The Meanings of Type: Eye Magazine

The article outlines the history of typography and focuses on how typography is influenced by what is going on in the world. It says that typography will always be intertwined with politics, society, and historival events. It serves whatever purpose people need it to, and therefore is in a constant state of change.

A large part of the article was devoted to the development of typography throughout the 20th century, and specifically during World War II. Blackletter was used by the Nazis, and then they abruptly banned it in 1941, saying that it actually had Jewish origins. This is a prime example of typography reflecting the world at large. The fact that the Third Reich could ban anything, let alone a typeface that had held such meaning for Germany, just because it might have been Jewish really shows the attitude at the time.

Another part of the article talks about the commercial purpose of typography in the early part of the century. The screamers were fonts that literally screamed. They were used in advertising and in newspapers to catch attention and inform. The slab serifs were similarly used, and were even brought back in other parts of the century.

The end of the article talks about the neutral typography that came out of the Swiss style. These include Helvetica, Univers and Meta, all of which are still used today. What's interesting is that these typefaces, especially Helvetica, were meant to be very orderly, apolitical and neutral, but they have come to cause so much tension among designers. Designers either gravitate to Helvetica or really hate it.

http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=98&fid=485

JH