My research into the Garamond typeface has begun with finding out information about the designer Claude Garamond. He was born and raised in Paris where he became the type founder of Garamond, a publisher, a punch cutter and a type designer. He first started training to become a punch cutter with Simon de Colines and Geoffroy Tory; two well know type printers.
I found only a few sources on the internet that I felt I could trust and believe, I found some websites that included alot of information about my typeface and a brief history behind the typeface.
From this timeline we can see that it was created in 1528 (Claude Garamond's Roman)
Garamond is the original typographic naming disaster--a source of ongoing confusion. There are many types called "Garamond", almost to the point where Garamond has emerged as a category among serif text faces. What most of the Garamonds have in common is that they are more-or-less accurate revivals either of type cut by Claude Garamond in the late fifteenth century, or of type cut by Jean Jannon in the mid-16th century.
Here I have made a visual of the Garamond family. The three different ways that the type face can be used all have different meanings and ways of interpretation. For example, when I was doing experimentation with the text on business cards, italic Garamond I think seemed alot more feminine, I think it portrayed a elegant feel to a piece of writing.
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| Garamond family typeface. |
As an initial experiment I have used the Garamond font to create 5 different business cards. I have only used this font and the family that it has including: Regular, Bold an Italic. I have experimented with a touch of colour in this too because from my previous project I have set a target for myself to explore colour more within my work and experiments. I think that this small bit of colour on that specific card works well, the slight step down from my first name makes it just as important with the different colour.
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| Garamond experiments - business cards. ----------------------------------------- Characteristics of Garamond All of the Garamond family of typeface have wide serifs that are only slightly concave, more in the capital letters. It belongs in the Old Style or Garalde group, Garamond contrasts between the thick and thin stroke weight. Because this type has a good visual flow, it is very easy to read so therefore is a good choice for text. The letter K in Garamond is wide with only a single junction: 
The letter R has a long leg with a narrow bowl, the leg reaches out further than the bowl, with the curve at the bottom of the leg I think leads you easily on to the next letter.
The letter Q has a medium length tail that sits outside of the bowl.
In the lowercase letters the 'a' and 'e' have slightly small counters, the 'j' has a medium length tail, quite straight with a small curve at the bottom, indicating it's a j. On the 'b' and 'd' the foot serifs are slightly angled.
 source: 'Making digital type look good' by Bob Gordon - Thames & Hudson |
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