typography

After watching the documentary I got stuck on a comment made by one typographer at in the beginning that was explaining why he loved the type face Helvetica so much. His argument was similar to those used by the majority of the pro-Helvetica typographers in the film, that Helvetica is a neutral, blank slate that allows the message of a writing to be in the spotlight rather than the type face. For this reason he argued, Helvetica is a great font, because it is emotionless and does not draw attention to itself. But this same typographer also mentioned the variations of the Helvetica font and said something along the lines of, "you can use Helvetica light if you want to be fancy or you can use Helvetica bold if you want to be intense". The context of this statement escapes me at the moment but the point is that this typographer acknowledged the effect that a font style can have on a piece of writing. So my question is, is it possible for a typeface to be completely neutral and voiceless?  read more »

So a lot of the Helvetica documentary was talking about what type of message the font got across. Whether that message was corporate, stylish, or bland, the people in the documentary agreed that what font something is written in has an affect (however large or small) on its overall message. And being the East Asian Languages and Literature major that I am, I immdiately thought of Asian calligraphy. Since we learned how to add pictures into blog posts this week, let's see if I can manage.
example: Piece of work by the Chinese poet Mifu, image from Wikipedia.  read more »

It's been very interesting to see people's reactions to the documentary Helvetica (and even just the font itself). I'm a graphic designer for both print and online, so the film really resonated with me. I have always loved fonts and typography, and it was so great to see a documentary featuring people who think about the same things I do. Actually, it made me feel a little better about myself because I'm not nearly as obsessive about everything as most of the people being interviewed. But, I'm still a budding designer, so maybe that's me in the future... interesting.

Anyway, it's weird for me to see people talking about typography and fonts like they "don't get it" ... "it's just a font," "it's boring," "it doesn't mean anything," and then transitioning into thoughts like, "I've never thought about it that way before," etc.  read more »

I left class Wednesday in a surprised frame of mind. It seemed as if everyone had gotten together to praised handwritten books and curse the fact that we now have computers that can type and make the process boring, impersonal and.... legible? I'm sorry to say it but I think that the only reason most people are shouting the virtues of handwritten books is that they have never really seen anything that is not an excerpt or pictures. I mean, lets be serious here, it's the 21st century, who writes by hand? A lot of people were saying that handwriting leaves an imprint on the work, the authors thought process, etc... They seem to think that something that is written electronically is immaterial and easily disappears. Well, to that I can only say, print it out or even, gasp! save it! Yes! Can you believe it? With the nifty thing called the computer, came the nifty program called Word which came with cool little applications that allow you to... save your work. Not only that but with the advent of the electronic networks came the possibility of sharing your work with millions of other people. You think books are tangible while a word saved document fades away?  read more »

At the end of "20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination," Drucker questions whether "future generations will take more pleasure from the physicality of writing than from the immaterial electronic trace." The phrasing of the sentence leads me to believe that she favors the traditional handwritten form, and I have to say that I agree with her. I don't mean to undermine the benefits and convenience of modern technology, but when it comes down to it, I think a handwritten work holds more meaning than one conceived on a word processor. I realize that it isn't plausible to expect an author to write each and every copy of his/her book by hand. That's precisely where modern technology comes in, in the mass production stage of the process. The point where it counts is in the stage of conception. When an author produces a handwritten manuscript, his/her imprint is permanently left on that work. The evolution of the words can be seen every time a note is scribbled in the margins or a sentence is crossed out. This element of growth and development makes the handwritten medium much more personal than its counterpart.  read more »

This is interesting... found in while surfing the web waves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4uXrpvTWNo

Guess listening to Sayjack and White chat while the credits role *can* be interesting... heh.

I love a reading like Robert Bringhurst's writings on the principles and tactics of typography. Though it's really not the subject matter here that draws me, so much as the self-reflexivity. Like Mitchell's point about meta-pictures, there is a tension within "The Grand Design" since the ideas that Bringhurst brings up are being (or have been) utilized in the printing of the text itself. I read how a typographer does (or should do) their job; I realize someone has done that job for this very text. (My brain says, "Ah, how clever!") ...So, have they done their job well?  read more »

So during class this week I found myself thinking of comic books for examples of image-text and typography. More specifically, I found myself thinking about Neil Gaiman's Sandman. For those who have never read it, I offer a link of a scan of one of the pages.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/sonokitsunekono/Comic%20Scans/del1...  read more »

Having our discussion on the narrative-communication diagram as it applied to Lady in the Lake so recently made the reading from The Grand Design even more striking with regards to the largely ignored role typography plays in the transmission of text. While reading the end of section 1.2.2, specifically the quote "Typographers, like other artists and craftsmen - musicians, composers and authors as well - must as a rule do their work and disappear," I was immediately reminded of all the film jobs that were suggested in class when we were trying to decide who the Real author of Lady in the Lake was.  read more »

When I read a book, an article, look at a flyer, or a billboard mostly I focus on the message and few times do I notice the details of the presentation. After reading the excerpt from Robert Bringhurst's The Grand Design, I realized that whether I notice it or not there is a lot more going in through my eyes and influencing my thoughts than just words on a page.

I would argue that typographers are one of the unsung heroes in literature today. When I read a magazine I do not particularly notice the style of text or layout on each of the pages and yet someone carefully chose the textual styles to accentuate a seperation and still complement eachother. So much detail goes into the bigger picture. Even on this very web page, different letterings are used for the title, the tabs, the links on the side, etc. The thought that a person puts into choosing fonts and such really make a difference. (Good job Zach!)  read more »

You might not realize it but its everywhere. Its on the news when you wake up. Its in the alligator that you read. In the text that you study. In the mail that you read. We are engulfed by it. So what is it? TYPOGRAPHY of course. At its very basic essence typography could be describe as the "art of print". According to Bringhurst though, the definition that I gave would bring no justice to typography and be "deliberately misused." "It [typography] takes various forms and goes by various names, including serenity, liveliness, laughter, grace and joy' Bringhurst exclaimed.  read more »

Just finished reading the historical article by Bringhurst on typography (form and content), and was impressed by the amount of detail with which he perused its intricacies. His tactics for capturing the spirit of a text is fascinating, and I want to specifically discuss 1.2.5 on page 6 of the course pack ("Shape the page and frame the textblock so that it honors and reveals every element, every relationship between elements, and every logical nuance of the text")...

First of all, this is a tall order. The factors that compose a text (especially one involving imagination and creativity - a novel, for example) are so numerous that it could literally take weeks of study, let alone the time spent assembling the proper medium to communicate it. Here are a few mentioned by Bringhurst, in addition to several that came to my mind...

-Text font/size/color/placement (these are four lengthy studies that might/most likely will change over the course of the text)
-Image choice/size/color/placement in the text (placement can be critical)
-References/footnotes (placement, amount of explanation)
-Dialogue presentation (if needed)  read more »