typography

is to writing as soundtracks are to movies (Hoefler)
Book layout and design
fonts aid or hinder the visual layout

• gutenberg's printing process and the development of mass communication
• six typeface families and how each expresses a particular mood
• typeface attributes

books were available before Gutenberg's printing press: monks worked in the scriptorium with a high emphasis on layout and design. They were experts in typography and handwriting; more than just scribes! Wycliffe new testament, 1385, the first english translation of the bible. Chapters began with ornate lettering. Books, before the printing press, were extremely expensive; Only royalty had libraries! In 1450, enter...the printing press. It could make a page in 3 minutes, and up to 300 copies of that page in a work day. The world's first printed and mass produced book was the Gutenberg Bible. There are 3 in the US; it's worth millions.
The printing press is still being used, but most major publications are now being printed with computers. The press was used from 1450 to 2000!
In 1984, computers became a "threat" to the press with the Apple Max interface that allowed you to see, on screen, what it would look like on paper (print preview) and the laser printer.
In 1986, we got desktop publishing with pagemaker and other programs
And professional printers went under...

The Gutenberg bible was introduced in 1456, 37 years before Columbus sailed here and by 1500, there were printing presses all over Europe. It's a communication medium that married typography to pages to form a book (And thus...the church was fractured into any denomination that could print their own version of the bible)
Today, there are over 40,000 typefaces and more than 3000in common use.

Font Families:

• Black letter
• Roman
• Script
• Miscellaneous
• Square Serif
• Sans serif

Roman and sans serif are the most common/popular by far. Most books are printed in Roman type fonts. Sans serif has become one of the most popular for digital and onscreen print.

• Blackletter is also called Gothic type; highly ornate and decorative. Favor the old-school printing press letters which are recreations of older, monk-handwritten typefaces. Ends of lines have small, stylized strokes. Used for formal stuff: diplomas, invitations, etc. to lend 'credibility', a sense of flair,
• Roman is french design named for the roman civilization; most common and introduced in 1465. old style, transitional and modern. The message this sends in not flair but proficiency, business, readability, functionality
• Script is typeface with linked letters; introduced in 1557 by Robert Granjon to mimic handwriting with fine elegant letters
• Miscellaneous is a category used for specific fonts that aren't achieved by normal fonts such as bold ( originally a miscellaneous)
• Square Serif is least used typeface such as from old westerns "Saloon" is usually written in square serif so if the writing makes you think of an old western, this is what it is
• Sans Serif is without serifs. Popular for online readability because it's no frills

size, color, font, weight (not boldface), justification and whitespace also are very important.



You need to know something about typography to make an effective page!


Look at the fonts in my computer and pick one that suits my personality the best!!! Hmmm...use a screenshot.