Chapter 7, Typographic Technology, is yet another typographic history lesson. While we have undeniably covered a significant portion of typography’s timeline, this chapter attacks the subject from a very different and very relevant perspective: technology. It is surely on the wings of technology which typography and type design has progressed and matured. The onset of easier-to-use tools, an onslaught of resources, and the dawn of digital threw time-consuming, limiting methodologies out the door.
Arranging copper, brass, and lead by hand proved tedious, of course, and was hard work. Even technologies such as Linotype, Monotype, and the Ludlow had their own taxing downsides which slowed down the creative process. By the 1950’s when keyboard typesetters began popping up - and later, when electronically stored fonts were more readily available - typographers were unknowingly ushered into a new era for design. Creation of, experimentation with, and the resulting evolution of type was wonderfully streamlined with the freedom to switch out different fonts and treatments; errors or mistakes were often immediately reversible, granting complete focus on the design itself; and all or most of the preparation work was removed from the equation, causing practically no inherent distraction from the pure art of designing.
I think this chapter, highlighting a serious contrast between “then” and “now,” allows us to stop taking our technology for granted for a moment and contemplate just how blessed we are to be in the time period that we are. Development will only continue, birthing yet more sophisticated and brilliant ways of accomplishing our jobs and spurring the translation of ideas into viable, tangible work, and it is our job to always find inspiration in the object of progress itself. Without the element of positive change and forward motion, we could very well still be placing lead in between letters. It’s healthy to take a step back and admire where we’ve ended up, and anticipate where we’re ultimately going in an industry that is anything but standing idly by.
Image source: http://blog.threestepsahead.com/general/the-ludlow-project-kickstarter-and-mittens/
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