Lecture 5: Type Production and Distribution - Part 2

"Since typography is a communication method that utilises a gathering of related subjects and methodologies that includes sociology, linguistics, psychology, aesthetics, and so much more..." There's a whole chronology around type and visual literacy. The lecture is not just focused on type or image but the relationship between those and my practice in regards to history, politics, society, culture, technology and aesthetics. In order to innovate and present new methods of communicating visually, I need to understand the basic building blocks of line quality, mark making, texture, pattern and drawing so that I can reassemble these elements for future communications. I need to understand how and why things are as they are now and how they were in the past.

How does culture, society, technology, etc. influence type? How is it relevant to my practice as an illustrator? There is a connection between these and the work I am producing. Typography is a communication method taking content and meaning to relay information to an audience. Linguistics and language is a communication system. In order to understand type I need to develop an understanding of where it came from and the cultural, historical and societal reference points from where it originated. Mediating knowledge coming forward from history; redefining the future of this discipline.

When defining terms we have to be clear on the history and the location of when and where we are describing. Type is the physical development of printed media. This can range from being carved in stone, to using metal letterpress, to a thick brush; all of these impact the aesthetic and have a culture and history surrounding the techniques. Mesopotamia (ancient Sumer) in 3,200 BCE and Mesoamerica around 600 BCE is approximately where the written word as symbols began to emerge. Language is something that has developed over time; it is man-made, not naturally occurring. Literacy and the ability to read and write holds its roots in oral communication and it's thanks to trade and commerce around the globe that the oral became the written. The key thing to remember is that type is language-based and there was a movement from oral tradition to something that happened visually; a physical representation of signs and symbols that make up the alphabet today. There is a parallel chronology through the Orient. We need to be specific about about reference points.

There is a relationship between the visual literacy of type and technology. A design element has always been there. The alphabet and the English language are both robust and durable and will last. For any language to exist there needs to be an agreement between a group of people that one thing will stand for another; a phonetic sound or letter will associate or represent a thing. Our alphabet as we know it today came from a series of signs and symbols that were representations of cows, fish and homes. These condensed down to Occidental symbols. They are instantly recognisable, legible, embedded in how we learn. It is a coded system of a commonly held understanding which forms visual literacy. True alphabets consistently assign letters to both consonants and vowels on an equal basis.

Above is a typographic timeline of classification tracing through the development of type from classical old style through to transitional, modern, Bauhaus / Swiss Style and contemporary. We are now at the Post Digital age of type. Post-industrialisation across Europe and America, after World War 1, saw society having a new way of looking at the world. There were many displaced people across the globe witnessing new environments, new ways of living and emerging technology. The Bauhaus, in Germany, especially wanted to rebuild the world creatively. Manufacturers, engineers, makers, artisans, drawers, letterers, carpenters and artists were working alongside each other for the first time. Previously, carpenters created wooden chairs but now industrialisation saw chairs being made from metal on a mass scale. This signified a shift in production. A series of type faces developed during this Bauhaus period, by graphic designers and typographers in the Bauhaus, that were driven by the prevalent mechanical production which governed how type looked.

The Bauhaus drew ideas through future-making connecting technology with photography, theatre and costume. Factories were nearby feeding into how craftsmen developed their work. The Bauhaus introduced the idea that 'form follows function' feeding through all creative practices. Function drives the object, disregarding decoration. It's a reductionist view of design, purpose and functionality. It is not a dead concept - it still rings true today.

The Bauhaus looked at form and function in terms of the clarity of communication, legibility and designed elements around that. Things like weight, visual balance, communication, type, graphic design, promotion and illustration worked together to present clear ideas. There is still resonance and relevance today especially in 3 dimensional images, modern methods and contemporary design. Nothing has gone away, the same ideas have been reinvented, reimagined, recycled and reiterated. The same principles are laid down. Hitler eventually shut down the Bauhaus in 1933 because it had too many ideas. On the back of that blip was the development of the Swiss Modern period in type.

• Pre modern - God put it there and that's how it has always been
• Modern - Post-War global culture. Why is it there and why does it have to be that way?
• Postmodern - Onward and upward development of technologies in a linear way but with relationships to other areas. Pragmatic, one into another.

In 1957 the Helvetica font was developed and created by Max Miedinger; the epitome of a very Modernist typeface. It provided clarity for the mass production of information and communication. Helvetica stripped away anything decorative and irrelevant. Function drove the form - form followed function. It was used in clocks, letters, posters, and other printed ephemera and was the benchmark of modernist type. 25 years later, Microsoft stole the typeface and used it as the base to create their Arial font. They did the bare minimum to avoid copyright infringement. This represented a shift in the phase of visual literacy driven by technology, globalisation and commerciality. Type could be used in many different ways and had to adapt. Previously, Bauhaus and Swiss Modern typographers were the innovators of creating effective ways of applying type to a culture, society and product. This was carried forward to 1990 with the birth of the Mac Classic computer. It was the first computer that could be used by designers, in their own studio, incorporating a keyboard and mouse together as one desktop package.

This was where type design was democratised. We moved away from brushes, letter press and hand-crafted methods to digital type that was convenient and created instantly on screen. Any style could be created and mimicked digitally. What it allowed type to become was part of the way we see the word now. Type became the focal point on tape and CD covers, magazines, t-shirts, logos. Type was no longer a special thing that typographers produced; designers, graphic designers and creatives now had the power to create their own typefaces.

Through the development of the world wide web, by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, type was distributed through websites and e-mail - no longer requiring printing for communication purposes. A publisher and printer were no longer needed. This global opportunity only lasted for 5 years, before Bill Gates created Internet Explorer which went on to become the first globally adopted browser. This laid the foundations for template-based browser design and layouts placing many design restrictions and governing how we designed online for the next 25 years. It also established the Windows font set as a global standard for browsers, including such abominations as Comic Sans MS and Arial.

We now communicate very differently because of the web. The size of documents reduced considerably - from long papers and essays to bite-sized chunks that we can consume on the screen. Technology drove that change. Mobile technology changed how we communicate again; because we have the internet, and it is so accessible, we are making less phone calls than ever before. Instant messaging and video calling are now the most popular communication methods. Typing is in a state of flux, as seen with dwindling SMS and texting figures, because of social media's ability to micro-blog and become our own publisher.

Emojis are a global language, taking us back full circle to pictures. We have gone from oral to symbols to the written word - back to symbols again. A small picture is used, rather than a word, to communicate. Language is fluid and in a state of flux. "Typography fostered the modern idea of personality, but it destroyed the medieval sense of community and integration" What is community now? Community is online; multicultural, global. How does that affect language? Modernism is linear with discipline and rules. Postmodernism welcomes the challenging of and breaking of those rules, where anything goes.

In the modern day as a practitioner, it isn't just about making something move, making type or making images. How do I contribute to visual culture? I need to make commercial and aesthetic decisions; choose the people I want to work with and for as I now have the ability to distribute through a wide range of media. This should shape and drive my practice as I develop. How do I present my work - with a political, social, historic, aesthetic or cultural slant? I am responsible for how people interpret illustration in today's world. How does that impact my portfolio? If I take a positive view into the world I can shape things effectively. If I don't, I am leaving it up to chance. I am part of a culture of questioning and how I engage with the world around me.