How has typography changed over the years?
Typography has evolved significantly over the years, reflecting shifts in technology, culture, and design trends. In addition, the value of text and writing has become even more prominent in the adaptable digital age.
Where does typography come from?
The art of typography traces its roots back to ancient times from when scribes wrote on stones to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. The ancient Egyptians are known for their creation of hieroglyphics to communicate with one another. The Phoenicians also designed phonograms and then developed the first alphabet, later used by the Greeks. Throughout these years, different civilizations worked to create symbols to represent the spoken word, an art form that would soon become known and mastered by various graphic designers; typography.
Before the term typography was coined, calligraphy developed in the Middle Ages. People began placing an emphasis on page layout and lettering. The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg shortly after. Gutenberg was inspired by Blackletter calligraphy mainly because this mimicked the handwriting style at the time. This invention revolutionized the type industry by not only accelerating the production of books but also paving the way for new typefaces to be designed and developed. By the Industrial Revolution, typefaces grew larger, bolder, and catchier to the passing eye. People began experimenting with serifs and san serif typefaces to see what figures they could create. As the printing press spread throughout Europe, typography became a specialized craft (Hammond).
Nicholas Jenson is credited with creating the first Roman typeface in 1470, which was able to fit more text onto a single page than the Blackletter calligraphy. Jenson’s creation began the basis for multiple modern typefaces including Centaur.
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance was an intellectual, artistic and cultural movement of the 14th and 15th centuries, including major milestones in typography with Francesco Griffo and Aldus Manutius. Griffo worked for Manutius as a craftsman who designed typefaces. The two men are credited with inspiring some of the most well-known typefaces in the game, including Times New Roman and Garamond. Among the first of Griffo’s designs was De Aetna roman, which first appeared to the public in 1496 (Clough). The new letter proportions of this design style became the model for many centuries to come, according to many researchers (Clough). In fact, a famous typographer, Firmin Didot recognized that the typeface Garamond was created by copying the style of De Aetna roman.
Griffo and Manutius are also credited with creating the first italic typeface in history and Manutius published the first book in italics - Virgil of 1501. When italics were first created, the style was used for text in small books, often poetry, to replicate a style of handwriting. Manutius created this rule when he used the design for the first time. Throughout the centuries, the purpose of italics evolved to be used when authors seek to emphasize a certain word or sentence.
Furthermore, the Renaissance also served as the beginnings of modern book design as typographers learned to pay more attention to page layouts. Designers began purposefully and carefully placing text in certain areas and understanding the relationship between space and text. Different aspects of a page layout including margins, headings and images were also highly studied during this time (Hammond).
The importance of typography cannot be overlooked after viewing its history. Typography has not only given humans a common way to communicate, but also an exciting, unique and passionate way to express design techniques and skills. Along with many areas of graphic design, typography is constantly evolving — it is a never-ending road in design.
Citations
Clough, James. Who was Francesco Griffo?, 2016, http://www.griffoggl.com/en/chi-era-francesco-griffo/. Accessed 21 April 2024.
Hammond, Nick. “The History of Typography.” The Calculated Creative, 25 August 2023, https://www.thecalculatedcreative.com/the-history-of-typography/. Accessed 21 April 2024.