Didot is a group of typefaces. The word/name Didot came from the famous French printing and type producing Didot family.[1] The classification is known as modern, or Didone.
The most famous Didot typefaces were developed in the period 1784–1811. Firmin Didot (1764–1836) cut the letters, and cast them as type in Paris. His brother, Pierre Didot (1760–1853) used the types in printing. His edition of La Henriade by Voltaire in 1818 is considered his masterwork. The typeface takes inspiration from John Baskerville's experimentation with increasing stroke contrast and a more condensed armature. The Didot family's development of a high contrast typeface with an increased stress is contemporary to similar faces developed by Giambattista Bodoni in Italy.
Didot is described as neoclassical, and evocative of the Age of Enlightenment. The Didot family were among the first to set up a printing press in the newly independent Greece, and typefaces in the style of Didot have remained popular in Greek since.[2][3]
Several revivals of the Didot faces have been made, first for hot metal typesetting and then for phototype and digital versions.
Digital use of Didot poses challenges. While it can look very elegant due to the regular, rational design and fine strokes, a known effect on readers is 'dazzle', where the thick verticals draw the reader's attention and cause them to struggle to concentrate on the other, much thinner strokes that define which letter is which.[4][5][6] For this reason, using a font adapted to the intended text size - optical sizing - has been described as particularly essential with Didone designs.[7] Fonts to be used at text sizes will be sturdier designs with thicker 'thin' strokes and serifs (less stroke contrast) and more space between letters than on display designs, to increase legibility.[8][9][10] (Optical sizes were a natural requirement of printing technology in the time of metal type, since each size of metal type would be custom-cut, but declined as digital fonts made printing the same font at any size possible. A revival has taken place in recent years but they are normally only offered in commercial fonts.[11][12])
Among the most successful contemporary adaptations are the ones drawn by Adrian Frutiger for the Linotype foundry, and by Jonathan Hoefler for H&FJ. Hoefler's design anticipates the degradation of hairline in smaller point sizes by employing heavier weighted strokes in the smaller point sizes.[9] Frutiger's Didot revival, which is bundled with macOS, was specifically intended for display use and not for body text, and adds in addition an even more delicate headline font.[13][14]
Didot typeface from Histoire d'un trop bon chien by Gaspard de Cherville, 1867. In the last "N" the fine line of the vertical has completely disappeared due to the fine print.
An example of Firmin-Didot-style body text from the same book.
Usage
The Style Network used a bold weight of Didot in its on-air identity (in addition to the News Gothic font). Alexey Brodovitch implemented the usage of Didot in Cahiers d'Art and Harper's Bazaar. Vogue has been using Didot as the typeface for their cover title since 1955.[15]
The "CBS Didot" version of Didot was commissioned and used by broadcast network CBS for many years alongside its famous "eye" logo.[16][17] While the network's use of Didot with its logo is not as prevalent as it once was, it is still a common sight, used mainly for the imaging of CBS News, the logo for CBS Corporation, and the logotype for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It is also used as the logotype for the credits of the CBS sitcom Mom.
Another note-worthy usage of Didot is in the new Zara logo that caused quite a bit of uproar for its "uncomfortably close" kerning. Didot is a commonly used typeface by logo designer Baron & Baron.
Notes
^Tracy, Walter (1985). "Didot: an honoured name in French typography". Bulletin of the Printing Historical Society (14): 160–166.
^John D. (ed.). Berry (2002). Language Culture Type: International Type Design in the Age of Unicode. ATypI. pp. 82–4. ISBN978-1-932026-01-6.
^"GFS Didot". Greek Font Society. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
^Berkson, William (November 2010). "Reviving Caslon, Part 2". I Love Typography. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
^Cees W. De Jong, Alston W. Purvis, and Friedrich Friedl. 2005. Creative Type: A Sourcebook of Classical and Contemporary Letterforms. Thames & Hudson. (223)
^Katz, Joel (2012). Designing information : human factors and common sense in information design. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. p. 140. ISBN9781118420096.
^Coles, Stephen. "Trianon review". Identifont. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
^Heller, Steven. "Jonathan Hoefler on type design". Design Dialogues. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
^ ab"HFJ Didot". Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
^Sowersby, Kris (22 January 2008). "Why Bembo Sucks". Retrieved 30 June 2015.
