Visual and Technical Aspects of Type

R.D. Hersch Ed.

Cambridge University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-521-44026-2

Visual and Technical Aspects of Type gives an introduction to the rules of font design and describes how fonts and their metrics are managed by computers. It is the first book that contains contributions from both type creators and computer scientists. The aim is to provide insights into the production and rendering of digital type and to make traditional type design rules accessible to a wider audience. The first part contains an overview of the evolution of letterforms in their historical and cultural context. The second part is devoted to technical aspects of type; topics covered include character metrics, outline font rasterization techniques, and algorithms for various tasks. Finally, articles by Hans Meier and Fernand Baudin provide an interesting view of the progress of typefaces and page layout, and insight into future developments. This unique book will appeal to graphics designers, computer scientists, typographers and desktop publishers who wish to know more about computer typography.

Table of Contents

Preface

Letterforms: the Basics

André Gürtler

Letterform in a Historical and Cultural Context .......... pp. 1-17

André Gürtler

Visual Communication Systems .......... pp. 18-22

Christian Mengelt

Visual Aspects of Type .......... pp. 34-46

Mark Jamra

Some Elements of Proportion and Optical Image Support in a Typeface .......... pp. 47-55

Digital Standards and Algorithms

Jacques André and Roger D. Hersch

An Introduction to Digital Type .......... pp. 56-63

Jacques André

Font Metrics .......... pp. 64-77

Roger D. Hersch

Font Rasterization: the State of the Art .......... pp. 78-109

Jakob Gonczarowski

Industry Standard Outline Font Formats .......... pp. 110-125

Jakob Gonczarowski

Curve Techniques for Autotracing .......... pp. 126-147

Typographic Research

Hans Ed. Meier

On the Design of Barbedor and Syndor .......... pp. 148-164

Fernand Baudin

How to Use Ready-Made Alphabets .......... pp. 165-196

Appendix

Colophon

List of Authors

Index