rsalz@bbn.com (Rich Salz) (04/11/88)
I highly recommend that participants in this newsgroup get the Volume XIX, Number 1 (Winter, 1985) issue of _Visible Language_. This special issue contains the proceedings of an international seminar, "The Computer and the Hand in Type Design" held at Stanford in 1983. It provides some interesting historical perspective and insights from world-reknowned experts. (It's a humbling correction for the computer-based hubris Knuth has brought into the field.) Quoting from the introduction: Typography is _writing_ in the industrial era. Computer typography may be less than two decades old, but we are the literate heirs to a scribal tradition that began with cuneiform writing five millennia ago in the Sumeria city-states of Mesopotamia. Computer literacy and its problems can best be understood in the context of writing. Quoting from Herman Zapf writing on future tendencies in type design: As an example, digitizing my Optima roman presented many difficulties. The well-balanced shape of the stems is contrary to the digital principle, especially in low resolutions, some of which go down to 300 lines per inch. The design must be reduced to a heart-breaking compromise. The answer to this problem is that Optima was never designed for digital storage. If I had been asked, I would have done a new design, used another principle and another name, but would have tailored it to the needs of limitations of today's equipment. (BTW, Zapf says that Times Roman was designed in England in 1932 by Stanley Morison, executed by Victor Lardent for the British Monotype Corporation.) For information on subscriptions and back issues (normally $6), write to Visible Language Box 1972 CMA Cleveland OH 044106 USA Phone 1 216 421 7340 /rich $alz -- Please send comp.sources.unix-related mail to rsalz@uunet.uu.net.
ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (04/11/88)
Here is a clutch of other references. Also don't forget the Scientific
American article "Digital Typography" by Bigelow and Day, August 1983.
Bigelow and Day trace the development of typefaces from ductal to
glyphtal styles. Digital machinery creates new challenges for typeface
designers. A low resolution version of a typeface has to be regarded as
an approximation to the ideal appearance.
Typography is an ancient art but computers are with us today. Certainly
the opportunity for the layman to create ugly typefaces exists, as
never has before. The answer is not elitism but raising the level of
taste. Pianos are accesible to nearly everybody but none of us would
plonk a little on a piano and dare to call it composition.
Ken
Mail-From: FURUTA created at 14-May-85 20:33:15
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From: Chuck Bigelow <CAB@SU-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Typographic Journals
To: svb@PURDUE.ARPA, laser-lovers@WASHINGTON.ARPA
ReSent-Date: Tue 14 May 85 20:33:15-PDT
ReSent-From: Richard Furuta <Furuta@WASHINGTON.ARPA>
ReSent-To: "Laser Lovers": ;
In answer to request for information on Five Journals of Typography,
here are five serious journals that I have subscribed to. though my
subscriptions to two seem to have lapsed, or perhaps the journals have
stopped publishing:
VISIBLE LANGUAGE, c/o Cleveland Museum of Art, Box 1972,
Cleveland, OH 44106; $16 per year (4 issues).
An excellent journal overall, begun in 1967. Has published pioneering
studies of digital type quality, computer type design systems,
semiology, history, design education, theories of perception, etc.
Because of variety, not every issue will interest all readers.
FINE PRINT, P.O. Box 3394, San Francisco, CA 94119.
The most beautifully printed typographic journal still in print.
Mostly printed letterpress on special low-acid, archival quality paper.
Reviews of "fine printing", articles on modern and historical typeface
designs, book-binding, paper-making, history of printing, exhibition
announcements and reviews; contains much more poetry, arts and crafts
than science. Subscription $40 per year. (I have been an editor
of the Typography section since 1980).
TYPOGRAFISCHE MONATSBLAETTER / REVUE SUISSE de l'IMPRIMERIE,
Zollikofer AG, Fuerstenlandstrasse 122, CH-9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Subscription 96 Swiss Francs per year (6 issues).
In German and French; usually contains the most avant-garde Swiss
ideas on typography, as well as detailed technical discussions of
hygroscopic measurements of paper or the modulation transfer function
of a new lens system for a typesetter, and of course innovations in
the erudite vocabulary of French printing terms. Some articles are
also in English. Copiously illustrated with photos and diagrams.
TYPOS, c/o The London College of Printing (at the Elephant & Castle),
London SE1 6SB, England. Subscription $38 for 3 issues per year.
A very well designed and well-written journal that expresses, shall we say,
the Anglo-Saxon perspective on modern tyopographic design.
COMMUNICATION et LANGAGE, Retz, 2 Roule du 75001, Paris;
Subscription 168 French Francs for 6 issues. Composed in, of course,
Univers, the sans-serif which the French overwhelmingly prefer to
Helvetica, which they regard as an abomination. Totally in French.
Not for the faint of heart or the non-Francophone. I sometimes find
the text obscure and difficult, but usually interesting if I can get
through it. It expresses, shall we say, the Gallic perspective on
typographic thought.
INFORMATION DESIGN JOURNAL, P.O. Box 185, Milton Keynes MK7 6BL, England.
Rather like VISIBLE LANGUAGE but from the UK. Scholarly articles on
various aspects of typography. My own subscription seems to have lapsed,
but I don't know if the journal is still being published.
ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale), Siege Social: Case
Postale 611, CH-4142 Muenchenstein, Switzerland.
This is not a journal (though you will wind up getting interesting
publications) but the major international professional association of
typographers, type designers, typesetting equipment manufacturers,
and typographic educators. Every two years it sponsors a seminar on
some aspect of Letterform research and education. The last one was
at Stanford ("The Computer and the Hand in Type Design" -- Proceedings
to be Published in Visible Language) and the next will be in Hamburg,
Germany in late September 1985 ("Handwriting Education"). Promotes
copyright protection and ethical licensing of typeface designs.
Membership fee is $35 per year for individuals. (I was formerly
President of the ATypI Committee on Research and Education in Letterforms.)
Note that most journals have a higher fee for institutions and libraries
than for individuals, so if you want your library to subscribe, be prepared
for a different price.
--Chuck Bigelow
$schwrtze@acf8.UUCP (E. Schwartz group) (04/15/88)
(actually from Alan Shaw, alan@alaya.nyu.edu or cmcl2!alaya!alan:) Unfortunately the editor of Visible Language has died, and back issues are no longer kept in Cleveland. They may be ordered from: Wayne State University Press 5959 Woodward Ave. Detroit, MI 48202 Six dollars prepaid (check, MC, or Visa).