^Ahrens and Mugikura. "Size-specific Adjustments to Type Designs". Just Another Foundry. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
^Coles, Stephen. "Book Review: Size-specific Adjustments to Type Designs". Typographica. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
^"Didot LT". MyFonts. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
^Frutiger, Adrian (8 May 2014). Typefaces: The Complete Works. pp. 362–369. ISBN9783038212607. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^Miller, Abbott. "Through thick and thin: fashion and type". Eye. 17 (65): 16–23.
Blackwell, Lewis. 20th Century Type. Yale University Press: 2004. ISBN0-300-10073-6.
Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History. Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. ISBN1-57912-023-7.
Macmillan, Neil. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN0-300-11151-7.
Meggs, Philip and Rob Carter. Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces. Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1993. ISBN0-442-00758-2.
Meggs, Philip B. and Roy McKelvey. Revival of the Fittest. RC Publications, Inc.: 2000. ISBN1-883915-08-2.
Updike, Daniel Berkley. Printing Types Their History, Forms and Use Dover Publications, Inc.: 1937, 1980. ISBN0-486-23929-2.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Didot (typeface).
Stephen Coles. "The Didot You Didn't Know". Typographica blog. 26 March 2004
Jean François Porchez. "L’Ambroise en détails 2016-06-24 at the Wayback Machine". Typographic 59. 2001. Online version at Porchez Typofonderie website. Discusses the history of Didot, and the process of creating the modern revival "Ambroise".
Theano Didot, a free implementation by Alexey Kryukov, released under the SIL Open Font License (OFL)
January 21, 2023
didot, typeface, didot, group, typefaces, word, name, didot, came, from, famous, french, printing, type, producing, didot, family, classification, known, modern, didone, didotcategoryserifshown, herelinotype, didotby, adrian, frutigerthe, most, famous, didot, . Didot is a group of typefaces The word name Didot came from the famous French printing and type producing Didot family 1 The classification is known as modern or Didone DidotCategorySerifShown hereLinotype Didotby Adrian FrutigerThe most famous Didot typefaces were developed in the period 1784 1811 Firmin Didot 1764 1836 cut the letters and cast them as type in Paris His brother Pierre Didot 1760 1853 used the types in printing His edition of La Henriade by Voltaire in 1818 is considered his masterwork The typeface takes inspiration from John Baskerville s experimentation with increasing stroke contrast and a more condensed armature The Didot family s development of a high contrast typeface with an increased stress is contemporary to similar faces developed by Giambattista Bodoni in Italy Didot is described as neoclassical and evocative of the Age of Enlightenment The Didot family were among the first to set up a printing press in the newly independent Greece and typefaces in the style of Didot have remained popular in Greek since 2 3 Contents 1 Revivals and digitisations 2 Gallery 3 Usage 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksRevivals and digitisations EditSeveral revivals of the Didot faces have been made first for hot metal typesetting and then for phototype and digital versions Digital use of Didot poses challenges While it can look very elegant due to the regular rational design and fine strokes a known effect on readers is dazzle where the thick verticals draw the reader s attention and cause them to struggle to concentrate on the other much thinner strokes that define which letter is which 4 5 6 For this reason using a font adapted to the intended text size optical sizing has been described as particularly essential with Didone designs 7 Fonts to be used at text sizes will be sturdier designs with thicker thin strokes and serifs less stroke contrast and more space between letters than on display designs to increase legibility 8 9 10 Optical sizes were a natural requirement of printing technology in the time of metal type since each size of metal type would be custom cut but declined as digital fonts made printing the same font at any size possible A revival has taken place in recent years but they are normally only offered in commercial fonts 11 12 Among the most successful contemporary adaptations are the ones drawn by Adrian Frutiger for the Linotype foundry and by Jonathan Hoefler for H amp FJ Hoefler s design anticipates the degradation of