Garamond Type Specimen Poster
Typeface Name : Garamond
Designer: Claude Garamond (original creator), digitized by Robert Slimbach
Year Created : 1540 (original) / 1989 (Adobe)
About
Garamond was named after the 16th century French engraver, Claude Garamond. The original designer is often debated, though often credited to Robert Estienne (1530). In 1989, Robert Slimbach digitized and released it on Adobe. Garamond is a serif-font mainly used for large bodies of text due to its smooth curves and simple serifs. The overall style is French Renaissance, often used to manifest a regal appearance. Thus, Garamond is often found in formal invitations to weddings and other events.
Designs : When thinking of the typeface Garamond, I think of versatility. From JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, to the British Newspaper “The Guardian,” to the original “Google” logo, Garamond has been used for all different types texts standing the test of time. The colors that come to mind when thinking of Garamond and it’s regal, elegant nature is purple and gold, which both represent royalty and wealth.
SKETCHES
For my sketches, I really wanted the designs to embody the roots of Garamond. Thus, I thought about the famous usages of the typeface throughout history, as well as the original creator, Claude Garamond. Claude Garamond was from Paris, inspiring my first sketch including the typeface following the shape of the Eiffel Tower. In my other sketches, I included the Brands or taglines that have used Garamond, as well as playing with the actual typeface and recognizing that the “g” resembles a pair of glasses.
First Series : Garamond “Newspaper” Spread
brown / neutrals color palette — changed angle degrees for the background letters / altered colors to a full palette to illustrate Dr. Seuss’ use of colors.
bottom half of poster demonstrates the duality of the usage of this typeface — Garamond is often used in large paragraphs of text, thus, simulated the essence of a newspaper / magazine text.
Second Series: Garamond’s Usage Throughout History
Highlighting the regal, elegant nature of this typeface.
Color — I implemented the use of a deeper purple and gold, as both colors demonstrate qualities of elegance and royalty.
Content — I wanted to demonstrate the versatile usage of Garamond across time and purpose. Thus, I mentioned the original dates of the garamond usages for each brand/notable usage of the typeface. On the left, I inserted a holoalphabet that includes every letter in the alphabet in one sentence.
Design — For the paragraph, I wanted to use a larger first letter to illustrate the usage of Garamond; that is, many authors have used it as it is good to use in paragraphs.
FIRST FEEDBACK
After feedback, we decided that it would be ideal to emulate the actual brandings’ weights and kernings to become visually recognizable rather than blending in with the background, therefore illustrating the presented changes from my first to second draft. Moreover, I felt that the second draft was overly crowded; thus, I created a simpler secondary artboard to complement the first.
FINAL CRITIQUE ITERATION
For my next iteration, I wanted to use more of a deeper purple with slightly bluer hues to stand out more against the dark background, while still maintaining an overarching “purple” shade to maintain the demonstration of elegance.
I also wanted to implement an imaginary curved line to the typeset that follows the shape of the letter “g,” but also flows continuously throughout the poster and picks back up on the end for some sense of consistency to really tie all the elements together.
However, there were a few things that I wanted to make changes to, as I felt that the poster wasn’t where I wanted it to be at.
POST CRITIQUE
After the final critique, there were still some elements that I wasn’t fully happy with. Thus, I decided to change the following (main goals):
1. I decided that the background was too dark and wanted to lighten it
2. I wanted the typeset to fully embody that exact curved flow I was aiming for.
3. Change the purple colors used to be less magenta and slightly more blue toned to fit that royal purple aesthetic I was also aiming for.
4. After the first print, I saw that the bottom “GARAMOND 1532” was difficult to read, so I opted to have it in bold so it was more visible against the charcoal-grey background.
I also changed the opacity of the “g” as I felt that it had more of a presence if fully visible rather than semi-transparent, and it also allowed the 3D nature of the typeset to fully come to life!
Below, I present the first and final designs of my poster.
