Liren Large Software Subsidy 15/15.iso/s/s076/2.img/TXT/LUCIDA.TXT

Text File | 1992-04-05 | 20.5 KB | 362 lines

These blurbs were written by the font designers, Charles Bigelow
and Kris Holmes.

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LUCIDA FAMILY OVERVIEW

Lucida is a family of harmonized typefaces that includes a variety of styles:
seriffed and sans-serif, roman and italic, normal and bold weights, scripts,
blackletter, icons, and symbols. This extra-large family of type styles is
often called a "super-family" or "extended-family" because it extends beyond
the usual font family that contains just roman and italic, normal and bold.
Because of the richness and variety of its different styles, Lucida allows
new forms of typography for electronic communication, printing and
publishing.

Between all the different Lucida styles, the capital heights, x-heights
(height of a lower-case x), and main stem weights are coordinated. Lucida
makes it easy for users to achieve variety and harmony by mixing and matching
different fonts in the same text and page. The designed coordination of so
many different styles means that when different Lucida fonts are used
together, the effect is lively and interesting but without the confusion of
randomly mingled and uncoordinated fonts.

Even the Lucida symbol font (Wingdings) is coordinated with the alphabetic
fonts. Most of the signs and symbols in Wingdings are the same size as the
capitals of the other Lucida fonts. This makes the special signs and
symbols easy to use.

The standard way of combining different type styles is to use one style
(usually roman) for main text, another (usually italic or bold) for
differentiation or emphasis, another for headlines, and so on. The Lucida
family is especially well suited to such traditional uses, but the
coordinated design of the Lucida fonts also allows more adventurous users to
experiment with new ways of mixing and matching fonts. Styles can be changed
inside words or between capitals and lower-case. Icons, signs, and symbols
can be more freely integrated with alphabetic characters. Script and
blackletter designs can be reintroduced into normal typography. These kinds
of experiments are especially effective in display typography, as in
headlines, posters, and the like, but they can also be effective in memos,
faxes, and other documents, where they are like exotic spices in the plain
printed page.

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LUCIDA BRIGHT

Lucida Bright has a brilliant look that comes from high contrast between
strong stems and fine hairlines, sharply cut details of serifs and joins, and
tight letter fitting. Lucida Bright Regular has a formal, authoritative, and
elegant appearance, to which Lucida Bright Italic adds dynamic action for a
distinctive, lively pattern. Lucida Bright Demibold and Demibold Italic are
strong enough for emphasis and headings, but light enough for full paragraphs
of text.  The crisply defined forms of all the Lucida Bright faces are
effective at larger sizes in titles, headlines and display.

Lucida Bright's large x-height helps text look big at small point sizes, and
its tight fitting and slightly narrow letterforms help fit more words on a
line.  The Lucida Bright family of typefaces is especially effective where
legibility and economy are important, as in the text columns of newsletters,
manuals, magazines, and newspapers. For wider text columns, as in books,
Lucida Bright is most effective with  additional "leading" or line spacing to
separate the text column into clearly defined rows that the reader's eye can
follow easily.

Lucida Bright is a modern design of the computer age, but its inner forms are
based on writing styles of the Italian Renaissance, and its sophisticated
detailing is reminiscent of printing types of the French Enlightenment. It
can be classified as a "Transitional" or "Reale" style of typeface, like the
18th century designs of Baskerville or Fournier.

Professional tips. Like many typefaces, Lucida Bright can be "fine-tuned" for
small sizes (8 point and below) by adding a few units of letterspacing
(positive "tracking"). At all text sizes, words or lines in all capitals can
be given a more rhythmic pattern by careful amounts of additional
letterspacing, though many graphic designers prefer to space capitals more
tightly at larger sizes.

Complementary Lucida fonts. Lucida Sans is the perfect sans-serif companion
to Lucida Bright, because both families are based on the same basic inner
forms, thus guaranteeing harmony on the page. For ornament and decoration,
the Wingdings font has alternate ampersands, delicate rosettes, graceful
leaf and vine ornaments that all harmonize with Lucida Bright. To spice
up Lucida Bright Italic, the capitals of Lucida Calligraphy can be
substituted for a more playful, lively effect. For an even more striking
and elegant companion to Lucida Roman, use Lucida Calligraphy, but add
enough extra line spacing that the longer ascenders and descenders of
Lucida Calligraphy do not collide. For a sophisticated look when setting text
in all capitals in either Lucida Bright Italic or Lucida Calligraphy, use the
Lucida Calligraphy swash capitals at the beginnings and ends of words, and
Lucida Bright Italic plain capitals in between.

