Chapter 8 Flashcards
Romain du Roi
the new typeface France’s King Louis XIV ordered to be developed for the royal printing office. It was characterized by an increased contrast between thick and think strokes, sharp horizontal serifs, and an even balance to each letterform
Folio
A sheet of paper folded once vertically down the center to create four pages
Old style
the name given to the Venetian tradition of roman type design
Traditional roman
the category of typefaces whose style was initiated by the Roman du Roi. These broke with the traditional calligraphic qualities, bracketed serifs, and a relatively even stroke weights of Old Style fonts.
Rococo
the fanciful French art and architecture that flourished from about 1720 until around 1770. Florid and intricate, rococo ornament is composed of S and C curves, with scrollwork, tracery, and plant forms derived from nature, classical and oriental art, and even medieval sources. Light pastel colors were often used with ivory, white, and gold in asymmetrically balanced designs
pouce
a now-obsolete French unit of measure slightly longer than an inch, standardized by Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune. The pouce was divided into 12 lines, each of which was divided into 6 points
Point
the smallest unit in Fournier le Jeune’s system of type measurement. 6 points made 1 line, 12 lines made 1 pouce.
type family
fonts in a variety of weights and widths that are visually compatible and can be mixed
engraving
a drawing made with a graver instead of a pencil as the drawing tool, and a smooth copperplate instead of a sheet of paper as the substrate. Because this free line was an ideal medium for expressing the florid curves of the rococo sensibility, engraving flourished throughout the 1700s.
packing
on a letterpress, the material placed behind the sheet of paper being printed. John Baskerville used unusually hard and smooth packing, which resulted in even overall impressions
paper with laid finish
paper that has a textural pattern of horizontal lines. This pattern is created during manufacturing by wires that form the screen in the papermaker’s mold; the close parallel wired are supported by larger wires running at right angels to the thinner wires
paper with wove finish
paper that has a smooth finish. The wove paper manufactured for Braskerville was formed by a mod having a much finer screen made of wires woven in and out like cloth. The texture of wire marks was virtually eliminated from this paper
calendaring paper
a method of hot-pressing paper to give it a smooth, refined surface. Baskerville experimented with calendaring paper. Because he closely guarded his innovations, we can only guess what methods were employed. Early sources suggest he may have used 2 copper rollers and a pressing to glazing machine that worked in a manner not unlike ironing clothes; or as each page was removed from the press it may have been sandwiched between 2 highly polished, heated copperplates that expelled moisture, set the ink, and created the glossy surface.
analytic geometry
The branch of geometry was developed and first used in 1637 by the French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist Rene Descartes (1596-1650), and is the foundation for information graphics, which presents complex information in a more comprehensible form
axes
two perpendicular intersecting lines of a two-dimensional plane that represent a point in space. The horizontal lie is called the x-axis and the vertical line, the y. Developed by Descartes and used in his analytic geometry
Cartesian Coordinates
any point on a plane can be specified by two numbers, called Cartesian coordinates. One defines its distance from the horizontal axis, and the other defines its distance from the vertical axis. The axes can be repeated at regular intervals to form a grid of horizontal and vertical lines called a Cartesian grid
line (fever) graph
uses Cartesian coordinates to convert statistical data into symbolic graphics. Line graphs, bar charts, and divided circle diagrams (pie charts) were introduced in 1786 by Scottish author and scientist William Playfair (1759-1823) in his book entitled Commercial and Political Atlas
modern
a new category of roman type introduced in Europe during the 18th century. The word modern was first used by Fournier le Jeune in his Manuel Typogrphiqueto describe the design trends that culminated in Bodoni’s mature work
neoclassicism
A revival of classic Greek and Roman aesthetic forms characterized by order, simplicity, and symmetry. Critics hailed Bodoni’s volumes as the typographic expression of neoclassicism and a return to “antique virtue”
maigre
- thin
- the Didot type foundry’s experimental expanded style fonts
gras
- fat
- the Didot type foundry’s experimental expanded style fonts
pied de roi
the official standard of measurement for identifying type sizes in France adopted by the Didot type foundry. The pied de roi was divided into 12 French inches, which were divided into 72 points
Stereotyping
process that involves casting a duplicate of a relief printing surface by pressing a molding material (damp paper pulp, plaster, or clay) against it to make a matrix. Molten metal is poured into the matrix to form the duplicate printing plate. Stereotyping made longer press runs possible. The invention of stereotyping was the most notable achievement of Firmin Didot (1764-1836)
Editions du Louvre
Printed by Pierre Didot, they gave the neoclassical revival of the Napoleonic era its graphic design expression. Lavish margins surround modern typography, and engraved illustrations by artists working in the neoclassical manner of the painter Jacques Louis David display flawless technique and sharp value contrast