Chapter 1 + 2: Evelyn Binter

Chapter 1 goes through a rather detailed history of typography. It presents the information as a timeline, starting nearly five thousand years ago with the origin of writing, and it ends in 2013 with art on the Facebook Analog Research Lab. I found it incredibly fascinating to see typography develop into the practice that we know today. It went from something meant only for the rich and educated to something experienced by almost everybody alive today. When you think about it, it’s amazing that such a practice went from nonexistent to irreplaceable in such a short amount of time.

 Something that really stood out to me was just how old some of these typefaces are. I had no idea that Garamond, Baskerville, Didot, and so many others were created as early as the 1700s. I guess I assumed that they must have been recent creations since they are so readily available on computers today. These classic typefaces have almost become works of art due to how admired they have been for hundreds of years.

It was interesting to see typography evolve as new needs rose. Even the earliest examples of writing were for record-keeping purposes. Going forward, alphabets developed based on the methods of mark-making available at the time. Eventually, Gutenberg invented movable type when there was a need for mass-printing. A few hundred years later, technology allowed for typography to evolve at an almost unimaginable rate. Looking at the history of typography laid out like this, I can’t help but wonder where it’ll go next.

I was very thrown off when Chapter 2 started off with a description of the alphabet. It definitely got my attention, but I couldn’t help but wonder who, other than toddlers, would necessitate something like that. As I continued reading, though, I was very drawn into the author’s almost artistic description of written language. The phrases “a visual record of the spoken language” and “thoughts made visible” resonated with me particularly. I never really gave much thought to written languages, but I enjoy seeing the concept through the romanticized eyes of the author.

As the chapter continues, it describes the anatomy of type. While it is interesting to know that the different parts of letters have specific names, I found it a little dry and hard to get through. In the field of design, it is necessary to learn about x-heights and serifs and all the other pieces that go into making a letter, but I have to admit that I was a little disinterested while reading.