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LUCIDA SANS

Lucida Sans brings a human look to the sans-serif mode. As in Lucida Bright,
the inner forms of Lucida Sans are based on writing styles of the Italian
Renaissance and have a more relaxed, hand-made rhythm than the rigid shapes
of "grotesque" sans-serifs based on 19th century industrial type styles.  The
large x-height, clear forms and open spacing of Lucida Sans create a
rhythmic, readable text at all sizes throughout a wide range of office and
professional documents. Lucida Sans is legible at small sizes in directories,
tables, and forms, is strong and clear at text sizes in correspondence,
memos, telefaxes, instruction sheets, and manuals, is emphatic and
attention-getting at large sizes in headlines and titles, and, especially in
the Demibold weights, arresting at very large sizes in posters and displays.
In all capital settings, Lucida Sans capitals make a strong, readable, and
harmonious pattern that is ultimately derived from the ancient Roman
inscriptions that were admired and copied by Renaissance scribes.

Lucida Sans Italic is a dynamic and distinctive design that appears formal
yet handwritten. It is a true cursive, a "running" style, because its inner
movement is based on formal chancery handwriting of the Renaissance. Unlike
most sans-serif italics, it is not merely a slanted version of the roman.
Used by itself, Lucida Sans Italic gives a personal, active, but disciplined
look to any text. This blend of action, rhythm, and precision is even more
emphatic in Lucida Sans Demibold Italic.

Professional tips. For larger sizes (above 14 point), Lucida Sans can be
"fine-tuned" by subtracting a few units of letterspacing (negative
"tracking") for a tighter, more active look. At text sizes, all capital
settings can be given a more rhythmic pattern by careful amounts of
additional letterspacing (positive "tracking"), though many graphic designers
prefer to space capitals more tightly at larger sizes.

Complementary Lucida fonts. Lucida Bright is the perfect sans-serif companion
to Lucida Sans because both families are based on the same basic inner forms,
thus ensuring harmony on the page while maintaining a distinctive difference
in style. At smaller sizes and lower resolutions, including telefaxing, or
for a more technical and utilitarian appearance of correspondence and
documents, Lucida Fax also makes an excellent seriffed companion to Lucida
Sans.

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LUCIDA SANS TYPEWRITER

Lucida Sans Typewriter adapts the humanized look of Lucida Sans to the fixed
pitch of typewriter fonts, in which all letters have the same set width. The
vertical proportions, strong stem weights, and crisp details of Lucida Sans
are continued in Lucida Sans Typewriter. The result is a strong, clear
fixed-pitch design that can be used wherever a functional, legible monospaced
font is needed, such as "typewritten" correspondence, memos, and telefaxes,
commercial forms, invoices, packing lists, programming and data processing
applications, line printer emulations, terminal emulations.

Lucida Sans Typewriter Bold has the same set width as the Regular weight, and
can be combined with it for emphasis, headings, titles, etc. Both the Regular
and the Bold weights have Oblique companions which are slanted versions of
the roman. The Obliques can be used in place of underlining for
differentiation or emphasis.

Professional tips. Lucida Sans typewriter is economical in setting: at a 10
point size, it is equivalent to a 12 pitch typewriter font. For good
legibility in long lines of 80 characters or more, add extra line spacing
equivalent to 20% or more of the font size. For example, add 2 points of line
spacing to 10 point text, to make a total of 12 points from base-line to
base-line. This is equivalent to "pica" line spacing or escapement on a
typewriter.

Complementary Lucida fonts. Both Lucida Bright and Lucida Fax can be used as
seriffed faces to accompany Lucida Sans Typewriter.

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LUCIDA HANDWRITING

To a business world dominated by formal, traditional fonts, Lucida
Handwriting brings a refreshing and modern informality.

Lucida Handwriting is a lively, connected script that brings warmth and
personality to the printed page. More mature but less formal than traditional
school penmanship, Lucida Handwriting combines strong basic letter shapes
into rapidly flowing word sequences. The casual and confident capitals and
deftly joined lower-case give a relaxed, friendly flair to a wide variety of
messages, whether memos, greetings, announcements, placards, or posters.
Lucida Handwriting also gives an informal, individual look to addresses on
envelopes and labels, and to salutations and signatures on form letters. The
capitals make an attractive word pattern on their own, in all capital
setting, and also combine well with the rhythmically joined lower-case.
Lucida Handwriting brings a new look to office printing and invites users to
invent new uses for it.

