Nov 27-Dec 4

Made my writing center appointment for monday night. I plan to make all the suggested changes before then so that the paper will be completed after the appointment on monday. I can't wait!

Nov 14-21

Draft number two completed. Worked hard on correcting grammatical errors and getting the wording refined for this draft. Still need to conduct a second interview with handlettering artist Pat Pendry, and also visit the writing center for the final draft.

     

Nov 6-13

First draft submitted. It was rough getting it all down but now I feel great. I've started making the changes you suggested and also conducted an interview with Pat Pendry, a freelance lettering artist at AG. This interview should back up my statement that HL takes minutes compared to making a font.

final outline

Thesis Statement: Hand lettering, once thought to be a dying form of art, is regaining popularity and giving the designers’ work the personality the consumer desires.

A.   Type setting

a.    When type setting was still new, there were few who knew how to do it.  This is what separated professionals from amateurs. 

b.    Few knew how to typeset and this really put the work done in this form up on a pedestal.

c.    The novelty, rarity and cost of typeset is what really caused hand lettering to take root and become a valid alternative.

B.    Technological breakthroughs in design industry

a.    In 1959, Letraset was introduced

i.       This was the first technique that enabled one to transfer letters prior to the computer.

ii.      Although tedious, the amount of work and skill required to perform this task was far less than hand lettering.

b.    In the late 70s and early 80s, the industry was revolutionized by Phototypesetting.

i.       Through a complex process of an individual character being projected, recorded and bathed in chemicals, type could easily be set.

ii.      Shortly after its arrival, phototypesetting was rendered obsolete by the introduction of the personal computer.

c.    The personal computer in the 90s (digital age)

i.       Design was no longer constrained by the stash of rub-down letters or hours spent in the typesetting studio

ii.      Designers took the good with the bad when using the PC.  Flaws were abundant and glitches many.

d.    Other fields that also had strong technological pushes

i.       Illustration

ii.      Photography

C.   Type becomes affordable and obtainable

a.    Anyone with a personal computer and patience to learn, could set type

b.    Quantity not quality described this over saturation

c.    No longer special or novel, now the norm

D.   Personal computers in the 2000s

a.    Flaws from work done in the 90s no longer existed

b.    Print work was clean, crisp and free of flaws

c.    A step away from the computer

i.       Return to hand skills

ii.      Possibly because digital products are readily obtainable

iii.     Personal computer not totally rejected

E.     What differentiates hand lettering from typefaces?

a.    Typeface vs. Hand Lettering

i.       Creating a typeface requires a substantial amount of time and patience while hand lettering can be done in minutes comparatively

ii.      With regards to profitability, a typeface has the ability to generate revenue after completion with little or no additional work required while hand lettering charges a one time fee.

iii.     Consistency is necessary with a typeface.  Careful consideration must be taken when creating a typeface.  Every possible letter combination must be considered as well as the lines that fall above and below.

F.     A changing society

a.    People move too quickly through life.  Currently we want what we want when we want it.

i.       Netflix overtaking movie theatres

ii.      Fast food industry

iii.     Twitter/cell phones

iv.   Wal-Mart open 24 hours a day

v.    All these things are feeding the frenzy of instant gratification.

1.    Hand lettering communicates a nostalgic feeling and forms a bond with consumer. Knowing that hours were spent on miniscule details makes it that much more appealing.

2.    Time spent on detail, even if not by them, allows them to feel a deeper connection with whatever it is they are choosing to experience.

b.    People no longer want what everyone else has.  They want what they have to be one of a kind.

i.       ETSY

ii.      Local coffee shops

iii.     Non-chain restaurants

iv.   Hand drawn lettering…

v.    I think it’s safe to say we’ve seen a development in the design community to appreciate handcrafted aesthetics, and appreciation for the DIY and time-consuming nature of craft. This may have emerged with the rise of more obtainable digital products.

G.   The second-coming of hand lettering

a.    The possibilities are endless

i.       It gives the word a tone

ii.      Adds personality; a human feeling through flaws

b.    When a typeface is close but not precisely what you are looking for

i.       Hand lettering can make everything look cohesive and considered

ii.      Gives the work unity

c.    Hand lettering can kill two birds with one stone.

i.       Provides attractiveness

ii.      Provides art of sorts to a work otherwise artless

iii.     The Secrest Concert Series

1.    Start with a strong concept, hand draw letterforms without reference to existing typefaces, keep relevant information together, and repeat every year.

2.    This is a solid example of lettering doubling as information and art

d.    Not a small scale reentry

i.       Versatility of hand lettering made it wildly popular

ii.      Not just do-it-yourself and juvenile designs

iii.     Calvin Klein, Microsoft and IBM chose to use untutored lettering in large scale campaigns

H.    Where hand lettering will go from here

a.    Here to stay, but it won’t always be this popular

b.    It will turn into another tool for designers to use in their work, not necessary but if the budget permits and style allows it would help the project make a statement.                                    

