Typography - Coursework Example

Typography By understanding the mechanics that went into the development of a particular invention we can gain a better understanding of the instrument and begin to develop ways of making it better, more efficient or more environmentally friendly. The words of Socrates have worked to shape the educations of generations of students. However, there is a key ingredient necessary in all inventions, past deeds and the thoughts of men who lived centuries ago. That key ingredient is the use of writing in developing their ideas and transferring them to successive generations. Writing is one of the most important inventions mankind has devised throughout history as without it, history isn’t possible. Oral traditions have long been lauded as having a certain significance in carrying forward the ideologies of a given group of people, but, as can be simply proven among even small groups, oral history is not intended to be nor can it be entirely accurate. The story changes with the teller and the facts become blurred with myth. In addition, it can only be preserved for as long as there are people around interested in learning the stories and lore enough to be able to pass it down to the next generation, and a next generation interested in sitting around to hear it. The concept of the written word offers a similar mixture of truth and lies, but introduces the opportunity for widespread propaganda within the present society as well as future generations even as it offers a means of preserving fundamental truth. With an understanding of how very subtle visual clues included in the writing can affect the meaning as the art of writing evolved from the hieroglyphs of Egypt and the characters of Chinese, it is then possible to understand how these subtle differences in the presentation of modern letters can bring about significant changes in interpretation regarding a documentary presentation. The written word has numerous restrictions of its own, including the form in which the meaning is presented – alphabetically or pictorially – as well as the ability of future generations to decipher this code into something meaningful. For many in the modern age of word processors and text editors, it is not often thought about how we make this transition from internal thought or spoken word to a pictographic form that represents meaning for those who can decipher it. Regardless of the system used, the alphabet or cuneiform, the picture has developed a sense all its own, communicating without intervention from one individual to another thousands of miles away or centuries apart in the span of time. This concept has been understood for centuries as the earliest forms of written communication took on pictorial aspects that are retained in some respects even today. For example, the earliest form of Egyptian writing is known as hieroglyphics, which began as a word script where each sign represented a word and dates back to the start of the third millennium (the First Dynasty) (Ouaknin, 1999, p. 26). Egyptian hieroglyphs such as the picture of an owl can represent the consonantal sound we in America associate with the letter m while a picture of a bee and a leaf could be interpreted as the word belief (Robinson, 1995, p. 12). As early as 1435, scholars were attempting to understand the Egyptian symbols, understanding that they were some form of writing. “Poggio was writing on the history of Rome in his de varietate fortunae. In it, he … stated that he had seen a number of fragments of obelisks inscribed with ‘the various shapes of animals and birds which the ancient Egyptians used for letters.’” (Pope, 1999, pp. 11-12). Very early interpretations of the hieroglyphs were not very accurate, yet investigation into their meaning began in earnest during the Renaissance, when scholars were attempting to decipher the mysteries behind the symbols and relating that to their own alphabet. “A Danish scholar, Zoega, writing just before 1800, hazarded that some hieroglyphs might be, in some measure at least, ‘phonetic signs’ … The path towards decipherment of the hieroglyphs was being prepared” (Robinson, 1995, p. 23). Knowledge of the Chinese writing system, which remains a living system even today, provided a great deal of important information in deciphering the writing of the ancient Egyptians. The earliest proven Chinese writing has only been known for the past 100 years or so as it was discovered in the oracle bones. There seems to be little resemblance between the ancient and modern forms of writing. “Of the 4500 Shang signs distinguished to date, some 1000 have been identified, and in many cases their evolution has been traced to a modern character” (Robinson, 1995, p. 184). Changes in the way the characters were made were principally due to changes in dynasties, in which different words were pronounced differently and therefore, attained different written representations. Other changes came about with the advent of new technologies, such as the discovery of paper and ink. “The characters became more flowing and less heavy. Two hundred and fourteen keys are used and determinatives, indicating the category to which the word belongs” (Ouaknin, 