Typography

Type and Design History

The earliest form of writing can most likely be attributed to the Sumerians (c. 5500 and 4000 BC) who invented theconcept. The Egyptians (3050 to 332 BC) expounded on the concepts of preserved writing. The substrate (form of paper: papyrus) for writing was developed by the Egyptians who used a plant, Cyperus papyrus, found near the river Nile, as a central ingredient for this material.

Although the first alphabet was developed by a Mediterranean civilization known as the Phoenicians (1500 BC to 539 BC), the Romans also played a role, greatly refining and developing further the alphabet.

Typographic Inventions

Johannes Gutenberg(c.1398 – February 3, 1468) was aGermanblacksmith,goldsmith,printer, andpublisherwho introducedprintingto Europe. His introduction of mechanicalmovable type(1450) printing to Europe started thePrinting Revolutionand is widely regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium, the seminal event which ushered in themodern periodof human history.It played a key role in the development of theRenaissance,Reformation, theAge of Enlightenment, and thescientific revolutionand laid the material basis for the modernknowledge-based economyand thespread of learning to the masses.

Ottmar Mergenthaler(May 11, 1854 – October 28, 1899) was aGerman-borninventorwho has been called a secondGutenbergbecause of his invention of thelinotype machine, the first device that could easily and quickly set complete lines oftypefor use in printing presses. This machine revolutionized the art of printing.

Phototypesettingwas a method of setting type, rendered obsolete with the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing software, that used a photographic process to generate columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper. Developed around 1949, this invention freed use from the metal type.

Adobe is founded…

John Warnock and Chuck Geschke named their company Adobe, after a little creek that ran behind the house of Warnock in Los Altos, California. You sometimes see it mentioned in wine guides on maps of Napa Valley where some of the most famous Californian wines are made.

At first, Warnock and Geschke thought of building a really powerful printer themselves but they soon realized that it would make more sense to develop tools for other manufacturers to control their printers.

It took Adobe 20 man-years to develop PostScript, a language that can be used to control output devices like laser printers.

1984– PostScript level 1

In 1984 PostScript was released. It was originally just called PostScript. ‘Level 1’ was added later to differentiate it from the more recent Level 2 upgrade.

PostScript is a very powerful language that looks a bit like Forth, another computer language. From the beginning, PostScript needed a pretty powerful system to run on. In fact, during the first years of its existence, PostScript printers had more processing power that the Macintoshes that were connected to them.

Macintosh

Beginning in 1979, started bySteve Jobsand led byJefRaskin, theApple LisaandMacintoshteams atApple Computer continued to develop graphic interfacing. The Lisa, released in 1983, featured a high-resolution stationery-based (document-centric) graphical interface atop an advanced hard disk based OS that featured such things aspreemptive multitaskingandgraphically orientedinterprocess communication.

Typographic Terms

  1. Hierarchy – the arrangement of elements in a design in a graduated series, from the most prominent to the least prominent
  1. Typographic syntax – the study of typographic design through letter, word, line, column, and margin
  1. Tracking – name for adjusting the collective spacing between letters, words, lines, paragraphs, etc.
  1. Baseline – the imaginary line that runs along the bottom of lowercase letters without descenders (a descender isthe portion of a letter in a Latin alphabet that extends below the baseline of a font. For example, in the letter y, thedescenderwould be the “tail,” or that portion of the diagonal line which lies below the v created by the two lines converging.)
  1. Cap Height – the distance between the tops of capital letters and the baseline.

Typography Design

  1. Alignment – left, right, centered, and justified make up the variants of typography.
  1. Repetition – the principal of design is evident when a certain element in a design is found throughout a design
  1. Legibility – this term is used when the qualities and attributes of a typographic design make it easier or harder to read
  1. Centered – the most balanced and possible boring of alignment schemes
  1. Figure/Ground – the interplay, mixing, and use of positive and negative areas in design

Classes of Typefaces

  1. Old Style – the earliest serif font usually fall into this classification
  1. Slab-Serif – the serifs of the Egyptians
  1. Modern – Bodoni is always put into this classification (Bodoniis the name given to the seriftypefacesfirst designed byGiambattista Bodoni[1740–1813] in the late eighteenth century and frequently revived since.)
  1. Sans Serif – Helvetica, Futura, and Myriad are members of this classification
  1. Transitional – Baskerville is often used as an example of this classification.