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TYPOLOGICAL ACCESS, Not Just An Akzide
The State of Typography
from the Industrial Revolution
to the Twenty-First Century
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W.R. Martin Company rotary press, 1928.
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THE HISTORIC Baseline
The mass production of the IndustrialRevolution brought about the need for poster
advertising at an unprecedented level. Businesses
needed their advertising posters to be read at a
distance, thus business sought highly competitive
typefaces that were bold and loud. The new
demands of advertising inspired the creation of the
typeface Egyptian Slab in Britain (Annand 103).
Egyptian Slab letterforms evolved from fat-face
types to be comprised of thick stems and thinner
serif weights (97). While the san serif took predom-inance in the twentieth century, san serifs actually
started appearing in the nineteenth century. William
Caslon IV is credited with the creating the first sans
serif printing typeface in 1816 (Alessio). Caslon’s
typeface contained only capitals and was called
Egyptian (despite early slab serifs also being
marketed as Egyptians).
However, in addition to
Egyptian, the names used
for the early san serif type-
faces also included Gothic,Grotesque and Antique
(Stock-Allen). The Egyptian
name was likely attached
to slab serif type around
the Egyptian craze of the
1830’s, when the Egyptian
artifacts from Napoleonic
conquest were sweeping
the western world.
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Advertising for Oxbridge Fair 1878.
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Much like Egyptian Slab
typefaces, san serifs before
World War II were ini-
tially based on classical
proportions. In 1913,
the Underground Electric
Railways Company of
London commissioned
Edward Johnston for their
transportation system. Similar to the Egyptian Slab typefaces, the Johnstontypeface designs focused on legibility at a distance, thus the letterforms
were based on the proportions of the capitals of the Trajan Columns.
Humanist typefaces have a more organic san serif structure. Analogous to
Egyptian Slab letterforms, the humanistic san serif Johnston contains line
strokes of varied width, based on Johnston’s calligraphic skills. Just prior
to World War II, designers began to use modernism and the avant garde
to experiment with san serifs. By the 1920’s Paul Renner had been influ-
enced by the Bauhaus (Stock-Allen). He sought to devise an alphabet with
geometric shapes and lines and thus created the typeface Futura. Unlike
Egyptian Slab and Clarendon typefaces, Geometric typefaces are based on
geometric shapes. After World War II, the design of san serifs were basedon a harmonious gray line. In contrast to the disharmony of Egyptian Slab
and Clarendon typefaces, these san serif letterforms when placed in a row
aligned to a harmonious gray line. Adrian Frutiger crafted the Univers type-
face based on geometry, but with such complexity and organic qualities that
allowed for a smoother fit on the line.
The Egyptian Slab typefaces first
appeared in 1815 with the Antique type-
face by Vincent Figgins. By 1821, Six Pica
Egyptian, with its strong square strokes,
became a standard display typeface.
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A TYPE OF Reaction
Artistic movements that reacted to impacted type-face design of the nineteenth century to twentieth century.
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain and led to the
production of shoddy mass-produced consumer goods
(Harskamp). Traditionally manual workers learned their trade
by progression through apprenticeship under a craftsman.
However,the critical eye and skill of the craftsman was sacri-
ficed for speed, lower cost, and inferior products (Stock-Allen).
Likewise, type and graphic design also went into decline
during the Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts
Movement, a loosely linked group of artisans, craftsmen,
architects, and designers; sought to elevate the applied arts
in a revolt against Victorian tastes and industrial manufac-
tures. While the movement began in the late 1800s in
England, the movement spread to the United States in the
early 1900s. Medieval designs provided a model for the Arts
and Crafts Movement’s craft production and type design.
William Morris was a prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts
movement. Morris was particularly influenced by the early
Roman letterforms of French designer Nicholas Jenson.
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George W. Jones,
Dorothy decorative caps.
The typefaces of Arts and Crafts
and Art Nouveau movements both
sought to reconcile the
decrease of craftsmanship during
the Industrial Revolution.
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Morris photographed and enlarged Jenson’s letter-
forms in order to use them as a structural basis for his
Golden Type. Similar to the Arts and Crafts Movement,Art Nouveau was an art movement that existed from
the late nineteenth until the early twentieth century
(Barnhart). Although Art Nouveau means “new art”,
much like the Arts and Crafts movement, it borrowed
elements from medieval manuscripts and Persian
pottery. The Art Nouveau style had a significant impact
on graphic design, specifically posters; which allowed
for a greater accessibility of the art movement to the
general public. The curved linear patterns found in the
posters were a hallmark of the Art Nouveau style and
the typography served an integral part of the design.The Art Nouveau style was inspired by the curved lines
of organic shapes and had a calligraphic look. Art
Nouveau typography often contained letters that were
elongated and embellished.
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The Ideal Book
by William Morris.
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MORE THAN Justified
Whereas the industrial
mechanization brought
out ideals of organic line
and craft in the Arts and
Crafts Movement, war
mechanization created
ideals of simplicity and
free thought.
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Artistic movements that reacted to the WorldWars, impacted the typeface design of the twentieth
century. World War I, from 1914-1918, killed two million
Germans and left Germany’s large economy in shambles
(Davis). By 1918, the German Empire had become the
German Republic, although turmoil between political parties
and police still persisted. Thus the cooperative aspects of
artisans and utilitarianism approach to design make sense
in the context of war and revolution. Similar to Arts and
Crafts and Art Nouveau Movements, the Bauhaus art
school in Germany sought to bridge the gap betweenart and industry (Stock-Allen). While Arts and Crafts and
Art Nouveau celebrated the countryside and fought against
mass production, the Bauhaus embraced the urban land-
scape and industrial process. Although Arts and Crafts
and Art Nouveau Movements were influenced by medieval
design, the Modern Style’s visual reduction had erased
links to historical traditions and avoided any references to
culture or geography. After an extensive Pop Art exhibition at
the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York in 1962, was seen as
the end of modernism and the beginning of the postmod-
ern era. In contrast to the Arts and Crafts Movement,Postmodernism embraced deskilled means of making
artwork and focused more on the concept. The freedom of
the Postmodern art movement aligned with the digital
freedom of electronic type.
