William Caslon typeface analysis - Term Paper Example

William Caslon Typeface analysis William Caslon was among the famous architects of type design. To this end, he founded type founding in Britain that was based on creating early copies of Dutch type designs. It is critical to note that the pioneer Latin types created by William Caslon were made by hand and each character at a time. The type founding business by Caslon marked the start of an English style that was superior in printing types from the “Dutch old Face.” The type face designs by Caslon were significantly influenced by the Dutch designs.

To this end, Caslon sought to copy the solid and legible designs of the Dutch types. The process of type founding by William Caslon constituted four separate tasks. The first stage in this intricate step was punch cutting which involved carving the mirror image of a character, letter or figure in relief. This process was done on the end of shank annealed steal that was later tempered. The second process in production of type entailed chasing which involved ornamenting metal by tools and a hammer crafted for indenting.

Following this process was casting which entailed placing the matrix in mold hand and consequently the chamber mold was realigned to fit the dimensions of the cast character. The eventual pieces were designed to be a three dimensional product of the character cast from the punch. The final operation consisted of dressing the type which included type press preparation such as breaking off the jet and filing off mold protrusions. It is of importance to note that the Caslon types symbolized functionality, strength and presence of legibility.

Calson proceeded to cut very many non-Latin types such as Armenian, Coptic, Arabic, Greek and Hebrew. Some of the notable fonts by William Caslon included the ; Big Caslon, Caslon Graphique, Caslon Old Face, ITC Caslon no. 224, ITC Founders Caslon, ITC Founder’s Caslon Ornaments. The fonts designed by Caslon exhibited a modelling delicacy and a design variety that was not evident in the Dutch types. One of the distinct differences between the Caslon types and Dutch types was monotony. In effect, the Caslon types were less monotonous compared to the Dutch types which were characteristically monotonous.

To this end, the smaller size Caslon letters when analyzed were not perfect individually. However, their mass effect was agreeable. The Caslon Old style no. 471 is regarded as the metal version that is considerably related to William Caslon’s originals. Furthermore, the Caslon Old style Italics and Romans are produced from the original matrices through casting. This includes the ligatures, quaint double and long letters. To this end, Caslon types are attributed as being comfortable to the eye, warm and friendly, myriad types, robust in texture and sturdy forms.

Moreover, the strokes depicted in Caslon types are heavier than earlier Old Style fonts with thicker and stubby serifs. For example, the ‘G’ lacks a foot serif and the ‘A’ has a concave hollow at the apex. On the other hand, an irregular rhythm is evident in the capitals that exhibit slanting at different angles. A case in point is the W, A and V that show a highly pronounced slant. To this end, Caslon fonts are predominantly used by magazine and book designers owing to the textural vitality and readability.

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