Chapter 1 Type and Typography Chapter 2 Typographic Procedures, Rules, and Niceties Chapter 3 Type on the Desktop

ch01.kleper 10/23/00 10:44 AM Page lii Chapter 1 Type and Typography Chapter 2 Typographic Procedures, Rules, and Niceties Chapter 3 Type on the Desktop ch01.kleper 10/20/00 4:48 PM Page 1 One One Part TYPOGRAPHIC METHODS AND PROCEDURES ch01.kleper 10/20/00 4:48 PM Page 2 ch01.kleper 10/20/00 4:49 PM Page 3 1 1 Chapter Type and Typography ype is the heart of most visually conveyed communication. TDespite the rapid technological changes that occur on an almost daily basis, our understanding of type and our com- prehension of the information that it conveys remain constant. Reading remains the one computer skill that is unlikely to change. The proper use of type can help to communicate a message by attracting readers—making the reading experience more enjoyable by making it more attractive, more organized, and more comprehensible. Despite changes in technology, the use of type and the representation of the alphabet have been a constant element in the recorded history of mankind. ch01.kleper 10/20/00 4:49 PM Page 4 4 Part one • Typographic Methods and Procedures Typewritten versus Typeset As late as the mid-1980s, most computer installations that provided some word-processing capability usually offered two forms of printed output: dot-matrix and letter-quality characters (Figure 1.1). Both varieties of printer were engineered to produce output that conformed to requirements for standard office documents. These docu- ment types included such categories as work drafts, reports, tabular matter, and, depending upon the quality level of the character forms, correspondence. L Correspondence quality became a default standard for FIGURE 1.1 evaluating the quality of line-printer output during the Enlargements of dot-matrix and letter-quality characters. early days of personal computing. This “standard,” which has never been formally defined, is nothing more than an objective measure of how well the line printer produced characters similar to those of a typical office typewriter. Thus, instead of computer technology providing better- appearing output than had been available in the home and office, the goal became the imitation of standard typewriter output. The idea for the typewriter, which continues to influ- ence business communication today, was first stated in 1714 by Henry Mill. Mill, an Englishman, received a patent for a machine that he described as “an artificial machine or method for impressing or transcribing of letters, singly or progressively, one after another as in writing, whereby all writings whatsoever may be engrossed in paper or parchment so neat and exact as not to be dis- tinguished from print.”1 Mill’s machine failed; however, his idea obviously did not. In 1867, C. Sholes and Samuel W. Soulé, printers in Milwaukee, and their associate, Car- los Glidden, continued development of what would become known as the type-writer. By 1873, they had com- pleted a practical working model, which was manufac- L tured shortly thereafter by E. Remington and Sons of Ilion, FIGURE 1.2 New York. The acceptance of the machine by business and The Sholes Typewriter, patented in 1871, was devised to bring industry stimulated other inventors to produce similar printers’ typesetting capabilities into the office environment. The keyboard arrangement has remained virtually unchanged machines. By 1886 there were more than 50,000 typewrit- for more than 100 years. ers in use.2 Ironically, the typewriter was invented to imitate printers’ type, and the earliest typewriters actually used pieces of metal type mounted on the typebars. The typewriter, The Typewritten Legacy: while providing only a coarse typographic image, did The Typewriter as a Typesetter serve to automate the handwriting process, and by so doing, to change the way in which offices conducted busi- Soon after the typewriter became popular, it produced an ness (Figure 1.2). unexpected effect on the printing trade. It appeared that typewritten correspondence commanded a great deal of respect and, perhaps, curiosity. This interest was so over- whelming that in 1884 the Central Type Foundry of 1. Blanchard N., Carroll H., Jr. “The Early Word Processors.” Research Report 3. Lake George, NY: State University at Farmingdale, 1981. Boston introduced a typeface for printers called Type- 2. Ibid. Writer. This typeface reportedly had a larger sales volume ch01.kleper 10/20/00 4:49 PM Page 5 Chapter one • Type and Typography 5 still offer one or more typefaces that resemble typewritten characters. It is for this reason that Courier is among the most commonly used type designs in the world. The coarse, misaligned, and handcrafted look of typewriter fonts has influenced the “grunge type” move- ment of the 1990s, which consists of designs that are anti-establishment, anti-convention, and anti-unifor- mity. Grunge types appear to represent a disregard for tradition, order, and most of all, legibility. They have been termed “subjective typography” since their forms and designs convey a meaning beyond