Chapter 1 Reflection- Stephanie Tatoiu

Chapter 1 Reflection: The Evolution of Typography

The beginning of the chapter refers to Typography as an “intensely visual form of communication”. This is very interesting to me because I never considered type to be so important until coming into this class. I always took typography for granted but it has a long and complicated history. This chapter is composed of four timelines that present the chronological visual form of typography. It begins with the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention of movable type, the time period between 3150 B.C to A. D. 1450. In this section, the earliest forms of documents are shown. Some were impressed into clay tablets from Sumer. The tokens were used for record keeping before the invention of writing. Some writing came in the form of hieroglyphics from Old Kingdom Egypt. In this section of the chapter, I especially liked reading about how the Egyptians created Papyrus in 2500 B.C. I didn’t understand that font’s history up until now. It was a new writing material that derived from the stems of a papyrus plant.

The next timeline was the period between 1450 and 1800, which was typography from Gutenberg. Manuscript in this time period is slowly beginning to resemble modern day. Books started having typographic printing. During the first half-century of this typographic printing, books were called Incunabula. Type was so important during this time period because many historical events could have never happened without it, like how Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of Wittenberg Palace Church, which launched the reformation.

The nineteenth century and the Industrial Revolution brought out more innovation to typography, beginning from 1800 and ending in 1899. The new technology that was created during this time changed how printing worked, and designers were able to create new forms and images of typography. I appreciated that during this period, the Cocacola brand got its type, printed on jugs of its syrup. Lastly, the final section deals with the typography of the twentieth century: the 1900s to the 2000s. Science and technology has advanced so much that it has made revolutionary progress in the design of typography.