Typography- It's all around us

So I’ve created a new blog dedicated to looking at typography; typefaces, typography applications, typographers and typographic approaches. People who aren’t involved in the design world might find it odd that I’m devoting an entire blog space on the art of letterform, so I’ll start this blog by trying to define what Typography actually means, with the help of ‘Letterform Collected’, a book included in a recent issue of Grafik Magazine.

 

‘Most people probably only have the vaguest notion about what the word ‘typography’ actually means, but of course it’s all around us’. Everyone who picks up a pen, taps into a keyboard or even draws letters in the sand is making a typographic decision- if not about Arial or Times, bold or italic, then about upper- or lowercase at the very least.

It often surprises people to discover that some people make a living from designing letterforms, but anyone who spent time in the company of a typeface designer will soon realise that they are among the most passionate, rigorous and committed group of people that you could hope to meet. Typeface designers are the unsung heroes of the design world. The attention to detail required to create the perfect curve is mind-blowing, but not something you’d be aware of when looking at the resulting book, piece of signage, poster etc as a whole’.

Hopefully I will be able to come up with my own interpretation of what Typography actually is very soon! 

Essay idea: What does Typography actually mean?