Annotated Bibliography - History of Typography Project

Annotated Bibliography

Cramsie, Patrick. The Story of Graphic Design: From the Invention of Writing to the Birth of Digital Design. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.

            This book is an extensive look into the history of writing. For my purpose I only needed it for an in-depth look into PostScript. PostScript changed the way that typography and other graphic elements are created today. This book does a good job going into the information that I needed to for an over view on the subject.

Edwards, Benj. “Four Reasons the LaserWriter Mattered.” Macworld.com. N.p., 27 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

            Although this article was created to say why the Laser Printer mattered, it was very helpful on why PostScript mattered as well. The two go hand and hand, without PostScript the printer could not exist. This article also made me realize that through the birth of the PostScript computer language it made this printer and continues to shape the field of graphic design.

Kulba, Bryan. “Aisle.One.” Celebrating Karl Gerstner. Antonio Carusone, 7 July 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

            This was a very helpful article when dealing with Karl Gerstner. For multiple reasons, but mainly because it is really one of the few articles that I could find that had an in depth look into the man’s work. Because this article was written in honor of Gerstner and all of his achievements it shows him in a great light. It talks about his style, and what he has accomplished in his 50 years in the field. It also is clear in the short overview it gives of the techniques that he has created. The article talks about his work that he has done, the techniques he has created, the success of his agency, and all the great things this man has accomplished.

Lacayo, Richard. “A Piece of Our Time.” Time 7 Mar. 2008: n. pag. Print.

            Gerald Holtom was a man that knew what he had to do and did it. This article conveys that. This article gives a brief history behind the symbol by telling where the inspiration came from. Today people use this symbol for any protest or march that they want peace or people to know that they are peaceful. When Holtom created it, it was made so people would stop making nuclear weapons, trying to achieve the greatest peace of all. The article tells how Holtom came to make the symbol for the CND. They also say how the symbol took on its own life and how it still lives today.

Rand, Paul, and Max Huber. “Wim Crouwel.” Www.iconofgraphics.com/Wim-Crouwel/. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.

            This article gives an in-depth look into who Wim Crouwel is. It talks about his early life being an Expressionist painter, to how he knew that wasn’t the life for him and decided to purse a life in the graphic arts. The article talks about his style and what has influenced him as well as what drives him and keeps him going. It talks about all aspects of his work. His work making posters for the Abbe Museum as well as how he came to create the typeface New Alphabet. It also says how he never wanted that typeface to actually be used, but meant it to be purely as a study.

Image Sources

http://rulesbased.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/karl-gerstner/

http://ninonbooks.tumblr.com/post/69399408/graphic-design-and-typography-swiss-legacy

http://blog.ideatransplant.com/2012/01/diagonal-lines.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Alphabet_(typeface)

http://www.1000manifestos.com/gerald-holtom-peace-symbol/

http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Wim-Crouwel/

http://artsagainstcuts.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/riotcleanup-or-riotwhitewash-postscript-response/

http://www.macworld.com/article/1150845/laserwriter.html

History of typography - typography from the 1960's - 90's

The history of typography was our first group project in the class. Group projects can go smoothly, but most of the time they are kind of a pain because you have to work around 4 peoples schedules so you can actually meet up and get some work done. For us we may have put things off a little longer than we should have, but once we got together we got stuff done real quick. The way we went about this project is that we all sat down discussed a layout for it. Then we created that layout, that part was easy. As was the next step, we then went on to dividing up the information evenly. After that we simply sent the layout to each member of the group and as long as they followed that layout the project should all form nicely together. We then took that layout filled it with our information on the people and memorable times that happened in our period and compiled it all together. 

The only tricky part after we figured all that out was what information should I put on my section of the presentation. Even that part was not very hard, the people that I had to look up I honestly never heard of before, but each one of them furthered typography and graphic design in great ways. After figuring that out I knew just what to put on there and it was not a problem whatsoever. 

The only problem that I had during this presentation was finding out more information on Gerald Holtom. The only thing I could find on this man was that he created the peace sign. He was a textile designer that created it and that is all I could find anywhere. I will say this was a great thing, but i'm not sure how important that he was to all of graphic design and typography for it. 

Another thing that I had a problem with was working between my computer and the computers in the graphics room. For this project I downloaded a trial run for indesign and I thought that it would go back and fourth between the trial run and the computers. But it didn't, I tried to get onto the computer to do some work on it there and it said that the two were not compatible so I had to re due the entire thing in indesign on the computer in the graphics room just so I could add a couple things to it. After I fixed that all was well and I think that our presentation will turn out pretty good. 

Project Three - Type as Art

Now, for our last individual project we had to make, I made a picture of Larry David out of type. The project was just that. Find a writer that you like a create Art out of Type while considering that person. I was really looking forward to making this poster. I knew it would take a lot of work, and it definitely did. It was the longest project by far out of all the ones that we did in this class. But that was fine, the reason I was looking forward to making this project is because when my mom went back to college when I was in elementary school she went back to school for graphic design. In one of her classes she had to make a poster just like this. What she did I will never forget because I still have a framed copy of her poster that she made. She made her poster of Bart Simpson. And she made it just for me. I loved the Simpsons when I was a little kid and my mom of course knew that. She designed him with the iconic Bart Simpson pose of him pulling his pants down and mooning people. She then filled him in completely using every single episode the Simpsons have ever done. At that time I think they just hit 300. Ever since she gave that to me I have always wanted to make a type art poster, I just never had the chance before. 

Then I was stoked to make this one. I did not start off making Larry David, I started off making Bill the Butcher, one of my favorite characters in all of cinema in the film Gangs of New York. Somewhere along the line I either forgot to save or saved to a place where I couldn't find it or maybe it just crashed. Whatever happened I lost all of my stuff so I thought it was a good time to switch and maybe try and do someone else. So, I thought what better person to create than Larry David, the creator and co- writer of Seinfeld. Only the greatest television show to ever be created.  

This project took a lot of time, and a lot of space to save. Every designer has that project that taught them they need to save and save often. For me, this was that project. I definitely learned the important of saving, backing up your stuff, and also just knowing where you saved something to if you don't want to loose it forever. 

Not only did I learn about fill management in this project but I also learned that the type on a path tool can be a real pain in the ass. I had type going backwards and upside down. I didn't realize until a ways into the project that the type follows how you initially created the line. I used the pen tool to make the lines, which I also got pretty good at using during this project. And if you start from left to right the type will follow that path. That was very helpful once I finally realized that. Another thing that I got some experience using was type in an area tool. It is hard to find out what is an appropriate amount of type to put in there as well as knowing where to put breaks so there isn't weird spaces. Most of the project was me trying to figure out how to use the two tools more effectively and I think by the end of it I greatened my skills a decent amount.