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Notes from Week 2 Workshop


  • Typography = evolution of writing in clay.
  • Serif came from Roman engravers - 100 B.C.E.
  • Johan Gutenburg invented the first printing press - the letters were in a gothic style in order to fit as much content onto the paper as possible due to the fact paper was expensive at the time.
  • Eric Gill - 1928 - Gill Sans - London Underground still uses this as the font uses open shapes for optimum readability.
  • Anatomy of typeface is made up of: stroke, stem, stress, terminal, ascender, descender, serif, medium, baseline, leading and tracking.
  • Classification:
    • 1450 - Black letter
    • 1475 - old style
    • 1500 - italic
    • 1750 - transitional
    • 1775 - modern
    • 1825 - square serif
    • 1900 - sans serif
    • 1990 - serif/sans serif
  • Screen is low resolution compared to print - serif good for print.
  • Look at negative spaces behind letters.
  • Read in shapes - look at top half of a word - can you read?
  • Font sizes:
    • 14 = headings
    • 10-12 = text
    • 9 = tables
  • Grids vs rule of thirds vs golden section (1:1.6).
  • Lettering as motifs - simple thing & break it apart.

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