Briem on type design decisions
The hardest part of designing a typeface isn’t drawing — it’s deciding. Which letterforms? How wide? How much contrast? Gunnlaugur SE Briem’s notes on decisions and modules offer two complementary approaches: systematic variation and comparison, and learning from masterpieces.
How to get from sketch to character set¶
“The hardest part is making up your mind,” Briem writes. “Drawing a shape you are certain about takes little effort. Know what you want, and you’re halfway home.”
Two methods for finding out what you want:
Test and compare. Gradual variations are the best way to make design choices — and the computer does most of the work. Create a range of variants, from subtle to obvious, and compare. “Inspiration also has its place, but it usually needs a good shove. Details bump into each other. Confusion looms. That’s when a method will save you.”
Study masterpieces. Not to copy, but to understand the problems they solved. Matthew Carter made Bell Centennial to survive high-speed printing on rough paper with cheap ink. Compensation for brutal handling is built into every detail. “Great designers don’t lock away their secrets in a vault somewhere. They, too, run into technical problems. They find solutions, and put them into their work.”
A correspondent once asked Briem: “How can I look for solutions? I don’t even know what the problems are.” His answer: one detail at a time is manageable. The whole may seem daunting. Each specific question has an answer.
Modules on a grid: a typeface in a day¶
The chapter on modules shows his most direct teaching method. As a first exercise at the Royal Academy, Briem assembled what became the BriemAkademi typeface family — capitals, lowercase, and basic punctuation, in normal and condensed widths — from three building blocks:
- A rectangle
- A curve
- A diagonal
Two stages: rough assembly (put the modules together into recognizable letterforms), then optical correction (adjust where they don’t look right on their own). “Some sculptors say they 'chop away anything that doesn’t look like a statue.' A similar approach will take you a long way with lettershapes.”
The value of the module approach isn’t that it produces the best possible typeface. It makes the underlying structure of Latin letterforms visible. Once you see which letters share geometry, you start seeing what distinguishes the ones that don’t — and why those distinctions matter.
Numerals, spacing, and the squeeze¶
Briem turns next to the parts beginning designers leave for last: numerals, spacing, and condensing.
Numerals have their own logic. They need to work as a group — a column of figures should have consistent color and rhythm — and they often need to work with text they weren’t designed for. “A figure is a number in a column.” Lining figures align at top and bottom; oldstyle figures have ascenders and descenders. Both are legitimate; the choice depends on use.
Spacing is where most first drafts fail. The chapter on squeezing — condensing type to fit a narrower space — explains why it’s harder than it looks. Simply scaling horizontally breaks the optical balance that makes a typeface work. Counters shrink disproportionately. Curves go near-flat. A condensed design needs redrawing, not rescaling.
