History of Type

 Origins:

Written language first started off at symbols and shapes from the ancient Egypt. The first symbols that would be used to describe something were first seen around 2000 BC. This was the alphabetical language of the Egyptians, hieroglyphs. Most other alphabets had evolved from this, or were inspired by its design. One language most of all that followed the design of the hieroglyphs was the Greek alphabet. In the third century they had found a script that had involved three languages, Hieroglyphics, Hieratic script and the Greek Alphabet.

This Stone is called the "The Rosetta Stone", and has been classed as one of the most famous discoveries due to the three languages all on the same script. You can see how the language has evolved thought the different eras. You can also see similarities of our language from the Greeks language, as you can recognise some of the letters on the script.

(The Rosetta Stone)

www.caitloon.com/rosetta.jpg

The Greek alphabet was developed since 730 BC (8th century of BC). The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of many languages in Europe, and Middle Eastern            (Ancient Greek alphabet)                                                                              languages. The Greek alphabet  has been changed   http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Greekalphabet.svg              from its ancient form to its Modern Greek alphabet. The ancient from of the Greek alphabet was written with only a single majuscule (Upper case) to create each letter. The Greek alphabet then created a second set of characters which were minuscule (Lower case). These second set of letters were developed during the middle ages, therefore resulting in the modern day system we have now with upper and lower case characters.Modern Greek is known as Ρωμαίικα (Roman). The Roman alphabet is the language that most modern day languages use. The Roman language was first originally used to write Latin.

Symbol

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

V

X

Y

Z

Latin name of letter:

ā

bē

cē

dē

ē

ef

gē

hā

ī

kā

el

em

en

ō

pē

qū

er

es

tē

ū

ex

ī Graeca

zēta

Latin was the old language that the Romans used to speak, although now days this language has become a "dead language" as most people do not write or speak this. Latin is the mother of all Roman languages and is the language of the Vatican city. People in the Roman Catholic Church still use the Latin language so they can communicate if they speak different types of languages. Latin is also used by zoologists, and botanists to name new species of plants and living animals. They would also give a modern name to the species as well in the modern language. When deciding on a new Latin name, this would be a precise agreed definition to the new species. The names that would be used in science or medicen would be words that have been created from other words, or that are Latin words themselves. There were two types of Latin, classic Latin and Vulgar Latin. Classic Latin was the language used by educated Roman's, and was also used by the Catholic Church. Vulgar Latin was used by the more common spoken Roman's 

(Latin language)

http://www.freewebs.com/joecoghe/Latin%20Words.jpg

Optima: The History

Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf, a German typeface designer. This was designed between 1952, 1955 and released in 1958 by Berthold. This font was created for a company called D. Stempel AG foundry located in Frankfurt,

Germany. Hermann Zapf has also designed another popular typefaces such as Palatino and Zapfino. Optima is a design that has included both serif sans, and serif in to a design. With this typeface, the design looks very stylised, and classy. This draws many graphic designers to use this font on large advertisement, where font is only needed to give the message to the public. During the 1960's and 1970's, loads of graphic designers used this font as this was one of the most attractive fonts during that decade. Many graphic designers used this font for main type advertisement, brochures, catalogues, and magazines. This font was also used for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and in John McCain’s presidential campaign.

My view on the Optima font is that I really like it. I think it looks neat, and professional. This is also very easy to read so if this was on a large A2 poster with large letters, I think people would be able to glace at it, and read the information very quickly. I really like the ancient look of this font, I think this makes this font stand out from others, due to its soft movement in the letters. I also think that the spacing in between the letters are a good space which helps to read the font easily. I think the think and thin areas really help this font to look interesting, they merge in with each other very well which makes the font look attractive. Comparing the upper-case letters and the lower-case letters, I feel they convey a completely different saying about them. The lower-case is very neat and tidy, and shows like it quite and smart looking. The upper-case letters I think are the complete opposite, they show strong, loud and striking to the public. The upper-case is very 'shouty' and using all upper-case in a poster would not attract many viewers. I think the capitals in this type face make them look like the Roman capitals, I think this looks great becuase this makes the font look old but stylish.

