A Typographic Quest, Number Two, 'Display Types' – Westvaco, Carl Dair, 1965

For the cover of A Typographic Quest No. 2 on display types, Dair uses a photograph of a portion of the Roman lettering from the base of the Trajan column, AD 113, paired with a contemporary condensed sans serif. Together they represent almost 2000 years of display lettering. Then, Dair treats the title as if it were the text, setting it in Univers 65, all lowercase.

Ornate initials, on the left, were originally used to indicate where a new paragraph began. They also provided a bit of visual relief in the solid mass of Blackletter text. However, by the 19th century those few initial display letters had almost become the text itself – with each line apparently expected to fight for attention.

One of the more interesting aspects of display typography is the creation of typographic images. Dair suggests that these ‘type images’ work best when the image is not forced. The result should appear natural, as if formed out of the type itself.

Notes

After examining the fundamentals of typography in the first issue of A Typographic Quest, it was perhaps only natural that Carl Dair should focus on display types in the second issue. Generally speaking, display types are the first typefaces people see. The ability to attract attention is an important component of most display faces, whereas it has little place in text types. That is also why in the early years of advertising many headlines were hand lettered.

Dair begins by asking what makes a typeface a display face: is it size, ornamentation, contrast or something else? Starting with the decorative initials that were used to indicate new paragraphs in a 15th century German Blackletter setting, he looks at how those initials evolved into the almost mindless explosion of ornate and decorative types of the 19th century. The rapid growth of advertising in the 19th century was largely responsible for the rise of display types. Other topics he examines are the use of text faces for display, creating a ‘typographic image’ and the larger question of what is considered appropriate typographic display. In 28 pages Dair provides what may be one of the best introductions to display types ever written.

Artifact Text

Typographic Display
All printed matter requires a focal point which marks the beginnings of the message. This unit, whether it be the quiet title page of a book or a screaming headline in a sale advertisement, is considered by the printer and typographer to be the ‘display’ matter. Obviously, each piece of text is an individual problem, and the more original the solution of the display, the more effective it will be. However, there are certain techniques which are valid for all types of display, and this second edition of Typographic Quests undertakes to analyze these various techniques in the hopes that it will provide a stimulus to the better use of type for display.

Items in this Series

A Typographic Quest, Number One – Westvaco, Carl Dair, 1964

Booklet, 28 pp