Designing italics

Complete research results

Download  Designing Italics: Approaches to the design of contemporary secondary text typefaces — File updated to correct year of publication.

This thesis contains the complete results of a five-year study into the italic design process. It consists of 279 pages and almost 200 illustrations. The goals are to describe and document the process used by designers to design italics for text typefaces and offer an approach to designing contemporary italics.

How to read this thesis

This thesis is a sometimes-dry academic study, so reading it from beginning to end may get tedious and boring. Don’t be put off by the academic rigour—it’s there to validate that what I say is an accurate picture of reality. However there may be better ways of finding the useful elements of the thesis.

If you’re wanting to just get to the conclusion and read about how to approach a new italic design, read chapter 5 A framework for approaching italic design (pp221–246) for an overview, then chapter 4 Contemporary italic design practice (pp103–220) for details and techniques. The talk The italic design process introduces much of the same material, but only briefly.

If you would like a solid grounding in the history of italics and their typographic use, start with chapter 2 The multiple identities of italic (pp17–32), then wade through chapter 3 Influences on the italic design process (pp33–102). My ATypI 2017 talk The essential italic covers some of the same history.

If you want details of the historical and contemporary typographic use of italics, see appendix A Uses of italic (pp255–258). Never before has there been such a comprehensive list.

If you’re interested in the general type design process, start with the intro to chapter 3 Influences on the italic design process (pp33–56), which is relevant for all type design, not just italics.

If you are most interested in ‘italics’ for scripts other than Latin, then part of chapter 6 Conclusion (pp251–252) describes my general approach, although you’ll need at least chapter 2 Describing italic (pp17-32) to understand the context.

The full abstract and condensed contents are below. As time permits, I will write brief web articles on many of these topics, although the thesis will continue to have the most detail.

Abstract

This thesis investigates the design process of contemporary, Latin-script, secondary italic text typefaces. It examines designers’ approaches, the technical and cultural factors that influence their design decisions, and the techniques they employ. It reviews the historical italic design process, and explores how it informs current designers’ approach to the design of italics.

This research sheds new light on a poorly-documented area of typeface design. It also demonstrates a method of design research that compares historical and contemporary practice and produces a framework for description and discussion.

Examination of the design process begins with an analysis of the varied roles and identities of italic in Latin-script text typography—as a language feature, typographic element, historical marker, design object, and business product—and how these identities have influenced design. Historical practice is documented and analysed based on a wide range of sources including designer accounts, reviews, journal articles, publications, and type specimens.

Contemporary practice is explored though interviews with a broad sample of currently-active designers regarding their approaches, processes, and techniques. Responses are analysed according to stages in the type design process—initiating, experimenting, forming, harmonizing, and adapting—with additional sections on evaluating and learning. These present a comprehensive view of the process and how it relates to historical practice.

This thesis then proposes a decision-based framework for description and discussion of the contemporary italic design process, including a fresh look at historical inspiration. It presents a method of approaching and analysing the design process and introduces two new concepts for describing designer decision-making: balanced differentiation and italic tension. It gives examples of how the framework might be applied in various contexts and explores how it might be extended to be useful in the analysis of other secondary styles and to scripts other than Latin.

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