(Also writing this in Times to give everyone a breather from Helvetica)
Evolution of type:
- historical aspect and introduction;
- initially the ability to communicate non-verbally was success enough
- due to lack of technology 100% of the message of text was communicated purely through the actual words and its meaning, not the typeface or colour, size, etc.
- change in type from just the negative space being relevant as well as the positive space being relevant and adding to the meaning and message, i.e.
- not just the actual word that has meaning, but also the placement, spacing, arrangement, size, face, colour, etc.
- how typefaces themselves have evolved due to society and reflect societies development and mentality (e.g. old middle age fonts very heavy and ornate, nowadays minimalistic, modern)
Meaning of type
- what does it mean to us and give us these days?
- use of different faces in everyday life, i.e. from roadsigns, contracts to bold advertisements. why certain shapes and forms more appropriate than others and what they communicate to our society (e.g. serif font elegant, old school, sleek sans serif modern and more bold)
- legibility and readability: what makes a font legible and amiable
- grids and alignment, placement and size of copy
Looking at famous typefaces:
Times New Roman -
- brief history and creation, use
- why it was the standard font and ultimately used everywhere
- how it was being overused, its downfall - could it have been prevented and to what extend does society and culture define aesthetics and what is preferable
Comic Sans -
- brief history and creation, use
- why it is hated
- what physically makes it annoying, unwanted
Helvetica -
- brief history and creation, use
- celebrity typeface
- why it is THE ultimate font of modern typography, also a “people’s” font
- comparison to Times New Roman- will enjoy longer period of popularity than Times New, but could eventually suffer same downfall
- Helvetica is already being overused, however is scientifically meant to have the perfect positive to negative space; i.e. could it be used forever or is it just a current, modern font that matches nowadays society?
- is Helvetica a result of science (perfect negative to positive space ratio) or a result of society’s preferences?
Conclusion
- Especially in our modern day world we are surrounded by design everywhere, every shape, colour and size being there on purpose. Hence we interpret the typeface a text is written in as well and ad it to the message the text itself is communicating, i.e. an elegant swirly type gives the text a sense of what it will say before we have read it, a clean sans serif like Gill Sans looks pleasing and nice to look and but is simple enough to be looked through and focus on the message of the copy itself.
- Whether we notice it or not, the typeface has an impact on how a message is read and communicated
- Psychologically and visually it is easiest for us to look at and read a clean sans serif, as it does not distract the eye and acts as a “Crystal Goblet”
Bibliography (of books)
“Type and Typography” - Phil Baines & Andrew Haslam, Watson Guptil 2. Edition
“Typography: n the arrangement, style and appearance of type and typefaces” - Ambrose, Harris
“Typography and Language in everyday life” - Sue Walker
"The fundamentals of Typography" - Ambrose and Harris
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