Goudy Old Style Designed By Typographer Frederic Goudy

Frederic Goudy is an American icon of typography emerging from the arts and crafts era. His turn of the 19^th century style bridged the properness and clear visual conveyance of old style serifs with a contemporary look that emphasized the beauty of the letter giving flow to horizontals and character to cursives creating a typeface that is proudly American in style and form. Issued in 1915 by the American Type Founders where Goudy was employed briefly, Goudy Old Style is still considered a pinnacle of elegance and appropriate for many different employments concerning printed visual communication.

Goudy was enamored by books and was driven by unifying the book as a work of art. He concerned himself with presentation and balance from cover to cover leaving no page neglected. He applied the principles of the arts and crafts movement to commerce and book production. His major influences in his type designs, of which he is credited with more than 100, are of Venetian and French Renaissance tradition.

Goudy Old Style’s uniqueness comes from its subtle nuances. These nuances include the diamond shaped punctuations of the ‘i’ and the ‘j’ as well as the period and the contrast of thick and thin strokes. A barely noticeable employment of balance but it is soft touches like these that make Goudy so pleasing to the eye and legible. The serifs on the capitals bow slightly in the center creating a taut, clean letter that commands respect as the eye is subtly directed to the heart of the letter. The serifs that cap the lower case verticals slant as they descend to the left and ascend to the right creating a smooth transition from letter to letter and word to word for left to right reading.

The character of the typeface comes from its flowing lines found on horizontals like the capital ‘E’ and ‘L’. Traditionally flat and rigid, the horizontal bases of Goudy Old Style capitals have a curvilinear flow that are very natural and no doubt an influence from the arts and crafts movement. The most captivating letters of the Goudy Old Style alphabet is the lower case ‘g’ and the capital ‘Q’. The “ear” of the ‘g’ turns up and back towards the letter creating a presence of calligraphy and echoing the smooth serifs found throughout the rest of the typeface. This quality is embellished on the cursive ‘Q’ with the undulating, curvilinear stroke beneath it.

Goudy Old Style is a staple of American print. Some may argue it is outdated but its continued use begs to differ. Clear, precise, elegant, conceptual, and quirky compiles a brief description of Goudy’s masterpiece of typography. It is as enjoyable to read as it is to write with and garners the attention of the audience as well as their respect. Goudy Old Style embodies American literature and stays relevant with its harmony of curvilinear accents and contrasting strokes of thick and thin. It is an ageless typeface whose beauty grows as it stands the test of time.

Poster designed by me, TRS