Typography, Referenced

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Typography, Referenced

Text

Job:03171 Title:Typography Referenced (Rockport)

Page: 4

T

he history of type development

has seen many exciting eras. The

invention of moveable type, for

instance, revolutionized our world,

allowing the transmittal and sharing of

knowledge, raising the level of the world’s

literacy, and enabling civilization to progress

and prosper. And today we fi nd ourselves

in an unprecedented era of typographic

fervor and productivity. Technological

developments, principally the ubiquity of

computers, the availability of sophisticated

software, and Internet connectivity, have

raised even the average person’s awareness

about the power of typography. In 2007, the

TV game show Jeopardy! had “Fonts” as a

category, with Bodoni and Helvetica among

the answers. Popular magazines such as the

Atlantic, GQ, New Yorker, and the New York

Times Magazine have published signifi cant

articles about typographic topics that once

would have been considered too esoteric for

mainstream media. Network television shows

and public radio programs have interviewed

type designers. For the fi rst time in history,

the lay public has an appreciation for and

an understanding of good typography.

Today, hundreds of colleges and universi-

ties worldwide teach courses about typography

and even type design. There is a virtual army

of enthusiastic young people devoted to the

pursuit of typographic knowledge, excel-

lence of typographic design, and type design.

Prominent type designers are sought after

as speakers and teachers; some have even

attained rock star status.

Type is no longer the invisible servant of

design, but rather recognized as design

of the highest order. Typography is a subject of

fi erce debate and even controversy. Its

passionate base celebrates and covets its innate

complexity and characteristics. Typography

conferences—formerly dry and scholarly—

have become must-attend events, entertaining

revels, even. Type-centric game shows

and typographic “performance art” have

appeared on the scene as inventive expres-

sions of typography’s enormous appeal.

Dare we venture a guess as to the number

of readily available, downloadable, relatively

inexpensive typefaces off ered by a profusion of

foundries, some with as few as a couple fonts,

some with thousands? At this writing, that

number surely tops 200,000. That’s an aston-

ishing number when we consider that only

a few short years ago the fi gure was likely in

the tens of thousands, with many fewer just

prior to that. The tools—namely, software—for

sophisticated and fully functional digital type-

face design have themselves become easier to

use and more aff ordable, and the means for dis-

tribution of digital fonts is only a click away.

Introduction

Wrapping Paper:

Linotype Didot, Braille,

and sign language,

/Michael Osborne

Design, United States

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