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Could anyone take the time to fill out this survey for me? it will only take 2 minutes... it will help with this project, and would love to know what you guys think?? https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NFXZ9P6

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That's great.. take a look at this blog, it's got a brief timeline on some famous typefaces and designers!

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Back to blog

By Ashworth Creative

Type is everywhere - street signs, magazines, the web. Every typeface you see around you has been painstakingly and carefully planned out, and each has its own personality and vibe. But have you ever stopped to wonder how the typefaces we encounter everyday came to be? Who invented them, and why? If you're interested in learning more about typography, you've come to the right place.

Terminology explained

What's the difference between a typeface and a font? Before you jump in, let's clarify the terminology used. Typography is the art of creating the letters we use everyday. It's designing them and creating them and making them real. A font is a collection or set of letters - they're the mechanism you use to get your message across to your reader. Every letter and dash and semi colon would be considered part of a specific font. A typeface is the design you see - the style and look of a specific font.

Throughout history, typefaces have been influenced by technological advances, culture shifts, and just general boredom with the state of typography. Here's how it all went down:

1400 's: Guttenberg invented movable typefaces, giving the world a cheaper way to obtain the written word. Up until this point, all written materials were done by hand, and were very costly to purchase. Guttenburg also created the first typeface, blackletter - it was dark, fairly practical, and intense, but not very legible.

1470: Nicolas Jenson created Roman Type, inspired by the text on ancient roman buildings. It was far more readable than blackletter, and caught on quickly.

1501: Aldus Manutius created italics - a way to fit more words onto a page, saving the printer money. Today, we use italics as a design detail or for emphasis when writing.

1734: William Caslon created a typeface which features straighter serifs and much more obvious contrasts between thin and bold strokes. Today, we call this type style 'old style'.

1757: John Baskerville created what we now call Transitional type, a Roman-style type, with very sharp serifs and lots of drastic contrast between thick and thin lines.

1780: Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodoni created the first 'modern' Roman typefaces (Didot, and Bodoni). The contrasts were more extreme than ever before, and created a very cool, fresh look.

1815: Vincent Figgins created Egyptian, or Slab Serif - the first time a typeface had serifs that were squares or boxes.

1816 William Caslon IV created the first typeface without any serifs at all. It was widely rebuked at the time. This was the start of what we now consider Sans Serif typefaces. During this time, type exploded, and many, many variations were being created to accommodate advertising.

1920 's: Frederic Goudy became the world's first full time type designer, developing numerous groundbreaking typefaces, such as Copperplate Gothic, Kennerly, and Goudy Old Style.

1957: Swiss designer Max Miedinger created Helvetica, the most loved typeface of our time. This was a return to minimalism, and many other simplistic typefaces such as Futura surfaced around this time period.

Present: With the internet, we have such a vast variety of old and new typefaces available for us to peruse and use. All these typefaces give us an abundance of options and looks for our designs today, and we're not limited by just one or two typefaces like we would have been a few hundred years ago.

Ben Barrett-Forrest, a Canadian graphic designer, put together this beautiful and clever video that brings the history of typography to life:

Happy designing!

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Back to blog By Ashworth Creative What's the difference between a typeface and a font? Before you jump in, let's clarify the terminology used. Typography is the art of creating the letters we use everyday. It's designing them and creating them and making them real.

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Thought the discussion on the history of typography was really interesting. Found some a cool link to Print Magazine's article if you want to take a look?

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"Illustrious" Origins

Writing is one of the most fundamental forms of communication, and it traces its roots back to hieroglyphs or pictograms. Used by ancient civilizations of the world to represent ideas, these images soon evolved into alphabets and phonographic writing, which led to the development of various typographic systems.

Typography has an " illustrious" history and is obviously a crucial aspect of graphic design. Sure enough, typeface designers need to have a thorough understanding of typography-especially its evolution over the centuries-in order to incorporate or revive older or even extinct typefaces, depending upon their requirements, and give the letters a modern touch.

Let's go through the evolution of typography briefly to gain a bit of insight. We will not delve fully into the rich history of typography (as it can go on endlessly) but cover some essentials that changed the course of typography.

Ancient Era - Saying it with Pictures

Ancient cave paintings that date back to 20,000 B.C. are perhaps the very first recorded written communication. However, formal writing is said to have been developed by the Sumerians at around 3,500 B.C.

