Within this lecture type as a form of design was introduced as "what language looks like", this theory is based on a need to express language from what is spoken.
“The written word endures,
the spoken word disappears”
Type as a whole is how language can be expressed and ideas can be shown to others through letterforms. Typography is the "craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form"- Robert Bringhurst (The Elements Of Typographic Style). Language and expression has been present and relevant in a vast amount of years and so the lecture chose to begin with 3200 BCE in Mesopotamia where groups of people and cultures were moving and this created a need to communicate with each other.
Each typeface has a set of origins and can mostly fit into a classification of typefaces which include either; old style, transitional, modern, slab serif, humanist and gothic (blackletter).
Classical/ Old style: 1450-1700
Transitional: 1700- 1790
Modern: 1790-1870
Swiss Modern: 1870-1960
Contemporary: 1960-Present
In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg created the "Gutenberg Press" which was seen as an innovation due to the new ability to print type rather than hand render it. The press allowed for more type to be printed and the for the movement of type.
The importance for a need for text to be created and printed was enforced by William Foster who created and put into practice the Elementary Education Act of 1870. This meant that all children were taught to read and it became a requirement that all children must be educated between the ages of 5 and 12. This need for text and literature to be used by all classes and not just the upper classes meant that mass production of text was needed and therefore there needed to be designers to create type and print for books. Without a need to read there would be no need for type to exist and therefore this is the fundamental need for type, the ability and want to read.
In 1919 the Bauhaus was formed by Walter Gropius which was a forward thinking design school which combined all the arts and described art as a single creative expression. The Bauhaus also challenged the original ideas of type being for form, and looked heavily in the idea of function. (Beauty vs Need).
Function was fulfilled by Max Miedinger, in 1957 he created the typeface Helvetica.
As stated above, the aim of helvetica was to create a neutral typeface which had no cultural connotations, the idea of great clarity and simplicity meant that it could and still is one of the most heavily used typefaces.
In 1990 Steve Jobs created the first Apple Macintosh computer that was worth $1,000 and was available to the general public. This improved the making and use of type to a larger audience as more people could create and view type on screen.
As through these examples shown within the lecture, type resembles certain ideologies a company or person wants to represent. Such as the example of the poster of Obama the typeface Gotham is used which represents masculinity and is also used by GQ. Type can also be used with and as image which are modern uses of type such as in editorial design.
This theory poses the idea that many people can create type but the "sense of community and integration" has been lost. Therefore perhaps influencing and suggesting the idea that the need for type and its original messages have been lost.
In 1990 Tim Bernes-Lee created the internet and gave it away for free, this has now evolved into a platform which is highly important to society as well as artists. Web 2.0 which was developed after the introduction of the internet allows users and anyone to upload their own content, therefore allowing for a democratisation of design and art. Now anyone can download typefaces and use type to express feeling and thought.
Typography as a whole is the communication of a message that includes "sociology, linguistics, psychology and aesthetics".
No comments:
Post a Comment