BOOKS

Dutch Type

J. van Krimpen on Designing & Devising Type

The work of J. van Krimpen (an illustrated record)

Twentieth Century Type designers

Historical Types

Jan Van Krimpen: zijn Benedictjinse en andere vrienden in het buitenland

Jan Van Krimpen & Bruce Rogers

A keepsake presented at a lecture on Jan Van Krimpen

Het Klokhuis Januari 1959

Letter Gieterij Koperen-Lijnenfabriek

Sterren Stembiljetblokjes Blikvangers

MAGAZINES

'Enschedé’s Type Specimen of 1768' (in Codex3: The Journal of Letterforms, pp.13-19)

SPEICMEN BOOKS

Proef van Letteren J. Enschedé 1768 (Facsimile)

The Enschedé type specimens of 1768 & 1773: Introduction and Notes

Het Huis Enscedé 1703-1953

Specimen of Dutch-Black letters and Gothic Initials of the XVth Century

Les Caractères de Civilité de Joh. Enschede en Zonen

Centaur Types

Lettergieterij joh. Enschedé en zonen Haarlem, Holland

SPECIMENS

Printer's Specimen of types 1

Printer's Specimen of types 2

Printer's Specimen of types 2A

Ornamenten Lettergieterij

Cheops Mager Halfvet Vet

Bembo Corps 36 28 24 16 Romein en Cursief

Dubbele Augustijn Open Kapitalen Romein en Grieksch

Cheops Open Kapitalen

Lutetia Open Kapitalen

Times Corps 48 36 28 24 16

Perpetua Titel kapitalen Coprs 72 60 48 36

Times Vet Corps 48 36 28 24 16

Lutetia Romein & Cursief Serie 163

Perpetua Corps 36 28 24 16 Romein & Cursief

Cancelleresca Bastarda Coprs 20 16 10

Falstaff Romein Cursief

Spectrum Roman & Italic

Antigone Grieksch

Joh. Enschedé en Zonen Lettergieterij since 1743

Times Romein Cursief Vet

Gill Mager Romein Cursief Normaal Romein Cursief Halfvet Romein Cursief Vet Verlengd Smal Normaal

Spartan Normaal Vet Extre vet Corps 5/6 6/6 10 12 20 24 Kapitalen Klein Kapitalen

Scriba Een kalandervaste, eenuoudige schrijfletter serie 917

Zeitung: Delivering good typographic news since 1999

BOOKS

Bram de Does: typographer & type designer

Type foundries in the Netherlands from the 15th to the 16th century

Bram de Does: Kaba Ornament

MAGAZINES

'Bram de Does: the king of (functional) swing' (in Eye no. 98 vol.25, pp.82-93)

SPECIMEN BOOKS

Trinité 1, 2, 3

Trinité & Lexicon

BOOKS

Letterletter: An Inconsistent Collection of Tentative Theories that Do Not Claim Any Other Authority Than that of Common Sense

The stroke: theory of writing

Gewone letters: Gerrit's early models

BOOKS

The Origin of the Serif

세리프의 기원

Letters Redrawn from the Trajan Inscription in Rome

Sans Serif: & Other Experimental Inscribed Lettering of the Early Renaissance

Felix van Sambix (1553-1642): Schoolmeester en kalligraaf in Antwerpen en Delft

The stroke: theory of writing

Helmut Salden Uncovered 1:1

A History of Lettering

Lettering on Buildings

Lettering as Drawing

Creative Lettering Today

Creative Lettering: Drawing & Design

Type Sign Symbol

Signs and Symbols: Their Design and Meaning

LEAFLETS

Helmut Salden (1910-1996): a prolific lettering artist

JOURNALS

Alphabet, The Journal of the Friends of Calligraphy Vol.26 No.3 Spring 2001

A Chronology of the Lettering, Arts from 1850 to 2000

BOOKS

WERK VAN PIETER WETSELAAR

Dutch Lettering 2: with a Summary in English (Nederlandse Belettering: Twintigste-Eeuwse Modelboeken)

Dutch Alphabets: New Examples Of Writing And Lettering

Felix van Sambix (1553-1642): Schoolmeester en kalligraaf in Antwerpen en Delft

The stroke: theory of writing

Helmut Salden Uncovered 1:1

Dutch Lettering 1: 19th century model books

Dutch Lettering 2: 20th century model books

Dutch Alphabets

Sketches Cahier

Hansje Van Halem- Edition #3

Sketches- Edition #4

Products of a Thinking Hand (Gerrit Noordzij prize 2018)

Safari Typo Amsterdam

Karel Martens: Prints

Experimental Jetset: Automatically Arranged Alphabets (Roma 249)

SPECIMEN BOOKS

Standards for lettering: NEN 3225

Novo Typo Color Book

LEAFLETS

Helmut Salden (1910-1996): a prolific lettering artist

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This study explores the necessity and feasibility of applying the concept of optical sizing to Hangul typeface design, analyzing the development process of Hwaljjak Myeongjo as a practical case. The typeface comprises three styles—Display, Text, and Caption—each designed not through simple scaling but through size-specific structural optimization based on function and form. Each style draws from and reinterprets historical Myeongjo typefaces by Park Gyeong-seo, Choi Jeong-ho, and Choi Jeong-soon, and is structured within a variable font system that supports interpolation between styles. Through this process, the research not only demonstrates the theoretical and technical viability of optical sizing in Hangul typography, but also proposes Hwaljjak Myeongjo as a typographic experiment in reconstructing the archetype of the Korean text typeface across generations.