hairline in smaller point sizes by employing heavier weighted strokes in the smaller point sizes 9 Frutiger s Didot revival which is bundled with macOS was specifically intended for display use and not for body text and adds in addition an even more delicate headline font 13 14 A libre open source implementation of Didot including the Cyrillic and Greek alphabet was released under the name Theano Didot by the Russian historian Alexey Kryukov Gallery Edit Didot s type in the Code civil des Francais printed by the company of Firmin Didot in 1804 Didot typeface from Histoire d un trop bon chien by Gaspard de Cherville 1867 In the last N the fine line of the vertical has completely disappeared due to the fine print An example of Firmin Didot style body text from the same book Usage EditThe Style Network used a bold weight of Didot in its on air identity in addition to the News Gothic font Alexey Brodovitch implemented the usage of Didot in Cahiers d Art and Harper s Bazaar Vogue has been using Didot as the typeface for their cover title since 1955 15 The CBS Didot version of Didot was commissioned and used by broadcast network CBS for many years alongside its famous eye logo 16 17 While the network s use of Didot with its logo is not as prevalent as it once was it is still a common sight used mainly for the imaging of CBS News the logo for CBS Corporation and the logotype for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert It is also used as the logotype for the credits of the CBS sitcom Mom Another note worthy usage of Didot is in the new Zara logo that caused quite a bit of uproar for its uncomfortably close kerning Didot is a commonly used typeface by logo designer Baron amp Baron Notes Edit Tracy Walter 1985 Didot an honoured name in French typography Bulletin of the Printing Historical Society 14 160 166 John D ed Berry 2002 Language Culture Type International Type Design in the Age of Unicode ATypI pp 82 4 ISBN 978 1 932026 01 6 GFS Didot Greek Font Society Retrieved 10 August 2015 Berkson William November 2010 Reviving Caslon Part 2 I Love Typography Retrieved 21 September 2014 Cees W De Jong Alston W Purvis and Friedrich Friedl 2005 Creative Type A Sourcebook of Classical and Contemporary Letterforms Thames amp Hudson 223 Katz Joel 2012 Designing information human factors and common sense in information design Hoboken NJ Wiley p 140 ISBN 9781118420096 Coles Stephen Trianon review Identifont Retrieved 10 August 2015 Heller Steven Jonathan Hoefler on type design Design Dialogues Retrieved 2 August 2016 a b HFJ Didot Hoefler amp Frere Jones Retrieved 10 August 2015 Sowersby Kris 22 January 2008 Why Bembo Sucks Retrieved 30 June 2015 Ahrens and Mugikura Size specific Adjustments to Type Designs Just Another Foundry Retrieved 21 November 2014 Coles Stephen Book Review Size specific Adjustments to Type Designs Typographica Retrieved 21 November 2014 Didot LT MyFonts Retrieved 12 September 2015 Frutiger Adrian 8 May 2014 Typefaces The Complete Works pp 362 369 ISBN 9783038212607 Retrieved 13 January 2016 Miller Abbott Through thick and thin fashion and type Eye 17 65 16 23 CBS Didot DF CBS Didot at Fonts In UseReferences EditBlackwell Lewis 20th Century Type Yale University Press 2004 ISBN 0 300 10073 6 Fiedl Frederich Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein Typography An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History Black Dog amp Leventhal 1998 ISBN 1 57912 023 7 Lawson Alexander S Anatomy of a Typeface Godine 1990 ISBN 0 87923 333 8 Macmillan Neil An A Z of Type Designers Yale University Press 2006 ISBN 0 300 11151 7 Meggs Philip and Rob Carter Typographic Specimens The Great Typefaces Van Nostrand Reinhold 1993 ISBN 0 442 00758 2 Meggs Philip B and Roy McKelvey Revival of the Fittest RC Publications Inc 2000 ISBN 1 883915 08 2 Updike Daniel Berkley Printing Types Their History Forms and Use Dover Publications Inc 1937 1980 ISBN 0 486 23929 2 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Didot typeface Stephen Coles The Didot You Didn t Know Typographica blog 26 March 2004 Jean Francois Porchez L Ambroise en details Archived 2016 06 24 at the Wayback Machine Typographic 59 2001 Online version at Porchez Typofonderie website Discusses the history of Didot and the process of creating the modern revival Ambroise Theano Didot a free implementation by Alexey Kryukov released under the SIL Open Font License OFL Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Didot typeface amp oldid 1127917855, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