Postmodernist typogra-
phers started a movement
where the designer’s hand
was more prominent in
each letter (Righthand).
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April Greiman ‘Does it Make sense?’
Herbert Bayer design for a poster,1923.
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Slab serif wood type.
Type set on a Vandercook press.
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PRESSING Matters
Letterpress and Lithograph technology were pre-dominant means of printing from the nineteenth to twentieth
century. William Morris succeeded in establishing a profitable
private press, which led to the creation of a breadth of private
presses throughout England and Europe (Harskamp). The peak
of the ‘private press movement’ took place during the late
nineteenth to early twentieth century. Letterpress printing was
a relief method where a raised surface prints onto a material
(Dodd 154). Many kinds of raised surfaces were used, such
as metal, wood, zinc and halftone, plastic, and rubber blocks.
Letterpress was excellent at printing text and offered a chance forcorrections late in the process
(155). However, Letterpress
needed high-quality paper to
print half-toned photographs
correctly. In addition, the
thin lines of metal letterpress
images required light type
faces (Stock-Allen). Alois
Senefielder invented lithoga-
phy in the late 18th century
(Dodd 154). Lithography was a planographic method that usedvirtually flat surface to print onto a material. Lithography used
a “water loving” substance to create the negative space of the
image thus when water and an oil-based ink are applied, the
ink only adheres to the positive space (Stock-Allen). Offset
Lithography used thin aluminum plates (Dodd 154). Offset
Lithography was able to print half-tone photographs on less
expensive paper than Letterpress (155). Although lithography
initially was more expensive than letterpress, by the end of
the 1960s, new photochemical procedures for plates and new
varieties of paper brought greater precision and better eco-
nomic results. Lithography allowed for all sorts of curves and
formatives in typefaces that metal type of Letterpress. Offset
Lithography and Phototypesetting both gave greater freedom
and refinement of typological design than Letterpress (168).
Lithography allowed for all sorts of
curves and formatives in typefaces
that metal type of Letterpress could
not replicate.
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Apple IIc and ImageWriter.
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LIVE AND
Kern
Phototypesetting was a printing method where typeexisted on photographic images and was exposed to paper
or film (Baines 103). The final generation of Phototypesetting
was introduced in 1966 with the Digitset, the first true digital
system. Amazingly, the Digitset could image 1000 characters
per second. With Lithography and Phototypesetting, manip-
ulation of type was no longer limited to the heavy and
clunky Letterpress (Dodd 168). Since Lithography and
Phototypesetting both lacked metal type, these methods
allowed for tracking, kerning, and space between words
and letters. In 1984, Apple computers introduced the
Macintosh computer. In 1985, Apple joined Adobe and Alduscompanies to produce a personal laser printer. Thus, in
contrast to Letterpress, with Lithography and Phototypesetting
any individual could print type. Unlike Letterpress, electronic
type doesn’t exist as a physical type, just data stored in the
computer’s memory (Baines 109).
Time line of printing technology.
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While the original Egyptian
Slab and Clarendon typefaces
were limited to private printers,
the late twentieth century
electronic typefaces could
possibly be owned and printed
by any individual.
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Colophon
Designer: Mark Delboy
Project: Typographers Timeline Book
Course: Typography 2
Faculty: Francheska Guerrero
School: Corcoran School of Arts and Design,
George Washington University
Typefaces: News Gothic, Egyptienne
Photography: APH for the Blind
Crystal Vaughan
Designosopher
Hewlett-Packard
Lawrence Wallis
NEMO-Erfgoedcollectie
Simon Goode
Simon Ellis
Southern California Institute of Architecture
Texturez
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Alessio, Joseph. “Making Sense Of Type Classification (Part 2).”
Smashing Magazine. N.p., 19 June 2013. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.
Annand, Carolyn, Philip B. Meggs, Roy McKelvey, and Ben Day. Revival of
the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces. New York: RC
Publications, 2000. Print.
Baines, Phil, and Andrew Haslam. Type & Typography. New York: Watson
Guptill Media, 2005. Print.
Barnhart, Debra, and Kaci Lane Hindman. “What Are the Characteristics
of Art Nouveau Typography?” WiseGeek. Conjecture, 04 Jan. 2015.
Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Boardley, John. “A Brief History of Type-Part 5.” I Love Typography RSS.
N.p., 20 June 2008. Web. 17 Jan. 2015.
Davis, Ben. “The Bauhaus and the Contradictions of Artistic Utopia -
Artnet Magazine.” Artnet. Artnet Worldwide Corporation. n.d. Web. 19
Jan. 2015
Dodd, Robin. From Gutenberg to Opentype: An Illustrated History of
Type from the Earliest Letterforms to the Latest Digital Fonts.
Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 2006. Print.
Gambino, Megan. “Ask an Expert: What Is the Difference Between
Modern and Postmodern Art?” Smithsonian Mag. Smithsonian, 22Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.
Harskamp, Jaap. “A Pocket Cathedral — I Love Typography.” I Love
Typography RSS. N.p., 09 May 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Righthand, Jess. “Postmodernism’s New Typography.” Smithsonian.
Smithsonian.com, 20 Dec. 2010. Web. 17 Jan. 2015.
Stock-Allen, Nancy. “An Introduction to the History of Graphic Design.”
An Introduction to the History of Graphic Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 17
Jan. 2015.
WORKS Cited
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