Response to Chapter 2

I was fascinated to read about how typography evolved from handwriting. Of course, I knew this to be true, but I didn’t know to the extent type fonts were modeled after certain ways of writing throughout history. For example, I never knew that the reed pen influenced lowercase letter styles, or that capital letter writing came from chisel writing in Roman times. I am a sketcher and painter, and I found it intriguing how the flat edged writing tool of the Renaissance inspired Old Style typography. I knew this was true in calligraphy, but it had never really occurred to me that type has different thicknesses, or stress, as well.

I also loved learning little tidbits of history about type, such as how the “&” symbol came as a combination of “et”, the French word for “and”, and how the term lowercase came about because in the days of metal typesetting, the smaller case blocks were stored in the lower part of a type case. I love history, so I often ask myself, why are things they way they are and how something began or was created, so this chapter was extremely entertaining for me, and helped me to grasp a deeper understanding of the personalities of different fonts.

I also never realized just how mathematical type is. With a baseline, mean, stroke to height ratio, and all the different components of a character, it is much more than just a key on the computer. It was almost like learning the geography of a character, or rather, the anatomy. I was also fascinated how despite this precise science, some letters still look strange, so they are altered from their mathematical formulas to create the optical illusion of being the same size. It reminded me of how when I was in Greece, I learned about the Parthenon, and learned that the pillars are actually slightly slanted inward, to create the illusion of straightness from afar. As I am not a very mathematical person, learning these facts opened my eyes to how art, just like anything else in life, must have a science applied to it to create perfection.

The picture I selected shows authentic Roman Capital letters carved into the stone of the building, which serves as an inspiration to current type fonts.

http://www.bookhotelsinrome.com/images/pantheon-big.jpg