Context Of Practice: Analysis Of A Typeface

Century Schoolbook

The Century font family is a collection of typefaces derived from 'Century Roman', a typeface created by 'The American Type Founders' designer Linn Boyd Benton in 1894. During the 19th century there was an increase in thin typefaces due to influences from Italian Typographer 'Bodoni'. These typefaces lacked impact and legibility, and so Theodore Low De Vinne, Publisher of 'Century Magazine', commissioned Benton to create a more legible typeface to be used in the magazine.

In Beatrice Warde's 'The crystal goblet' it is explained that 'form over function' in typography is not only unnecessary, but it is also distracting. Warde stated that 'type well used is invisible as type'. What Warde meant by this statement is that a typeface should fit it's intended purpose, which above all is to communicate an idea, this however cannot be achieved if the reader is being distracted by unnecessary, decorative flamboyancy. 

An excellent example of functionality within typography is Morris Fuller Benton's Century Schoolbook. Benton created this typeface around 1918 with the intention it be the most legible typeface. He utilised research from 'Clark University', that showed that letterforms with contrasting line weight but with lighter strokes. He also took in to account the use of counter-forms to increase readability. To this day Century Schoolbook is still used in most educational publications and even Supreme Court of The United States' documents as it so reliable. This typeface is a perfect example of Warde's 'invisible type', it meets it's purpose to communicate a question or piece of information in a book clearly without any distractions. This reinforces Warde's statement that 'to an extent, all good typography is modernist', that is to say that the functionality of the typeface was considered above all else. 

 The incredible functionality of this type face is displayed through it's ability to be used at a multitude of different scales.To an extent, form and function go hand in hand when it comes to the functionality of Century schoolbook, as it is the form that makes this such a successful and functional typeface.