Monday, January 20, 2014

Jeremy Diaz Chapter 2 Summary and Response

Chapter 2 is about the beginning of typography and how it has evolved over time depending on the needs and technology at that time. I found the opening of the chapter to be particularity interesting because I never though about how technology could affect how letters were made and used. After reading about this it made me appreciate how the modern alphabet was created rather then it just being the alphabet. Chapter 2 also covers the basic anatomy of type and defines a lot of the language necessary to distinguish and describe different typefaces. This is essential to know because with understanding and knowing the basic vocabulary of typography one can get lost very easily. Furthermore the chapter details how letter forms use proportions to differentiate themselves from one another such as; stroke-to-height ratio, contrast in stroke weight, expanded and condensed, and x-height and proportions. These proportions are all important when designing a typeface because they help visibility and usability for people. The chapter then continues to discuss how typography is measured and how these scales came to be. Also, the chapter explains the basic classifications of typefaces such as Old Style, Italic, transitional, etc. Lastly the chapter details what type family is and how they are characterized using various type faces as examples.

I felt that this chapter laid a great foundation for the beginning of our course and really helped me have a better understanding of exactly what goes into the design and use of typography and how each element of the typeface is important and how subtle differences between two typefaces can make a different in determining the family, weight and style of the overall font.


I choose this image from the internet to accompany my response to chapter two because it explains a lot of the basic concepts of the chapter successfully.


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