DOCSLIB.ORG

The History of Typography and Place

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The History of Typography and Place Typography, Placemaking and Signs A Four-Part SFI White Paper Series By Craig Berger Part I The History of Typography and Place Four part white paper & webinar series profiling typography and dimensional typography in the 1 sign making industry. Wrtitten by Craig Berger © Signage Foundation, Inc. Other Resources: Four-Part Typography Typography Webinar White Paper Series. Series. Download the other parts to this Visit the page below to view a calendar Typography White Paper Series. of the webinars we currently offer. www.signs.org/EducationEvents/ www.signs.org/EducationEvents/ WhitePapers.aspx ISASignAcademy.aspx Cover Photo Credits: Acumen, Adelphia Graphic Systems 2 This History of Typography and Place © Signage Foundation, Inc. Sponsored by: The Signage Foundation is a not-for-profit Nova Polymers is the global leader in the committed to expanding the knowledge development of materials and processing base on the use and benefits of signage equipment for the fabrication of Accessible products through peer-reviewed research and ADA compliant signage. With a to facilitate the operation within the focus on education and the continued marketplace by manufacturers, suppliers development of innovative materials that and individuals in their efforts to design, meet international accessibility guidelines, build and sell innovative products. For Nova continues to lead the sign industry and more information, visit help people with visual disabilities navigate thesignagefoundation.org the built environment. novapolymers.com Architectural signage solutions for ADA Swell Media Group is a branding and and Wayfinding signage helping people marketing solutions provider focused on navigate their environment. Dixie lead generation and content creation. Graphics is a solution source for designers We build brands, websites and engaging and fabricators, offering material and sign marketing campaigns by working closely choice. We also offer project completions with you to understand your business and from project management to installation your clients. accessorizing. Our goal is to streamline the swellmediagroup.com manufacturing process for you. dixiegraphics.com © 2014 All Contents Copyright Signage Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © Signage Foundation, Inc. This History of Typography and Place 3 he history of typography is as on monuments, though it had evolved over long as the 5,000-year history of the previous hundred years. The type style written languages and alphabets used simple serifs and all capital letters, but T that combined letter forms into it created a communication revolution in the words. Most of that history, however, was Roman Empire. Lettering was used to mark dedicated to the refi nement of written language political and historical events such as major on paper, which could be read by only a victories and landmarks. More important, it small minority of the most highly educated. communicated the location of stores, marked Typography in the environment began at the roads and street numbers. This began to dawn of the fi rst century A.D., bringing along rationalize Roman cities and promote simple with it the promotion of large-scale literacy and language skills. technological advancement in mobility and communication. In fact, there is a strong case to be made that environmental typography is The Printing Press and a natural outgrowth of the desire for people to explore and comprehend the outside world. the Development of Legible Type Trajan and the First The fl owering of typography during the Environmental Typeface Romans was short lived. The collapse of the empire reverted typography back to its key use The Roman Empire had been in existence in religious documents. Calligraphy became a for more than 500 years before the fi rst core academic skill, but produced documents experiments in environmental typography that were all but unintelligible. It was not began. The complexity of managing a far-fl ung until the 15th century, with the development empire had grown easier with the use of one of the printing press and moveable type, that language, a common currency and written typographical innovation resumed. Looking laws; but low literacy in the population made back to the clarity of the original typeface from communication diffi cult on a mass scale. the Romans, Nicholas Jenson developed one of the fi rst fonts designed for the printing press. The Romans resolved this with two inventions The advent of a designed legible font soon that pushed type from parchment into the became an industry with printers developing urban environment. Metal stamps allowed their own typefaces, many of which are still for the development of watermarks and coin used today. Unfortunately, literacy in this era currency with numerical values that could be was very low and cities and towns were still easily learned. In addition, stencils allowed too small to need the rationalization of letters for the consistent creation of type on posters, and numbers. Advances is metalworking and signs and carved landmarks. This fi rst Latin woodcarving did see the rise of commercial alphabet type style was termed Trajan, after signage utilizing a mix of pictograms and the emperor in power when it fi rst appeared simple messages. 