Richard Hunt - Advanced Typography: From Knowledge to Mastery

BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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This electronic edition published in 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain 2020

Copyright Bloomsbury, 2020

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Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

Cover and interior design: Richard Hunt

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ISBN: 978-1-3500-5591-9 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-3500-5593-3 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-3500-5592-6 (ePDF)

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Images:. Other images created by author or referenced in captions.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Typography, which began as the central technology of printing, remains the central technology of all graphic design. Typography is not just design with letters. It is communication of language. Typography classes are often taught as graphic design classes, with visual composition and the formal properties of letters as the main foci. Typographic conventions and subtlety often lack attention in both education and practice. Experimental type and compositions are technically easier to achieve than in the past, while deciding what direction to take has become more difficult, as the possible options have increased greatly. This also tends to focus attention on the visual possibilities, and take attention away from the communication of language.

Current media have changed the way that typography as a visual representation of language is produced, as well as changing the relationship of the designer and the viewer (and, we hope, reader), with that representation.

The most significant force in visual communication has been economic. Money has driven the development of communication technologies: the ratio of supply to demand for communication products (and everything else) has moved toward the supply side ever since the Industrial Revolution. Beginning with the development of writing, visual communication technology has become ever more important, with only a few exceptions, such as the loss of literacy in the Homeric Age in Greece, or the Middle Ages in Europe. Computers and online communication are only the most recent examples of this trend. Competition for readers and viewers has become increasingly fierce.

This book has several types of material in addition to the main text. They include:

material related to the main text that appears in grey boxes set into the text.

image pages, usually set with a grey background.

information of general interest related to typography, which appears under a red dotted rule.

practical tips, which appear in bold type with rules above and below.

quotations about typography, set in condensed red type.

marginal images with captions.

This evolution in visual communication since literacy first arose has been punctuated with technological milestones. The first of the two most significant is the printing press, which increased the availability of visual representation of language and resulting literacy by orders of magnitude.