The History Of Type

                  THE HISTORY OF TYPE

Cave paintings: Cave paintings is one of the most earliest forms of text. A good example would be the ‘Chauvet Cave’, which is one of the most famous prehistoric caves with rock art in it. It is located in Southern France. This cave was only discovered recently in 1994 by a group of cavers lead by jean-Marie Chauvet. The paintings in the cave are dated back to 30,000 and 33,000 years ago. Although in this cave there were no letters or things that could possible be used as letters, it does show that they may have used imagery to communicate which Is the soul purpose of type.

 

Pictograms: Pictographs are pictures, which are used to show what they signify. There is also Ideograms which are symbols used to demonstrate ideas. An example being this picture which I quickly did in illustrator. Seeing a picture of this done online I decided to just quickly do one myself.  This Pictograph means mountains, were you got one at the front and two at the back. Pictographs like this were used to describe things.

Hieroglyphs: Hieroglyphs date back to 3200 BC and consist souly of symbols. Each symbol can mean a letter,a silent deteminative or even a sound. It was used by the Ancient Egyptians, but they also used Heratic which is a less formal type of writing they used for everyday writing, were as Hieroglyphs is a more formal writing used on tombs and Columns. Out of all the different type in history I have looked at Hieroglyphs is my favourite. This is because I like how each picture can not only mean a letter, but a sound or a silent determinative. I also admire the effort on which the people who had to write all the Hieroglyphs which we see in tombs and pyramids today, for us and future generations to see. The amount of effort which they must have put into it is amazing.

Manuscripts:


Manuscripts are hand written information. People had to use this method because block printing did not yet exist. This meant all documents were to be written by hand which made having a book more valuable than it would be today. Manuscripts in my opinion are much more detailed and beautiful than a normal book you would get today. This is because when writing the scribe would have to take much care and detail not to make any mistakes. Also the look of each letter looks much more interesting than you basic Arial typeface. I also like the detail on the pictures and the gaps in-between the Columns, again something you would not see in books in our generation.

Making Business Cards

Above is a buisness card which I created using the typeface I was given, Times New Roman. I wanted to see what I could do with the imformation I was given to go on the card and just plain black text on a white background. My first design is very basic but that's what works well with it. Its not cluttered and easy to read, which is what you need from a buisness card.

This next design is different. I put my name in italic, seeing what it would look like putting it the the bottom left corner, giving it a different look. Im not really happy with this buissness card, and think maybe I should have used two N's rather than just share one between both my first name and sername.

About Time New Roman

                                Times New Roman

The creator of Times New Roman was Victor Lardent, who was a advertising designer and draftsman who worked at the newspaper “The Times”. It was created under the supervision of Stanley Morison who was a typographer, designer and Historian. It was created for “The Times” and was published in their paper late into 1932. To date, Times New Roman is no longer used in “The Times” however it is widely used across the world in books, on websites or even just to write up a essay for a school project.

To the left is a picture example of the upper case, lowers case and symbols available for Times New Roman. It’s very clear and easy to read, which is most likely why it has been used as a default font for most things.

Times New Roman was created using the basis of the typeface “Plantin” which was first cut in 1913. Looking at them both I can see the similarities in them and how Times New Roman looks like a more thinner, less bold version of Plantin. However not all the letters look the same. If you were to look at the letters; M, W, J, and lower case j, you will be able to see the major differences in the typefaces.

Reading all the comments online and asking people, it seems people find Time New Roman to be boring and old. How it is, quote, “The end of an era for Time New Roman”. However, discussing this with a teacher, I came to understand how it is instead an invisible text, how its not the be looked at and how its just to be read. This is most likely why it has been used in so many thing in books, because people just want you to read their words and not look at how pretty it is, example’s being; Lucisa Blackletter, Giddyup Std, Apple Chancery. Taking this in I have decided to try and change this way of thinking on how it is an invisible text by trying to make my postcards make a person look at how interesting and pretty such a boring typeface can look.

Times New Roman Idea Which I didn't Use

The above is the other postcard idea which I created which I decided not to use for my final idea. This is because I personally thought it was all jumbled writing put together in different colours and sizes, which to be honest is what it is. However the one thing I do like about this postcard is how you can really see the typeface. How by putting it in different colours and sizes you can see what it looks like in a better way, rather than just black in 1 colour against a white background.

Sticking with the same colour as the front of the postcard I decided to do the same on the back. This is because your don't see many postcards which do this and I wanted my postcard to be different from your normal everyday postcard. One the back I put a little information on Times New Roman which I had found whilst researching about my typeface. I didn't want to write too much about it however and tried to keep it brief because it is after all a postcard and people like to write a little message to the person which they are sending it to. Also below the information about the place on which it was being sold along with a website. This way if the person who were to receive this card was interested, they could look into future dates.

History Of Type Postcard I did Not Use

 The above is my other idea for my 'History of Type' Postcard which I decided not to use. I do like this postcard and the way I was able to get the word Manuscript to run along the picture of the knife, However I feel I couldn't get it to stand out well enough for the viewer to see. I also feel that you can see the corners from were I had to crop the image also. What I do like though is the detail of the picture and how you can see the different shades of black on each letter from were the pen may have been running low or just how the scribe didn't put enough pressure when writing. 

