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History of typography

Typefaces and letterforms are a very important part of the society we live in, it is an important part of communication especially in the modern era with the popularity of social media. However Typefaces and letterforms have changed drastically over the years. An important part of the history of typefaces and letterforms is the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg is often credited as the inventor of the printing press however there are reports of people using something similar to the printing press way before Johannes Gutenberg did. This does not mean what Gutenberg did was not revolutionary, Gutenberg used movable type to create Europe’s first book which was a forty two line bible. This of course was revolutionary because it allowed for more books to be made in Europe which has made a big impact on our society and the way we live as books are still a massive part of our lives today. Even in today with the massive use of digital media the book has still proven itself useful in our modern lives and has adapted to the digital era with eBooks and audio books. With everything changing over the years the style and look of typefaces has also changed over the years as well. Over the years I think typefaces and fonts have become a lot clearer and easier to read in their style and look. For example earlier typefaces and fonts had a lot more curves and uses serifs. Serifs are the little lines at the end of strokes of letters. However most modern day typefaces and fonts are sans serif and have simpler shapes so they are easier to read and are still distinguishable from each other.

 A good example of this would be Google’s logo, the original logo which was used in 1999 was 3D and used shadows however they changed it in 2010 to look 2D and got rid of the shadows this gave the logo a more cleaner look and did not have as much detail, this also fit the trend for that time. Google then decided to change their logo again in 2015 by getting rid of the serifs and making it bold. This is a much simpler look to the original which is good because it’s easier to look at. Google’s new logo also fit in with its parent company Alphabet Inc. which allows the customers to associate the two companies together. An important part of style and look of a typeface is bold and italic styles. Bold makes the type thicker whereas italic makes the type thinner. Italic is commonly used to make text look more classical as early typefaces were often very thin, however bold is often used to add emphasis to words as it stands out more. Another important part of style and look is serifs and sans serifs. In early typefaces they used a lot of serifs so now if you want a classier look to your text you can pick a typeface with serifs.

 A lot of typefaces nowadays are sans serif which is a typeface with no serifs, this gives the text a clearer and simpler look which is why it is so commonly used in the modern era. Modern screens have so many pixels that we can have so many different styles and shapes in our typefaces that a lot of the fonts we use nowadays look very different from each other, this was not the case decades ago. When computers and other similar devices were first released they did not have as many pixels as we do have today so they could not have as much detail in their typefaces. Text on these devices would look very blocky due to lack of pixels. This was very noticeable in early game systems. This style has been adapted in today’s culture to give things a more retro feel and it is a very iconic look.

 Modern day software has changed how typefaces are created. With popular software like Birdfont and Calligrphr it has allowed more people to create fonts which has allowed for more jobs in the digital design business. There is a high demand for this as well with many small businesses wanting logos designed.

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I like this typeface because of it’s simplicity and it’s easy to read. It looks very modern due to the fact it has no serifs. 

I like this font because it looks futuristic and very sci-fi. I think it could be improved if it used neon colours because it would look like old fashioned neon signs.

I like this typeface because it has a very retro feel to it which was done on purpose by the creator. this sort of style was popular in the 80s and 90s. it also looks very urban and not very fancy. 

What I like about this typeface is it is very playful and innocent. This is because it is the typeface used for Walt Disney a company that makes films with a target audience of children.

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Final Piece

This is my final piece based on my sketch. It is supposed to be more of a parody poster which makes a joke about how serious these posters are normally and how they stretch the truth to get across a biased message. Overall I am happy with my final piece. I think it gets across a satirical message very well. If I could improve it I would change the colour scheme on the cat so the colours are less vibrant and will fit the colour scheme for the rest of the piece. 

The first thing I did was the background. I used the rectangle tool to create the beige rectangle in the middle and the border however I only used the stroke for the border and did not fill. I explained my colour choice in my final idea post. I like the shapes as it makes the background look simple and the foreground will stand out more.  

