Tuesday, July 7, 2009

History of Typography

Typography is a science in selecting and arranging the letters with their distribution arrangements in the spaces available, to create a certain impression, which can help the reader to get the maximum reading comfort. Typography art is also known, namely the work or design that uses the letters settings as the main element. In the art of typography, understanding the letter as a symbol of the sound can be ignored.

Historical development starting from the use of typography pictograph. This form of language, among others used by the Norwegian Vikings and Sioux Indian. Developed in Egypt Hieratia typeface, known as the hieroglyphs in 1300 about the seventh century BC. Typographic forms is at the root of Demotia forms, which were written using a special pen. Typographic forms is finally growing up in Crete, and then spread to Greece and eventually spread throughout Europe. Peak development of typography, occurred about 8 century BC in Rome as the Romans began to establish his authority. Because the Romans did not have their own writing system, they learn the Etruscan writing system which is a native of Italy and perfected in order to establish Roman letters. We have developed typefaces from the phase of creation with his hands up to having computerized. Phase computerization makes use of typography becomes easier and in a faster time with a choice of hundreds of letters.

Mostly the letters are classified into:

Roman, with the characteristics of a fin / foot / pointy shaped serifs on the ends. The impression created is classic, elegant, graceful and feminine.

Egyptian, with the characteristics of the foot / fin / square serifs like a board with a thickness equal or nearly equal. The impression created is sturdy, strong, sturdy and stable.

Sans Serif, with the features without fins / serif, and has a thickness the same letter or almost the same. The impression created by the letter of this type is a modern, contemporary and efficient.

Script, is a scratch done hand with pen, brush or pencil sharp and usually skewed to the right. The resulting impression is a personal and intimate sifast.

Miscellaneous, is the development of the forms that already exist. Plus decorations and ornaments, or decorative lines. Owned impression is decorative and ornamental.


Legibility is the ease of recognizing the eyes can be made without working too hard. This can be determined by:

1. Character design complexity, such as the use of serifs, the contrast of stroke, etc..

2. Use color

3. Frequency of observers to see the letter dlm daily life

Readability is the comfort level of a structure when reading the letter, which is influenced by:

1. Typeface

2. Size

3. Settings, including flow, spacing, kerning, alignment, etc..

4. Color contrast against the background


source: wikipedia

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