Chapter 7 Reflection-Katelyn Pesola

Chapter 7 Typographic Technology

            Chapter 7 is about the evolution of typography technology, from hand composition to the now common electronically generated typography. It was very interesting to learn about the early methods of hand composition and linotype. It made me very grateful for the invention of electronic generated type. After reading this chapter I realized that we take for granted how easy it is to work with type. We have gotten so used to the instant gratification of being able to see exactly what it is going to look on the computer. That we forget that at one time it was more or less hit or miss, they never knew exactly how something was going to turn out and if one line spacing was off, they had to start all over again.

        After reading this chapter I realized that before the invention of the display and keyboard phototypesetters, there was very limited creative freedom in terms of designing with type. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be designing around all these new changes in history. It must have been really exciting to realize all the new windows that had been opened up with the improvements of technology. With all the advancements in technology that this chapter goes over it reminds me that even in the last 10 years things have become much easier and more creative in terms of working with type. 

           With all these advances, it has become much easier to even design your own typeface, which is what I did with the app iFontMaker that I purchased on my IPad. It was a very simple app to use; basically it allowed you to create your own font out of your handwriting. While I don’t usually find myself using my handwriting font in any of my designs, it was really fun to be able to see my own handwriting on my computer. While I know actually designing a typeface is much harder than what I did to create my font, it was still exciting to be able to control how certain letters or numbers were going to look like. I began to understand the creative control that type designers are able to have when designing their typefaces.