1999, p. 36). Although the overall appearance of many of these characters has changed considerably over time, the basic principles on which they have been constructed have remained unchanged. “It has remained pictographic and ideographic and never became phonetic, so it is not used for recording sounds; in fact it has no real alphabet. In Chinese, the word is a sort of irreducible atom. In most cases, it could be verb, noun or adjective. There is a character to represent each word, which consists of a single syllable” (Ouaknin, 1999, p. 36). The proportions of the characters used has changed, however. “There was a higher proportion of pictographic characters during the Shang dynasty than is now the case. Today the vast majority of characters, over 90 percent, is of the ‘semantic-phonetic’ variety” (Robinson, 1995, p. 186). Although the concept of alphabetic scripts such as what is used in the western world provides us with far fewer characters to memorize, leading to an earlier ability to read and write, this ease of use in the phonetically-based sound representation system of our alphabet has not completely escaped the use of graphic symbols in communicating meaning within the society. Although the writing systems of the world have changed slightly in shape and form, the use of written characters to denote a mixture of phonetic and symbolic meanings remains the core principle of all writing systems in use in the world today, just as it was when it first became common in the ancient world to denote the progress of commerce. For this reason, seemingly small changes made in the form of letters in the field of typography can be used to communicate significant attitudes, moods and ideas without explicitly spelling these things out. These concepts can be most easily traced when two different forms of typography are compared, such as the flowing, curvaceous lines of William Morris in the Arts and Crafts movements and the more stocky, simplistic lines of the Modernist period. The start of the Arts and Crafts Movement is generally attributed to William Morris in response to the ever-encroaching identical sameness of the machine-made objects churned out during the Industrial Revolution. “Not only art but also everyday objects, buildings, décor, everything lacked a face, and it was the realization of its lack in this particular respect which began to make the period so cruelly conscious of its anonymity” (Cassau, 1962, p. 19). In everything they did, crafters working under this influence placed value in art created by hand for limited edition prints such as the highly scrolled “The Nature of Gothic” first page, designed and printed by William Morris. The Nature of Gothic – William Morris Morris’ work was characterized by the highly ornate lettering often associated with the Victorians and included elegantly twined vines and borders that incorporated the lettering while encouraging graceful curls and a minimum of sharp angles, such as can be found in his typographic design called Golden Type. By contrast to Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, what is referred to now as the Modern movement is characterized by a focus on the wonders of the machine age. Furniture, architecture, sculpture and typography were created that demonstrated a harsh functionality. In working to find the ‘essence’ of their material in order to condense it down into its most functional form, the Modern movement had a profound impact on typography and design layout. “When used together, asymmetrical typography, geometric layout, and photographic illustration defined the radical new form language of Modernist design” (Chwast, 89). It was during the Modern movement that the rise in the social middle class in America gave birth to a growing graphic design industry in important areas such as advertising and packaging. Key artists during this period included Paul Renner and Jan Tschichold who re-wrote the rules of typography to more accurately reflect the modernist ideals. Tschichold, Herbert Bayer, Laszlo Moholy-Magy and El Lissitzky, all coming out during this same period in time, are generally considered to be the fathers of graphic design as we know it today. The characteristics most associated with Modernism can be traced through Tschichold’s self-titled typeface. Morris’ Golden typeface was designed to be used in his oversized books printed on a heavy irregular linen surface that was intended to approximate the rougher paper textures of the Middle Ages. He designed the text in 1890 to have the serif flourishes that gave his type its curves and flair while still remaining heavy enough to be printed appropriately within his books. “He sought to recapture the dark and solemn density of Nicolas Jenson’s pages” (Lupton, 2004). Example of William Morris’ Golden typeface The term ‘serif’ refers to the small flags that appears at the end of the lines that form the letters (Counterspace, 2007). In the example above, it can be seen that these serifs take on a strong triangular shape, joined to the main stroke with a series of brackets that serves both to fill in the negative space between the serif and the main body of the letterform as well as to introduce a softer, more