Ch 1
This chapter was pretty interesting because it gave such an in-depth look at the history of typography and letters in general. First of all I can’t even imagine a world without the written word. It blows my mind when I think about a time when language was first being invented, let alone written down. Also, as I sit here typing this easily on my keyboard I keep finding myself thinking about if I had to chisel it into stone or something ridiculous like that.
You can really tell how typography started to take off after moveable type and the printing press were invented. I’m really impressed by how good and uniform the typography on the leaflets looks since it was such an early technology. Some of it holds up to today’s standards of design even. I’m not really a fan of all the embellished and ornamental type however. It all looks way too busy and cheesy for my taste. With that said, I do find a lot of the initials used in old-style books beautiful. Truly works of art in my opinion that make the book feel very sophisticated.
In the beginning of the 20th century up until the seventies I think we went through a really rough design period. There was a lot of great work done, but it was covered up by the flood of cheesy typefaces and quirky advertisements. Some people really enjoy this style, but I prefer a much more clean and minimal look. You can really tell design and typography exploded when computers and digital typefaces were introduced. There has been so much innovation in such a short amount of time it’s really exciting to be living in it now. My favorite work has been done in the more recent years so I’m really happy with where design is headed.
Ch 3
This chapter was all about the syntax and communication of typography within a page. I found it pretty interesting because it was talking about more of the visual art form of typography as a whole. It is cool that the relationships between the different typographic elements on a page can have so much effect on the readability of it. From small elements such as the pairing of letterforms and placement of punctuation to the number of columns and where different elements are arranged on the page. I also thought the analogy of letterforms being a glass that need to hold a specific amount of water, and you must arrange them in a way to hold exactly that amount with no more or less. You really can tell just with your eye what the right amount of space is where it just feels right.
It was a little obvious, but the arrangement of columns, graphics, and titles on a page are essential to how the information is read. They need to be arranged in such a way that the reader’s eye travels and finds whats important, and in the right order. Our textbook does a very good job at this on each page, as a typography textbook should, and they also do a very good job at having a variety of arrangements throughout the entire book. This has spoiled me a bit though because a textbook I have for another class just seems very boring and ugly now.
I especially liked the section where they related the arrangement of typographic elements to music. Growing up in Nashville music is a large part of everyone’s life. So that section in particular resonated with me. Typography truly can be much like a song as the reader travels across the page.
Ch 6
Chapter 6 discusses the typographic message as in typography when it relates to visual signs. For me personally, most of the time I see work that is more abstract, such as the examples in this chapter, I do not like them and find them unappealing to the eye. This is probably due to my favoring of minimalism and functionalism. However, there are in some cases some very clever and even very beautiful uses of typography that visually represents something greater than just the written word. I do find it quite interesting how subtle changes in type can convey a much greater meaning. For example, in the book they provide the word “diet” only the “e” has a thinner stroke than the other letters. This subtly plays right into what the word actually means and provides a lot more emphasis for it. There is also another example I really like where the word “families” has been given a dot on top of the letter “l” and the other two “i’s” heights have been varied. This small adjustment turns those three characters into members of a family visually. I thought that was a very clever use of symbolic typography.
Personally I tend to sway on the side of functionalism. I want type to have a purpose, and if it has some artistic flair in it I want it to slip in subtly. I find that anything more is like a room with too many posters or too many colors on the walls. It is busy, distracting, and takes away from the overall purpose behind the design in general. However, I also know that happens to just be my taste and what works for me could be what others find completely unappealing!
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