4 This History of Typography and Place © Signage Foundation, Inc. Trajan’s Column in Rome is a good example of the many columns, arches and other monuments erected to tell the story of the emperor’s military victories in Dacia. Even though most of the storytelling is done through illustrative carvings, the dedication information is in a newly developed Roman typeface that would later become known as Trajan. This recreated pub sign shows that, with limited literacy, signs before the Industrial Revolution had to combine iconography and typography to get the message across. © Signage Foundation, Inc. This History of Typography and Place 5 The Industrial Bauhaus and the Modern Revolution Architectural Era Fonts were continually refi ned for the next The messiness and clutter of the commercial 300 years, paralleling a continuous rise in new city was disturbing to many designers and technologies for printing and a need for printed intellectuals in Europe. Design movements media in the environment. The trend started in developed to integrate design disciplines 1757 with the development of the Baskerville to better refl ect the greater mechanization font by John Baskerville. This typeface of of society. This culminated in the Bauhaus varying thick and thin elements, high contrast movement of the 1920s, where designers like and variable spacing allowed type to be seen Walter Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe and Josef from greater distances, increasing its utility for Albers infl uenced architecture and design environmental communications. for the next 40 years. In 1927, Paul Renner developed Futura, a font stripped of all classical At the same time the Industrial Revolution adornment that could seamlessly integrate created many new tools that expanded with the modular and simple modern buildings printing, while making it more fl exible. being proposed by the Bauhaus. The tracing pantograph and router made the creation of new and different fonts much easier, In the United States, the Art Deco movement while expanding the ability to create unique established sleek and streamlined typography signs. Color lithographic printing brought to fi t with designs of airplanes, trains and cars. color to mass production printing by the mid- Thin Art Deco typography fi t perfectly with 19th century, providing all the tools needed to the advances in metal routing and cutting create large-scale printed billboards and signs. and the commercialization of neon lighting for signs. Commercial signage for stores and These technologies came at a perfect time restaurants soon followed the sleek lines of when mass production brought about the skyscrapers and government buildings. By the need for product advertising and promotion. 1950s, the sleekness of the Modern Movement Cities began to fi ll up with posters, handbills, met Art Deco to produce Moderne, a sign and banners and print billboards, all featuring building typography that still adorns hotels in multiple fonts and styles. At the same time, Miami Beach. cities exploded in size, with the addition of new building types. Offi ce buildings, train stations and municipal buildings now required Highway and Roadway signs for identity and wayfi nding. Typography was further simplifi ed to meet these new sign Environments types, though typography was still following customized versions of classical fonts until the The introduction of the automobile into 20th century. everyday American life also infl uenced 6 This History of Typography and Place © Signage Foundation, Inc. Billboard Clutter circa. 1890 The Bauhaus worked closely to integrate typography and architecture Miami Beach Art Deco © Signage Foundation, Inc. This History of Typography and Place 7 the push for more legible environmental Helvetica and the typography. In the 1920s the Manual and Specifi cations for the Manufacture, Display, Typography of Brands and Erection of U. S. Standard Road Markers and Signs—a precursor to today’s Manual on Uniform Traffi c Control Devices–mandated Modern typographical development went specifi c typefaces for road signs. This type hand-in-hand with the modern design was usually modern San Serif characters that trends of the first half of the 20th century could be easily painted on signs and easily in art, architecture and publishing, but read at high
Load more

Recommended publications
  • New Black Face: Neuland and Lithos As “Stereotypography” by Rob Giampietro
