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TYPOGRAPHY Danica Ilić DIM

TYPOGRAPHY

What is typography?

Typography is one of visual-graphic disciplines that consists of designing, construction


and printing of printing forms. Like any visual-graphic discipline, typography also has
some of its specific technical, functional, and aesthetic rules. Besides visual effects,
typography as one of the areas of a graphic design, has a great functional purpose.

Typography is often associated with a printing industry. However, in terms of graphic


design, this term means the idea and graphic solution of each of the written (printed)
matter. It brings knowledge of formatting a letter, of presenting the words, sentences
and paragraphs, of shaping and setting a text on paper, composing text with illustrations
or photography, and with interactive media typography refers to the use of fonts in web
design, computer animation, and the formatting of text in these media.
Term typography comes from the Greek words typos - stamp and graphein - write.

The term typography is defined in various ways:

- The science of letters

- The art of using typographic characters

- Typesetting skills

- The art of selecting the font for a particular project

- The study of the influence of the text on the reader

Forerunner typography

Before it even came to the development of typography, civilization has gone through
many developmental stages. Typography preceded threatening letters, the emergence
of the first forms of writing, developing and defining the alphabet, the invention of paper,
and finally, the invention of the printing press.

The first known writings have appeared in Mesopotamia, in the Middle East and in
Egypt about 3300. B.C - long before the alphabet. Mesopotamian civilization left its
three major achievements: cuneiform script, books made of clay tablets, and libraries.
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TYPOGRAPHY Danica Ilić DIM

At the same time appeared the Egyptian hieroglyphics with a complicated system of
writing.

Around the fourteenth century B.C. appeared the Chinese script, a form of writing
known as ideogrammatic letter - drawn symbols indicate the terms so there was no
phonetic alphabet. It was only in ancient Greece, in the eighth century B.C. they had
finally defined alphabet as a system of simplified characters, and all the characters had
phonetic value. The Greeks actually perfected a system adopted from the Phoenicians.

Stage in development of typography

The beginnings of typography are closely linked with the history of letters. For centuries,
the skillful move of the calligraphic pen was the only method for the production of books.
Copying methods, mainly applied in the monasteries, was a slow process that required
many people. The invention of movable metal letters in the mid-fifteenth century allowed
easier and more productive work. The first book printed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1454
in Mainz, Germany, used just a metal case. Similar technology has been used before in
China, Japan and Korea in the eleventh century. However, Gutenberg has all the credit
because he invented the mold in which width can be changed, which was a significant
invention. By the end of the fifteenth century, printing presses were installed in over 250
cities in Europe. After Germany, the largest typographic center was Italy, and during the
seventeenth century, the Netherlands have gradually overtook primacy in printing. Since
then, typography has gone through four developmental stages.

With the begginning of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century that made the
innovation in all spheres, came the second development phase. The inventions of the
stacking machine and the rotary presses improved the printing technology. At the end of
the nineteenth century, there was finally a defined typographic point, a unit of
measurement for font size. The first attempt at standardization was taken by Simon
Pierre Fourier in 1737, but definitely accepted as an official version was the edition that
was developed by Ambroaz Dido.

The third phase of typography was marked by the Digiset Photocomposition Machine.
The letters were projected onto photo-sensitive paper, and lenses are used to adjust the
size.

The fourth stage was the introduction of computer technology in preparation for printing.
The digital method has brought real change in the way of formatting fonts. Fonts that
are made by digital method can easily change the height of the letter, which is obtained
by the proportional zoom in or zoom out of the same shape. Drafts of letters are directly
converted into vector form by using appropriate software. Another significant advantage

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of digital technology is the formation of lines and spaces. Spacing between letters and
lines can be corrected later, during the typesetting, in appropriate computer programs.

Typography and graphic design

Graphic design, a type of visual communication, means perfectly balanced combination


of comercial message and aesthetic content. The task of designers is to formulate a
certain message in such a way that at first it catches viewer’s attention, holds it, and
then remains in his mind.

