The Impact of the New Technologies - Essay Example

The impact of the new technologies is revolutionising typographic practice. Typography is a central element of any form of literature and reading materials. It makes the reading experience easy and interesting and together with technology, it allowed for the mass production of literature. As this paper explores how technology revolutionized typographic practice, it is essential to define what the term typography is before we start any discussion about the subject. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines typography as that “concerned with the determination of the appearance of the printed page’. (1974, p. 810) Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam (2005), in their book Type and Typography, referred to the term as that concerned with the creation of typefaces and their arrangement to convey a message. (introduction) There are various other versions of these definitions but it all boils down to one thing: Typography’s existence occurred sometime in the 15th century and is tied with the invention of the printing press because it was responsible for the mechanical notation and arrangement of language. To borrow the words of Philipp Meggs, Rob Carter and Ben Day (2002): “The development of printing technology so drastically changed the nature of written communication that the term typography was coined to describe the study, use, and design of sets of identical repeated letterforms. According to Meggs, Carter and Day, the invention of typography was, in fact, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, writing that the earliest mechanization of a handicraft is the hand-lettering of books. (p. 103) Evolution With the above information established, we underscore that typography evolves because of technology and thus, have had slightly differing meanings at different periods of history. In the age of the metal type, for instance, type and typeface were distinguished from each other, while in today’s digital age, they are used interchangeably. This will discussed, further later on. Peter Bil’ak offered us an interesting perspective when he said that typography should not be connected to any specific medium because it tends to change and evolve. The idea is that we continue to define and redefine the visual systems of visual language. We see this in the great leap we have achieved since the cave paintings to the synthesis of the digital pictographs. Tova Rabinowitz (2006) tells us that the widespread participation in typography’s recent evolution and its vibrant and experimental nature present an optimistic outlook for the continuation of type as a vehicle for expression and a democratizing cultural force for social justice. (p. 48) In the old times, typography was a highly detailed art in which typographers, for their passion about letterforms, have painstakingly crafted each nuance of every stroke and serif of characters. And so patience and pure love of the art were important factors in order to come up with new typefaces because a new set could take months or even years of intensive work to produce. (Rabinowits, p. 253) A letterform, for example, has numerous components in its construction so as to bring uniformity to typography as fig. 1 shows. Fig. 1 But computers changed all that because simple access to software and the necessary hardware could empower any individual to design typeface and become a type founder quickly and easily with the desktop publishing solutions. One typesetting machine, for instance, has sold the concept that a secretary can set the type now. Another aspect in typography was also revolutionized. Today, designers – graphic designers, web designers, artists and even writers are expected to know how to set type, where before it was left to typesetting experts. The upshot is, there now is an overwhelming number of typefaces available in a full range of both quality and innovativeness. The so-called desktop publishing (DTP) revolution empowered typographers and designers to be able to have many options available to them as well as the ways to control their typefaces and design, which is far better than any point in human history. DTP, in effect, democraticise typography due mainly to the cheapness of the hardwares. (Sassoon 1993, p. 144) Typography The democratisation of typography brought about the emergence of another new field called experimental typography. Designers, who, as mentioned elsewhere in this paper, are more and more involved in typography in their work, are inspired to push the capabilities of the digital medium in order to explore and redefine the boundaries of what type can be. Rabinowitz writes that for these designers, legibility is not the major concern but instead, their priority is the development of fonts that expressively utilize the digital medium and comment on the new socioeconomic environment in unchartered ways. (p. 44) Neville Brody is one of such designers who spearhead the creation of fonts in this tradition. Figure 2, for instance, illustrates a real life usage sample of his typeface set called Arcadia. Brody’s typefaces, specifically those work in the magazine called Fuse promoted creative typographic experimentation. The Fuse magazine, in fact, is a forum for designers, writers and artists who address social issues through the creation and application of experimental typefaces. Another example of experimental typography is that one which showcased a flamboyant strokes that adorned the table of contents of the Cranbrook Academy of Art catalog, 2002 (see fig 3). This typography was created by Catelijne van Middelkoop and Dylan Nelson. Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Kinetic Typography The new millennium, the motion picture, new modern values – these consisted the diversity which triggered the dynamism of the kind of typography which emerged and came to be known as kinetic typography or the kind that expresses motion and speed. As this form of typography experiences its own evolution, it shifts away from its futurist and cinematic roots and increasingly adapt to an ever-expanding digital capabilities for interactivity and movement through the fourth dimension, which is time. It would be useful to explain that kinetic typography has been coined by an elite group of highly trained designers who were part of the film and television industry. (Rabinowitz, p. 44) Anchored on motion graphics and made possible by computer technology, this has infused certain vitality to new typography and would pave the way for further exploration on typefaces that will characterize the typography that will come with the introduction of the World Wide Web. This typography will express the new contemporary