After the invention of the printing press (1450) shifted monk-powered hand-illumination and calligraphy,
Font for newspapers was set in lines on a printing plate carefully aligned with 'pica'units or kerning done by hand and eye, twice a day!
Everyone knows Times(1931) from the Newspaper ,
and Arial from Ms Word
Retro Typefaces or Fonts from the 1900s stare at us from marketing and urban living, the London Tube (Gill Sans)and the Paris Metro (1900)
uses Guimard's Art Nouveau font
Gill Sans capìtals and lower case were designd separately, both in the Art Deco spirit of the 20s and 30's.
both use iconic fonts that have been in Guimard's Art Nouveau font "> fashion
forever.
Goudy created ampersands, a curiosity we use extensively,
and graphic artists motto 'typography is everything' shows influence on everything from colas..to catfood.
The exitement of font and its transferral from the typewriter is seen in
Courier
with its flat serifs and wide stamped letters, and who could forget
Comic Sans, immortalised by Stan Lee for Marvel, and then all graphic novelists! Thrillsville!
MORE:
'USE AND MISUSE OF TYPOGRAPHY IN MOVIES' and
'THE SCOURGE OF ARIAL' Mark Simonson
'ANDS AND AMPERSANDS' Steve Matteson
'BIBA' Angie Smith
'GOOD LOGO' www.goodlogo.com
'VIRTUAL TYPEWRITER MUSEUM'
'STAN (THE MAN)LEE'