. . . : : TYPEFACES / Letters, Numbers & Symbols

The Lost Art of Ligatures

According to Leonardo da Vinci: “To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” This keen observation cannot be further from the truth when applied to typography. Many font families are designed with additional, connected characters called ligatures allowing for more natural two and three letter combinations attempting to reduce the chance of character specimens crossing over one another. While developing the core identity for Quick Brown Fox FX I knew I wanted to place ligature studies at the very core of the brand including the logo. Building this brand’s journey quite literally began during my childhood at the corner of West Red Fox Trail and Red Fox Court in my hometown, Greenville, South Carolina. This Fox Spirit has been designing local brands since 1990 and global brands since 1996.

In the mid-90s I was introduced to two font families that immediately left a lasting imprint on me: 1) Meta designed by Erik Spiekermann (used here and across my website), and 2) Mrs. Eaves designed by Zuzana Licko. Mrs. Eaves was Licko’s first traditionally-styled font with roots drawing from the Baskerville family. I incorporated Meta across many graphic design exhibition checklists during my 19-year tenure with my wonderful extended family at Georgia Museum of Art. I paired Meta with Legacy Sans, Serif, and SC originally designed by my typography professor Ronald Arnholm. Professor Arnholm was taught by Paul Rand at Yale, and I have three fond memories collaborating with him while I attended the University of Georgia Graphic Design Program. I was fortunate to also study his Advanced Typography course where we designed alongside three German exchange students.

During the first couple of days in Typography class we were challenged to train our eyes on the intricacies of a particular letterform Professor Arnholm selected for each of us. When he assigned his Legacy Sans Italic lowercase letter g he commented to me that it was one of the toughest letterforms to design when he developed his Legacy Family. I rendered the letter with fairly accurate precision without the use of French curves. I still have that rendering amongst other historical pieces from my days in Athens, Georgia. I might scan it one day and add it to this post.

The second memory I have of Arnholm was when we were designing our own logotypes. I spent about ten minutes in Adobe Illustrator stacking the first three letters of my last name above the last three. I decided to use Futura as the base for my logo because I was drawn to its sharp, geometric qualities. Over my shoulder Arnholm made the comment that my mark “would last a long time.” While I have made revisions to my Vinson logo since college, 90% of the original design is still apparent at its heart. The last fond memory was Professor Arnholm’s catchphrase of choice: “Bring your friends,” referring to our dozens of graphic design tools from Design Markers to Rapidiographs.

Getting back to the fox spirit-inspired identity, I chose Emigre’s Mrs. Eaves Family for its classy stylings and unique ligatures. I applied it across the entire design language. In many cases when ligatures weren’t available for a particular combination, I designed my own keeping them closely inline with the frisky beauty of Mrs. Eaves.

Quick Brown Fox FX, a Vinson Design Brand Consultancy. Adaptable. Cunning. Frisky.