    New Black Face: Neuland and Lithos as “Stereotypography” by Rob Giampietro “The Neuland Question comes up regularly, and alas w∂hout much resolution....” –Jonathan Hoefl er 3 4 5 The “Neuland Question” to which of a religious life to his countrymen. delicately interlocking serifs com- Jonathan Hoefl er refers involves not Having experimented w∂h the art of monly used in black letter typography. just Neuland, a “display” typeface calligraphy shortly before enlisting, The result, a font composed of heavy hand-carved in 1923 by Rudolf Koch Koch returned to the art after WWI black forms, was visible from great (fi g. 1), but also Lithos, another “dis- with the intention of making bold, no- distances and easily distinguishable play” typeface digitally created in ticeable typefaces that would shout to from lighter-weight typefaces on a 1989 by Carol Twombly (fi g. 2). other Germans that f∞lowing God’s page. These qual∂ies made Neuland path would help them fi nd comfort suitable to advertising. Koch even at- 1 from the trauma of war. Yale Univer- tempted to set a classifi ed ad in Neu- sity Printer John Gambell suggests land at the end of the German speci- 2 that Koch designed the face with the men book (fi g. 5). The Question can be put simply: How intent of making a modern version of By the time Neuland reached the did these two typefaces come to signi- the German black letter (or black face) United States, its distributor, the Con- fy Africans and African-Americans, style. Black letter fonts were used at tinental Typefounder’s Association, regardless of how a designer uses the time for the setting of important had little interest in Neuland’s uses as them, and regardless of the purpose texts, especially Bibles and church- a modern black letter, and the speci- for which their creators originally in- related documents.
    [Show full text]
  • Thinking with Type
    ellen lupton thinking with a critical guide typefor designers, writers, editors & students princeton architectural press . new york TEXT LEITERS GATHER INTO WORDS, WORDS BUILD INTO SENTENCES. In typography, "text" is defined as an ongoing sequence of words, distinct from shorter headlines or captions. The main block is often called the "body," comprising the principal mass of content. Also known as "running text," it can flow from one page, column, or box to another. Text can be viewed as a thing-a sound and sturdy object-or a fluid poured into the containers of page or screen. Text can be solid or liquid, body or blood. As body, text has more integrity and wholeness than the elements that surround it, from pictures, captions, and page numbers to banners, buttons, and menus. Designers generally treat a body of text consistently, letting it appear as a coherent substance that is distributed across the spaces of a CYBERSPACE AND CIVIL document. In digital media, long texts are typically broken into chunks that SOCIETY Poster, 19 96. Designer: Hayes Henderson. can be accessed by search engines or hypertext links. Contemporary Rather than represent designers and writers produce content for various contexts, from the pages cyberspace as an ethereal grid, of print to an array of software environments, screen conditions, and digital the designer has used blotches devices, each posing its own limits and opportunities. of overlapping text to build an ominous, looming body. Designers provide ways into-and out of-the flood of words by breaking up text into pieces and offering shortcuts and alternate routes through masses of information.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Vehicle Safety World, High-Tech Appears to Rule Supreme. a Recent MIT Study, Though, Has Proved How
    TYPOGRAPHY TYPOGRAPHY Knowledge of all fonts In the vehicle safety world, high-tech appears to rule supreme. A recent MIT study, though, has proved how er Ky Pictures optimising typeface characteristicseiM couldDer s be a simple and hun ryan rG & t aGIN effective method of providingPe iM a significant reduction in ruce Mehler & b , MONOTY ELAB interface demandIT a G and associated distractions Jonathan Dobres,F M b AUTHOR COURTESY o IMAGES e have a strange relationship New Roman or clownish Comic touchscreen by the reader. At the same time, differences between the two typefaces. with typography. Every day Sans. More to the point, few people mounted in the letterforms must not become too Where Frutiger is open, leaving ample we see thousands of words realise that the design of typefaces simulator, with constrained or monotonous, lest the space between letters and the lines composed of millions of – and the way in which their strokes eye-tracking reader’s eye confuse a ‘g’ for a ‘9’. This of individual letterforms, Eurostile is letters. These letterforms and terminations play off each other cameras, an IR tension between legibility, consistency tighter and more closed. Eurostile also Wsurround us, inform us, and entice from letter to letter and word to word illumination pod and variation is at the heart of all enforces a highly consistent squared- us. Yet in our increasingly literate and – can have a significant impact on and the face typographic design. Consider Frutiger off style, while Frutiger allows for information-saturated society, we our ability to read and absorb what video camera – a typeface crafted in the ‘humanist’ more variety in letter proportions take them for granted, and rarely spare they are trying to communicate.
