Typeface	Bodoni
Category	Serif
Classifications	Vox-ATypI: Didone British: Didone Bringhurstian: Romantic
Designer(s)	Giambattista Bodoni
Variations	Berthold Bodoni Antiqua LTC Bodoni 175 Linotype Bodoni Bauer Bodoni Filosofia
Shown here	ITC Bodoni Seventy Two

Facsimile of lines from Dante's "Vita Nuova" first published with Bodoni types by the Officina Bodoni in 1925. Actual font is the digital Bodoni Monotype published in 1999.

Bodoni is the name given to a series of serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) in 1798. The typeface is classified as didone modern. Bodoni followed the ideas of John Baskerville, as found in the printing type Baskerville, that of increased stroke contrast and a more vertical, slightly condensed, upper case, but taking them to a more extreme conclusion. Bodoni's typeface has a narrower underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs. The face has extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes, and an overall geometric construction. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... “Font” redirects here. ... “Font” redirects here. ... In typography, serifs are non-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. ... Didone is a typeface classification recognized by the Association Typographique Internationale (AtypI). ... Didone is a typeface classification recognized by the Association Typographique Internationale (AtypI). ... Romantics redirects here. ... A type designer is a person who designs typefaces. ... Bodoni is a typeface designed by Giambattista Bodoni (February 16, 1740 in Saluzzo – November 29, 1813 in Parma), an Italian engraver, publisher, printer and typographer of high repute. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 552 pixelsFull resolution (2207 × 1524 pixel, file size: 60 KB, MIME type: image/png) Sepia-toned version of Bodoni MT Vita Nuova facsimile Image:Bodoni vita nuova facsimile sample. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 552 pixelsFull resolution (2207 × 1524 pixel, file size: 60 KB, MIME type: image/png) Sepia-toned version of Bodoni MT Vita Nuova facsimile Image:Bodoni vita nuova facsimile sample. ... Currently Monotype Imaging, Inc, a typesetting and typeface design company responsible for many developments in printing technology — in particular the Monotype machine which was the first fully mechanical typesetter — and the design and production of typefaces in the 19th and 20th centuries. ... Bodoni is a typeface designed by Giambattista Bodoni (February 16, 1740 in Saluzzo – November 29, 1813 in Parma), an Italian engraver, publisher, printer and typographer of high repute. ... Didone is a typeface classification recognized by the Association Typographique Internationale (AtypI). ... John Baskerville (January 28, 1706 - January 8, 1775) was a printer in Birmingham, a member of the Royal Society of Arts, and an associate of some of the members of the Lunar Society. ... Baskerville is a “transitional” typeface, designed by John Baskerville in England in the mid-18th century, revived in the early 20th century and widely used for books and other long texts. ... Majuscules or capital letters (in the Roman alphabet: A, B, C, ...) are one type of case in a writing system. ...

Bodoni admired the work of John Baskerville and studied with detail the designs of French type founders Pierre Simon Fournier and Firmin Didot. Although he drew inspiration from the work of these designers, above all from Didot, no doubt Bodoni found his own style for his typefaces, which deservedly gained worldwide acceptance among printers. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Firmin Didot (1764-1836) was a French printer, engraver, and type founder. ... Didot is the name of a family of French printers and publishers. ...

Many digital versions of Bodoni suffer from a particular kind of legibility degradation known as "dazzle" caused by the alternating thick and thin lines, particularly from the thin strokes being too thin in smaller point sizes. In Typographic Design: Form & Communication, the authors describes Bodoni’s uppercase R as a "dazzling contrast and vigorous proportions of modern-style typography. The thick-and-thin scotch rules echo and complement the thick-and-thin stroke weights."

Revivals and variants

There have been many revivals of the Bodoni typeface; ATF Bodoni and Bauer Bodoni are two of the more successful. ATF Bodoni was drawn by Morris Fuller Benton in 1907, and released by American Type Founders. The Bauer version was drawn by Henrich Jost in 1926. The Bauer version emphasizes the extreme contrast between hairline and main stroke. ATF captured the flavor of Bodoni’s original while emphasizing legibility rather than trying to push against the limits of printing technology. Other revivals include Bodoni Antiqua, Bodoni Old Face, ITC Bodoni Seventy Two, ITC Bodoni Six, ITC Bodoni Twelve, Bodoni MT, LTC Bodoni 175, WTC Our Bodoni, Bodoni EF, Bodoni Classico, TS Bodoni, and Filosofia by Zuzana Licko. Morris Fuller Benton (November 30, 1872 – June 30, 1948) was one of the most prolific and influential type designers in history, but is relatively little known today. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... American Type Founders (ATF) was the dominant American manufacturer of metal type from its creation in 1892 as the merger of 23 type foundries for several decades. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zuzana Licko (born 1961) is a typeface designer from Bratislava, Slovak Republic. ...

Digital Bodoni types

Digital Bodonis typically suffer from a particular kind of legibility degradation. Personal computers generate different sizes of type from a single design using mathematical scaling, while printers working with metal type use fonts whose designs have been subtly adjusted to optically compensate for ideal legibility at particular sizes; for example opening up counters and expanding the width in small sizes. Typefaces like Bodoni tend to highlight these differences of technological application. Many digital revivals are based on designs adjusted for relatively large sizes, making the already thin hairlines very thin when scaled down. Some digital type designers are rediscovering the older lore of "optical scaling", and we can look out for new revivals designed more to please the eye than satisfy mathematical convenience. Zuzana Licko's Filosophia has none of the problems of dazzle, and meets the test of text reversal even in smaller point sizes. Zuzana Licko (born 1961) is a typeface designer from Bratislava, Slovak Republic. ...

Applications

Bodoni has been used for a wide variety of material, ranging from eighteenth century Italian books to 1960s periodicals. Bodoni forms the basis of a number of corporate identities, notably CBS and IBM print advertisements. It has been suggested that Corporate Visual Identity Management be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... For other uses, see IBM (disambiguation) and Big Blue. ...

References

• Carter, Rob, Ben Day, and Philip Meggs. Typographic Design: Form and Communication. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: 1993. ISBN 0-471-28430-0.
• Dodd, Robin. From Gutenberg to Opentype. Hartley & Marks Publishers, Inc.: 2006. ISBN 0-88179-210-1.
• Friedl, Friedrich, Nicholas Ott, and Bernard Ott. Typography: an Encyclopedia Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc: 1998. ISBN 1579120237 .
• Frey, David. X-Height FontHaus’ Online Magazine. DsgnHaus, Inc. 2006.
• Lawson, Alexander S., Anatomy of a Typeface. Godine: 1990. ISBN 978-0879233334.
• Nesbitt, Alexander The History and Technique of Lettering Dover Publications: 1975. ISBN 0-486-20427-8

Cover of . ...

External links

• Review of various Bodoni fonts