Baselines are Overrated: Reconsidering the Hierarchy of Typographic Constraints

In 1969 Charles and Ray Eames proclaimed a key to design: the ability to recognize and enthusiastically work within constraints. The design constraints of type are many, and they exist in a hierarchy revealed by how a designer negotiates conflicts between them. Take a lowercase e in a typical heavy, monoline sans. Its thinned crossbar departs from the consistent stroke weight and lack of contrast of other glyphs. The constraint of consistent stroke weight is overridden by another, namely, that the glyphs must fit within the established x-height. In other circumstances vertical metrics are trumped in turn by other needs. The baseline of a script like Mistral varies to accomodate another constraint—that letters’ connections have to be at a consistent height. This presentation will explore what happens when another typographic value, even color, is promoted above consistent vertical metrics. This design’s strokes, serifs, and counters prioritize even color: vertical metrics boundaries like baseline and midline are ignored. The letters are built from the inside out. The result is a type with the playful informality of casual writing fonts, but more sophisticated in color balance and stroke consistency. The inside-out strategy is not only a way to rethink the informal Latin letterform; it is also a reminder that a designer who forgoes any design constraint, even one as basic as a baseline, may at the same time open up an opportunity better to satisfy other constraints.