    [Show full text]
  • Developing an Arabic Typography Course for Visual Communication Design
    Developing an Arabic Typography course for Visual Communication Design Students in the Middle East and North African Region A thesis submitted to the School of Visual Communication Design, College of Communication and Information of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts by Basma Almusallam May, 2014 Thesis written by Basma Almusallam B.F.A, Kuwait University, 2008 M.F.A, Kent State University, 2014 Approved by ___________________________ Jillian Coorey, M.F.A., Advisor ___________________________ AnnMarie LeBlanc, M.F.A., Director, School of Visual Communication Design ___________________________ Stanley T. Wearden, Ph.D., Dean, College of Communication and Information Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………...... iii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….. v PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………..... vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………. 1 The Current Issue………………………………………………….. 1 Core Objectives……………………………………………………. 3 II. THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIC WRITING SYSTEM, CALLIGRAPHY AND TYPOGRAPHY………………………………………....………….. 4 The Arabic Writing System……………………………………….. 4 Arabic Calligraphy………………………………………………… 5 The Undocumented Art of Arabic Calligraphy……………….…… 6 The Shift Towards Typography and the Digital Era………………. 7 The Pressing Issue of the Present………………………………….. 8 A NOTE ON THE PROCESS…………………………………………………………….. 10 Applying a Framework for Research Documentation…………….. 11 Mental Model……………………………………………………… 12 Proposed User Testing…………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Meaningful Urban Design: Teleological/Catalytic/Relevant
    Journal ofUrban Design,Vol. 7, No. 1, 35– 58, 2002 Meaningful Urban Design: Teleological/Catalytic/Relevant ASEEM INAM ABSTRACT Thepaper begins with a critique ofcontemporary urban design:the eldof urban designis vague because it isan ambiguousamalgam of several disciplines, includingarchitecture, landscapearchitecture, urban planningand civil engineering; it issuper cial because itisobsessedwith impressions and aesthetics ofphysical form; and it ispractised as an extensionof architecture, whichoften impliesan exaggerated emphasison theend product. The paper then proposesa meaningful(i.e. truly consequential to improvedquality of life) approach to urban design,which consists of: beingteleological (i.e. driven by purposes rather than de ned by conventional disci- plines);being catalytic (i.e. generating or contributing to long-term socio-economic developmentprocesses); andbeing relevant (i.e. grounded in rst causes andpertinent humanvalues). The argument isillustratedwith a number ofcase studiesof exemplary urban designers,such asMichael Pyatok and Henri Ciriani,and urban designprojects, such asHorton Plazaand Aranya Nagar, from around the world. The paper concludes withan outlineof future directionsin urban design,including criteria for successful urban designprojects (e.g. striking aesthetics, convenient function andlong-term impact) anda proposedpedagogical approach (e.g. interdisciplinary, in-depth and problem-driven). Provocations In the earlypart of 1998,two provocative urban design eventsoccurred at the Universityof Michigan in Ann Arbor.The rstwas an exhibition organizedas partof aninternationalsymposium on ‘ City,Space 1 Globalization’. The second wasa lecture by the renowned Dutch architectand urbanist, Rem Koolhaas. By themselves,the events generated much interestand discussion, yet were innocu- ous,compared to, say, Prince Charles’s controversialcomments on contempor- arycities in the UKorthe gathering momentumof the New Urbanism movementin the USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Booklet & CD Design & Typography: David Tayler Cover Art: Adriaen Coorte
