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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.
1
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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.
1
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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.
2
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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.
2
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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.
h e l v e t i c a g a r a m o n d
11
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.
13
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.
3
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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
15
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.
3
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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.
17
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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18
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.
19
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.
4
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20
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.
21
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.
4
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22
23
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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24
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.
25
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.
5
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26
Duke U N I V E R S I T Y
27
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.
5
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29
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.
5
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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.
31
6 anatomy of garamondRounded Forms
Round-Square Forms
Square Forms
Diagonal Square Forms
Diagonal Forms
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32r o u n d e d f o r m s
CcGgSsUu
OoQqt a i l f l o w s f r o m b o w l
f l a t e a r
U c o u n t e r n a r r o w e r t h a n O c o u n t e r
4d i a g o n a l s t r e s s
s p u r
d e s c e n d e r
d i f f e r e n t s h a p e d s p u r s
b o t h S s h a v e s i m i l a r p r o p o r t i o n s
33 r o u n d - s q u a r e f o r m s
JjEeRrPp
DdBbt h e B i s n a r r o w e r t h a n t h e O
s m a l l c o u n t e r
d i s c o n n e c t e d b o w l
d o t s s l i g h t l y o f f s e t
s h o u l d e r
d e s c e n d e r
a r m
j u n c t u r e
34
TtIiLlFf
t a i l f l o w s f r o m b o w l
l e f t a n d r i g h t s e r i f s d i f f e r
s q u a r e f o r m s
t e r m i n a l
s t e m
35 d i a g o n a l s q u a r e f o r m s
ZzK kYyNn
Mm
N a n d O a r e a l m o s t e q u a l i n w i d t h
e x t r a w e i g h t i n b o w l c u r v e s
l e g
s l a n t e d s e r i f
f o o t
w e i g h t c h a n g e
36d i a g o n a l f o r m s
XxWw
&VvAa
s l i g h t l y r o u n d e d a p e x
x h e i g h tc a p h e i g h t
b r a c k e t e d s w a s h
t w o d i a g o n a l s t r o k e s
37
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
3 0 - p o i n t g a r a m o n d
l i g a t u r e s
s m a l l c a p s
o l d s t y l e f i g u r e s
38
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 &. , ; : ! ? { }
3 0 - p o i n t g a r a m o n d i t a l i c
39
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 bcde fgh i j k lm
nopqrstuvwxyz
& 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
3 0 - p o i n t g a r a m o n d b o l d
40
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 &. , ; : ! ? { }
3 0 - p o i n t g a r a m o n d b o l d i t a l i c
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
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