Adobe Garamond Pro: Case study.

Abstract

In this case study, the aim was to examine in detail a typeface to create a landing page about it that could show all the different characteristics, forms, uses, history and background, as well as how and when to use it as part of present and future UI projects. Therefore, while researching, I found out that Garamond is one of the oldest typefaces that has been used among different texts, documents and brands throughout history. One of the most outstanding findings is that it was used in important historic documents, for instance, the Bible or dictionaries. It is still used today in literature in books as Harry Potter or in different recognized companies and brands such as Oxford University, Google, Apple, among others. As part of the research, it was important to look at the anatomy of the typeface, its variations, and characteristics in general, to learn why it stands-out over other typefaces. This research led to the conclusion that Garamond is a typeface that can be used in different eras and moments in history, as well as in the present, as it is legible and elegant at the same time.

Keywords: Typeface, fonts, Garamond, old style, elegance, brands.

Introduction

Typefaces are very important to create text for beautiful web pages. People often don’t think about what fonts their favourite brands uses, what they don’t know is how strongly they create emotional reactions and how readable are they. It is important to know what is the purpose when you choose a font, it could be simple or it can be more decorative, sometimes the simple is better. Having too many typefaces, to small text size, bad alignment can show a disorganized and confusing website. In this occasion Garamond is an easy readable font used in important brands and books. Created by Claude Garamond in the sixteenth century, it is consider to be one of the most used typeface in all times. Even though, there has been changes it is still and elegant and readable typeface.

Objective

To research, study and show the Adobe Garamond Pro typeface. I wanted to know where this type is use, the history and evolution of the typeface, what weights are used, what people thinks about it, similar typefaces and examples of companies that uses this typeface at daily basis.

Methodology

After searching Garamond for a wide period of time I was ready and started an inception sheet, an inception sheet is a way to begin and organize all your thoughts to understand why you are doing it and what benefits come from it. It took me a while looking for this questions, but finally, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to show the elegance of the typeface and changes through history. Then I started working on the space, colour, mood, movement as shown in the Inception sheet.

I started to imagine my landing page as an elegant, vintage and fun. The colours to represent the typeface had to be chic and elegant vive, for example gold was my favourite one. I focus in history and elegance so that the landing page was organize, clear, simple and welcoming.

MoodBoard

Furthermore, to get a better idea of what I wanted to show, I did a mood board with elements that I found vintage, classic, elegant, fun and historic. I choose lots of pictures, but I narrow it to this ones. For example, you can see that one of the pictures is a puncher used to print books and bibles with Garamond’s typeface. for which represents the history of the typeface and Claude Garamond. Moreover, we can Harry Potters American book collection which uses Garamond’s typeface.

Wireframes

With this Wireframes I had a better idea of what I was going to do in the project. It helped alot and motivate me to do a organize project.

Adobe Garamond Introduction

I decided to start my landing page using a gold colour with a 3D effects and a white cloud background to highlight the title and give it an elegance first impression.

History

Following my mood I decided to talk about the history of the typeface and how it has change through time since the 16th century. I introduce the inventor Claude Garamond profile to show the individual behind this beautiful font. Moreover I created a timeline to show the changes of the font since it was first created.

Typeface and Anatomy

Furthermore, I introduce Adobe Garamond composition family. The roman and Italic designs are shown in regular, bold, and italic weights. I aim to create a presentation card with a gold background using photoshop. I also wanted to show the anatomy of Garamond so that I could explain, why this typeface is different from the others. For example, Garamond’s serifs have cupped bases and those found in the top of the character slope down.

Example

In this section a decided to do an app with Garamond’s typeface. I use photoshop to create a marvel background with gold and white colours. Afterwards, I created an app using CTA’S, lines and Garamond’s bold, regular and Italic weights.

Companies with Garamon’s typeface.

During this section I found and read about companies that have used Garamond. One of the companies that I like the most with this font is Canadian Geographic, you can see the elegance of the typeface and how it makes sense to use it in their logo.

Moreover, there are more examples like Apple that in the 80s used Garamond Old style in their Logo, but then decided to change. There are a lot of Universities that have this old style in their logo, it is really common in all universities specially old ones. We can see now days brands like American Eagle and Abercrombie using Garamond which give them a sense of glamour and elegance. Fun fact, American Harry Potter books are written with Garamond old style typeface.

Finally, in my last design I decided to do a card and remind again with the alphabet of Adobe Garamond pro in every weight so that viewers subscribe and get Adobe Garamond pro.

Conclusions

During the project I felt comfortable after doing the inception sheet, the mood board and the wireframes. Although it was my first experience using photoshop, I play around with the program and found that it has a lot of things to create beautiful designs. I hope I can learn more about typography for future projects. Looking at Garamond’s history, I believe it was a typeface that have impacted a lot of writers and designers.

References

https://www.designersinsights.com/designer-resources/anatomy-of-typography/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Garamond

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Estienne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_I_of_France

https://medium.com/@thelittlereina/typeface-garamond-be1b8b01add8

https://www.behance.net/gallery/33731058/Typographic-Anatomy-Study