Walbaum
Typeface
Poster
This is a project for typography class.
The brief was to create a two sided poster
representing one typeface from each
classification. I got to choose one typeface
from the Didone era, and the chosen
typeface was Walbaum. I Decided to use
Walbaum because it’s the least popular
Didone typeface yet has an unique
anatomy on some of its letter. This was
also a grid exercise by treating two
different pages with different layout but
both of them should look united.
Walbaum was designed in the early 1800’s by
Justus Erich Walbaum in Weimar. Originally
intended as a punchcut, Walbaum was inspired
from other Didone typefaces that are a lot
more popular such as Bodoni and Didot.
Despite it’s typical Didone characteristics such
as extreme vertical stress, and fine hairlines
contrasted with bold main strokes, Walbaum
has many unique character that make it more
neutral among it’s friends, more welcome and
friendly, yet still very graceful and elegant.
Being created in early 1800s, Walbaum was
popular in the Romanticism period (1800
to 1850s). Based on the fact, I decided to
put some Romanticism ‘feel’ into the poster
to represent Walbaum. Some of the basic
characteristics of Romanticism are an artistic
Poetic Form, nature because the Romantics
believe on nature and landscapes’ aesthetic,
emotion, sense and sensuality. Thus, the
background pictures and colors were made
to match the Romanticism characteristic.
