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

The Atomic Bomb

On August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan, this time it was Nagasaki, which brought World War II to an end. The development of the atomic bomb started six years earlier when Nazi Germany started to purify uranium-235 in hopes of making an weapon. After the U.S. entered the war, the Manhattan Project was established under the leadership of Col. James Marshall to develop the weapon before Germany. In September 1942 General Leslie R. Groves was charged with constructing an industrial-size plant for manufacturing plutonium and uranium. Hanford, Washington was picked for the location, because it was far away from uranium production facility in Oak Ridge, TN that already existed. The Hanford sit encompassed an area of 586 square miles, which is equal to a third of Rhode Island. Hanford is the home of the B Reactor, which was the first large-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. Here the atomic bombs that would be dropped on Japan were constructed and perfected. Hanford has since been decommissioned as a nuclear weapon site, but what it once was still has a lasting

affects. The Hanford site is uninhabitable due to radiation. Today, Hanford is the leading employer of the small Eastern Washington towns around it.

RG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Med.html

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/nwp/hanford.htm

http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/atomic_bomb.htm

The Wizard of Oz

On August 15, 1939, one of the world's best loved films was released. “The Wizard of Oz” starring Judy Garland, was based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." At its release, “The wizard of Oz” was not considered a commercial success even though it did make a small profit. Its songs, thought, became widely popular. The song "Over the

Rainbow" was almost left out of the movie to help cut down time, in the end it was left in. It ended up receiving an Academy Award for Best Original Song and the film its self received several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It is one of the most famous films ever made. Due to the fact that most of the movie was filmed in Technicolor Dorthy's shoes were changed to ruby slippers, because the silver slippers that Baum's had in his novel did not show up against the yellow brick road.

RG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)

http://saythefword.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/melbourne-ruby-slipper-collection/

http://www.costumzee.com/view/2009/03/

Response to Meanings of Type Article

Until this year, I hadn't really given much thought to typography. I usually just picked one I liked to go along with whatever project I was working on at the time. Lately, I'm beginning to learn that typefaces all have histories and they look a certain way for specific reasons. This is what Eye Magazine's article "The Meanings of Type" is about. It goes through typographic history and provides background on some of the most well known typefaces. 

In the past couple of months, I've learned a lot about Helvetica, so I decided to focus on that part of the article. If you would have asked me about Helvetica a few years ago I probably would be indifferent to the whole thing. Now, I have a deeper understanding of why it looks the way it does. Helvetica is purely neutral, and it is either loved or hated. Eye Magazine's article states that it was designed in 1957 by Max Meldinger to represent a Platonic ideal and a generic sterility; it embodied the Modern mission to democratize visual communication.  It is modest and reaches a diverse audience.  I never before realized how much it was and still is used. I discovered a blog which listed 40 logos that use Helvetica. Below are some pictures of those logos. Others on the list included: American Airlines, Staples, American Apparel, Nestle, Toyota, BMW, Sears, Microsoft, Panasonic, Scotch, 3M, Evian, Energizer, Harley-Davidson, and JCPenny.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/40-excellent-logos-created-with-helvetica/

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

LH

The Meanings of Type

The Meanings of Type shows just how much type is influenced by what is going on at the time. I think it's good to know the history of a typeface and why it was designed. Now that I know why certain typefaces were designed I can make better type choice decisions.

I thought it was very interesting to learn about the typeface chosen for Jurassic Park. I think it's unique that the Neuland typeface was revived for this movie because the dinosaurs were "revived"as well!

I had never known the typeface used in comic books was called splash panel. It is used for exaggeration, which makes sense for a comic book.

The Avant Garde magazine logo typeface looks very modern. In the article it said the typeface was abused, and I think it should have just been used for the logo.

We have come a long way since pictographs!

EV

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

eye magazine: the meanings of type

The article from eye magazine entitled The Meaning of Type talked about various forms of typography and the meanings of them during different periods in history. I thought it was very interesting especially to see the variance of type that was described and the ideologies that come from the various typefaces. I thought I would try to find images to compare a couple of the typefaces mentioned along with the period of time in which they were used and how/if they are used today.

Meta is a legible sans-serif typeface. In 1984, it was created for the German Post Office. But now its used for much more than that including billboards, logos, signage and web pages. I found a site that mentioned that meta was in the top 21 typefaces used for professional web designers! Its interesting how it was created for post office use at first and has flourished to many more things.

Peignot is another typeface that is mentioned in the article. It is also a sans serif typeface like Meta. But it uses “upper case letters in its lower case form.” This typeface was used in the 70's for the titles to the Mary Tyler Moore Show as well as other things. Before this, in 1937, the typeface was launched as the ‘official’ typeface of the World Exhibition in Paris, selected by Paul Valery as inscriptions for the two towers of the Palace de Chaillot. Peignot has a quirkiness to it that makes it less legible than the Meta typeface. I don't think I could see Peignot being on billboards for instance. But I do like the typeface with its curved edges and small caps. Its a lot more "playful" than the meta typeface which makes it more interesting to me.

I think knowing the history of a typeface could help in making a decision to use or not to use the type depending on what you are using it for.

DH

http://www.eyemagazine.com

http://www.instantshift.com/2008/10/05/21-most-used-fonts-by-professional-designers/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peignot

The Dust Bowl

One historical event that seems to get lost in the shadow of the Great Depression is the Dust Bowl. While the whole country was enduring financial crises, the farmers and residents of the plains in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas were suffering an additional catastrophe. Drought gave way to massive dust storms that caused many problems and even loss of life.

The plains typically go through periods of drought, but early in the century, it was not an issue. The conditions of the area at that time fooled many. "The first major influx of farmers into the Southern Plains came at the turn of the century. Lured by a land lush with shrubs, grasses, and soil so rich it looked like chocolate, the farmers didn’t realize that what they were witnessing was but a brief respite in an endless cycle of rain and drought. Unaware, they enjoyed great harvests and raced to turn every inch of the Southern Plains into profit," (Surviving the Dust Bowl, American Experience).

In 1931, a drought began that would not end for eight years. The farmland had been abused so heavily that the dry conditions and high winds began blowing the topsoil away. It was because of extreme overplowing that the dust storms were able to be formed. The government had passed legislation encouraging farmers to use the land without stopping to think about the consequences of overuse. Eventually, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act stating that farmers would be paid not to grow crops in order to maintain topsoil and nutrients--a method we are familiar with today as crop rotation.

The dust storms began causing the deaths of animals and making people sick. There was even an illness that people called dust pneumonia. The dust would get literally everywhere and nothing could be done about it. People got lost in the storms, and all sunlight would be blocked out. Many people migrated to other places to escape the miserable conditions. Finally, in 1939, it began raining again. This, along with the Soil Conservation Act helped end the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and farmers began to recover.

JH

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/dustbowl/introduction

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_Conservation_and_Domestic_Allotment_Act_of_1936

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/organic/2006/crop.html