    Voices of Music An Evening with Bach An Evening with Bach 1. Air on a G string (BWV 1069) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 2. Schlummert ein (BWV 82) Susanne Rydén, soprano 3. Badinerie (BWV 1067) Dan Laurin, voice flute 4. Ich folge dir gleichfalls (St. John Passion BWV 245) Susanne Rydén, soprano; Louise Carslake, baroque flute 5. Giga (BWV 1004) Dan Laurin, recorder 6. Schafe können sicher weiden (BWV 208) Susanne Rydén, soprano 7. Prelude in C minor (BWV 871) Hanneke van Proosdij, harpsichord 8. Schlafe mein Liebster (BWV 213) Susanne Rydén, soprano 9. Prelude in G major (BWV 1007) David Tayler, theorbo 10. Es ist vollbracht (St. John Passion BWV 245) Jennifer Lane, alto; William Skeen, viola da gamba 11. Sarabanda (BWV 1004) Elizabeth Blumenstock, baroque violin 12. Kein Arzt ist außer dir zu finden (BWV 103) Jennifer Lane, alto; Hanneke van Proosdij, sixth flute 13. Prelude in E flat major (BWV 998) Hanneke van Proosdij, lautenwerk 14. Bist du bei mir (BWV 508) Susanne Rydén, soprano 15. Passacaglia Mein Freund ist mein J.C. Bach (1642–1703) Susanne Rydén, soprano; Elizabeth Blumenstock, baroque violin Notes The Great Collectors During the 1980s, both Classical & Early Music recordings underwent a profound change due to the advent of the Compact Disc as well as the arrival of larger stores specializing in music. One of the casualties of this change was the recital recording, in which an artist or ensemble would present an interesting arrangement of musical pieces that followed a certain theme or style—much like a live concert. Although recital recordings were of course made, and are perhaps making a comeback, most recordings featured a single composer and were sold in alphabetized bins: B for Bach; V for Vivaldi.
    [Show full text]
  • Signage Design Criteria
    SIGNAGE DESIGN CRITERIA VALLEY MALL THE PLACE TO SHOP VALLEY MALL ADDENDUM LOG January, 2012 Updated to current layout February, 2013 Title Page image added March, 2013 Title Page image updated February, 2014 Updated Primary Sign Design Requirements (s5 #11) December 2014 Removed website address language from Store- front Window Signs (s11) July 2015 Added Digital Display language (s12) November, 2015 Language added regarding no radioactive mate- rial/signs allowed (s12) July, 2018 Updated to new layout s2 VALLEY MALL TABLE OF CONTENTS General Signage Requirements s4-s11 General Requirements for Primary Sign Design s4-s5 Primary Signage Design s6 Primary Signage Examples s7-s11 Alternate Signage s12-s13 Storefront Window Signs, Threshold Signs, Awning Signage, Blade Sign s12 PLEASE VISIT WWW.MACERICH.COM Digital Display, Prohibited Signs/Materials, Sign Area Calculations s13 TO VIEW PLAN SUBMITTAL & APPROVAL PROCEDURES Sign Construction and Installation s14 and CONTRACTOR RULES & Sign Construction/Installation, Insurance REGULATIONS Requirements s14 Exterior Sign Criteria s15-s16 Illumination, Construction Requirements for Exterior Signage s15 Height of Exterior Signs/logos s16 Plan Submittal Guidelines s17-s18 Drawing Preparation, Review Process s17 Drawing Requirements s18 s3 GENERAL SIGNAGE REQUIREMENTS VALLEY MALL Tenant signs are vital to the successful functioning of the Shopping Center. Uncontrolled signs can create a verbal jungle and fail in their goal to communicate effectively. The ultimate goal is to produce a colorful •All storefront designs and collage of signs that tastefully inform, delight and stimulate the shopper. plans are subject to Landlord approval. The overall image All sign materials must be consistent with the design theme, enhancing the storefront and evoking a should be well coordinated, positive retail image.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Value(S) of an Architect
    2 A Discipline Adrift? Teaching Architectural Ethics in Today’s World On the Value(s) of an Architect ANASTASIA H. CORTES Virginia Tech This paper situates architectural ethics in the context of observer: they either like it or they don’t. Architects earn practice by using stakeholder theory and the concept of pro- professional degrees and are licensed, like doctors, lawyers, fessional judgment to describe the activities of architectural and engineers. However, architecture is the lowest paid of practice. Architects are taught the skills necessary to make these four professions. Although buildings are tangible arti- ethical professional judgments in the contexts of design and facts of an architect’s work, the design of a building is less professional service, but they are not necessarily taught easily understood by the lay person than, say, recovery from how to effectively communicate the value of those skills to an illness. Often the public may value the architect’s work those outside the profession. Stakeholder theory provides a based on the subjective evaluation of the observer: they framework to describe the practice of architecture in a way either like it or they don’t. The profession cannot survive on that enables non-practitioners to appreciate value of the the basis of the public’s “like” of their work, as discussed in complex decisions and activities performed by architects. a 2015 article in Forbes magazine, which declared contem- porary architecture to be ugly, irrelevant, and out of touch “There’s a snobbery at work in architecture…The sub- with society.3 In support of this claim, the author offered up ject is too often treated as a fine art, delicately wrapped a description of the American Institute of Architects’ effort in mumbo-jumbo.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergence and Erasure of !New Thinking! Within Graphic Design
