TYPE
SPECIMEN
BOOK
BODONI
CONTENTS
06 INTRODUCTION
07 FONT HISTOEY
08 FONT DISPLAY
09 NUMBER & SIGN DISPLAY
10 HEADING DISPLAY
12 BRUSH TECHNIQUE
14 FEATURES
16 FONT EVALUATIONS
18 USE OF TYPE
20 COMPARISON
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FONT HISTORY
Bodoni refers to the serif typeface first de- while emphasizing legibility. This revival has
signed by Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) been described as “the first accurate revival of
in the late 18th century and frequently resur- the historical face of universal typographic and
rected since then. Bodoni’s typeface is divided design applications”. The collection includes
into Didone and modern. 15 different typefaces. The Bauer type found-
Giambattista Bodoni was a printing expert ry design was drawn by Heinrich Jost in 1926.
who ran a printing house under the reign of This design emphasizes the extreme contrast
the Duke of Parma. Bodoni’s typeface design between the hairline and the main brush-
was licensed and demonstrated the quality of strokes. This series includes 5 different fonts.
his company’s work in metal casting, printing, There is also a Poster Bodoni variant, created
and papermaking in Parma. It was originally by Chansey h. Griffith in 1929.
Bodoni has a modern touch, but also has a soft designed in the late 18th century and has been
and formal quality to it. Bodoni does not have a continually revised since then. Podolny was in-
strong identity between each letter, so it looks spired by several others. He admired the work
uniform. The overall look is dignified and gen- of John Baskerville and studied the designs of
erous, and yet gentle and relatable, perfectly Pierre Simon and Firmin Didot, the founders
of the French style. Although he studied the
work of others, his typeface is his own style.
The Bodoni typeface has a long list of revivals
and variants of the foundry type. Two of the
more successful ones include ATF Bodoni
and Bauer Bodoni. ATF’s Bodoni series, first
released in 1909, was the first direct Ameri-
can competitor to Bodoni’s work. These vari-
ants were designed by Maurice Fuller Benton.
His designs captured the original Bodoni style
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn , . ? ! @ #
Oo Pp Qq $ % ^ & *
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Uu Vv Ww [ ] { } / \
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Bodoni 72 Bold: Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Book:
Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable. Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable.
Bodoni 72 Book: Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Book Italic:
Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable. Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable.
Bodoni 72 Book Italic: Bodoni 72 Smallcaps :
Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable. Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable.
Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Bold:
Dignified, generous, and yet gentle and relatable.
Q
Q
BRUSH TECHNIQUE
Rounded Serif
Hairline Serif
Handglovery
Emphasised curved beak Tight kerning
Greater Thick/Thin
Contrast
Sculpted Serif
FEATURES
Bodoni had a long career and his designs inspired by Baskerville, further rejected the
changed and varied, ending with a typeface classic Old-Style tradition of pen-inspired
of a slightly condensed underlying structure letters and continued to refine the notion of
with flat, unbracketed serifs, extreme contrast the perfect letterform.
between thick and thin strokes, and an overall
geometric construction. Here is modern characteristics :
Bodoni typeface has five different characteris- •Extreme contrast between thick and thin
tics that are used to identify it. The first would strokes
be high and abrupt contrast between thick
and thin strokes. The second would be abrupt •Hairline serifs without bracketing
(unbracketed) hairline (thin) serifs. The third
characteristic is the vertical axis. Next would •Small x-height
be the horizontal stress. The last characteris-
tic would be the small aperture. •Vertical stress in rounded strokes
This type is classified as Modern because it
represents the last phase of character evolu-
tion from the pen-inspired Old-Style types as
well as the first effort to use the design of type
to establish a contemporary visual style in
written communication.
Within a few decades, the wide acceptance
of the Transitional types helped to inspire
a new sense of typographic style in Europe,
especially France and Italy. Typographers,
E
“Bodoni is well-suited for use in modern designs where a serif typeface is desired. It’s a great
serif for use in headlines and subheads, though some variations can be used for body copy, too.
Some of its more recognizable uses can be found in the logo for grunge band Nirvana, and on
the Mamma Mia! posters.”
“Bodoni, for the most part, is best suited to larger font sizes. Because of the extreme variation
between thin and thick strokes, it can degrade at small sizes and become illegible (specifically,
it creates an effect known as “dazzle”)
“Like most Didones, it can be effective in the setting of extended text, provided the printing
and paper is of sufficient quality to ensure that the delicate hairlines and high contrasts are
retained. All weights and widths of the Bodoni family can be used to dramatic effect as display
faces.”
USE OF TYPE
The Bodoni typeface has been used for a wide ni and the classic “CK” for Calvin Klein. In
variety of different materials. In the eighteenth magazine publications such icons as Harper’s
century it was used in Italian books to 1960s Bazzar and the classic architecture magazine
periodicals. In the 21st century, the late man- Metropolis both use Bodoni as their basic text
ner versions were used in advertising. font. In addition Elle magazine ahs used it for
logo and titles.
The early manner versions were used for fine
book printing. There is a list of about 15 dif-
ferent companies that uses the Bodoni type-
face or one of its variants. It can be seen used
in Mama Mia posters. It is also one of the two
typesets used in the Hilton Hotel restaurant
and bar menu. Another place its can be seen
is in the Nirvana logo. The list of uses for the
Bodoni typeface goes on, but that was just to
name a few.
Variations on the Bodoni font have appeared
in many places in the entertainment media
including the cover slip for the single Britney
Spears 3 was Bodoni Stn-Poster Italic as well
as the show logo for The News Hour with Jim
Lehr which is in Bodoni TS-Demi Bold.
In advertising Bodoni has been used in many
logos because of its classic style including
Guerlain, Elizabeth Arden, Giorgio Arma-
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LY GIAM BATTISTA BODONI THIS IS BODONI ITALY GIAMB
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