As civilizations advanced, the need to communicate complex concepts grew-hence the development of Egyptian hieroglyphics. By 3100 B.C., the Egyptians began incorporating symbols or ideograms into their art, architecture and writings. Also, by 1600 B.C. Phoenicians developed phonograms, or symbols used to represent spoken words. At present, we have a number of phonograms laced in the English alphabet such as % to represent "percentage" and # to represent "number" and so on and so forth.

It is Phoenicians who are credited with creating the very first alphabet and around 1000 B.C.-the same alphabet was used by the Greeks. In fact, the word Alphabet is a combination of the first two Greek letters, Alpha and Beta.

The Romans, after several years, used this Greek Alphabet and on the basis of the same, styled the Uppercase Alphabet, which is still used today. They also refined the art of handwriting and fashioned a number of different styles of lettering. Additionally, they also introduced different scripts - formal and informal for official and unofficial writings respectively.

The Middle Ages - Handwritten and Well-Illustrated Manuscripts

The Middle Ages were all about hand-written and well-illustrated manuscripts. It led to the evolution of a wide range of writing styles. Unicals and half unicals were prominent features, with rounded, elaborate lettering. The art of Calligraphy along with page layout and lettering forged new ground. Calligraphy masters travelled across the known world to share their knowledge with the educated elite.
The Book of Kells, c. AD 800, is lettered in a script known as "insular majuscule," a variety of uncial script that originated in Ireland. (Image source)
Gutenberg and Modern Typography

As we all learned in history class, the development of moveable type and the printing press in the 15 th century by Johannes Gutenberg was a turning point for the modern world-and, of course, modern typography. During this time, both practical and decorative typefaces appeared en masse, along with a lighter, more ordered page layout with subtle illustrations.

By the Industrial Revolution typography was all about communicating with the masses. Through signs, posters, newspapers, periodicals and advertisements, typefaces became larger and catchier, with bolder lettering and shading-as well as experimental serif and sans serif typefaces. Ornamental typography was another major highlight in this era. In the 1800's, medieval art and hand crafted individual art has become commonplace, and international artistic styles developed considerably.

Shifting to the Present

Graphic designers these days have the luxury of endless tools and technology to create a wide range of typographic styles and even entire families of font families and typefaces. Armed with the knowledge of typographic history, graphic designers can expand their horizons and enhance their skills to produce a much more refined body of work.

Understanding the various visual communication principles in typography since the beginning of time can help designers determine which elements have more or less remained the same and which ones have evolved with time-as well as the factors that contributed to their success or failure.

From ancient typographic styles to classic movable type, the history of typography can help designers develop a more informed and cohesive style that builds on the past. There is so much to learn from the past, and so much inspiration to be discovered.

History also allows designers to learn from the past mistakes, understand common threads, reinvent classic letterforms and develop innovative typographic styles, which they can proudly add to an existing portfolio or body of work.

In Conclusion
Author Bio: John Siebert is the President and CEO of Tranquil Blue - Tampa Website Design Company that focuses on all kind of website design, mobile app development and search engine marketing.
The practically-endless body of work that represents typography makes it impossible for graphic designers nowadays to become familiar with each and every typeface design that exists. However, it is important that to be well-versed in typographic styles, iconic typefaces from the past, and the origins of common typefaces. It's not just about theoretical knowledge, either; a strong foundational understanding of typographic history helps designers understand and meet the needs of their clients more effectively.

By Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Mark Sanders

Containing up-to-date information on current design trends, Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 6th Edition by Rob Carter, Philip B. Meggs, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, and Mark Sanders provides a comprehensive look at typography. Because of its versatile nature and presence among several industries including print, video, television, film, packaging, digital design, advertising and more, typography, and having proficient type design skills, is an essential component of every graphic designer's arsenal.

Inside this typography book is a view of the discipline incorporating an exploration of typography in media versus typography in motion, and coverage of topics like letterforms, syntax and legibility, the evolution and technology of typography, communication and the typographic message, typographic design processes, using the grid, and more. Get it here.

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The Evolution of Typography: A Brief History - Print Magazine

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Writing is one of the most fundamental forms of communication, and it traces its roots back to hieroglyphs or pictograms. Used by ancient civilizations of the world to represent ideas, these images soon evolved into alphabets and phonographic writing, which led to the development of various typographic systems. Typography has an " illustrious" history and is obviously a crucial aspect of graphic design.

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What did everyone think to this morning's lecture?