a brief research on the font Bodoni highlighting its historical context and structure.

1. Bodoni
A brief introduction:
It was first designed by Giambattisa Bodoni in 1798 and is generally considered a “transitional”
font type. Bodoni was a prolific type font designer and this particular font was highly influenced
bythe work of John Baskerville, a designerwhose work Bodoni followed (Wikipedia).

2. Characteristicsof bodoni
• Bodonitypefacehasfivedifferentcharacteristicsthatare usedtoidentifyit.Thefirstwouldbehigh
andabruptcontrastbetweenthickandthinstrokes.Thesecondwouldbeabrupt(unbracketed)
hairline(thin)serifs.Thethirdcharacteristicistheverticalaxis.Nextwouldbethehorizontalstress.
Thelastcharacteristicwouldbethesmallaperture.
• Thefont,withitshighlyrecognizablecentered“Q”tailandslighthookinthe“J”,was widely
acceptedbyprintersandcanbeseenina broadvarietyofpublicationsandusessincethelate1700s
(fonts.com).Theoriginaldesignhada boldlookwithcontrastingstrokesandan uppercasethatwas
a bitmorecondensedthenitsstylishinfluenceBaskerville®.Theunbracketedserifsandeven
geometricstylinghasmadethisa popularfontseeninalmostevery kindoftypesettingsituation,but
particularlywellsuitedfortitlefontsandlogos.

3. Applicationsof bodoni
• In advertising Bodoni has been used in many logos because of its classicstyle including
Guerlain, Elizabeth Arden, Giorgio Armani and the classic“CK” for Calvin Klein (fonts.com).
In magazine publications suchicons asHarper’s Bazzar and the classicarchitecture magazine
Metropolis both use Bodoni as their basictext font. In addition Elle magazine ahs used it for
logo and titles.

4. Sources
• Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodoni)
• Fonts.com (https://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/bodoni/story)
• Medium.com (https://medium.com/@jevans67/typeface-history-bodoni-f2ef2d285cfe)