- Type written into stone gave certain features in letterforms, e.g. serifs.
Sable
Oriental way of working with type.
Completely new characters and line.
Bone
Working with quills and ink.
Middle East script creating new characters because of the materials.
Wood
Significant move forward.
Fairly soft but rigid, so could create new weights and curves.
1450 The Guttenburg Bible.
Metal & Lead
Pourable, mouldable and castable.
Can play with scale and fine lines.
Silicone
First computers had silicone chips.
Digital age created new possibilities for typefaces.
Created a drive to create new fonts that look handmade but are digital (to create fonts that aren't just Helvetica etc)
Definitions of Typography:
- the art and technique of printing with movable type.
- the composition of printed material from movable type.
- the arrangement and appearance of printed matter.
- Claude Garamond creates Garamond 1500-1520.
1700-1800: Transitional period of type development.
- sudden development, because of industrial revolution
- creates the sudden ability to mass produce and for mass industry.
- enlightenment: people were wanting to communicate their knowledge on a mass scale.
- sudden publications of newspapers and books etc.
- people learnt to read on a mass scale so books etc were produced for people to access.
- Gill Sans designed in 1928 (Bauhaus period).
- Type driven by digital age (2000-now).
- Edward Fella: letters in America
- photographer and typographer.
CATEGORIES OF TYPE:
- serif
- sans serif
- black letter
- script
- italic
- multiple weights
- calligraphy
- handwritten
- bold
- thin
- thick
- decorative
- hand rendered
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Method of Production Character of Letterform Anatomy of the Glyph
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CLASSIC PRE INDUSTRIAL
STONE established, sophisticated, traditional, BOLD
commercial
SABEL rough, fast, fluid, gothic SERIF
BONE elegant, feminine, posh LIGHT
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MODERN POST INDUSTRIAL
WOOD simple, formal, curved, modern REGULAR
LEAD fragile, rounded, bold, minimal WEIGHT
SILICONE geometric, dense, textured, simplistic STROKE
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- All type has a special context.
- The x-height defines the form of the lower case.
- Anything that descends below the baseline defines the lower case.
- Very rare to find upper case letters descending below the base line.
POINT SIZE
1 point = 1/72 inches = 25.4/72mm = 0.3527mm
12 points = 1pica
TYPE ANATOMY
Stem
The sygnificant vertical or oblique stroke.
Serif
The right angled/oblique stroke at the end of any stroke.
Sans Serif
Without a serif (French).
Bowl
The rounded form that describes a counter. The bowl may be open or closed.
Counter
Negative space between the letterforms.
Terminal
Point where the letter/serif ends.
Descender
Anything below the base line.
Ascender
Anything above the x-height.
