Verdana is a humanist sans-serif typeface
designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft Corporation, with hand-hinting done by
Tom Rickner, then at Monotype. Demand for such a typeface was recognized by
Virginia Howlett of Microsoft’s typography group. The name “Verdana” is based
on a mix of verdant (something green, as in the Seattle area and the Evergreen
state, Washington), and Ana (the name of Howlett’s eldest daughter).
Bearing similarities to humanist sans-serif typefaces
such as Frutiger, Verdana was designed to be readable at small sizes on a
computer screen. The lack of serifs, large x-height (heights of lower-case
letters, as scaled to the letter x being exactly equal to one), wide
proportions, loose letter-spacing, large counters (spaces inside partially
enclosed portions of letters or symbols such as c, s, or curved quotation
marks), and emphasized distinctions between similarly-shaped characters are
chosen to increase legibility.
The Verdana fonts exhibit
characteristics derived from the pixel rather than the pen, the brush or the
chisel. The relationship between straight, curved and diagonal strokes has been
carefully developed to ensure that the pixel patterns at small sizes are
pleasing, clear and legible.
Despite
the quality of the Verdana font family at small sizes it is at higher
resolutions that the fonts are best appreciated. Some of the subtleties of the
letterforms, such as the slightly modulated stroke weight only become truly
apparent at larger sizes. In the words of Tom Rickner, ‘My hope now is that
these faces will be enjoyed beyond just the computer screen. Although the
screen size bitmaps were the most crucial in the production of these fonts
[their] uses should not be limited to on screen typography.
Characteristics of the typeface
are:
Lower case
·
there is a square dot over the letter i
·
the lowercase j has a serif on top that protrudes left
·
the a is double-story
Upper case
·
the capital Q's tail is centred under the figure
·
the uppercase J has a serif on the top that protrudes
left
·
There are two versions of uppercase R, one with a straight
tail and one with a curved tail.
·
the uppercase I has serifs on the top and bottom
·
Throughout
the process of designing my posters, I decided to go with the ideas that were
based on the font itself, which I came across during research, as this type is
a thin bold styled and sharp cut at the end. I was asked to create a
27th letter for Verdana; I did this by making it similar to the
letter Z but doing it in a way that it is the final letter by having one line
on the bottom having that sharp slanted look to show the viewer that it has
come to an end.
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