experience of the people living in a fast-paced and highly global environment. The 3D typography was also generating a lot of interest around this time. This typography was characterized by a complicated process of production but could usually produce a deceptively simple typeface. In the poster shown in fig. 5, for instance, a type in perspective for a music video illustrates how a 3D drawn animation program makes use of conventions derived from the grammar of film. Fig. 5 The World Wide Web During the 1990s when the World Wide Web experienced a sudden explosion in our midst, a new growth in typography has been developed, due to the diversity of people involved, empowered and inspired. For its part, the Web offers some unique challenges, usually requiring the relinquishing of control, particularly in the area of typography. While in print designers can choose a typeface and point size for headlines, body copy and so on, and as long as the proper font is provided during printing, the result is exactly what the designer intended it to be. According to Jennifer Robbins (2006): Specifying fonts for use on the web pages is made difficult by the fact that browsers are limited to displaying fonts that are already installed on the user’s local hard drive. So, even though you’ve specified text to be displayed in the Frutiger font, if users do not have Frutiger installed in their machines, they will see the text in whatever their default browser font happens to be. (p. 308) Designers and programmers have tried to address this web typography dilemma for years. Designers, found a way to circumvent this problem and not to stay with the web-safe fonts which up to know are actually stuck with Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman and Georgia. Some of them use in-text graphics, develop applications that will enable to embed fonts in the web pages such as those used in Flash development. Then, there’s also the Cascading Style Sheets or CSS. CSS offers a certain degree of control over text formatting that approaches desktop publishing. This certainly comes as a relief after years of frustration with the HTML markup especially for presentation purposes. Controls for specifying fonts and text formatting is one of the main features of CSS and that they come to be embraced by internet browsers more easily. The style sheets has the “font-family” feature which tells the browser alternative fonts if a specific set is not available in the local machine. Interactive Writing in the book called, Advertising Design and Typography, Alex White (2007) emphasized that the Web and interactive design is different from the print in the sense that there is so much restriction on the kind of typeface that could be used. (p. 137) It has been mentioned in this paper that web-safe fonts are necessary for all HTML-based designs. As this was elaborated previously, we underscore the fact that what is significant in this area is that with the limitations present, opportunities for creativity came with it. For example, some web sites have a “type size” button which, when clicked gives the user the option to have the font display larger or smaller depending on his preference. This feature is added to the many features of interactive design, which among others gives the user the power to choose how he wants to view his reading material. The Internet, essentially, refined the taste of the user or the “reader” that new typographic artifacts must be produced according to this new acquired taste and user standards. We quote Aaron Burns: Once people know how to appreciate excellence, they will not accept mediocrity. So it has been for centuries and so it will always be for those who care. (cited in White, p. 137) David Stern (1999), in discussing his concept of sensorial design, argued that visual design disciplines such as typography are usually first to be recognized and employed. (p. 157) And so it is both important and mostly on the receiving end of modification as the users of the artifacts such as web sites are fickle minded, impatient and very discriminating as they have the all the power and the means in the whole equation. A user can choose to dismiss a week’s worth of designer’s work in just a click of the mouse and navigate away to another Internet site. Stern admonished designers and typesetters that for the web, graphic design, videography, illustration, photography and cinematography, all senses must be considered in using and developing typography, arguing that it “always affected the telling of the stories and the creation of experiences in the history of interaction and performance.” (p. 157) Indeed, interactive design is concerned with the structuring of meaning, appropriate, timely and empowering interactions which enable the users with a pronounced sense of system engagement and control. Hybrid The advent of photo, motion and digital technologies has stimulated the design and the production of the teeming typefaces available to us nowadays. The visual characteristics of these new typefaces defy standard classification. According to Meggs, Carter and Day, these are “hybrid” forms and may fall into more than one of the historical classifications like what was done with the Serifs font family (see fig 4). (p. 36) Fig. 5 And so, one can say that typography is dynamic as much as how languages evolve with cultural and social upheavals. Technology encourages this even further and at a dizzying speed. What can be expected in future is much easier and more flexible development of typefaces to suit the equally fast paced form and types of human expression. The widespread participation in typography’s recent evolution as well as its dynamic experimental nature presents an, all in all, optimistic outlook of the typography functioning both as a tool of expression and as a way to democraticise cultural forces in order to achieve social justice. References Bilak, P. (2007). Typografi ‰r ett begrepp i fˆr‰ndring. Cap and Design. Retrieved, August 16, 2002, from http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.104340 “Typography”. (1974). Encyclopedia Britannica. Haslam, A., and Baines, A. (2005). Type an Typography. Laurence King Publishing. Meggs, P., Carter, R., and Day, B. (2002). Typographic Design: Form and Communication. John Wiley and Sons. Rabinowitz, T. (2006). Exploring Typography. Thomson Delmar Learning. Robbins, J. (2006). Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference. OReilly Sassoon, R. (1993). Computers and Typography. Intellect Books. Stern, D. (1999). Digital Libraries: Philosophies White, A. (2007). Advertising Design and Typography. Allworth Press., Technical Design Considerations, and Example Scenarios. Haworth Press. Read More