The History of Type

Type is a form of visual language which is very powerful and is influence by many different factors such as social and cultural developments as well as production methods. This can be seen in the case of hieroglyphs from 7000BC which is the earliest physically identifiable language that has been written down. This is interesting as this is the first recorded use of the written word which wasn't descriptive but driven by trade as a form of recording transactions between people. Most early forms of language such as hieroglyphs and ancient hebrew are all phonetic alphabets meaning symbols created from the letters within a word are used to represent certain words. These alphabets have later developed to form modern languages as as some point they have merged with other languages under the basis that certain symbols or letters will mean one thing which is essential for any form of language or communication. Further more this adds to the fact that theres not just one origin/history of a language as many languages have developed from others such as most western modern languages have developed from the latin whereas most easter languages have developed from cyrillic alphabets. 

Consequently we are now able to understand these languages due to the Rosetta Stone (1799) which was the first point in history we could create a direct translation from other languages featured on the stone which where Greek, Egyptian and Demotic. This is significant because we started to understand how language was used at different times. This also links to physician script which consists of symbols in the form of the object they are depicting which later developed into greek and then roman.  

Due to the development of type and our ability to understand type we can even understand text when words are not written correctly as long as the first and last letters remain the same. This is due to our cultural understanding of type and also allows us to edit type and for it still to be recognisable. 

 The development of production methods has also caused type to develop as some early forms of phonetic type are very geometric as they could be made using tools and clay or stone and chizzle. Whereas in the east brush based letterforms and symbols aided in the development of type as paper and ink where available to people. Consequently in 1436 Johannes Gutenberg produced the first movable printing press which had only just become available to western culture but had been used in China for 600 years. This development marked the start for mass production of type as it allowed type to be produces more quickly and on a large scale. This also marked the start of moving away from the written word. Mass production of type was significantly influence by the Elementary Education Act in 1870 by William Foster who made it compulsory for children to go to schools. Consequently there was greater demand for type as more people could read and want information. In 1919 type was further developed by the industrialisation of type through the Bauhaus as it merged type with art and craft which consequently informed mass manufacturing of type. Consequently allowing modern type to develop causing designers today to not just look at one aspect of typography but all aspects to understand and develop type further.  

Study Task 1: Quote

Society:

Jansson-Boyd, C. (2010) Consumer psychology. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

'Many studies have found that both women and men do not believe that their current body form is attractive... Research has repeatedly found that physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable than those that are perceived as being unattractive, something that is likely to have been reinforced by consumer societies…’

I have chosen to base my context of practice essay on the quote due to my interest in how the media portrays men and women and the effects this has on us socially as a society in relation to what is deemed to be physically attractive and the expectations of men and women in todays society and how this effects consumer societies and behaviours as well as how this has changed over the past few decades.  

There are a few areas/topics I plan to research into further:

• Gender representation in media, how men and women are perceived, expected to look like and behave. standard? unobtainable? under-representation of sexuality, race, religion, gender identity. 
• How different styles are represented and how they represent target market within fashion and society. 
• What different men and women find appealing/ attractive personally- how are these quantified to define physical attractiveness in mass media or is it personal to each individual. 
• How media shapes the way we look at men and women/ what are expectations are in relation to physical appearance and the relationship between others. 
• How expectations are effecting the way men and women see themselves potentially causing mental illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia, depression. 
• Relation with bullying and cyber bullying on growing number of social media platforms such as Instagram and twitter due to societies preconceptions of how men and women should look/act.
• How expectations effect men and women differently and to what extent are women supposedly more effected by expectations than men due to the stereotype that men are supposed to be strong and women to be sensitive and concerned with looks to gain attention.

20,000 year non-linear history if image.

In this lecture we explored the power of image throughout time such as with the cave painting in the Lascaux caves in France which are the earliest reported uses of visual imagery to try to communicate but not just to record everyday activities but its believed to try and communicate with a higher power. Therefore signifying the power of visual image as people in the modern world are trying to decipher what the drawings actually mean and who they where trying to communicate with. The power of visual image can also be seen in the case of artist Mark Rothko as it can be said that his work is emotive and powerful as it’s supposed to create a feeling of looking into the darkness or unknown as there is no reflection on the paintings which almost creates an illusion of light being sucked into the paintings allowing the audience to have an emotional connection and experience with his work. This can be countered however by the belief that visual imagery is not genuinely powerful on its own but that institutions add importance and power to certain visual image by collecting pieces and adding importance to them to create an air of importance around their institution in order to ultimately make more money as seen in the case of the Mona Lisa.

Power of visual image can also be seen within politics such as in the case of he CIA’s use of Jackson Pollocks work as a cultural symbol for freedom against Stalin who banned abstract expressionism during the Cold War as he believed it was the product of sick decedent western culture. The power of visual image can also be seen in Shepard Fairies Obama campaign posters which aided in his election. However fairly changed the poster after Obama was elected in protest as he released he had been used for Obamas political gain. This highlights the power of visual image as it can be used as a symbol for protest and rebellion in order to change politics and peoples minds as shown Nick Ut iconic photo of a little girl after an attack during the Vietnam war which dwindled support within the US and strongly contributed to the US withdrawing from the war. 

Consequently I believe visual imagery can be powerful on its own but I also believe that institutions attach meaning and importance to certain pieces of visual imagery in order to create an air of importance about their institution and potentially to make more money. 

Context of Practice: The Language of Design

Throughout this lecture we explored different forms of visual communication which is based on the principle of sending and receiving a message using image and type. This is based on the idea that there is a shared understanding of what certain symbols stand for such as the sign for male and female toilets or the sign for help/first aid. Visual literacy is the ability to understand and construct meaning from these symbols and images in order to be able to interest there meaning contributing to the idea that pictures can be read. This as a graphic designer is very important as it allows you to send out a message that is universally understandable and accepted. However the effectiveness of a design can also depend on the context the symbol is set in as certain symbols can have more than one meaning such as the + sign which can mean addition on its own but when the colour is changed it can mean both first aid or the sign from the British Red Cross when in reality its just a vertical and horizontal line. 

Visual literacy also relies on an understanding of visual syntax and visual semantics. Visual syntax is  an image that refers to an image/symbol and visual organisation of elements. It represents the basic building blocks of an image that affect the way we ‘read’ it such as font, framing, scale and weight. Visual semantics is how an image fits into the cultural process of communication such as social ideas, religious beliefs and iconic forms such as road traffic signs. Consequently this links into semiotics which is the study of signs and sign processors including non-linguistic forms of communication through sign systems, visual language and visual literacy. Semiotics can be seen in the Apple logo as the you recognise the apple as a symbol for the company as it signifies the brand as the logo is a symbol/sign for the brand. Visual synecdoche also links to semantics as it is a symbol used to represent something as a whole such as the statue of liberty which is used to represent New York. I a similar way a visual metonym is a symbol used to reference to something more liberal such as how a yellow taxi cab is used to reference New York.