Chapter
1 Reflection
The evolution of typography
in Chapter 1 from typo graphic design:
Form and Communication is examined as its development and changes is
described over time. It seems that the evolution of typography shares not only
in the history of man’s communication but also as a reflection of human
culture. Using a 5-section pictorial timeline beginning with the earliest
examples of the written word found on a Sumerian clay tablet (3150 BCE) to the
digitally created typography of the twenty-first century the changes in
letterforms I feel seems to be influenced by many factors including the arts
and world events of the time.
The timeline depicts the
changes of writing beginning with its invention 5,000 years ago with stone
etchings, to artistic hand drawn letterings, moveable type letters through
modern day digital typography. Alongside these printed writing examples the
timeline documents pictures of architectural structures and historical events
in history. It seems to me that many designs of lettering mimicked these
architectural designs bringing the visual artistic surroundings into one’s
writings. As a result, it seems that culture and thoughts of the written word
are intertwined. For example, the straight chiseled letters of the Romans
seemed to reflect the straight columns of the Roman Pantheon or the letter C
designed by Thomas Cottrell, in 1765 imitates the doorway of the Castletown
House. Ireland. Similarly, I feel world
events perhaps may have influenced the designer’s thoughts. For example, during
the rise of Napoleon, who was a strong force in Europe, Robert Thorne in 1803
designed the first fat face type, which also like Napoleon is a strong form of
lettering. Therefore, I realized that perhaps not only is typography a
communication tool but also is an indirect reflection of our culture. From this
realization, I have also come to appreciate typography and the designers’
efforts to create a reflection of our thoughts past and present in the
letterform.
Chapter
2 Reflection
I found Chapter
2 especially interesting as “The Anatomy of Typography” is explained. Our
written language on a daily basis surrounds us and often much thought is not
put into the details of an individual letter. However, as this chapter
describes the components of typographic writing, I became aware of these
elements that I never thought to explore before. Describing writing as “magic”
resulting from the of combination of individual letters to create “frozen
sounds” and “thoughts made visible” caught my attention to look deeper into
studying the alphabet within this chapter rather than to just write the
alphabet.
As described,
the Roman engraver, who chiseled letterforms in stone or the medieval monk
using a reed pen to create letters, is an interesting visual as this chapter
begins. These early letter writers starting with the ancient Greeks used geometric
and horizontal guidelines to create their writings with the use of difficult
tools. I can appreciate their efforts to
construct precise formations of letters with these instruments.
Over time a set
of vocabulary terms developed to describe various “parts” of individual letters
for today’s typographers. Terms such as “serifs”, to describe the short strokes
at the ends of letters or “san serif”, which is the lack of short strokes gives
topographers an understanding for the alphabet, and to choose lettering to
create “visual harmony”. Additionally, unlike ancient typographers, the
use of “imaginary guidelines” and optical alignments brings precision to
typography. Today all characters align along a baseline, lowercase letters
align along the x-height (based on the lowercase x) and capital tops are
aligned at the capline.
As the chapter
continues, type fonts (characters are same size and style) and typefaces
(styles of lettering) are described as numerous, which lead to the development
of type families. A family is a group of “related typefaces” that is “unified”
by a characteristic. As seen here, the Avant Garde family is united by one
characteristic - weight. Other design characteristics that unite a typeface
family include: proportion, angle and elaboration.
Understanding
the components of typeface with the ability to identify the variations of the
parts of the letterforms, fonts and families, seems to me will enrich
typographers’ abilities to create harmonious and visually appealing typographic
designs.
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