- What is Unicode? What is included in it? What are some of it's standards?
Unicode was the first version of the standard set of character with the size of 2^16 (65,536 characters). This came out in the late 1980's and was published in the beginning of the 1990's. Unicode allows for different languages to be deciphered through text so that people are able to read it in other languages than Latin and English. Unicode consists of 100,507 characters, 137,468 are set aside for private use, and consists of roughly 874,000 free for future allocation. (Bringhurst 181).
- Give an example of a manual, random, and programmed variation in type. What is the difference?
Manual - The normal practice with foundry type; Petica, Sophia, and Zapf Renaisance all belong to the same tradition in their ordinary PostScript.
Random - This is when the designer chose variants themselves. It is an old and distinguished method which was mastered early on by Francesce Griffo, Claude Garamound, and Simon de Colines.
Programmed - Programmed variation includes the interaction of the craftsman's skills and texture of materials. Griffo and Colines letterforms were cut with care, but when passed on multiple times, there were small unplanned variations that occurred.
(Bringhurst 188-189)
- What is the difference between a bitmapped and Postscript/TrueType font?
Bitmapped fonts are defined by simple addition and subtraction, "this pixel one, that pixel off, these pixels on, those pixels off" (Bringhurst 182). PostScript splines ("a flexible strip that will bend under tension") are cubic, whereas TrueType splines are quadratic.
- How does printing influence type? List several way working with the printer can help type's appearance.
Printing has many influences on type and a designers work. There are many different aspects that the design team must look at and agree upon together before printing the final work. Thinking of the final printing process, it has to be known what type of paper the designer wants the copy to be on, coated or uncoated. It is also necessary to know the final dimensions of the work and how it will truly look when printed rather than just on the screen. The font size and leading are also important to think about when looking into the future at the printing process. When looking at the printing process, it is necessary to look at the type of ink as well, along with the stroke weight of the letters whether they be standard fonts form the computer system, or hand drawn fonts. (Bringhurst 194-185).
- In the last page of the chapter, it says "One good typeface is better and more useful than fifty thousand poor ones. Here as always, good means several things." Explain this statement (without directly copying from the book).
The quote that can be found on the last page is talking about how this one font can work really well if it is designed to the best of it's ability. If this font is strong and legible, along with readable, then there are many reasons as to why it should be used. The font is clean and easy on the eye without many mishaps that may have happened through the print process. If multiple fonts are used, there is the great possibility that too many were used and they all begin to blend together and they become old and boring after a while because they don't appear to be as strong seeing as though they are using each other to stand out and work together. This one strong font stands out the most and allows itself to work well given many different forms of it; bold, semi-bold, italics, small-caps. The font is allowed to be enlarged or made smaller at any given point and can be used for both headlines and body type (Bringhurst 197).
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