logos. Garamonds pur-pose for his font has still been maintained throughout history. He created it

for the purpose of legibility, mainly for books.

Garamonds letterforms are still being used today; they are essentially used for popular corporation advertisements, books, and logos. Garamonds purpose for his font has still been maintained throughout history. He created it for the purpose of legibility, mainly for books.

Garamonds letterforms are still being used today; they are essentially used for popular corporation advertisements,

books, and logos. Garamonds purpose for his font has still been maintained throughout history. He created it for

the purpose of legibility, mainly for books.

1 8 - p o i n t

1 4 - p o i n t

1 2 - p o i n t

1 1 - p o i n t

8 - p o i n t

p a r a g r a p h s i z e

42

Gabor, Peter. Garamond v Garamond | Physiology of a typeface. Barney Carroll is

a front-end web developer. http://barneycarroll.com/garamond.htm (accessed No-

vember 29, 2012).

Garamond - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamond (accessed November 29, 2012).

Grecs du roi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grecs_du_roi (accessed November 29, 2012).

Lawson, Alexander S.. Garamond. In Anatomy of a typeface. Boston: Godine,

1990. 129-140.

Loxley, Simon. Garamuddle:when is a sixteenth-century typeface not a sixteenth-

century typeface?. In Type: the secret history of letters. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004.

40-42.

Macmillan, Neil. Claude Garamond. In An A-Z of type designers. New Haven,

CT: Yale University Press, 2006. 89.

b i b l i o g r a p h y

Garamond

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