Gill Sans type specimen book (School project)
One of the assignments in my typography class was to design a type specimen book for a typeface of our choosing. I chose Gill Sans because I like its playful shape, and because it’s the typeface I have chosen to use in my logo and headings on this website.
A type specimen book is what designers use when selecting typefaces for a job. The requirements of a good type specimen book is that it shows a variety of styles (regular, italic, light, bold, ultra bold etc.) in a variety of sizes and situations, such as text or display type. Another requirement is that it shows all the characters of the typeface, so the designer doesn’t get surprised when using, let’s say the ampersand (&), and it doesn’t seem right for the job.
This book contains 16 pages, 18×18 cm. I used a dark pink colour contrasted by a light blue to create a funky and playful look which suites this typeface. Below is a sample of the pages I created.
The cover page of the book
The alphabet in various styles and sizes
Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
Display type from Roald Dahl's The Enormous Crocodile
Display type: Black on white and light on dark
A funky flowery asterisk pattern
My typography tutor had this to say about my work:
Gill Sans has a distinct personality which you have managed to bring out in your book. It is the perfect choice to represent Roald Dahl and your work captures both the essence of the typeface as well as the work of the author. You have created some simple dynamic patterns and you understand the use of the grid.
I rather enjoyed working on this book, and learned a lot about this specific typeface. Now I see it everywhere, just like I see Helvetica everywhere after I watched the Helvetica movie.
If you want to download the full type specimen book, it’s here.
What do you think?
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There are 6 great responses to Gill Sans type specimen book (School project):
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on October 13th, 2008
Nicely done Eivind! I quite like the color choice and your use of the grid.
When I was in college I chose Caslon, good times.
on October 13th, 2008
David
Thank you David! I appreciate you commenting on my site :) Caslon is a classic, I use that a lot when setting ’serious’ type, such as in reports.
on October 18th, 2008
Great typograhpic specimen. It is possible to download (see) the complete pdf? Gill Sans is a good type for signage & wayfinding projects. Good luck.
Sander’s last blog post: Font Series: FF Rotis is everywhere
on October 18th, 2008
Sander
Thank you for your comment, it’s much appreciated! I made the pdf available through a link in the post. Let me know what you think!
on April 27th, 2009
hi! i’m Agustina from Argentina… i’m a graphic design student too.. i’m in my second year of career..i need your help, as an assignment for typography the teacher gave us to do a type book, and i chose Gill Sans font, and i have no idea of how to do a type book.if u can help me i would really apreciate it..my email is : [removed] please contact me in y email because is easier for me than your website :D
on April 27th, 2009
Hi Augustina! (I sent you an email, but thought I might answer here to, for the benefit of others with questions about type specimen books)
Thank you for contacting me. I hope I can be of help with your project. When I did my type specimen book on Gill Sans, i did some research into other type specimen books that I found online:
You can do a search on flickr for type specimen, or have a look at type expert Ellen Lupton’s site. I also recommend her book ‘Thinking with Type’ if you are interested in typography.
Some things to remember when you do a type book is:
Show all the characters of the typeface, in all weights (bold, light, italic etc.)
Show the type both as text (paragraphs) and as headlines. In different sizes.
Make it interesting. Use funny quotes or interesting sentences. They don’t have to have a common theme, but maybe that is something you can consider?
Make a visual theme that is consistent between pages to show that they are all part of the same book.
Hope these answers were helpful. Good luck with your project :)