Everyday Typography
Typography before Gutenberg
Examples:
The disk is about 15 cm (5.9 in) in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols.The disc was discovered in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier in the Minoan palace-site of Phaistos.
The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele, found in 1799. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic script and Demotic script, respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek.
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1450 BC.
Anatomy of type
Famous and pioneering typographer:
Paul Renner:
Paul Friedrich August Renner was a typeface designer. In 1927, he designed the Futura typeface, which became one of the most successful and most-used types of the 20th century. He was born in Wernigerode, Germany and died in Hödingen. He disliked abstract art and many forms of modern culture, such as jazz, cinema, and dancing. But equally, he admired the functionalist strain in modernism. Thus, Renner can be seen as a bridge between the traditional (19th century) and the modern (20th century).
Typefaces designed by Paul Renner:
- Architype Renner (1927)
- Futura (1927)
- Plak (1928)
- Futura Black (1929)
- Futura light (1932)
- Ballade (1938)
- Renner Antiqua (1939)
