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History
Typography
Multimedia & Web Page Design 1.01
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The word typography means “writing with pictures,” as the design
of written communications has always depended on visual images.
Typography is the selection and arrangement of typeset letters on a
printed page. This presentation describes type’s journey from
purely visual images to the electronic text we use today.
The earliest known cave paintings were found in Lascaux,
France, and are believed to date from 15,000 to 10,000 B.C.
Early humans communicated simply, and their written symbols
communicated simple concepts as well. These images are called
pictographs, symbols that resemble what they signify, in this
case, bulls and horses.
Cuneiform consisted of wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets.
The Sumerians invented this early writing system around
3000 B.C. Originally pictograms expressing literal objects, the
symbols became increasingly abstract over the millennia. What
do you see in these symbols?
The Egyptians c. 2575 B.C. wrote hieroglyphs (which means
“sacred writing”) onto papyrus. These images are ideographs,
graphic symbols that represent more abstract ideas. The symbols
resemble birds, snakes, insects and other recognizable objects,
but depending on their context can mean different things. A
duck, for example, might mean, “to keep watch.”
Ancient China gave us inks c. 1200 B.C., used to write on
flattened bamboo sticks or silk. The first true paper, made from
wood pulp, was invented China in 105 A.D. The Chinese also
invented relief printing 1000 years before Gutenberg. But
written Chinese, consisting of more than 7,000 ideograph
characters was too complex for printing to catch on.
The Phoenicians, c. 1500 B.C. were the first civilization to use
symbols that expressed the sounds made by speaking. The Greek
alphabet, and hence, all Western alphabets, derive themselves
from the Phoenician alphabet. Do you notice anything familiar
about the Phoenician symbols aleph (A) and beth (B)?
The Greeks added more letters to the alphabet, notably vowels.
The Romans developed the Greek alphabet into the world’s most
widely used writing system today. Roman stonecutters created
serifs, short finishing strokes at the ends of the main strokes of
the letters, following the brush-drawn letterforms painted on the
stone before carving.
An example of early Roman inscription still exists on the Column
of Trajan, erected in 113 A.D. in Rome. The letters are straight
lines, rounded curves, thick and thin strokes and sharp serifs.
The strong capitals are called majuscules.
During the 3rd century A.D., medieval scribes wrote important
books by hand. During this time Roman emperor Constantine
ordered 50 copies of the Bible sent to all the churches of Asia
Minor. To save time, the scribes rounded letterform strokes and
created a script called uncials.
Emperor Charlemagne called for a standard writing style to help
spread the small literate class in medieval France. The
minuscule script letters were clear and legible. Carolingian
scribes developed the ampersand (&) and question mark (?).
Blackletter, a heavy and highly ornate script, became popular in
Europe from 1150 until the Renaissance. As opposed to
Carolingian script, Blackletter script could be written more
quickly and required less space. You might also know Blackletter
as “Gothic” script.
Johann Gutenberg invented handset movable type in Mainz,
Germany in 1450 toward the beginning of the Renaissance. For
the first time in history, books could be produced quickly and
inexpensively. This great invention contributed to expanding
literacy and growing knowledge throughout the world. Almost
anyone, not just royalty, could own a book and learn to read.
Gutenberg’s first book was the 42-line Gutenberg Bible. His first
typeface imitated the hand-drawn Blackletter script popular in
Germany at that time.
In handset type, the individual type pieces are selected from a
type case and put into a composing stick. The type
compositor places the letters upside down and fills the line from
left to right. When finished, he adds a strip of lead and starts the
next line above the first line.
When the column of text is completed, it is locked up in a metal
frame called a chase, inked and run on a letterpress. After the
job is run the type is cleaned and redistributed into the type
case. Setting up a single page took time, but once the page was
set, hundreds and thousands of copies could be printed quickly.
The “Golden Age” of typeface design began. In 1480, Claude
Garamond designed a beautiful Old Style typeface based on the
handwriting style of Italian scribes. This beautiful, classic typeface
can be found in electronic form, perhaps on your own computer
today. For what design application might you use Garamond?
William Caslon designed a very legible Old Style typeface in
1720. It became so popular the phrase, “when in doubt, set it in
Caslon,” became common. Where would you use Caslon?
In 1750 John Baskerville designed a typeface with vertical stress,
and sharper serifs. This style became known as Transitional.
How would you use Baskerville?
Giambattista Bodoni further refined stresses and serifs on his
typeface to create a style known as Modern in 1791. Where
have you seen this stylish and fashionable typeface used?
Alois Senefelder invented lithography in 1796, a printing
technique whereby the image and non-image areas are on the
same surface. Based on the principle that grease and water don't
mix, an artist writes on a perfectly smooth stone with a greasy
pencil, and then covers the stone with water, which is repelled
from the pencil but attracted to the porous stone.
Ink is applied to the stone and is repelled by the water, but
sticks to the pencil marks. Paper is then applied, and the ink
transfers to the paper, forming an image.
In 1815, Vincent Figgins designed the first Slab Serif typeface.
Because Napoleon had made several expeditions to Egypt around
that time, and he used Slab Serif on signs to communicate with his
generals many miles away, this style of typeface became known as
Egyptian, and came into vogue in Europe upon his return.
William Caslon IV designed the first Sans Serif typeface in 1816.
Sans Serif is French for "without serifs." Where would you use
this simple typeface?
In 1886, Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype, the first
machine for setting type using a keyboard. The keyboard
operator strikes a key, dropping a matrix with a recessed
letterform from the overhead magazine.
The matrices are collected to form a line of type. Then molten
lead is shot into the recesses to form a slug. When they solidify,
the slugs are collected into a chase, inked and run on a
letterpress. The matrices are redistributed back into the
magazine automatically, and the slugs are melted down and used
again for future projects.
In 1897, two printing technologies existed side-by-side:
letterpress and lithography. The letterpress technology forced
the designer to work within a rigid grid because the individual
blocks needed strong pressure from all four sides in order to be
held together in a chase. On the other hand, lithography freed
artists to experiment with asymmetrical compositions, curving
baselines and distorted type.
In the sixties, phototypesetting became popular due to the
development of computers by IBM. The Internet was born as a
military research project. Eventually, it was opened to
universities, government agencies and hobbyists, who sent email
and joined discussion groups.
Apple introduced the Macintosh in 1984. With built-in graphics and
networking, it became the first graphics computer and launched the
desktop publishing revolution along with Aldus PageMaker and Adobe
PostScript. QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop
became the standard software applications for desktop publishing.
1985—Small specialized foundries such as FontBureau, Emigre,
T-26 and FontShop emerged and introduced innovative and
cutting-edge type designs.
The Internet was opened to commerce, and the World Wide
Web was born. The Web supports text, sound, video, animation,
and interactivity.
The future of typography lies in all the technological innovations
to be introduced in the coming years. HDTV, the Web, iPods, the
iPhone and others will provide opportunities for typography’s
further development for many years to come.
http://faculty.mdc.edu/earteaga/pps/HistoryTypo.ppt