297: Garamond: An Incomplete History of Type
- Diana Varma
- Apr 14
- 3 min read
From the middle ages to the Middle East, From Futura to Freight, join us on a journey across the type universe and go where no designer has gone before...Welcome to An Incomplete History of Type.
Name: Garamond
Release Date: Mid 16th Century
Designer: Claude Garamond
Classification: Old Style Serif Typeface
Owned By: Not owned by one single person, but digital variations are owned by multiple different companies: Adobe Garamond, Monotype Garamond, Stempel Garamond, and EB Garamond
Claim to Fame: Garamond is the most legible text typeface for publishing for centuries.
In this episode we are going back nearly 500 years to meet a typeface that quietly shaped how the world reads. It's elegant without even trying, and so familiar that many of us tend to overlook it. Everybody meet Garamond! You may feel a familiarity when looking at Garamond, maybe you shop at Abercrombie & Fitch and recognize the logo, or possibly you’ve seen the old Google logo or early Apple campaigns. But I’m almost certain, even if you’re not a big reader, you have read the words of children's author Dr. Seuss through the letterforms of the Garamond typeface.
Garamond is an old style serif typeface that first appeared around the 1530s, and like many things created during the Renaissance, its exact creation date is extremely blurry. What we do know is that it was originally created by Claude Garamond, a French punch-cutter, publisher, and type designer. Claude Garamond is considered to be one of the most influential type designers of the past, creating numerous old style serif typefaces with little recognition to his name.
Claude Garamond's letters revolved around the calligraphy of scribe handwriting, but he was
the first of his time to stray away from precisely replicating this handwriting, and instead creating a typeface that would read better when printed with ink. This means that his letterforms were more delicate than the past. After Garamond's passing his wife sold all of his materials and tools, which is how printers and foundries across Europe took interest in the Garamond typeface, widely copying, reusing, and remaking it as their own. Sometimes without any credit to the original creator, Claude Garamond.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, typographers rediscovered the Renaissance type style and started the great modern revival of Garamond. Many of these new modern variations of Garamond are interpretations of the original, utilizing new technologies and contemporary styles. The most popular modern digital variations are Adobe Garamond, Monotype Garamond, Stempel Garamond, and EB Garamond.
And after all of this, the name Garamond still stuck! In today's design world, Garamond often hides behind our bright and flashy statements, but this is exactly what makes it so effective. It is said that Garamond was born to live on paper, which is why so much literature is printed using this typeface. Claude Garamond most likely never imagined that his individual letterform metal punches would make it to our modern day, but here we are, still using Garamond for what it was made to do!
So the next time you open that Harry Potter book or shop at Abercrombie & Fitch, take a
closer look at what you are seeing because you might be looking at Garamond.
References:
Garamond History Anatomy Glyphs Uses. ATypeSupreme. (n.d.).
Garamond. Meaningful Type. (n.d.). https://www.meaningfultype.com/garamond.html
Green, C. (2021, June 2). Playing Favorites: Our Favorite Historical Typefaces (Part I). Hoban Cards. https://hobancards.com/blogs/thoughts-and-curiosities/our-favorite-historical-typefaces-part-1
Johnson, W. D. (n.d.). Punch, Puncheon. Newman Numismatic Portal Washington University.
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The Ontario Historical Society. (2009). About the Typeface. Ontario Historical Society .
About Our Guest:
Lilly Clements is an emerging graphic designer and brand storyteller interested in the intersection
between cultural impact and strategy. With a strong background in graphic communications, she is
passionate about building work that is both aesthetically strong while staying socially aware. Lilly is
especially interested in how design shapes conversations, and forever aims to build thoughtful art that goes beyond the screen.
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Music (public domain): TRG Banks - Above the Earth
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle
