Fonts
A font is a set of letters composed in a single size and style. They were traditionally used for writing to differentiate different styles of writing and were later ported to the computer for digital use. Different fonts can be associated with different time periods based on style and tools available. Typeface and font traditionally had two different meanings before the inception of the computer. They are now used interchangeably to describe different styles of characters. Characteristics include weight, style (ie. Bold, Italic), size, x-height, serif or sans-serif. Weight refers to the overall thickness of the characters relative to their height. styles include Bold, Italic, or a combination of the two. Size refers to the height of the letters based on the x-height of the tallest letter. X-height refers to the distance between the baseline or the line that the letters sit on and the median or the imaginary line that marks the top of lower case letters. Serif is a small details usually like tails on the ends of letters in a typeface.
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is the visual art of writing. It’s not just about writing characters to convey information it’s taking ordinary characters and handwriting them in an incredibly aesthetically pleasing way. The most important tool to a calligrapher is the pen, there are a few different types of pens ranging from ball pens to felt-tip. Calligraphy pens range in ink sources from traditional pens that must be dipped in an inkwell to pens that have built-in ink cartridges. The interesting thing about calligraphy is that it’s so much of a work of art as opposed to an informative source that the text may be completely illegible and yet still contain a meaning.
Alphabets
The word alphabet is actually a combination of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (Alpha and Beta). The word is Alphabet is defined as a set of visual symbols or characters used to represent the elementary sounds of a spoken language. Early alphabets were very difficult to learn as the symbols began to have more a more complex meanings. The Aramaic alphabet was an early derivation of the North Semitic script of which surviving pieces date back to 850 BCE. The Aramaic alphabet contained twenty-two letters and was written from right to left. The pen was held at a forty-five degree angle to produce heavy horizontal lines and thin vertical lines. The Greeks were an important part of the development of the western civilization. As well as laying the foundation for science, philosophy, architecture and literature; the Greeks are a major part of the history of art and writing. The vastly improved the alphabet. The Greek alphabet combined the Phoenician and North Semitic and changed five consonants to vowels. It’s believed that this was accomplished by Cadmus of Miletus. From a graphic design standpoint the Greeks applied Geometric structure and order to the Phoenician characters. The also developed a new style of writing called boustrophedon which means to plow a field with an ox. This meant that the line directions alternated, line one was written from left to write and line two was written from right to left and so on. The alphabet was important in all aspects of culture such as Government where it allowed them to have a democracy with voting and ballots. It also allowed public documents to be drafted and signed. The Roman alphabet which came to Rome from Greece by way of the Etruscan civilization and reached peak during the sixth century BCE. It contained 21 letters until Rome overtook Greece and Y and Z were added to the alphabet.
On the other side of the world the Korean monarch Sejong introduced Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Although when spoken Korean and Chinese are different, the Korean characters are complex variations of Chinese characters. The alphabet was developed to be simple with fourteen consonants and ten vowels so that literacy was within grasp of the ordinary man. Hangul is not written linearly instead letters are combined within an imaginary rectangle to form syllabic blocks made up of at least one letter and one vowel. In contemporary Korea the twenty-four letters are used to make over two thousand common syllables in every day use. Alphabets are one of the greatest achievements of human kind, for the first time in history information can easily be stored and transferred across both time and space.
Typography
Introduction:
- Why is language important
- how is language used
- how does language apply in the digital realm
Thesis:
Conveying language in a digital world.
Paragraph 1:
- history of written language
- creation of the alphabet
- tools and styles of calligraphy
Paragraphs 2 – 5:
- Font History and Contemporary uses:
- Myriad
- Lithos
- Trajan
- Lucida
Paragraph 6:
- Creating a font
- purposes of different font formats
- Vector vs. Bitmap
- Printed vs. Onscreen
Paragraph 7:
- How fonts are used today (font purposes such as titles, body, and graphics)
- where is language?
- how do we interface with the computer?
Conclusion:
- Does digital language replace writing?
- Why is digital language an important part of our society?
Digital Calligraphy -Bibliography
To understand the way calligraphy turns into typography we must start by understanding two basic things, how we go from written to on-screen, and how characters are displayed onscreen.
Calligraphy
History of written letters
- Refer to Meggs History of Graphic Design
Creating font with Fontlab
Understanding that fonts look different on-screen then printed
- http://www.macsupportcentral.com/2011/08/pick-postscript-truetype-opentype-fonts/
- http://www.adobe.com/type/topics/info9.html
Vector vs. Bitmap
Bitmap images
Typographers
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Slimbach
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Twombly
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Garamond
- http://www.identifont.com/find?name=Carol+Twombly&q=Go – Carol Twombly
- http://www.identifont.com/show?123 -Charles Bigelow
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Connare
The Invention of Writing
One thing we take for granted is the ability to communicate with each other. Early markings made by humans can be found in Africa dating back as far as 200,000 years. There was no written language or probably even spoken language. Communication was done through drawings on cave walls and stones using charcoal and colored inks made from natural materials. Many times there were animals drawn with dots and abstract shapes which may have represented objects or possibly an early form of writing, but it will never really be known. As time passed this happened all around the world the drawings are called petroglyphs and the attempts at depicting animals and objects are called pictographs. Petroglyph are carved or scratched symbols on rock and a Pictograph is an elementary picture or sketch that represents things depicted. In Mesopotamia the idea and process or writing went through a transition over a few thousand years. Starting as random pictures they went to a grid style but as scribes were writing sometimes they would smear the pictures with their hands. To avoid this they moved to the idea of writing in horizontal rows from left to write and top to bottom. Now instead of using pictures they began to use characters made up of wedges. This evolved into what we they called Cuneiform. As their writing evolved their ability to store information was becoming greater. This would allow written language to function more like spoken language. Cuneiform was difficult to master seeing as it contained 560 symbols. Writing enabled the society to stabilize itself under laws.
In Egypt unlike the Sumerians the writing style stayed as pictures instead of characters. These pictures are known as Hieroglyphics. The invention of papyrus which is like paper was a major step for Egyptians. Holding the scroll the scribe would write on the outer edge down the left side from top to bottom in columns from left to write. The Egyptian priests developed hieratic a type of script hieroglyphics. The ancient Egyptians survived for over 3000 years and left a legacy of hieroglyphics, papyri, and illustrated manuscripts.
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