2. Innovations in typography
The wood-type poster A revolution in printing
The mechanization of typography
Fat faced type as well as Egyptian and
sans-serif type were all developed in
the early 1800s. Wood-type posters
made in conjunction with the client
without a designer for posters and
handbills proliferated. Friedrich
Koenig developed a press powered by
a steam engine which dramatically
increased the speed of printing.
Another German, Ottmar Mergenthaler
invented a mechanical typesetting
machine called a Linotype (line-o-
type) which was another
important breakthrough in
printing.
3. Typography is a triangular relationship between
design idea, typographic elements, and printing
technique. —Wolfgang Weingart
IF YOU REMEMBER THE SHAPE OF YOUR SPOON AT LUNCH, IT HAS TO
BE THE WRONG SHAPE.
THE SPOON AND THE LETTER ARE TOOLS; ONE TO TAKE FOOD FROM
THE BOWL, THE OTHER TO
TAKE INFORMATION OFF THE PAGE... WHEN IT IS A GOOD DESIGN, THE
READER HAS TO FEEL COMFORTABLE BECAUSE THE LETTER IS BOTH
BANAL AND BEAUTIFUL." —ADRIAN FRUTIGER
4. Typography in an industrial age
Between the years of 1760 and • Obviously, the days of the
1940 Europe and in illuminated manuscript and
particular, Britain, went hand-written texts were at
through a period of rapid an end: publishers needed
social and economic to get their words (and
changes. As the general more importantly, the
population increased in information and the
both number and intellectual properties they
educational standing, and represented) to the people
the economy boomed far faster than ever before
under the so-called
industrial revolution, the
demand for the printed
word increased rapidly.
5. The printing press and typography
were born
• By 1827 Darius Wells was • The unity of text and
using a hard-carved wooden graphics, before the sole
type block to mass-produce realm of the manuscript
text. Wood was a popular producing monastic
medium for this purpose, community became a key
being easy to carve, element of branding factory
abundant in supply and output. With the markets
light to carry. The typical flooded with goods and
heavy serif font found on products, branding was
"wild west" poster is a by- becoming important - and
product of the carving for the first time, typeface
process: big, bold and was a tool to distinguish
blocky was the order of the Blogg's products from
day. Smith's
6. The Mechanisation of Typography
• Whilst wood-block printing is fine for big • With the power to now mass produce
posters, it's not the most effective way of quicker and cheaper than ever before, and
rendering text onto a page. Another the market crying out for reading material,
system for creating the printed word was the size, number and type of printed
required. In 1815, William Crowther articles increased dramatically. Articles
invented a printing press using curved could now be designed, combining type
steel plates: a design that it still being and images to dramatic effect. The general
used, barely changed, today. A vast public loved it.
amount of both time and money went
into producing and refining these printing
presses. They were a double-edged sword
however: increased revenue for publishers
and a boon for newspapers and
periodicals, they came at the cost of mass
unemployment in the typesetting
industry. One man and a machine could
achieve what once required a team of
skilled typesetters, in half the time
