It doesn’t necessarily matter that a designer using Bliss (or another other type) should know its history, but as it is part of its design, it’s story may as well be passed on. This is all wrapped up in my appreciation of type and my day to day work with type. The history of type is fascinating and is constantly evolving. I believe that we learn from the past in order to design for the future whilst working in the present. I, like many designers, can not design in a vacuum. How important is it for designers to understand typographic history when choosing to use Bliss? If it “just works” for a project, is that also OK? Influenced by Meier’s reasoning of ‘dynamic structure’, the resulting letters have a more natural feel and flow to them. A great deal of the character of Bliss is found in the lowercase letters. The lowercase forms demonstrate some of these ideas, for example, the l is clearly different in form to a capital I and a number 1 the roman two-bowled g is traditionally found in English sans serif designs. In developing Bliss, forms were chosen for their simplicity, legibility and ‘Englishness’ (where forms are typically softer, more flowing and generous in their curves). Bliss began with a nod of recognition to this idea. One of Johnston’s ideas was a belief that a block sans serif form could be made more harmonious and acceptable if it were derived from the proportions of the Roman square capital letter.

The ideas Johnston put forward, both in this book and in his lectures, were to inspire a revival of interest in calligraphy and to inform the wider fields of lettering and type in England. In 1906 Edward Johnston’s seminal book Writing & illuminating & Lettering was first published. What was your inspiration for this typeface?

Jeremy Tankard Typography Lincoln, England We encourage you to try a few, and learn about the people and thinking behind them. This series introduces practical, versatile, well-crafted Western fonts by contemporary type designers from around the world. As a result, many Japanese designers stick with familiar favorites like Helvetica or Garamond, or grasp at decorative fonts that lose their flavor after a few bites. Thanks to the simplicity of the alphabet, thousands of Western fonts are released every year, each with its own cultural and historical nuances.įor Japanese designers, the subtleties can be obscure and difficult to identify, making choosing a good font a daunting task.

Bliss 2 font