The creative process of graphic design, includes different means of expression such as
illustrations, text, color, lines,etc. There are a number of principles for the successful
placement of these elements that make a graphic product. Some of them are the clarity
and legibility, and visibility and recognition. And which of these elements should be
preferred, remains a question. As research shows, most observers paid the most
attention to the text and to its contents. And that is something that has not changed
much since the beginning of graphic design.

Letter, word and text are the basic elements of graphic design for conveying
information, explaining it better and establishing communication between viewer and the
given product.

Selecting font that is going to be used in the certain text, the way that text is composed,
the presence of balance, contrast and proportion on a graphic product, are just some of
the things in the creative process of design that confirm typography as an essential part
of graphic design.

The use of typography in graphic design

- Use of typography in poster design


- Use of typography in web design
- Use of typography in marking streets
- Use of typography in designing film credits
- Typography in motion - animated typography

Typography in motion

Every day we receive a great deal of information that we find in movement. No matter if
the information is presented in a manner that is put into motion (in the display, monitor,

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TV screen), or we are, as readers, those who are moving, or both things are
simultaneously present, it is nonetheless-typography is in motion.

Typography and film

In the initial phase of cinema, when tone in the film did not exist, text has played a
crucial role. Between several scenes there was text shown that contained the dialogue
between characters or a short explanation of the action that is taking place. Given that
the technique still was black and white, and white letters were reproduced on a black
background and were often framed by decorative lines.

Credits for the film had to contain text information that informed the viewer about the
name of the film, director, actors, and other staff who worked on its realization.
However, these credits didn’t include a complex animation of characters. It was only the
appearance of text on a usually neutral background. Fonts were used in line with
general trends in the visual arts, especially typography and graphic design, so the
credits for the film look almost identical to the posters for them.

During the 50's and 60's, there was a real "explosion" of color on film, so the approach
to typography was the same. Credits were designed more creative, with the
participation of full-color and interesting approach to letters. The text was no longer only
the carrier of information. Every film had specially designed graphic credit that conveyed
the atmosphere of the film. Humorous animated characters that are now truly set in
motion and are a real small masterpieces that have a high visual value and
independently of the film that announce, they are the features of the cinema in the
period ranging from 1960 to 1970.

The general characteristic of typography in film during this period is that the designers
have carefully chosen fonts that fit in form and character the genre of film and its
atmosphere. Of course, in addition to these general tendencies, for some films were
made special fonts, often imitations of handwriting. Animation has made a key
contribution to the appearance of film credits, because the typography is really put into
motion.
Animating characters and putting them into motion is not necessarily just part of a
project such as a movie. Graphic designers who uses programs such as Flash, like to
use animated typography as part of multimedia presentations.

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TYPOGRAPHY Danica Ilić DIM

Typography in the streets

Urban city environment is rich in information. Diverse letters, inscriptions on buildings


and vehicles in an urban area with hustle and bustle and varied architecture, are
transformed into abstract images. The function of these images has to be loud and
assertive as much as possible. Their primary role is to attract attention at any cost.
Graffiti, flyers, stickers, temporary signs, advertisements, are just a small part of city life.

Typography of traffic signs

Traffic signs are some examples of the inevitable street typography. If we ignore those
that are in the form of pictograms, there are numerous signs that carry the typography -
speed limits, hospital markers, roads, restaurants ... Their appearance is uniformed and
they are similarly designed in most European cities. With their striking colors (blue and
red) they stand out and they are often not aligned with the overall appearance of the
urban environment. Typography almost always make sanserif fonts, simple and legible.
However, drastic changes in their appearance would not give good results. When it
comes to typography, marking streets and house numbers, there are some universal
rules of design. What is quite logical is that:

- they must be legible and clear


- composed in the form of a strictly horizontal lines of text
- the best choice are sanserif simple fonts that have a uniform thickness of basic and
intermediate moves.

Typography as part of the interior


Typography is more often implemented in the interior. As a part of the interior, the letter
or text can be informative, can indicate some of the contents and meanings, but can
also be only decorative. Typography can be used in decorating the walls, but also can
be used as a component of the furniture.

Typography can help you to express your point of view of any topic. Typography
need not be the exclusively carrier of verbal but sometimes playing, experiment, moving
or static images that do not sell a single product or advertise a service in the market, but
serve artists to express themselves.

Danica Ilić DIM

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