In Lupton's book, Thinking With Type, she talks about...well, type. I'm not going to lie, the history of type is an incredibly dull subject. The actual science behind how each font works is much more interesting, but the history...blech.
One page that stood out to me, however, was page 25, because there was a direct connection to the kinds of things we have talked about previously in this class. Here, Lupton talks about increasingly experimental forms of font, and the backlash against it, calling it "gross and immoral," and claiming it was "tied to a destructive inhumane industrial system."
Obviously this is not the case, but doesn't it sound familiar? Like the old hype about the dangers of the internet to our society? Or the cries of doom when Gutenberg's printing press came out?
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| umad, art world? Source |
The page goes on to discuss what many graphic designers already know- type is an art. In fact, it's always been an art, long before even the printing press. Look at medieval script. It is painstakingly and lovingly crafted in an artful fashion. In China, the highest form of art is still considered the calligraphy of Chinese characters. Lupton goes on to mention two very well known art groups- the De Stilj and the Bauhaus- that also played with typography as an artform. I'd like to add one more to the list, the Dada's, which remain among one of my favorite art movements, mostly because Duchamp was such a troll.
I think page 53 is pretty interesting as well, if only because it highlights something we don't often think critically about- logos. Logos represent companies and brands, so it is critical that they be instantly recognizable. For example, let's look at Blizzard Entertainment's three wildly successful games: Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo.
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| http://www.skuggen.com http://starcraft.wikia.com http://www.giantbomb.com |
As you can see, each is distinct from the other, not just in color scheme, but in font. Just by looking at the fonts chosen, you can gain some inkling of what the game is about.
A parting thought- what we value in fonts is always changing- even today. Think back to when you were younger. When you opened up a MS Word document, what was the default font? Times New Roman, a serif font. Now what is it? Calimbri, a sans serif.
And with that, I'll sign off. But before I go, do you think you have what it takes to be a graphic designer?
I just spent 20 minutes playing that graphic designer game thing. Talk about addicting! Also, I got 100/100 on 4 of them!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I think it would be so cool to be a graphic designer. I, too, toyed around with the idea of being a graphic designer for about 2 minutes- then I realized it's a really competitive business and I'm not competitive... but regardless, it seems like it would be an interesting career.
I like the point you make about logos needing to be instantly recognizable. I wrote about page 53, too, but I didn't think of how true that concept is... the majority of popular things, whether it's a business or a website, have very recognizable logos. Google? Facebook? Lucky Charms?!? Yes, yes, yes.