字體設(shè)計(jì)基礎(chǔ)(1)視覺(jué)均衡
100% practical. Sketches have been made to explain some basic issues in type design during the workshops. They get used to point out some problems which raise while creating a new typeface. Only some foundations are shown, no deep sophisticated details.
（寫(xiě)在前面）
100%實(shí)用。這一系列關(guān)于字體設(shè)計(jì)的討論文章來(lái)自typeworkshop.com，每篇文章都配有手繪的插圖，以闡明字體設(shè)計(jì)的一些基本事項(xiàng)，指出設(shè)計(jì)新字體時(shí)可能會(huì)遇到的一些問(wèn)題。這里只講述一些最基礎(chǔ)的東西，未涉及復(fù)雜的技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)。
Same size for all! To optically align all characters on a line, they cannot not have exactly the same mathematical height. For example the triangle on this drawing has to be higher than the rectangle. If this is not the case, the triangle will for sure look smaller than the rectangle. While creating a typeface, you want all the letters to have the same height.
為了讓所有字符在視覺(jué)上對(duì)齊，它們就不能采用同樣的物理尺寸。比如說(shuō)，下圖中的三角形的高度就必須大于矩形。否則，三角形看起來(lái)就要比矩形小很多。 而我們?cè)谠O(shè)計(jì)字體的時(shí)候，往往想給它們定義同樣的高度。
Also round forms have to exceed the baseline to be optically the same. If the circle would have exactly the same mathematical height as the rectangle, it would look smaller than the square. This doesn’t only count for basic forms like triangles, circles and squares. It’s essential in type design, because they apply to every single character in a typeface. Then it even doesn’t matter if you’re designing a latin, cyrillic or greek font. It’s a basic principle for any kind of shape.
同樣的 ，為了使圓形看起來(lái)和矩形同樣大小，圓形就必須超出基線(xiàn)。如果圓形和矩形物理尺寸一樣，圓形看上去就會(huì)比矩形小。這一規(guī)則不僅僅適用于三角形、圓形、方形這樣的基本形狀，這是字體設(shè)計(jì)的基本原則，整個(gè)字體中的所有字符都適用這一原則。不管你設(shè)計(jì)的是拉丁字體、還是斯拉夫或者希臘文字體，這是所有形體都必須遵循的基本準(zhǔn)則。
(2)術(shù)語(yǔ)
Type terminology. Communication during the design process is much easier when using basic terminology of type. Here are a couple important ones, which will help to bring the conversation a bit further than ‘yeah, that there, that little black thing.’ The counter of the ‘e’ can also be called an ‘eye’, but there are many more terms. If you want to know them all, go to the library or browse–the–web.
使用字體的基本術(shù)語(yǔ)，會(huì)讓設(shè)計(jì)過(guò)程中的交流變得非常容易。這里是一些基本的術(shù)語(yǔ)，讓你的交流能夠更深入，而不是“嗯，那里，那個(gè)，那個(gè)黑色的小玩意……”小寫(xiě)e的”字懷”（“字谷”）有時(shí)候也被稱(chēng)為是字“眼”，如果你還想更全面的了解其他術(shù)語(yǔ)，可以去圖書(shū)館，或者是參考下面的網(wǎng)絡(luò)資源。（譯注：很遺憾，原文中鏈接的一些資源已經(jīng)無(wú)法訪(fǎng)問(wèn)了。但我們可以用google找到其他的資源。這些術(shù)語(yǔ)很重要，如果你希望閱讀西方的第一手的字體設(shè)計(jì)研究資料，這是必須跨越的一關(guān)。但目前在國(guó)內(nèi)的設(shè)計(jì)界似乎還沒(méi)有一個(gè)統(tǒng)一的翻譯，不少書(shū)籍的翻譯都是各行其是，讓讀者也無(wú)所適從。有時(shí)間我會(huì)找一篇比較完整的來(lái)翻譯。）
http://www.adobe.com/type/topics/glossary.html
http://gmunch.home.pipeline.com/typo-L/faq/anat.htm
http://www.google.cn/search?client=aff-cs-maxthon&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=zh-CN&q=typography%20anatomy&um=1&sa=N&tab=iw
(3)流線(xiàn)型
Fluent shapes. Designing type is like driving a car. If you drive a car, you always take the curve in a natural way. If you draw a curve (of a character) on paper, this is exactly the same. The curve starts smoothly, never out of a sudden. While driving a car, you don’t start turning the wheel when you are already in the beginning of the curve. A while before you arrive in the curve you anticipate by leading your car gently in the right direction. Think about driving a car when you are sketching type on a paper.