This image is the back of the postcard. I decided not to use the same image and just make it less visible in the background because the image i obtained of a manuscript as you can see already has writing on it. If I were to write over it with any typeface it would make it difficult to read. Again I made sure to leave room who the sender to write their message to the receiver. I also made sure not to forget information about the picture on the front, and about manuscripts itself. 

Final Times New Roman Postcard

 The above postcard is my final postcard which I decided on. I used a technique which I learnt from my previous assignment and put it too good use. Using only the type face Times New Roman I made a grid and divided it up into different sections. I then went on and moved each letter of the typeface's name to show different angles and views of each letter, hopefully making them look better than them being the right way up. I then decided to use, not dark, but like shades colours rather than bright, because I thought it would be best of the not to be too bright. A thing I would change about my postcard would be the 'N'. I feel I should have put it at more of an angle rather than moving it because it looks like a different typeface on that letter all together. 

The back of the postcard I decided to remain white rather than the grey of the background of the front because most postcards would have a white back. Also, depending on what type of pen the person writing on the postcard would have, it might not look so great after. At the bottom again I put the details of were they have been with website information for any further questions. Above I wrote a brief history on the Times New Roman. Again I made sure not to write too much leaving room for the person to write their message. 

Final Postcard For The History Of Type Postcard

The above is my final Postcard for the History of type. The reason why I went with this postcard is because the image shows were it all began, they very start of went being used to communicate whether its through imagery or type. I like how an image can portray what A person is trying to say, which is what I feel when I look at this postcard. I also like how the image fills up the whole of the page, making it the main imagery of the postcard. The photo is from Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003. What i don't 100% like about the postcard however was the typeface which the words '

The back of the postcard I decided to put in the image from the front of the postcard, but make it faded so that the text and what the person wrote would be viewable. I made sure that I included the reasons for using the image and were I got the image from on the back of the postcard. I also made sure to write down the information about St Bride Library and to try and keep the amount of text to 50 words like the brief said, however I may have gone over just a tad. 

Evaluation!

Evaluation and Reflection:

1) Visual Communication:

In what ways does the visual communication/message of the piece meet the needs of the brief?

I feel both of my postcards meet the brief requirements. I made sure to include all bits of detail, which was asked, and tried my best to stick to 50 words, however I may have gone over on the typeface postcard because there was so much to write.

In what ways does the visual communication/message of the piece fail to meet the needs of the brief?

By not having 50 words or less on one of my postcards I failed the meet the brief. This could affect the visual communication because there might be too much writing and the viewer may get bored after reading a lot and decide not the purchase the postcard.

What are the strengths of the visual communication? Why?

On the Times New Roman postcard the strength would be the way I made boring letters look interesting by taking parts of each letter and looking at it closely and making it look different. However I made sure I didn’t make it look totally different so you still knew what letter it was trying to show. In the History Of Type postcard the image of the cave painting would be a strength. You can see straight away what it is trying to portray and you know from peoples personal intake of history that they are cave paintings.

What are the weaknesses of the visual communication? Why?

The weaknesses on the Typeface postcard would be the layout. I feel that it has too much empty space and that it should be filled up a little more. On the History Of Type postcard the words itself ‘History of type’ is the let down because I feel it stands out too much from the picture.

In what ways could the piece be mis-read or mis-understood by the audience? Be specific about who the audience is.

In the history of type postcard people may not thing its about the history of type from the picture because there’s no text or writing in the picture itself. However I hope that they will understand that type and text started somewhere and that would be the cave paintings in which they used to communicate back then.

In what practical ways could the piece be developed or improved?

If given more time I would maybe try and improve the typeface postcard, trying to fill up the gaps and empty space I see around the postcard with symbols from the same typeface.

2) Reflection of own working practices:

How was my time keeping?

My time keeping on this project was slightly better than the last. However because Of family issues at the weekend I feel back a few days and had to try and recover myself. However I feel I have done the best to my abilities in the time we were given in this project.

How was my analysis of the brief?

The briefs was rather straight forward however I kept forgetting key little facts like remembering how many words I was allowed on the post card and the details on which should be in each postcard.

How was my research?

I found researching for the project rather difficult. Trying to find information on different forms of type in history and on 1 typeface alone was rather challenging. Luckily however I did find some books and info on the Internet that I needed to finish this project.

How did I draw conclusions from my research?

From my history of type research I came to the conclusion on which one I would include in my final postcard. It made me feel that the cave paintings would be the most important because that’s were it all began in the first place.

What parts of the project did I enjoy most? Why was this the case?

I enjoyed learning about different types from different times. I like how I could see how the evolved and the struggle people had to have gone through to create all these different things.

What parts of the project did I enjoy least? Why was this the case?

I didn’t really enjoy only getting to work with a set typeface. I feel there’s loads of a different typeface out their which I could explore, and would maybe have liked to have picked my own one rather than being set one.

Any other points?

Overall this was a challenging project to do within 10 days but I feel I did the best to my ability.