Almost all of Lucida Handwriting's extra signs and symbols - from arrows to
smile faces - are designed as true, hand-written shapes, to maintain a
hand-written feeling throughout all texts. Because it was developed
especially for digital typography and desktop publishing, Lucida Handwriting
is surprisingly legible at small sizes on screen and printer, and can be used
where other scripts might not succeed. Lucida Handwriting is coordinated in
weight and letter heights with other fonts in the Lucida family, so that it
can be used in harmony with the normal weights of other Lucida styles,
maintaining the same approximate weight and size as its companion fonts.

When combining Lucida Handwriting in the same lines as other Lucida fonts, be
sure to provide enough line spacing. In general, Lucida Handwriting looks
best with extra line spacing, from 33% - 50% of the type body size. This
gives more room to the lively ascenders and descenders, and helps separate
the text into more easily readable lines.

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WINGDINGS

From the traditional pen and pencil to computer mice (including the Microsoft
Mouse and Ballpoint), and from pointing hands to computer disks and tapes,
Wingdings offers a large set of icons, pictograms, and symbols for a wide
range of functional and decorative uses in office, school, and home printing.

Wingdings contains pencil, scissors, bell, book, and candle, mail and
telephone, as well as modern computer icons including files, documents,
clipboard, trash, window, keyboard, computer, and disks. A wide variety
of hand signals is provided, along with smile, frown, and neutral faces,
 bomb, skull & crossbones, flag and pennant, airplane, sun, raindrop, and
snowflake, a variety of check marks and ballot boxes, religious symbols,
astrological signs, alternative ampersands, ornamental flowers, vines,
and leaves, and circled numerals in normal and reverse.

Complementary Fonts. Most of the icons, pictograms, and symbols are
design-neutral and can be used with most any fonts in appropriate
circumstances.  Some of the characters are designed to harmonize especially
well with Lucida fonts. The  normal and demibold italic "et" ampersands and
italic swash "&" ampersand are intended to be used with Lucida Bright Italic
and Calligraphy Italic. The normal and demibold roman weight "Et" ampersands
are intended to be used with Lucida Sans regular and Demibold. There are
normal and Demibold weight interrobangs for both Lucida Bright and Lucida
Sans regular and Demibold. The bold roman "&" ampersand and bold quote marks
are for extra emphasis with Lucida Bright fonts, but can be used with other
fonts as well.

The more delicate vine and leaf ornaments (sometimes called "fleurons") are
also designed to harmonize well with Lucida fonts, though they can really be
used anywhere for a festive and decorative effect. The smaller leaves in
normal and Demibold weights work best with Lucida Bright fonts. They can be
used as single piece ornaments to enliven title pages or chapter openings of
books and other documents, as well as decorations on greetings, menus, and a
wide range of festive messages. These ornaments have both left and right, and
up and down orientations, and so can be combined into friezes, borders, and
frames. The larger leaves have a strong and active quality that harmonizes
well with Lucida Sans fonts, though they can also be used with other Lucida
fonts and other fonts in general. These leaves have clockwise and
counter-clockwise direction, as well as left and right, and up and down
orientations, so they can be combined into attractive borders and frames with
different dynamic effects.

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LUCIDA BLACKLETTER

Lucida Blackletter is a modern interpretation of an internationally popular
style of printing types used for vernacular literature in northern Europe in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Lucida Blackletter connects today's
computer typography to the earliest printing in the English language, for
William Caxton, England's first printer, used a font in this style for the
first book printed in England with place and date of printing (Westminster,
1477). This cursive blackletter style was also very popular in France where
it was known as "Batarde" and was extensively used by printers in the Low
Countries (Belgium and Holland). A related style became popular in Germany,
where it is known as "Fraktur".

Lucida Blackletter is not an imitation of any historical font, but a new
interpretation of the cursive blackletter style. Lucida Blackletter has the
dark texture, fractured curves, and tight fitting typical of the gothic type
styles, but it is much more relaxed, playful, and exuberant than the stiff,
conservative "textura" blackletter once used for religious and legal
documents and publications in Latin. To modern eyes accustomed to disciplined
roman types, the sharp, broken shapes and sinuous swashes of Lucida
Blackletter seem unfamiliar at first, but the forms have their own logic and
soon become surprisingly legible to modern readers, while still expressing
the typical gothic spirit of the scribes and printers who founded the art of
typography and the modern age.