流線(xiàn)型。設(shè)計(jì)字體就象開(kāi)車(chē)。你在開(kāi)車(chē)的時(shí)候，總是會(huì)以自然的曲線(xiàn)過(guò)彎。當(dāng)你在紙面上繪制一條曲線(xiàn)（或是字符）的時(shí)候，也是同樣的道理。曲線(xiàn)平滑的開(kāi)始，而不是陡然出現(xiàn)。開(kāi)車(chē)時(shí)，你不會(huì)在已經(jīng)到達(dá)了彎道口之后才開(kāi)始打方向盤(pán)，而是在你預(yù)計(jì)即將進(jìn)入彎道的時(shí)候，就開(kāi)始慢慢的將你的車(chē)引入正確的方向。當(dāng)你在紙上畫(huà)草圖的時(shí)候，多想想你是怎樣開(kāi)車(chē)的。
（下面有圖片。）
圖片上的文字：
標(biāo)題：動(dòng)態(tài)的曲線(xiàn)
左：怎樣才能最快的駛過(guò)這條彎道？
右1：幾何曲線(xiàn)
右2：自然曲線(xiàn)
右下：平滑的開(kāi)始轉(zhuǎn)向，更自然，更快速！
(4)書(shū)法原型
點(diǎn)擊放大
Calligraphic origin. The characters on the top line have a different construction than the characters on the bottom line. They have a different calligraphic origin. It doesn’t matter if a typeface has serifs (like Times New Roman) or not (like Arial). It’s about the original way they where constructed.
圖中上下兩行字母有著不同的結(jié)構(gòu)，它們來(lái)源于不同的書(shū)法原型。不管這種字體是襯線(xiàn)字體（如Times New Roman）還是無(wú)襯線(xiàn)字體（如Arial），它們的架構(gòu)都源于它們的書(shū)法原型。
The characters in the top line are constructed with a pointed pen (calligraphic tool). The contrast is caused by changing the pressure on the pen, not because of the form of the pen. Bodoni is one example of this, but also sans serif faces like Helvetica have this origin. The thickest part will be (mostly) totally vertical. From this perspective there is no difference between Bodoni and Helvetica. They both have the same construction. Only the contrast varies.
上面一行的字體的書(shū)法原型是一種尖頭的書(shū)法鋼筆。其筆畫(huà)的粗細(xì)對(duì)比是通過(guò)改變筆壓來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)的，而與筆尖本身的形狀無(wú)關(guān)。Bodoni字體就是一個(gè)例子，但是象Helvetica這樣的無(wú)襯線(xiàn)體也是來(lái)源于此。筆畫(huà)最粗的部分幾乎都是垂直的。從這個(gè)角度來(lái)看， Bodoni和Helvetica是同出一轍的。它們的架構(gòu)是一致的，只是筆畫(huà)的粗細(xì)對(duì)比有區(qū)別。
The characters in the bottom line have a origin which is derived from the broad nip. The calligraphic pen itself has a thick and a thin part. The contrast in the type is made because of the form of the pen, not because of the pressure. You slant the pen with an angle of 30 degrees on the paper. In that way your thickest part of a character will not be on a vertical direction, but will be on an angle. Also the thinnest part will not be on the most horizontal parts. Typefaces like Garamond and Minion have this kind of construction. But also sans serif faces like Gill Sans have a construction which is originally derived from the broad nip.
下面一行字體來(lái)源于一種筆尖扁平的鋼筆。這種書(shū)法鋼筆正面寬而側(cè)面窄。字體的筆畫(huà)粗細(xì)是由于鋼筆本身形狀的差異造成的，而不是筆壓。你書(shū)寫(xiě)的時(shí)候筆身是傾斜的，和紙張形成30度的傾角。因此筆畫(huà)最粗的部分就不是垂直方向的，而是有一定角度的傾斜。同樣的，筆畫(huà)最細(xì)的部分也不是位于水平方向上。Garamond 和 Minion 字體就是這種結(jié)構(gòu)。但象Gill Sans 這樣的無(wú)襯線(xiàn)字體也同樣是起源于這種筆尖扁平的鋼筆。
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