Helvetica: Typography and 20th Century

Photography, meaning “drawing with lights” in Greek, is an art as well as a science of capturing light and storing it on a medium with unprecedented accuracy. Yet, up until the late 18th century, history was mainly recorded through the techniques of painting and the press. These mediums unarguably contained a certain degree of a truth, though, it was not uncommon for events, such as war to be composed with glorified details, or an unfavorable bias from the artist at hand. Beginning in the 1830’s, cameras provided a revolutionary solution by combining the advancements in optics and chemistry. Consequently, the new medium of photography was established and forever changed how history would be visually captured. Unlike other methods, photography

As mankind rapidly evolved recording events became harder. Early history is only able to be pictured with using our imagination. Often times historians often clash about what the world looked like. Ancient civilizations from the Mayans and Aztecs have never been seen while they were in their pristine condition. The world is left with written descriptions and ruins not only of the cities themselves, but also the tools used. After the camera was invented in the early 1800s, events were more frequently recorded and it was clear what tools and cities looked like before modern-day. Photography has undoubtedly altered how we document events, created new job openings, and will give generations to come amazing art and show defining moments from each generation. Photography has helped evolve the world by creating new jobs and revolutionizing how events are documented.

Sense the invention of the camera in 1826 photography has been used to document everything from family portraits, social injustice, sporting events, world news, expressions of joy and sorrow, and hundreds of monumental moments. The camera has given man the power to reveal the truth visually. Throughout history photographs have made enormous impacts on social consciousness and ultimately shaped public opinion on many pressing issues in society. Although photography is often considered a casual pastime, the invention of the camera has contributed to many aspects of history, science, and other important pieces of todays world.

In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the Printing Press, which had a major impact on both the Renaissance and printing today, however there other movable type systems invented before Gutenberg’s Printing

The influential typeface Helvetica, a neo-grotesque1 sans serif type design, came into being in the early 1950s - after the Second World War. The expectation of the designers, Edouard Hoffman and Max Miedinger was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form and could be used on a wide variety of signage to remake a new identity apart from the past (). Originally named as Neue Haas Grotesk, the typeface was changed to Helvetica in 1960. Today, Helvetica, as an aesthetics constant, although not perfect, mastered the quantum leap in 1957 from metal type to the digital age of word processing. Axel Langer, a curator of Islamic Near Eastern Art, mentioned it as ‘an impersonal typeface for today and tomorrow ().’

Throughout time, there have been countless artists, designers and typographers that had the opportunity to make a bold statement, invent the next best thing or to engrave their name in the design industry for all eternity. Although ordinary people don’t realize a good design when they see it, they know it has attracted them somehow and they feel the need to ask and wonder how it came to be. Without question, Eric Gill has note ably revolutionized the type world. Without him there would be no benchmark for humanist typefaces; without Gill, there would be no Gill Sans, the font that will consistently be seen as a crisp, clean and readable font; as all typefaces should be. Despite for his one notorious face, he has created 11 typefaces, wrote

By use of his skill of handling a 35-mm Leica camera, he used to create his work with his creative format. This is how he impacted the industry because by 1930s most of his work had already been published in most European picture magazines. At his early years as he seemed he had already covered stories on the rise of Adolf Hitler and also had created photographs of Ethiopia even before the Italian invasion. He shot kings, dictators, and motion picture stars(Clpgh.org, 2015).

A personal favorite of mine and a film that made me want to pursue my career in Graphic Design. Following on from Helvetica, Gary Hustwit’s second film looks at the world of design and the creative concepts behind objects used every day such as toothbrushes to tech gadgets.

After researching one of my favorite typefaces I decided to do it on Paul Renner who has had an impact on typography. Paul Renner was a well-known typeface designer. He was born August 9, 1879 in Wernigerode, Germany and died April 25, 1956 in Hodingen, Germany. He was also a graphic artist, type designer, a typographer and a remarkable painter and teacher. One of his most popular typefaces he designed is called Futura. The Futura typeface was one of the most successful and most used type of the twentieth century. Renner attended a Gymnasium, a secondary school where he studied humanities. Students that studied Greek and Latin for nine years which was what Renner did provided students with a ticket to higher education. What he chose after

Graphic design set its first roots in Germany in 1455 with the introduction of the Blackletter typeface and Johannes Gutenberg’s Gutenberg Bible. Coined as the godfather of printing Gutenberg helped to spread Blackletter in popularity. With the advent of Martin Luther’s New Testament, however, a schism was created between those that chose to use

One reason the camera was the greatest invention was because it helps people keep a hold and learn from the past. When people take photos, they can retain them from generation to generation making sure the memories

The typeface I chose for this research is Times New Roman. I like this typeface out of all the other. You can use this font in many different ads, magazine, books, and etc. this font was first evented in Times New Roman is a Transitional serif typeface designed by Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent. It was released through Monotype in 1931. The design was based off Plantin , but with a renewed focus on legibility and economy to better meet the needs of newspaper typography. Times New Roman is one of the most ubiquitous typefaces of the digital publishing age due to it being the default font for numerous word processing applications and web browsers. In Times New Roman's name, Roman is a reference to the regular style of a conventional serif font. Times New Roman was a metal type created in the late sixteenth century by the French artisan Robert Granjon

Considered one of the most influential typographers in history, John Baskerville made a significant mark on the world of print and type founding. Although considered a failure at printing during his lifetime he produced

It is likely that many artists will have used a camera obscura to aid them in drawing, but because of the stories of the occult, or because they felt it was "cheating" in some way not many people would admit to using one. In 1764, the lens was being developed. The name lens comes from

In 1925, a German camera maker named Oskar Barnack, developed a new, ground-breaking camera called the Leica. It was not until 1933 that a company responded to the success of Barnack’s creation and produced their own 35 millimeter version of his innovative design. Thus was born the Canon Company.