Lucida Blackletter is not exclusively English, French, Dutch, or German in
style, but appeals to the international spirit that typography had in its
early days. It can be used wherever a popular style of blackletter is desired
for "allusive" typography - to evoke an historical era, like England at the
time Henry VIII, or France in the early Renaissance, or the American colonies
before the Revolution. And it will also look properly quaint on the sign of
an antique shop and dazzlingly delicious in a menu for strudels and Black
Forest cakes. But Lucida Blackletter can be used for more than allusion; it
is a strong, enthusiastic, and decorative script with a vigor and charm that
stem from the very roots of typography. Thomas Jefferson, a calligrapher as
well as a statesman, wrote a fine blackletter cursive and used in the
Declaration of Independence for special emphasis. Modern typographers will
likewise find new uses for the  expressive qualities of Lucida Blackletter.


Complementary Lucida Fonts. Lucida Blackletter aligns in the heights of
lower-case and capitals with other Lucida text fonts, so it can be used in
text together with other members of the family. Its swash ascenders are
longer than most other Lucida ascenders, so when setting it in combination
with other Lucida fonts, be sure to allow enough line spacing so that
ascenders and descenders do not collide. In technical publishing, Lucida
Blackletter has the proper proportions and weight to be used with the Lucida
Math fonts, so for something a little different, it can be used as a
substitute for the generic fraktur styles.


Professional tips. Blackletter capitals were traditionally not designed to be
combined into all capital settings; capitals were intended to be used with
lower-case only. Therefore, be sparing in the use of all capital settings in
Lucida Blackletter. The effect is striking, but takes some getting used to,
because the all-capital Blackletter word-patterns unfamiliar to most readers.
Lucida Blackletter is tightly fitted by the designers, so letterspacing
should not be tightened at text sizes, though the spacing can be made tighter
for large, display sizes.

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LUCIDA FAX

Lucida Fax is a family of slab-serif fonts designed for telefaxing,
dot-matrix printing, screen displays, and other situations where fonts must
be rendered and reproduced at low resolutions or small sizes.

Closely related to Lucida Bright, Lucida Fax has a large x-height, clear
letter shapes, and open counters, but is more rugged, with heavier hairlines,
thicker and shorter slab-shaped serifs, and greater space between letters. As
its name implies, Lucida Fax is ideal for documents that will be telefaxed,
from simple memos to complex newsletters.

Sturdiness and open spacing also make Lucida Fax a good choice for texts that
are composed in small sizes and reproduced by printing methods that tend to
degrade image quality, as in newspapers, packaging and labeling. At large
sizes, Lucida Fax can be used for display and even signage, when a sturdy,
slab-serif font is called for.

Lucida Fax can also be used for educational printing and publishing.  Like
traditional schoolbook fonts, Lucida Fax has the simplicity, regularity, and
clarity that important to younger readers. Its letter forms are unambiguous,
its spacing open, and its detailing plain.

Complementary Fonts. Lucida Sans, also famous as good for faxing, is the
ideal sans-serif companion to Lucida Fax.

Lucida Handwriting offers a casual and charming contrast to the formality of
Lucida Fax, but also has enough ruggedness to remain readable when telefaxed
or rendered at low resolutions and small sizes.

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LUCIDA BRIGHT MATH

The Lucida Bright Math fonts (Lucida Bright Math Italic, Lucida Bright Math
Symbol, Lucida Bright Math Extension) include the mathematical signs and
symbols most used in mathematical and technical composition. In particular,
the Lucida Bright Math fonts contain the math characters that are standard in
the TeX math composition software, which, in its various forms, is one of the
most popular mathematical composition package used worldwide. In addition to
the standard TeX character sets, Lucida Bright Math fonts include many more
characters compatible with the sets specified in the the ISO and Unicode math
character standards, as well as the TROFF math composition software.

Complementary Fonts. Lucida Calligraphy can be used for mathematical script
characters, and Lucida Blackletter for mathematical blackletter/fraktur
characters.

Lucida Bright Math fonts can be used harmoniously with most popular text
faces, such as Times New Roman, when mathematical composition is needed. Of
course, Lucida Math fonts harmonize very well with Lucida Bright and other
Lucida styles.