the words that they represent: Carnival Typeface: Carnival COMMONWORLD Typeface: Commonworld Free Dom Normal Typeface: Free Freakshow Typeface: Freakshow This curious interest in automating an older, manual writing process is also seen today in the hundreds of fonts that simulate handwriting. One company, Signature Soft- L ware,4 not only offers large collections of handwritten FIGURE 1.3 fonts, but also offers a service to convert a customer’s Typewriter typefaces from the 1923 edition of the American Type Founders (ATF) specimen book. handwriting into a custom font. Their contextual handwriting fonts, available for Macintosh and Windows sys- tems, use the exclusive SigSoft Handwriter, a utility that than any other metal typeface previously issued. Accord- varies the shapes of a letter on the basis of its surround- ing to one account, the design was suggested by a sta- ing letters, and smoothly connects letters in the same way tioner from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, named J. C. Blair, an individual does when writing by hand: who was reputedly a typographic expert. The typeface was sold with the intention that “circulars could be made to resemble genuine correspondence, and thus secure for WáÑç iç táÑ c÷ÆëíÑ oü hîåÄç eïûçìí them the attention which it was previously so hard to Typeface: SigTsui get.”3 By the turn of the century, nearly every type foundry had a similar design in its specimen book. Quite W°Ñç iç táÑ c÷ÆëíÑ oü hîåÄç eïûçìí ironically, the typewriter, which had been invented to sim- Typeface: SigLisa ulate printing, was universally being simulated in print It was not until the 1930s that the typewriter became a (Figure 1.3). Today, most typesetting machine vendors, legitimate device for the setting of type. At that time there page-printer manufacturers, and type library publishers was a need for a compatible method for generating “type” 3. A good source of historic background information related to the 4. See Appendix A for contact information. early typesetting process is Annenberg, Maurice. A Typographical Journey through the Inland Printer, 1883–1900 Baltimore: Maran Press, 1977. ch01.kleper 10/20/00 4:49 PM Page 6 6 Part one • Typographic Methods and Procedures A close-up view of the Varityper changeable type font. M FIGURE 1.4 The VariTyper machine, although resembling a typewriter, had many typographic capabilities, including changeable typefaces in a range of type sizes as well as justified output. for use on the mimeograph machine. The major typeset- neously—to describe any typesetting method that does ting alternatives of the day were the hot-metal linecast- not involve the casting of molten metal. ing machines, such as the Linotype and Intertype, and the As the offset printing process replaced or augmented more complicated character caster, the Monotype. These other forms of office reproduction, the strike-on method machines were too large, sophisticated, and expensive to of typesetting grew in popularity. Unlike ordinary car- meet the needs of an office reproduction department, so bon-ribbon typewriters, strike-on machines produced the typewriter, having undergone considerable improve- sharp, dense (black), proportionally spaced characters ments in construction and capabilities since its introduc- suitable for graphic reproduction. tion, became an office typesetter. By the end of the 1980s, the long reliance on the type- A number of machines were introduced that were writer to generate office documents resulted in the emer- much more than ordinary typewriters, yet much less than gence of what was termed office-quality reproduction. This typical typesetters. The IBM Executive Typewriter pro- level of quality can be defined as “monospaced typewrit- vided proportionally spaced characters, while the Friden ten characters of a single style and size, appearing in sin- Justowriter offered justified output (i.e., text aligned at gle- or double-spaced line format, in either justified or both the left- and right-hand margins) and paper-tape unjustified mode, and usually occupying a standard 8.5 × storage. The VariTyper was one of the first typewriter-like 11-inch sheet.” Many of these attributes were virtually machines specifically made for typesetting applications unchanged from those achieved on the earliest typewrit- (Figure 1.4). It remained in a class by itself until 1967, ers, despite the computer-processing power and output when the IBM Selectric Composer was introduced. options that were readily available and capable of sup- These specialized machines, which provided limited porting much more sophisticated typographic treatment. typographic capabilities, became known as direct impres- Today, some businesses remain tied to the typewritten tra- sion, or strike-on, typesetters. Many people referred to their dition that can be broken easily with inexpensive desk- output as cold type (as contrasted with hot-metal typeset- top publishing tools and some basic typesetting, design, ting), and the term has been used loosely—and erro- and layout skills.

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