Modern Typogrpahy

Today’s Lesson...

● Roots of typography and typefaces● Concepts and terms in Typography● Typography tips & guidelines

The Roots of Modern Typography

⬗ Modern typography traces its roots to the first punches and dies used to make seals and coins in ancient times.

⬗ Though their purpose isn’t understood, the first known moveable type artifact is probably the Phaistos Disc. Separate punches were used to imprint the disc sometime between 1850 BC and 1600 BC.

Moveable Type Invented

⬗ China invents moveable type in the 11th century, but it restricted by the thousands of characters required to use it.

⬗ In 1439, Johannes Gutenberg invented a system of moveable type that revolutionized the world by allowing mass printing of written material

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Moveable Type Invented

⬗ He developed an ingenious process employing a separate matrix, or mold for each alphabet character, from which metal types could be hand-cast in great quantities.These types could then be assembled into a page of text, and printed to paper with special inks and a printing press of his own design.

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What is TYPOGRAPHY?• The art of arranging letters and text

in a way that makes the copy legible, readable, clear, and visually appealing to the reader.

• Process

Basic kinds of Typeface

Typeface vs. Font

Why is choosing the rightType design and font important?

Why is choosing the rightType design and font important?

☑ delivers the right emotions to the reader

☑ sets the tone

☑ gets the correct message across

First Italian- designed typeface

In 1470, Nicolas Jenson beginsprinting his original roman font.

The Jenson roman was an explicitly typographic letter design

thatdeclined to imitate the appearance of hand writing.

This style of font is now referredto as “Oldstyle.”

Garamond

The 1500s brings the beautiful proportions of French type designers Claude Garamond and Robert Granjon.

Caslon

1716-1728 brings the transitional roman typeface of William Caslon — thins are thinner, uniform serifs, more upright stresses.

Bodoni

1791 Giambattista Bodoni created the first “modern” serif typeface, Bodoni, with its ruled serifs and extreme contrast. A similar and often preferred version is Didot.

Fat FaceAs the Industrial Revolution took hold, more people were living in cities, and more materials were being printed. So, with demand from the printers for something more “visible,” type designers created bolder type.

First came “Fat Face,” around 1810, an exaggeration of Bodoni.

Egyptian (Slab Serif )

Why call it Egyptian? Upon Napoleon’s return from a three year Egyptian expedition and publication in 1809 of his Description de l’Égypt, Egypt was all the rage, and type founders simply used a term that was popular.

- characterized by thick, block-like serifs and a bold letterform

Victorian Era

Here’s a sample of a Victorian-era poster, mixing a variety of bold fonts including Fat Face, Egyptian and Blackletter styles.

Victorian Engraving⬗From the mid-1800s to the early

1900s engravers illustrated type by hand on steel and copper plates.

⬗Freehand work allowed for highly elaborate designs, including drop shadows, strokes, inlines, etc.

Sans Serif⬗In 1816, William Caslon IV

produced a type sample book, a sans serif typeface with no lower case. Not much is known about it, and was considered as “ahead of its time”

⬗The first popular sans serif was Accidenz-Grotesk created for the AG type foundry in 1896.

Geometric Sans Serif⬗Futura, 1927, is a sans-serif

typeface designed by Paul Renner. Based on geometric shapes, it became representative of the Bauhaus design style of 1919– 1933.

⬗The typeface is derived from near-perfect circles, triangles and squares and is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast.

Nearhistory

Those are the basic styles — oldstyle serif, traditional serif,

modern serif, egyptian, sans serif.

But there are always new sub-styles being created, and old styles changing

and evolving.

Vernacular Design

Vernacular design emerged with the founding of Push Pin Studios in New York in 1954 by Milton Glaser and Seymour

Chwast, who revived historical design styles and improved and adapted them.Other practitioners included Peter Max, Lou Dorfsman and letterers Ed Benguait

and Herb Lubalin.

Design style revivals continue to bepopular.

Macintosh & Emigre Magazine

In 1984, and Emigre was one of the first publications to use computers and was a

huge influence on graphic designers moving into desktop publishing.

Zuzana Licko used the newly invented Macintosh computer and a bitmap font

tool to create fonts that defined the decade. Her ascendance in a primarily male- dominated profession and her bypassing of traditional training have been an inspiration to a generation of

font designers.

Grunge fonts

Originally, “punk” and then “grunge” typography was created by ripping up or photocopying type over and over again. Then, around 1995, House Industries put out a font collection called “Flyer

Fonts,” a collection of “distressed” fonts created mostly through their own over-

enthusiastic copy machine use.Now angry fonts like these

are so mainstream that “Crackhouse” is included with the Macintosh

operating system.

What to consider...

Fonts and Typefaces- aesthetic function &

practical

- can have a profound effect on how they are perceived by the reader.

Contrast- helps to convey which ideas

or message you want to emphasize to your readers.

Hierarchy- to create a clear

distinction between the text that should be noticed and read first, and standard text copy

- used to guide the reader’s eyes to what’s important

Hierarchy can be created by size, color, contrast, and alignment

Consistency- the key to avoiding a

confusing and messy design

Spacing & Alignment- letter-spacing has a important

influence on the legibility of text: If the letter-spacing is too large or too small, the words may not be correctly comprehended

Spacing & Alignment- creates a balance,

structure in the design and unifies the elements in the composition/layout

- A confusing layout will detract from the message rather than unifying it.

- poor alignment can be frustrating and unattractive to readers

Four common types – flush left, flush right, center, and justified.

Color- The right font color can

make the text stand out and convey the tone of the message

White Space or Negative Space

- proper use of white space ensures an uncluttered layout design and makes the text readable

The digital age has seen an explosion of typographic

design along with the growth of language...

Use typewith

intelligence and

passion

References(n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://novacreative.com/5-benefits-of-using-white-space-in-design/

Ali Baxter (2020, April 13). The Importance of Typography. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://vtldesign.com/brand-development/graphic-design/importance-typography-part-1-fonts-speak-louder-words/2/

Ambrose, G., & Harris, P. (2007). The Fundamentals of Typography. Lausanne: Ava Academia.

Beltramo, L. (2018, January 20). Why Type & Fonts Matter More Than You Think. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.franknewsletter.com/articles/2018/1/16/why-type-and-fonts-matter-more-than-you-think

Cullen, K. (2012). Design elements: Typography Fundamentals. Beverly, MA: Rockport.

Hannah, J. (n.d.). What Is Typography, And Why Is It Important? A Beginner's Guide. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ui-design/beginners-guide-to-typography/

Hyndman, S. (2019). Why fonts matter. Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press.