Typography

The art and technique of composing printed materials from type.

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The study and process of typefaces; how to select, size, arrange, and use them in general. In modern terms. Typography includes computer display and output. Traditionally, typography was the use of metal types with raised letterforms that were inked and then pressed onto paper.

When I look at today’s internet, or magazines one of the biggest things something that jumps out at me the most is the way the type is designed, or typography. To a person who probably does not deal with design on a day to day basis they just think of it as fancy writing. Just something to make the magazine look more professional. To me it is its own art form. I look at typography as something within something else. You could make a great design, but if there is text on the document that does not fit well the design will never be the best it could be.

Last night I attended the Stefan Sagmeister, “Things I have learned in my life, so far”, lecture located at the Rhode Island School of Design auditorium. I’ll admit until a few days before, I had never actually heard of this man. Yes, I know, he is one of the most infulential designers of our time, and how could I be crazy enough never to hear of him before? Well anyway, I attended the design lecture and it was amazing. At some points he just seemed to be dragging on about topics which were of little interest to me, but for the most part it helped open my eyes to a new type of design.

I have always been interested in typography, but never thought about it in the way that Stefan Sagmesiter presented last night. His art and the way that he visualized sentences was amazing. If there is one thing that I took away from him last night, is that there is a lot more to design then just coming up with something amazing in Photoshop or Illustrator and slapping some web 2.0 style gradiant on it. I will have to go back and re-think almost all the work I have ever done, and see if I can some how fix the way my design works, to come up with something more…typographic?

Words can do powerful things to people, and make them think about things they never could before. This can happen better if those words are made in a way that is interesting and wonderful to see.

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