I went back to those coasters and started sketching out the letters by breaking them up into shapes, which you can see in the middle image below, direct from an old sketchbook. One of our assignments asked us to design example letters for a new typeface. I was especially fond of the Austrian beer Hirter’s logo. Shortly after my trip, I started the typography class required for my graphic design program. On a trip to Vienna a few years ago, I collected beer coasters with logos featuring stylized letters modeled after what I considered “old-timey Gothic” typefaces. I admit some sentimental attachment here, a quick dip for some inspiration easily turns into a deep dive into nostalgia, but I find the emotional aspect churns ideas as well.
(You say hoarder, I say archivist!) In truth, I save a lot of print materials from traveling and visiting museums so I can revisit them when I need a creative spark. Last week I wrote about the typography examples I collected on my trip to Berlin. One such style of typeface, with a rich yet complicated history is blackletter, often referred to as Gothic, Medieval, Old Style, or Grotesque, even though there are differences in meaning across these labels. It’s fascinating to me how traditional terminology stays consistent across new technologies over time and how certain typefaces manage to endure over centuries, reimagined in new contexts, readapted for digital realms. It’s one of the many things that I enjoy about typography-there’s a direct line to the history of the process, always winking to the past. The term literally comes from the strip of lead typesetters would place by hand between the lines of moveable type pieces. For example, “leading” refers to the vertical space between the baselines of text, measured in points. Without that context, it’s not that intuitive. Typography consists of a whole set of terminology, with most words originating from the printing press.
0 kommentar(er)
