After looking over a few specimen books out there, I decided that what I really didn't want was just pages and pages of the typefaces saying the same sentences, in different point sizes, styles and weights.
In a sense, I didn't really want to create a traditional specimen book. I want it to be a publication about the typeface and showing what it can do in a variety of different ways. I also wanted to utilise the page spaces and have inserts throughout to have extra pieces of information on which perhaps applied to a double spread but there is not enough room for it to be on there comfortably.
I had a pretty good idea of the content that I wanted to include and how it would be laid out. I have decided on showing the sans serif as the base typeface, so showing all the technical information, such as the way the letters are designed/structured, and then the Slab and Rounded variations will have smaller sections which show off the variations and how they have been constructed from the Sans Serif.
Simplex - the aim
First Page
I wanted to start the first page filled with all the characters and variations. This is to show the typeface as an entirety to begin with.
Consistent Spreads
There were a couple of pages which I wanted to apply to each style as these are quite general and will make a consistency through the book.
The first is a simple layout of the weights, and the opposite page with the alphabet in these weights.
The second is a page with the body copy sizes laid out. While I don't want the whole book to be like this, I do think showing how the typeface works in body copy is important, so it is an important image to have.
I wanted to have some more creative/visually interesting ways of presenting the typeface over spreads and while experimenting I created this page spread with the numerals.
I had previously been looking at Josef Muller-Brockmann and Jan Tschichold and decided to try text on an angle and found that it worked really well, especially with the inclusions of the lines and the lines of text saying the weight and point size.
With the success of this layout, I applied across all three variations as I thought it was definitely strong enough to be a consistency through the book. I also think it is something quite different from what is classically used in a specimen book, which is what I wanted to go for - showing the typeface working in different situations, not just line after line.
Structure
For the Sans Serif section of the publication, the majority of the content is about the structure of the typeface, so stared by creating two elements of this - the grid, and the anatomy lines for each variation
With these lines being quite small to fit on the page together, I decided on creating a larger one and having it on an insert so it can be seen a lot closer and in more detail. As the insert is double sided, I did the Light version on the front side, and the Bold on the back.
Looking at the structure, there are a few letters which are slightly different and these should be displayed. I chose to show the 't' and 'g'.
I wanted to make the variation obvious, so tried a couple of different ideas to make it obvious, before deciding on using a red circle behind the bit of the letterform which is different. This works with the red colour scheme throughout, and is bold so it makes for obvious viewing.
Another element to the structure that I needed to display was the use of perfect circles throughout. I chose four letterforms which were different in structure and overlaid circles over the top to show how these are integrated into the design.
Another thing I wanted to show was the flourish in the 'Q', so I did this in the same way as the 't' and 'g'.
Another technical aspect that I wanted to show was the difference in serif sizes in the Slab serif variation. This was a subtle difference done to create a more consistent appearance.
To display the way the Rounded variation was formed, I decided on following the same form as the way I showed the circles above, by overlying the shapes over the letterforms. I overlaid the sans version with the rounded to create a very simple visual.
Following these technical images that needed to be shown, all that is left to do is to do a range of visuals showing the typeface working in all the variations. For these, I don't want to go overboard with them as I don't think it's necessary to show hundreds of the same thing over and over again. I want to do just a few really effective examples which get the typeface across properly and completely.
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