A Love Affair With Type
What is it about type that is so intriguing? 26 letters of the alphabet that can be designed to communicate various emotions and messages. Just look at M/M (Paris) - image below.
M/M (Paris) - with Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh MatadinThe Alphabet [Generic], 2001
Image borrowed from Haunch of Venison
Other fans of type like ACEJet170, an English graphic designer with his collections of found type from holidays, car boot sales and other peoples' waste - just to name a few sources of his. It's thrilling to share someone else's finds (and passions) and be privvy to another person's perspective of what is beautiful.
So this journey on type leads one right back to the fundamentals. Letterpress. A dying art form in this day and age of Quark Express and Indesign, letterpress is the precursor of the desktop publishing and printing that we know today. Letterpress is taught on most graphic design courses but the only commercial one I could find is by Harrington & Squires. In the crudest form of explanation, one could say that letterpress is akin to rubber stamping on a large scale. Like Chinese woodblock printing, letterpress is important to the history of printing and, therefore, extremely important that this art be kept alive now and for future generations.
1 comment:
Firstly, I'd like to say I'm really glad you feel so passionate about type! and secondly (for obvious reasons) that I completely agree that letterpress should remain alive. It seems to be going through a huge revival in the States and I'm sure this will eventually filter to Europe. H&S and other small studios maybe pioneering this revival in the UK.
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