Self Branding Typeface Selection

In order to create a luxurious, regal and traditional aesthetic throughout my self branding, I have opted to explore serif typefaces. The decorative embellishment provided by serifs will enhance and ensure a higher-class visual language is achieved. I have also decided to feature the cover's content in all caps, as to create a distinct, authoritative sense of importance. Below I will explore a range of serif typefaces before selecting the most suitable for purpose.

Baskerville Regular

Designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England, Baskerville is classified as a transitional serif typeface. In comparison to earlier typeface designs, Baskerville has increased contrast between thick and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper and more tapered, as well as a shifted axis of rounded letters to a more vertical position. The curved strokes are more circular in shape, and the characters became more regular. These changes created a greater consistency in size and form. Baskerville's typefaces remain very popular in book design.

Times New Roman Regular

Times New Roman, created in 1931, is a Serif Monotype creation, used in The Times news paper.  The typeface is still frequently used in book typography. Due to the adoption in Microsoft products,

it has become one of the most widely used typefaces in history due to its legibility and directness. The typeface itself has lasted the test of time in that its purpose was built for physical print and still prominent in modern day digital print design.  The Times is still a strong standing and prominent paper in British Culture. 

Georgia Regular

Georgia, designed in 1993 by Matthew Carter, is a serif typeface designed for Microsoft. It was intended as a serif font that would appear elegant but legible printed small or on low-resolution screens. As a transitional serif design, Georgia shows a number of traditional features of 'rational' serif typefaces from around the early 19th century, such as alternating thick and thin strokes, ball terminals, and a vertical axis. Georgia was designed for clarity on a computer monitor even at small sizes: it features a large x-height (tall lower-case letters) and its thin strokes are thicker than would be common on a typeface designed for display use or the higher resolution of print.  

Big Caslon Medium

Designed by William Calson in the early 18th century, this typeface is part of a group of serif typefaces. With short Ascenders and Descenders, this specific typeface has the purpose of fitting more characters on a page whilst at at the same time leaving sufficient blank space for aesthetics and eligibility. The italic form has a rhythmic calligraphic stroke that makes it easier to read when in a body of text. There is a moderately high contrast amongst the letterforms; this gives the typeface a formal identity. The italic P, Q, V, W and Z all have suggestion of a swash giving the font a hand-rendered feel.

The typeface I have decided to select for the publication is Georgia Regular. Out of all the typefaces, it is the only typeface to maintain total visual clarity as a result of its reduced contrast and thickened serifs. These qualities also make the typeface more eligible for the screen printing  process as the serifs are heavy enough to be picked up through the thread count, even at smaller point sizes.