Oct 23-29

More work on the outline this week. It should be completed now. I'm very satisfied with all the progress I've made. Although, the research seems endless. So many things I could tie in but where do you draw the line. Oh well, I'm ready to start on the paper and get this thing knocked out... It will feel so wonderful to be done!

oct 16-22

Playing catch-up this week. Re-working my thoughts and ideas a little while I make my outline more detailed. Finding a TON of interviews done already on the internet. I think this is going to be a great source of information since there isn't a lot of books out about current hand-lettering trends. Great interviews of Nate Williams, Bernard Maisner have surfaced as well as some great articles written by Steven Heller. I also obtained a copy of Elegant Lettering From Design's Golden Age Scripts that Heller compiled with Louise Fili, in a word, gorgeous. 

oct 9-13

The outline was due this week. I had some trouble with this one only because my research is still in the beginning stages. I got a TON of books from the library at work. They had SO many books on typography and calligraphy, it was wonderful. So I have started to look them over but i'm a long ways from being done with research. On the upside the works cited for next week will be a breeze! Also, on Sunday I became an aunt for the third time so a very exciting week for the family.

outline

Paper Outline :: Abby Rutt :: October 12, 2011
The History of Typography: Hand Lettering Rediscovered
Introduction
History
Caligraphic History
Western calligraphy
Tools and techniques
Historical developments
Influences
Eastern Asian calligraphy
Names, tools and techniques
Historical evolution
Influences
South Asian Calligraphy
Indian calligraphy
Nepalese calligraphy
Tibetan calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy
Persian calligraphy
Other isolated calligraphies
Mayan Glyphs
Graffiti
Typographic History
Medieval design roots
Classical revival
Transition from humanistic minuscule to roman type
Development of roman type
Italic type
Renaissance Germany and Switzerland
16th century France
De Colines, Estienne, and Augereau
Garamond
Robert Granjon
Transition to modern type: 17th and 18th century
Fell types
Caslon
Fleischmann
Baskerville
Modern romans
19th and 20th century typography
Industrialization
Hot type and phototypesetting in the 20th century
Art nouveau and New Book Art
Modern Day
Trending Lettering artists and samples of their work
Hand-lettering artist interviews
Tools
Techniques, their individual methods
Their inspiration & influences
Creating Typefaces
Font file types
OTF
Pros vs Cons
TTF
Pros vs Cons
Other types
Pros and cons of typefaces being so easy to make
What all is included
Beyond the basics
Ligatures
Glyphs
File preparation
Conclusion

senior paper proposal

1. Subject or title of the senior paper:

The History of Typography: Hand Lettering Rediscovered

2. Academic / educational goal of the project:

I will build on my knowledge of early typographers to compare and contrast the current trends of hand rendering type.

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Sir Winston Churchill

3. How, specifically, does this project go beyond existing course projects?

Although we have had two classes based around the history of graphic design I would like to dig a little deeper and find out regarding about the history of typography. One interesting fact I have already learned is that in some editions the Gutenberg Bible has decorative colored initials were hand-lettered separately by a scribe. I also would like to include history on the different cultures and movements that influenced modern calligraphy.

4. Research necessary for the project / research currently completed: (surveys, interviews, publications, etc.)

Current trends show we have a new appreciation of skills that ancient graphic designers had to possess, hand-lettering or as they referred to it, calligraphy.  The move from all hand-rendered skills to the computer and back to the emphasis of eye catching hand-rendering letterforms is fascinating to me. I would like to research the tools/technology used, include detailed accounts about how they rendered letterforms. Individual methods, to find these out I would like to conduct interviews with modern day hand lettering artists. American Greetings has a hand-lettering department that I plan to interview as well as reading books about current artists such as Mike Perry, Linzie Hunter, Nate Williams and Louise Fili. I would also like to explore how the first typefaces were made and how that process has evolved. I plan to interview Mike Gold or Missy Froman who both have knowledge on the topic as they just created many typefaces. I intend to find out more about the differences between the varying font file types (OTF, TTF ect.) which are easier to make, and what the benefits of each are. I also would like to include the controversial topic of free typefaces, how everyone feels they need to make typeface of their handwriting but also include the opposite spectrum on how it gives the opportunity for more talented people to make fonts with fewer resources like time and money.  

Some resources I plan to use for research, among others

Megg’s History of Graphic Design

Typographic Design: Form and Communication

A History of Calligraphy

The Education of a Typographer

Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age

Émigré

5. Form of the project: Describe what the individual pieces would be: number of pieces, sizes, colors, materials, techniques, quantity.

The paper will be formatted by MLA standards along with the required bibliography, outline, works cited and cover page.

6. How will the final pieces be presented? (comped, printed, electronic, actual art, etc.)

It will be presented in printed form, an electronic form of it will also be available.

October 2-8

This week started sadly with finding out that my computer's logic board had gone bad with my first proposal draft on it. After the initial terror of a new computer had set in I realized I would need to rewrite my proposal on Sunday before our meeting time on Monday. In the end it didn't end up being the worst thing that could have happened, my ideas were much clearer the second time around. I've been making the effort to talk with people at work about my paper and getting some perspectives and ideas. One thought that popped up was that hand lettering is becoming popular again because now everyone has the technology and ability to set type so hand rendering skills is a way to set yourself apart. YAY for more ideas and theories to insert in :)