Next I worked on the old lady. originally I over complicated this and the cat so I used the simplify tool to give it a more simple look and it’s a lot easier and nicer to look at, it also makes it stick out and look bold which is how I would describe other propaganda. I chose colours I associate with old people. I used the pen tool to create this and the cat. Next I worked on the cat. Like the old lady I used the pen tool to create it and then simplified it using the simplify tool. I based the colour scheme on actual cats. 

Next I worked on the text. The text itself is satire and is mocking the old propaganda posters that lied to get their message across. I originally was going to use Futura for the font however I could not use it because it was not downloaded so I used Impact instead. Impact is just as effective because it is bold like other propaganda posters, this is because it looks more serious than regular fonts and is easier to read because it is clearer and bigger.

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Final Idea

I created my final idea and did two more sketches of it but changed stuff about it so my final piece is exactly how I want it. 

I decided to sketch it but split it across the page diagonally instead of vertically. I did not prefer this. 

I then decided to add a border, remove the split on the page and change the background to beige so it is similar to Alexander Rodchenkos’  “yes” poster. this was my favourite idea.

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Sketched ideas

I sketched down all my ideas and annotated them in my notebook.

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Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey produces artwork that has very modern political messages. This is useful because there is a big political divide in modern society. 

He sells copies of his work on his website Obey Giant, which allows fans to have copies of his work in their house. He also has a twitter account where he can advertise his work. This is useful because a lot of people spend time on social media and his fans can follow him to get updates on his work.

A lot of his work is about politics for example his Obama hope poster which is very famous. He also has a lot of work about peace and equality which is also a very important topic in today's society. 

Shepard Fairey does describe his artwork as “propaganda” so therefore has no problems with the use of propaganda. Shepard Fairey unlike Alexander Rodchenko likes to put detail in his work, it is not very simple looking. However like Rodchenko he uses a small colour palette but this does not effect the level of the artwork, if anything it makes it stand out more. In an interview he was asked whether he took inspiration from american advertising that was popular half a century ago since his work looks like that kind of style, he stated he likes to satire that style in his work.

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Propaganda

Propaganda is something that tries to get across a biased message. It was very popular in the second world war to get across a patriotic message to get you to join the army.

Alexander Rodchenko 

Alexander Rodchenko was one of the worlds most famous constructivists. he was born and lived in Russia. He made posters for Russia to support communism. 

The style he does his posters in looks very cheerful and happy which may make the viewer interested in communism. It is also effective because it makes communism look happy and cheerful which is useful when trying to convince someone that your way of life is the best way of life. The font of the writing is bold which can grab attention easily which means more people might view your message. It also looks bolder and easier to read because it has no serifs so it looks very straight forward and to the point. The colours he uses are very bright and colourful which adds to the cheerfulness of the poster. 

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This is my sketch for my four panel comic strip. Its about a disneyland worker who has their mask stolen by a child.

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In the comic strip there is a man dressed as mickey mouse for his job in Disneyland when suddenly a kid goes to grab his mask and he pulls it off of the mans head. The man stands there outraged after what just happened. the motion in this comic is the kid grabbing the mask off the man. the mans expressions and colours used express how he is feeling. for example blue means cool and relaxed and red represents angry.

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I created faces out of punctuation. the first one is a robot so I stuck to using punctuation that is square because robots are often square shaped. the second one is a fancy man I used brackets to create his cheeks, Os and tildes to create his glasses and a curly bracket to create his mustache. The last face is just a face that looks neutral. I used a colon to make the nose and brackets to create the outlines of his head.

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These people represent three different emotions. The first one is smart and cool, I used blue to show this because blue is a cool and neutral colour and can represent being smart. the second guy is enraged and angry, I used red for this because red can represent rage and anger. red can also represent danger. The last guy is confused and anxious. Yellow is a good colour to show this Because yellow can represent anxiety and stress.