French king Louis XIV ordered a committee of scholars to develop new font for royal printing office. The main idea was that the new font should be developed using scientific principles. The head of the committee of scholars was a mathematician Nicolas Jaugeon.
The committee studied all previous alphabets and type designs before developing the new font. They created a grid with a total of 2304 little squares, a 64 by 36 grid. This is very interesting, especially when taking in account how computer fonts were originally developed. When developing new font, the committee relied on mathematical harmony verified by the use of measurements and drafting tools, rather than calligraphy tools. Of course, a lot of fine details that were visible on the master alphabets did not transfer to the text-size types. Romain du Roi was only allowed to be used by royal printing office and its use by others was considered to be capital offense. This however did not stop the creation of very similar fonts, which yet had to have significant differences not be confused with Romain du Roi.
The creation process of the new font Romain du Roi began 1692 in France. That process lasted for many years to come. It took years of decision making and brainstorming before the first set was actually made. Philippe Grandjean started that process and the font appeared in print for the first time in 1702. However, the complete set of 21 sizes was finished by his successor, Jean Alexandre; it contained roman and italic letters, and it was completed by Louis Luce only in 1745. It took approximately 50 years to complete the font.
Font Romain du Roi, letter “G”
http://www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/masters.html
It is hard to imagine the amount of work that went into creation of this font. New geometric formulas were created to develop the font. It was a radically different approach from previously developed fonts. In the attached images it is clear to see how different geometric forms, such as circles, were used to letter curvature and serifs. Geometric balance and symmetry of the font symbolized the regal power and perfection.
Font Romain du Roi, letter “M”
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/01/17/type-terms-transitional-type/
The font was never sold or given to anybody, even though the king of Sweden express the desire to have it, the king refused. Romain du Roi was not used very much, but it became an inspiration for other fonts.
Font Romain du Roi
http://www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/masters.html
Philippe Grandjean, who was responsible for cutting the typeface, added a softer side to the colder purely geometric font, yet he did not live to see the last development in the Romain du Roi font, he died in 1714.
Reading about the amount of work that went into creating of the font in the past, I am now curious to learn about the creation of font nowadays. The technology, no doubt, had made this process significantly easier, and numerous software available today, make the initial process of design much easier and painless than what it was in the past. Yet I wonder what goes into development of the typeface used to print books and newspaper. I also wonder if the digital books of the future would completely replace the hardcopies of the today and of the past. It’s an ever changing process, and it is interesting to see how technological advances change the possibilities of the graphic design. I doubt that I would ever take the fonts for granted again. Every time I would use a new font I would think what went into its design.
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