Eighteenth-century type in the royal printing office
The design and development of an interpretive historical revival
- Name
- Rúben Dias
- Year
- 2015
- Institution
- Lisbon School of Architecture Universidade de Lisboa
- Supervisors
- Maria Albuquerque, John Dower Jr.
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Scope
- Typography
- Taxonomy
- Praxiology/Phenomenology
- Type
- Theoretical/Practical
- Language
- English
- Wordcount / Pagecount
- 119,686 / 405
- Joint supervision
- No
Redesign and reinterpretation of royal print characters
Research Process (2 methods)
x
Project of a new font based on the interpretation of the original characters of the Royal Printing
| # | Name of Method | Research Phase | Research Approach | Researcher Role | Object of Study / Participants | N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Literature review | Exploratory | Qualitative | x | x | x |
| 2 | Design project | Generative | x | Design process | Project of a new font based on the interpretation of the original characters of the Royal Printing | 1 |
Knowledge Transfer & Exchange
Knowledge Exchange (PhD Process): Produced without exchange
| IK&T | Academia | Design Practice | Society |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context | Yes | No | No |
| Vision | No | No | No |
| Means | No | No | No |
Recommendations (4)
Develop and reuse transparent-overlay comparison diagrams and other micro-analytical tools to support future historical type analysis and make punchcutter decisions more explicit for other researchers and designers.
- Scope:
- Micro → Meso
- Time Horizon:
- Medium
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- High
Extend the Villeneuve revival beyond the current roman and italic titling cuts into a larger contemporary family that responds to current use cases while remaining grounded in the historical evidence already assembled.
- Scope:
- Micro → Meso
- Time Horizon:
- Medium → Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Add new weights and related display variants—especially expected contemporary options such as bold and light—to improve acceptance, versatility, and real-world use of the redesigned typeface.
- Scope:
- Micro
- Time Horizon:
- Medium
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Use the tools, methods, and reasoning developed in the thesis as a platform for further work on this typeface and for broader research in type design and type history, including additional historically grounded revivals.
- Scope:
- Meso → Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- High