Final Journal

One period in the History of Graphic Design that is seen even today is the process of developing and creating typography. Chapter 8 of Meggs' History of Graphic Design, describes a specific period of design in which lettering and typographic styles were developed by hand and mechanical tools utilizing thin curves of S's & C's, this period also known as the "rococo era", a specifically beautiful era because of the intricate type that was produced during this time. For example: Perre Didot's title page of Lettres d'une Peruvienne (8-25) exhibits the use of relief printing utilizing a press + mold to produce text against a material. Fasting forward a little more, the Industrial Revolution was a time of several typefounders and design innovations. One of the processes that is intriguing during this time is development of some of the type and how it was done, for example in Chapter 9 of the book, it is said that "typefounders also varied the depth of shading, producing everything from pencil-thin shadows to deep perspectives..." and although this was a different period of time, this process is quite interesting because a lot of this enthusiasm, drive and love for the development of type still exists today.

I can't say that one process is better than the other when it comes to creating typography, though I can say without the founders and those who drove these design decisions to what it is today, there wouldn't be enthusiasts and constant design trends that exists today. The process of developing type and characters has changed based off of technology, and perhaps there are less people doing it- though there is immense talent in the world today that still carry on this trade. Ritchie Ruiz is an example of this and is an typelettering artist from Mexico (https://www.instagram.com/ritchieruiz/?hl=en). When I view his work and compare it to type in the past to artists such as Perre Didot or Louis Simonneau, I get the same enthusiasm and love for the craft.