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Abstract

This study explores the cause of distortion in the height-to-width ratio of individual Hangul characters when the font size is reduced and proposes solutions to prevent this issue. To do so, the study investigates the principle by which the human eye focuses to clearly perceive shapes and analyzes the visual distortion phenomenon known as “visual off-cuts,” which occurs when focus is misaligned. The research findings show that the intensity of visual off-cuts decreases toward the center of the form, while it becomes stronger as the direction of progression overlaps. Based on these results, the study explores the impact of visual off-cuts on the height-to-width ratio of Hangul characters. Additionally, three optical sizing methods are proposed to maintain a consistent ratio, and their effectiveness is tested when applied to Hangul typeface. The results demonstrate that by increasing the area of the character, an optical sizing method can effectively counter the effects of visual off-cuts, securing areas less affected by this distortion. This study reveals that visual off-cuts caused by reducing font size influences the height-to-width ratio of Hangul typefaces and highlights the significance of applying optical sizing methods to prevent ratio distortion.

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Abstract

This paper points out the trend of blurring boundaries between the letterforms in types and signs, which have traditionally distinguished functional and aesthetic orientations in the development history of visual communication, due to the advancement of digital technology. In the main body, it illuminates three cases of typeface development that transcended the boundaries between types and signs even before the advent of digital technology. It examines the interaction between regionalism and universality through a comparative analysis of the Johnston typeface and Gill Sans in the UK, followed by an exploration of international universality focusing on Frutiger in Switzerland. Finally, it contrasts the role of ‘Letra Vasca’ as a medium symbolizing the unique history, culture, and political image of the Basque region with the previous cases. In the conclusion, it emphasizes that the process of finding a balance between the diverse orientations of types and signs will provide important guidelines for the development of typefaces in the digital age.

Abstract

This study explores the potential for the development of Hangul typography by analyzing the historical evolution of Hangul Myeongjo typefaces and the key factors that influenced this process. The research categorizes the periods of Hangul Myeongjo typeface development into five stages: the formation background period (1880-1919), the formation period (1920-1969), the establishment period (1969-1988), the digital adaptation period (1989-2005), and the expansion period of serif(Buri) typefaces (2006-present). Each period was investigated to understand the stylistic changes and historical context of Hangul Myeongjo typefaces. The analysis focused on key factors that influenced changes in Hangul Myeongjo styles, such as the transition from handwritten to printed characters, the shift from vertical to horizontal writing, the transition from mixed use of Hanja and Hangul to exclusive use of Hangul, and the rapid changes in typeface production methods and the corresponding shifts in character design perception.

The results indicate that Hangul Myeongjo typefaces developed based on the calligraphic strokes of early brush writing and evolved through the introduction of various printing technologies and typeface production methods. The implementation of the phototype production method in the 1970s and 1980s, which utilized larger master drawings (originals), led to more precise and detailed typographic features in Hangul Myeongjo. In the 1990s and 2000s, the adoption of digital methods allowed for the expansion of Hangul Myeongjo styles into the serif(Buri) typeface category, fostering experimentation and diversification in Hangul typography.

A thorough analysis of the factors driving these changes revealed that the stylistic foundation of Hangul Myeongjo, which encompasses basic shapes derived from handwritten forms, has the potential to evolve by considering the harmony between horizontal and vertical writing directions and the integration with other scripts such as Hanja. This comprehensive interpretation of Hangul Myeongjo styles suggests possibilities for expansion and sustainable development, potentially influencing the evolution of other Hangul typefaces and contributing to the future growth of Hangul typography.

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Abstract

The Myeongjo typefaces of Hangul is a type style in which the handwriting written with a brush are converted into type, and it is often known as a type style with beak. Despite the development of Myeongjo typefaces with various characteristics by experiencing media changes and social aesthetic evolution over the past 100 years since Park Kyung-seo typefaces, there are not many cases where its name or term is accurately subdivided. In order to subdivide the target group that is replaced by the term Myeongjo typefaces, the researcher created a framework to analyze the initial form and structure of Myeongjo type, and analyzed five Myeongjo typefaces that are morphologically representative and show changes. As a result, three different groups with morphological and structural similarities were found. The Myeongjo typefaces, which is subdivided like this, has a clear difference in form and structure, and furthermore, the more they have different impressions and personalities, the more their expressive power is different. It can be said that the difference is meaningful enough to cause a functional division. If you make good use of the characteristics of the newly subdivided Myeongjo typefaces, you can distinguish and utilize text types according to the field, content, and purpose of books. This will allow for diversification of textual typography.

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When I look back on my 30s, most of my professional interests and personal curiosities were occupied with the appearance of type. Anything that could be engraved on a typeface or reproduced on a digital interface, in other words, anything that could be given a certain “value” to the medium of type, I greedily repeated the work of drawing, making, and typifying the shape. As a result, I worked tirelessly at a company that needed this kind of work, designing letters, numbers, punctuation marks, currency symbols, and various symbols from various countries, and putting them into the operating system so that they could be typed on digital devices such as computers and smartphones or extracted from fonts

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Full Text

Hwaljak Myeongjo is the first type design project released under the name of the Type Reading Room. This project defines the concept of ‘optical sizing’, which has not been clearly introduced in the field of Hangeul typography, and connects it to the history of Hangul Myeongjo typefaces. Starting from the structural foundations of Se(Light)-Myeongjo, Shin(New)-Myeongjo, and Sinmun(Newspaper)-Myeongjo, we developed a new Myeongjo typeface family where each structural root is assigned a specific optical sizing value. With the completed Hwaljak Myeongjo family, users can distinguish fonts for footnotes, body text, and headlines simply by adjusting the font size and weight. This enables richer and more refined typography.

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— For licensing inquiry, contact us at: info@typereadingroom.kr

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