    ! ! ∀ ## ∃%& ∋(∀∀∋)∗∋ ∃ ∀++ +,−(+ doi:10.1093/jdh/epr023 Journal of Design History Lost in Translation: The Emergence Vol. 24 No. 3 and Erasure of ‘New Thinking’ within Graphic Design Criticism in the 1990s Julia Moszkowicz Downloaded from This article revisits the early 1990s, identifying examples of critical journalism that introduced the idea of ‘new thinking’ in American graphic design to a British audience. Whilst such thinking is articulated in terms of postmodern and post-structuralist tenets, it will be argued that the distinct visual style of postmodern artefacts belies an eclectic philosophical constitution. In the process of describing emergent American practices at http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/ Cranbrook Academy of Art in this period, for example, Ellen Lupton argues for a distinction to be made between intellectual (post-structuralist) and superficial (postmodern) approaches to visual form. This paper indicates, however, that in spite of this initial attention to distinct methodological concerns, there has been a tendency to oversimplify the postmodern story in graphic design writing and to use historical sources in highly selective ways. Indeed, close examination of texts from the period reveals how new thinking in America is underpinned by a complex range of philosophical ideas, with the (seemingly) contradictory impulse of phenomenology, in particular, making a at Southampton Solent University on November 11, 2013 dominant contribution to the mix. This article argues that it is time to reverse these reductive tendencies in British criticism and to reinvigorate its understanding of this transformative period with a return to these postmodern sources. Keywords: design criticism—design journalism—graphic design—postmodernism—post- structuralism—pragmatic design This article considers the critical reception of postmodern graphic design within the international journal, Eye, when a wave of ‘new thinking’ crossed the Atlantic and was reviewed by this influential publication in the 1990s.
    [Show full text]
  • Adobe Type Library Online Adobe Font Folio™ 9.0 Adobe Type Basics Adobe Type Library Reference Book Adobe Type Manager® Deluxe
    Adobe offers one of the largest collections of high-quality typefaces in the world, bringing you the combination of typographic excellence with the convenience of round-the-clock availability. Whether you're communicating via print, web, video, or ePaper®, Adobe Type gives you the power to create, manage and deliver your message with the richness and reliability you've come to expect from Adobe. The Adobe Type Library Online Adobe Font Folio™ 9.0 Adobe Type Basics Adobe Type Library Reference Book Adobe Type Manager® Deluxe The Adobe Type Library Online With more than 2,750 typefaces from internationally renowned foundries, such as Adobe, Agfa Monotype, ITC, and Linotype, as well as award-winning individual type designers and distinguished design studios, the Adobe Type Library offers one of the largest collections of high-quality type in the world. Choose from thousands of fonts in the PostScript® Type 1 format, offered in broad range of outstanding designs and exciting styles. And now you can also select from hundreds of fonts in the new OpenType® format, which offers improved cross-platform document portability, richer linguistic support, powerful typographic capabilities, and simplified font management. Whether you're publishing to print, web, video, or ePaper, Adobe typefaces work seamlessly with most popular software applications. Best of all, you can access any of the high-quality Adobe typefaces you need, anytime you need them, directly from the Adobe web site. You can browse, preview, purchase and immediately download any font from the online Adobe Type Library at your convenience - day or night. Simply visit http://www.adobe.com/type in North America, or at the Adobe Download Centre at http://downloadcentre.adobe.com in many other regions of the world, including Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and more to come.
