Studio Brief 2: Choosing a typeface

As I am designing a film poster I want a typeface that is neutral. I did some research into popular typefaces used for film posters and condensed fonts come across as more popular. I didn't have any of the suggested typefaces bellow on my laptop therefore I decided to chose a different one but one that was condensed.


I chose to look back at the research I had done previously into Vignelli's 6 typefaces.

Garamond

• 1530
•  French renaissance punch cutter Claude Garamond
•  Features large counters in a and e
•  Often associated with elegance and readability 
• Suitable for a range of jobs.

Bodoni

• 1790 
• geometric appearance contrasts between thick and thin stokes
• used for displays, headlines and logos.
• romantic typeface
• vertical stress
• slight serif bracketing
• cupped top serifs on b,h,l, not parallel to baseline in some versions
• top & bottom serifs on C
• vertical tail of Q
• small upper bowl of g
• usually no middle serif on w
• large ball terminal of c

Century

• 1896 
• specifically designed to print century magazine
• extremely readable typeface 
• each letter form exaggerates the characteristics of each letter to make them look as different as possible therefore making it easier and quicker to read.

 Futura

• 1927
•  Paul Renner.
• All strokes made in a single line
• geometric
•  basic
• no ornamentation
• the ‘O’ is a perfect circle 
• the ‘j’ has no curve. 

Times

• 1932
•  created for the times newspaper
• used ‘monotype plantin 113’ as a basis 
• used for a classic yet practical look 
• combines legibility with economy
• used regularly in books and newspapers
• not very suitable for on screen use.

Helvetica

• Late 1950’s
•  the most neutral typeface based on ‘Akzidenz Grotesk’ typeface
•  large x height
•  large counters in ‘O, Q and C’ 
• oval double storied ‘a’
• counter in a is teardrop shape 

I decided to choose futura as it is condensed, geometric and has no ornamentation so is pretty straight to the point.