rounded appearance. This technique thereby includes by design an effect that would have taken place anyway as the ink was applied to the uneven surface of the paper. At the same time, the main body of the letterform has a bolder stroke to it that allows it to remain dominant as well as legible upon the page. Counters, the enclosed or partially enclosed areas of blank space formed by the letters, remain open and rounded, giving the letterforms a friendly, more feminine appeal while ensuring any technical issues in the printing process do not reduce the legibility of the words. While the letterforms remain predominantly feminine in their overall characteristics, the rounded shapes and serif features, they take on a masculine importance in their heavy strokes and tight spacing that has the effect of filling the page with plenty of black ink (Shaikh, Chaparro & Fox, 2006). Like Morris’ design, Tschichold’s typeface was created for a specific use, but one significantly different from Morris’ nostalgic blast from the past. In Tschichold, the purpose of the typeface was to provide an easy to read font to be used with the new phototypesetting machine developed in Germany called the Uhertype (“Tschichold”, 2006). The design of this typeface, which occurred around 1928, was also similar to the design of Morris’ Golden in that it drew its inspiration from earlier forms. Example of Tschichold’s self-titled typeface An important difference between Tschichold’s typeface and the one designed by Morris is the absence of the serifs. This sans-serif font presented the reader with a much cleaner impression, immediately doing away with everything that could be considered extraneous. Sharp, crisp angles and well-defined counters helped add to this overall impression of solidity, precision and straightforward presentation. This was in keeping with the Modernist movement of machine-power and assembly-line construction. The letters march across the page in orderly fashion, yet the bowls of the letters, presented with even brushstrokes, have an opposite effect of softening the letters. This provides the typeface with a no-nonsense, serious approach while remaining just friendly enough to remain approachable. The font differs from Morris’ designs in some other significant ways as well. The ascenders rise fully above the x-height, reaching equal status with the cap height whereas Morris’ design has many of the ascenders reaching only halfway to this point. This provides each letter with its own form of significance without allowing any to take subservient positioning. The open forms of the letters make them seem almost stretched out in comparison with Morris’ letters, allowing much more white space to insinuate within and between them, thereby opening up the page and further assisting the reading process. While both fonts demonstrate a curious mixture of masculine and feminine qualities, delicate curves and bold strokes, they each do so to different extents and affects. Morris’ typeface demonstrates a feminine style in its flowing lines and curved structures while Tschichold’s typeface captures the feminine in its smooth bowls and open structure. At the same time, Morris is able to suggest the masculine with his bold strokes and compact structure while Tschichold is able to capture it through his sharp angles and upright strokes. The way in which the letters are spaced, the heights to which they reach, the compact or open nature of their basic forms, the shapes of their counters and the absence or presence of serifs all contribute to the readability and overall effect of each typeface. Even with the advent of new technology, the question of whether a serif font or a sans-serif font is more readable remains a topic of heavy debate thanks to the subtle changes that can be discerned in an instant (Ates, 2005), changes the human eye has been trained to recognize from the earliest advent of written language. References Ates, Farruk. (23 July 2005). “Typography: Serif vs. Sans-Serif.” KuraFire. 7 January 2007. < http://kurafire.net/log/archive/2005/07/23/typography-serif-vs-sans-serif> Cassou, Jean, Emil Langui and Nikolaus Pevsner. (1962). Gateway to the Twentieth Century: Art and Culture in a Changing World. New York: McGraw-Hill. Chwast, Seymour and Steven Heller. (2000). Graphic Style: From Victorian to Digital. New York: Harry N. Abrams. Counterspace. (2007). “Anatomy of Fonts.” Counterspace. 8 January, 2007. Lupton, Ellen. (2004). Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors & Students. Princeton: Architectural Press. Morris, William. “The Nature of Gothic”. 1891-1898. Online image. Wikipedia: The Online Encyclopedia. 8 January, 2007. Ouaknin, Marc-Alain. (1999). Mysteries of the Alphabet. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers. Pope, Maurice. (1999). The Story of Decipherment: From Egyptian Hieroglyphs to Maya Script. London: Thames and Hudson. Robinson, Andrew. (1995). The Story of Writing. London: Thames and Hudson. Shaikh, A. Dawn, Chaparro, Barbara S. & Fox, Doug. (27 February 2006). “Perception of Fonts: Personality Traits and Uses.” Usability News. Vol. 8, I. 1. “Tschichold.” (2006). MyFonts. Cambridge, MA. 7 January, 2007. Read More