    [Show full text]
  • Improvements in Surface Transportation Signing
    Improvements in Surface Transportation Signing A chronological overview of designs, research and field studies that includes the development of the Clearview type system and related application concepts to improve the consistency, performance, and visual quality of traffic control devices. Prepared for: Mr. Gregory Nadeau Mr. Mark Kehrli Administrator Director Office of the Administrator Transportation Operations Federal Highway Administration Federal Highway Administration Mr. Jeffrey Lindley Mr. Kevin Sylvester Associate Administrator MUTCD Office Office of Operations Federal Highway Administration Federal Highway Administration Prepared by: March 21, 2016 Donald T. Meeker, F. SEGD Meeker & Associates, Inc. Larchmont, NY This body of work started at this sleepy intersection off of I-84 in the state of Oregon. As part of a motorist information project for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), I was finally forced to look for the answers to questions that I had wondered for years. Why? 1) Why is the structure of this information so eclectic and seemingly dysfunctional? 2) We are taught that mixed case would be more readable (why isn’t book/magazine/newspaper text published in all upper case?); so why are conventional road guide sign destination names in all upper case letters? 3) Why is the destination name on that freeway guide sign so fat? Why does it appear that you can’t fit your finger through the center space of the small “e” and the letterforms chunk up when viewed at a distance? 2 3 A lot of information competing for your attention yet created as if it is to stand alone! And Oregon is not alone.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Historical Development of Typography on Modern Classification of Typefaces
    M. Tomiša et al. Utjecaj povijesnog razvoja tipografije na suvremenu klasifikaciju pisama ISSN 1330-3651 (Print), ISSN 1848-6339 (Online) UDC/UDK 655.26:003.2 THE IMPACT OF THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TYPOGRAPHY ON MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF TYPEFACES Mario Tomiša, Damir Vusić, Marin Milković Original scientific paper One of the definitions of typography is that it is the art of arranging typefaces for a specific project and their arrangement in order to achieve a more effective communication. In order to choose the appropriate typeface, the user should be well-acquainted with visual or geometric features of typography, typographic rules and the historical development of typography. Additionally, every user is further assisted by a good quality and simple typeface classification. There are many different classifications of typefaces based on historical or visual criteria, as well as their combination. During the last thirty years, computers and digital technology have enabled brand new creative freedoms. As a result, there are thousands of fonts and dozens of applications for digitally creating typefaces. This paper suggests an innovative, simpler classification, which should correspond to the contemporary development of typography, the production of a vast number of new typefaces and the needs of today's users. Keywords: character, font, graphic design, historical development of typography, typeface, typeface classification, typography Utjecaj povijesnog razvoja tipografije na suvremenu klasifikaciju pisama Izvorni znanstveni članak Jedna je od definicija tipografije da je ona umjetnost odabira odgovarajućeg pisma za određeni projekt i njegova organizacija s ciljem ostvarenja što učinkovitije komunikacije. Da bi korisnik mogao odabrati pravo pismo za svoje potrebe treba prije svega dobro poznavati optičke ili geometrijske značajke tipografije, tipografska pravila i povijesni razvoj tipografije.
    [Show full text]