Apposite: An Original Typeface Design
Designed by Tobias Brauer
The Design:
Apposite can first be described as a san-serif, neo-grotesque typeface. It is simple, legible and economic in its structure. However, it does have many minute complications in its subtle anatomy that allow its personality to at times be more closely related to typefaces that show evidence of the human hand (in writing/mark-making), and away from a modernist, machine-driven sensibility. In other words, it is clean and logical—but not perfect by design. Apposite can be used in the design of headlines and body copy alike and will remain quite legible through a vast divergency of typographic sizes. Its proportions are aesthetically balanced where doing so increases functionality. Moreover, because Apposite communicates in a way that is so lucid and palpable, it easily lends itself toward a number of different visual design styles quite well.
In its earliest versions and derivations, the design of Apposite experienced aesthetic influence by trying to engineer a hybrid between Helvetica and FF DIN. However, as Apposite’s design progressed, and became much more refined, it also developed into a visual voice that speaks in a contemporary tone, reflecting Swiss, German, and American characteristics.
The Optical Illusions:
One of the most difficult tasks a typeface designer encounters, is to try and compensate for the vast array of optical illusions that live within the glyphs making up Roman-based alphabets. Some of the characters can be as vapidly constructed as tall thin rectangles; while others are bursting with intricacies that include multiple stories, diagonal lines, and both round and square counter spaces. Regardless of these differences, there must be an over-all balance across all forms in the design of a typeface. The lowercase l for example has to be visually balanced enough in its weight (i.e. colour) to look as if it comfortably compliments the lowercase g (as another example)—not an easy task.
Apposite accomplishes this feat through the implementation of a number of visual design characteristics that although subtle, when combined together, accumulate to a measurable state of calmness. Varying stroke widths, ellipses of multiple proportions, as well as a wide lineup of ink trap and negative space-based solutions all contribute to this effect.
The Glyph Categories:
In spite of these vast differences, many glyphs still possess similar anatomical structures, and the ways in which these glyphs are created can be addressed though the creation of semi-homological groups. Never is one glyph exactly like another within a single alphabet—nor should it be, as this would only lead to confusion and difficulties in legibility. Often the differences in each of the alphabetic forms are celebrated and accentuated in the makeup of their individual design. Yet, commonalities exist.
In the design of Apposite this concept weighed heavily in constructing anatomic components within the glyphs themselves. Forms that are chiefly round in their anatomy were drawn and conceived of together. Similar problems received similar solutions. The same can be said for those that contain diagonals, or are primarily straight, and so on (as illustrated).
