Can you just imagine the world without typography? It just wouldn't be the same and I can imagine it as being quite boring. As a designer I always feel that it is my choice of font which gives my design work it's finishing touch, but what is typography?
Typography is the use of typefaces, and it is the decision of the individual typographer how he/she will use each typeface. This includes how to select the most suitable typeface for their current work, the size, and how the typefaces will be arranged in general. In this blog post we are taking a step back in time to look at the history of typography, the anatomy of type and some of the most inspirational typography blogs on the net.
The History
Before the industrial revolution typography was traditionally created by hand and although I am not looking to give you a history lesson, I feel it is important to never forget our roots and what has lead to the creative world that we all enjoy living in today.
Typography can date back as far as the first picturegraphs which came in the form of cave paintings, which later lead to the first formation of the alphabet, dating back as far as 3150BC. Typography developed greatly over the years and it was during this time that many famous typographers were born.
"Of all the achievements of the human mind, the birth of the alphabet is the most momentous" Frederic Goudy
Frederic Goudy, a famous typographer started his career in 1896 when he was already in his thirties and had very little experience or training in type design.
It was during the year of 1896 that he submitted his first typeface to the Dickinson Foundry in Boston, which was part of the American Typefounders Company.
The submission of this first typeface lead to Frederic Goudy becoming one of the most influential type designers of the 20th Century.
Key Career Achievements
- Successfully submitted his first typeface in 1896.
- Goudy designed the typeface "Village" in 1903.
- In 1911 Goudy was commissioned by Mitchell Kennerley, a New York publisher to design a book. Goudy also went on to produce a new typeface for this book known as Kennerley Old Style.
- In 1915 Goudy went on to produce the popular typeface Goudy Old Style.
- In 1920 Goudy became a typographical consultant to Lanston Monotype.
So for all of you self taught typographers and designers out there, I believe Frederic Goudy has shown to us all what an individual can achieve when his mind and heart are in the right place.
The Anatomy Of Type
To help you understand how type is created and what rules you should stick to when attempting to create your own typeface, we should take a look at the Anatomy of type.
Image above by indefish on Deviant ART
Anatomy Of Type Terminology
Ascender – The lowercase character stroke which extends above the x-height
Bar – The horizontal stroke on the characters "A" "H" "T" "e" "f" "t"
Baseline – The imaginary horizontal line to which the body or main component of characters are aligned.
Bracket – A curved line connecting the serif to the stroke.
Contrast – The amount of variation in between thick and thin strokes.
Counter – The empty space inside the body stroke.
Descender – The lowercase character stroke which extends below the baseline
Loop – The bottom part of the lowercase roman "g"
Shoulder – The part of a curved stroke coming from the stem.
Stem – A stroke which is vertical or diagonal.
Stress – The direction in which a curved stroke changes weight.
Terminal – The end of a stroke which does not terminate in a serif.
X – height - The Height of the body, minus the ascenders and descenders which is equal to the height of the lowercase "X"
If typography is something you are looking to get more involved in, then fully understanding the Anatomy of type is a key starting point for you.
Typography Sources Of Inspiration
So, we have taken a look back in history and a quick peek at some of the fundamental rules of typography, but now it is important for you to keep up to date with the latest news and happenings in the world of typography.
As typography is one of the most important aspects of any graphic or web design project, I thought I should list my top ten typography blogs for your inspiration.
1 – I Love Typography
2 – Type Nuts
3 – Typophile
4 – Find Fonts
5 – Font Feed
6 – Type For You
7 – UnosTiposDuros
8 – The Ministry Of Type
9 – Type 101
10 – Thinking With Type
I hope you have found this post useful, if you have anything you would like to add please leave us a reply below.
If you liked this post please share it around with others and also subscribe to our RSS feed to receive updates from Kaplang.
About The Author:
 Michelle Kirkbride | Michelle Kirkbride is a web developer, she currently lives in Yorkshire, UK with her two beautiful children and loving partner. She spends far too much time at her computer and is currently addicted to her work. |
Very interesting post Michelle! Keep it up!
I Really like what you have done with your blog! Nice redesign.
Thank you