Since the beginning of the written word, typography has expanded and developed over the ages. From the decorative uncials painstakingly produced in manuscripts to the architecturally inspired typefaces of the modern era letter forms have impacted cultural and society; visually stimulating while sending a clear message. The purpose of this paper will be to explore typefaces and their impact of society’s culture by looking at the monastic uncials and half-uncials, Baskerville, and Helvetica. These type faces span centuries so it will enable a closer inspection of the cultural impact of the eras they were created.
The uncial letterforms do not have one sole creator. It was around the 4th century when the rigid, often chiseled letter forms of the Romans, called quadrata, were softened with rounded edges. (Dodd 2006, 10-11) This type of typography gained popularity because it was initially easier to read, however, as the proclivity for décor and curved lines grew the uncial became more organic and curvilinear. These letterforms were often used in religious works and with its popularity came different stylizations depending on the region (Dodd 2006, 12). Gradually, uncials progressed further into the more medieval Insular Script; another highly rounded and curvilinear type face. One of the most infamous manuscripts that demonstrate Insular Script would be The Book of Kells, scribed around the year 800, in Ireland. The Book of Kells is now kept in Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Much further after uncials came the Baskerville typeface which was created by John Baskerville in the mid to late 1700s and is still widely used today-some 250 years later. The Baskerville typeface is a traditional font with bracketed serifs and reminiscent of calligraphy styles, and one of the most stunning of the letterforms was the upper case‘Q.’
“…and it has one attribute that makes it infallibly recognizable and timelessly stunning-the upper-case Q.” (Garfield 2010, 98) The ‘Q,’ is probably the most relatable to calligraphy but despite its beauty, and the equally timeless quality of the rest of the alphabet with its contrasting thick and thin lines, John Baskerville did not meet much success in his life. “Some critics even suggested that his type was bad for the eyes…” (Dodd 2006, 48) and of , “…blinding all the Readers in the Nation.” (Lupton 2010, 17) The cultural impact of the Baskerville type face is now mainly considered ‘transitional’ between the heavy letter forms of ‘Old English’ and the more modern appearing ‘Didot’ (Garfield 2010, 98) but regardless of the controversy it brought during its time, the Baskerville typeface now comes preloaded with most computers demonstrating its fluidity into modern times.
Finally, the type face known as Helvetica; a sans serif font created by Swiss designer Max Miedinger 1957 (Garfield 2010, 124), and a font face that has also endured, like Baskerville, well into the modern era but with far more popularity. Helvetica has experienced mass popularity with its bold functionality and easily readability because of its unadorned nature. It is a type face that is straight and to the point, and because of that it has inclusion with computer systems (Dodd 2006, 128), it is used for commuter signs, commercial products, and even inspired its own movie Helvetica directed by Gary Hustwit. (Garfield 2010, 126). Due to the mass likability of the type face, it was updated with variants, known as Neue Helvetica which include; Ultra Light, Thin, Light, Roman, Medium, Bold, Heavy, and Black (Dodd 2006, 127-129.)
In conclusion, uncials, Baskerville, and Helvetica are all typefaces that were originally created and unique to their era, whether it was to focus of the decorative aspect, the transitional aspect, or the usability. Each one was met with a different cultural impact. Uncials were adapted by region for their stylization, Baskerville created a beautiful script that wasn’t appreciated at the time but developed into a mainstay, and Helvetica gained immense popularity with its modern, unadorned quality. The three aforementioned typefaces were critical to the development of letter forms; stylized, calligraphic serifs, and bold modernism.
Bibliography:
Ellen Lupton, Thinking With Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010), 17.
Helvetica: Film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica_(film). 6 November 2011.
Robin Dodd, From Gutenberg to Open Type (Cambridge: The Ilex Press Limited, 2006), 10-129.
Simon Garfield, Just My Type (New York: Gotham Books, 2010), 98-126.
Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art (Boston: Pearson Longman, 2005), 304.
Typographia Historia: The Book of Kells. http://www.codex99.com/typography/37.html. 2 September 2009.
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