Project 3: Typeface— Meta

5 min readNov 28, 2020

To start this project we were tasked with writing an essay regarding the history and visual characteristics of our chosen typeface. In addition to this, we have to encapsulate what we learn into a 50-word statement.

Notes on Typeface

Name of Typeface: FF Meta
Font family: Humanist Sans-serif
Name of Designer: Erik Spiekermann
Initial Development Date: 1985
Release Date: 1991
Country of Origin: Germany
Designed for: West German Post Office
Adjectives: Lively, Friendly, Theoretical,

Visual Characteristics

General

Relatively open counters
Beveled stroke ends
Partially curved lines
Large x-height (easily legible in small font sizes)

Lower case

Round dot over the letter i and j.
Ends of the letter s are nearly horizontal
Curved bottom of l, making it clearly different to a 1 or upper-case i.
Double-storey a with a very open aperture at the top.
Not fully closed bottom loop in binocular g.
Bend to the left at the top of the letters b, h, k, l.
Bend to the right at the top of the letter d.
A very distinctive y where the two strokes do not join smoothly.
Serif-like tails

Upper case

Angled letter M, more resembling Futura or an upturned W than Helvetica or Gill Sans
Slanted upper terminal on the top right of E, T and F. E and T are not symmetrical

Essay

50-Word Statement

Spread Thumbnails

After gaining an understanding of the typeface, I explored various thumbnails that incorporated the name of the typeface, the essay text, the 50-word statement, and a block for an image.

Digitizing Thumbnails

My next step was to digitize my thumbnail sketches, along with creating a few more. This helped me clean up proportions and get a sense of how the typeface itself fits into the compositions.

Successful Thumbnails

I have highlighted the thumbnails that I believe to be the most successful/most interesting to work with in the future.

Proportions Discussion

I met with Vicki and a few students to discuss how the letterforms of our typefaces can influence layout and proportions. We looked at enlarged letterforms and saw how our body copy could be placed on top, and divided into different sized columns based on x-height, cap-height, stroke width, and margin sizes. Using this information and my thumbnails I will start to create layouts on InDesign that incorporate images.

Initial Spread Exploration

Letterform Proportions

To start creating spreads, I placed large letterforms on the pages to inform my hang-line placement.

By using the cap-height and x-height, I was able to get a sense of where to place my columns of body copy.

First Round of Spreads

In my first round of exploration, I chose to go many different routes with image choice and placement to try and hone in on the best way to communicate Meta. The furniture is various Herman Milller products, as Meta is their corporate typeface, the concrete blocks are from the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, and the building is a piece of German Architecture.

Going into my meeting with Vicki and Jaclyn I think that the three highlighted spreads are the most successful due to the dynamic imagery, use of leading lines, and text placement.

Feedback from Vicki and Jaclyn

Both Vicki and Jaclyn were drawn to the spreads using the wavy building as they challenged the small typeface name, and effectively moved the reader throughout the whole spread.

Notes

If I choose to go with a furniture image, be sure to note that it is Herman Miller
There is a good use of leading lines in images (angle of the chair, angle of table shadow, angle of buildings)
Good rhythm in the image of the wavy building
It would be beneficial to push the small block of text to the right (and possibly make it a different color). This would give the viewer “different distances” and create a more dynamic spread
I should print out the spreads to get a sense of how the body copy reads in print form (currently 9 points but this may be too big)
The three columns of body copy currently look like one large paragraph that was split poorly. I shouldn't use a new column as a paragraph split
It may be nice to bring the building image over the gutter and into the right page
I should replace the small block of text with a single quote or statement and give it more attention

Moving into the home stretch of this project, I will work with the building spread and take into account the notes I took from my meeting. The main areas to address are the division of the body copy and the smaller block of text.

Final Refinements

I decided to pull out a single quote and enlarge it to contrast the small typeface name. While giving it more emphasis, the smaller amount of text also contrasts the body copy enough to separate it. After messing with text size, letting, and division of paragraphs, I found a body copy layout (using two columns) that is successful.