I. The Opportunity
The creation of a Typographic Process and Specimen Book (TPSB) is the opportunity for the designer to
create a showcase for their typeface. It will require the designer to call upon all of their typographic,
technical, spatial, hierarchal, and conceptual skills to generate a cohesive, elaborate, thoroughly developed
system of grid structures and page architecture to create an inventive, unified, and resolved solution.
II. Requirements
The TPSB should both demonstrate, in acute detail (including visual examples), the process that the student
underwent in the creation of the typeface (this is why all working materials were to be kept). The viewer
must be able to follow the development in as much detail as possible — this will require that the designer
must write, edit, and place all copy.
The most important detail to remember is that the TPSB is a showcase for your typeface — keep the
emphasis on your face. Every character you have created must be presented in the book — majuscules,
miniscules, numerals, and punctuation. You may choose to use your typeface as display text in order to
apply it directly in your design. Your typeface must be on the cover in some form.
Remember that all typefaces were designed for one purpose: you must begin by choosing that purpose,
then developing your face to work for that concept. Also, please remember that the TPSB is not only a
Specimen Book for your typeface, but a process book as well describing the choices and decisions that
went into the creation of the face.
Pay strict attention to the weights of each letterform; serif and san serifs are weighted much differently.
Remember that stroke weights are identical from letter to letter. This will require a great amount of
precision on your part, and will only be able to be accomplished through strict adherence to mathematical
proportions.
One aspect of the typeface design process that must be present within the TPSB is to describe the concept
employed when creating the typeface. This process should be described as well as revealed visually. Walk
the viewer through the methodologies used, and in astute detail defend the decisions made concerning the
progression. Use the visuals to support the decisions selected by the designer. Why was the form so difficult
to pin down? What ideas did you undertake in order to find the correct solution? Be as thorough and
specific as possible. The square format allows for many distinctive possibilities in terms of spatial
relationships and structure. Consider ways of using it to your advantage.
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