Optima Font

I have started to look at how I can make the Optima font look interesting, and what techniques I can use to show off Optima's strongest points. I have created a grid and used the Optima's characters to show the soft, smooth curves. I think this will show you how this type face has become the most used type face in the 1960's and 1970's.

 I wanted to show how the characters change thickness and where they decided to place the flicks at the end. As you can see that only some characters have the flick on the end of the letter, as if it was on all I think this would become repetative and the font will become less professional. I have chossen a couple of characters that I think looks very intresting, and would be my favourite letters out of them all. I have chosen the character 'g', as I think this looks very intresting, I like how the the letter flows so well and joins at the bottom.I like how the character joins up so well, and I think the extra on the right side of the character really helps to make the letter look effective. Another aspect of the font that I really like is that some characters are very rounded and smooth; for example 'C', 'A', 'G', but the other letters are very stright and presise. I think the mixture of the both styles in this type face work really well together, and make this font attractive.

I think all of these characters would represent movement, becuase of the constant flow throught the letters. I think this looks very neat, and really draws my eye to this type face. I think the flow within the characters really makes this font become one of the best, this font is not too thick or too thin, it is just perfect. I like how each letter has a change in thickness, this makes each character individually unique.

Experimenting with Optima

I have been experimenting with Optima on how to use the font. What will make the font stand out? How to make the font interesting? Are there are techniques I could use on the type face to make it better? I decided to try the type face out on a business card. Here are some examples of what I created with the font. I wanted the images to be plain, and simple because I am only experimenting with the font at the moment, later I will be trying out what images or textures work well with the type face.

Optima font looks very professional, and neat. I think these business cards look good due to the type face. I think that the type face really makes the viewer draw their eye to the poster/business card/advert you are creating. My favourite business card would be the top left, as this is simple, and tidy. I think the others are scattered over the business card to much, and this makes the business card look to cluttered, and harder to read.

Otimpa Postcard designs

Design 1:

Well first I wanted to design the whole postcard with the font Optima. I wanted to see how the card would look with just typography, and if I could develop this design further to make a more interesting, and effective design.

Here was the first design I thought of. I wanted to show the shape of the font. As this type face is very smooth, and soft looking, I thought I would add the same effect in the background so this would link in with the font. I think this is very basic, and needs maybe an image or more colour in the postcard to make it look more interesting.

I decided to change the background slightly, so this would make the background more interesting. I choose white, becuase I thought that this would look good against the white font. I have also added a small quote at the bottom saying "the way forward...". I added this is, becuase the white light from the right, looks like that is the future. I was also trying to advertise the font more.

Otimpa Postcard designs

Design 2:

For the second design I wanted to go for a style that showed a modern society look to the postcard, this is what I came up with. I associate this with a modern society, because the way the postcard I laid out. The postcard is only made up from letters with the Optima font, and placed in different directions, and colours to give this interesting effect. I like that the there are many different colours, although they all work well with each other. I like that you can see some letters only over other letters. I created this using Photoshop, and overlay many of the letters so that this would show on some characters, and not on others. I thin that the postcard is too busy, and too crowded, I think if I place less characters on the postcard this would look brilliant. Another area that I think I should change is that the Optima word is too small, and this should have the most attention. An area that I do like is the 'F' and the 'P', I like how they change colour from red to black as they overlap another letter. I think this is a really good effect, and works really well.















This is another version I created, I wanted to remove some of the letters to make it less crowded. Making this have less characters would hopefully create more attention to the Optima word, although I think this works, I still think that the Optima needs to have more attention. Maybe increasing the size might help, or removing the amount of colour from the 'T' might also increase attention. I think this postcard looks brilliant, and I think it is an improvement to the first version. I like the colours that I have used, and I think this looks very professional, and merges well together. I like the different effects that have been added on some of the characters for example; the top right of the postcard.








In this version I have removed the amount of colour in the 'T' to see if this helped the postcard. I have also increased the size of the Optima too, so this would become more noticeable. I think this version looks a lot better, and could possible be one of my final pieces. I think this image looks clam, relaxing, and professional.

With this version I wanted to try creating the postcard landscape. What I did was rotate it 90 degrees. I then changed the layout slightly to fit the landscape design. I changed where the Optima was, as if I left it it was too hard to read as it was at an angle. I decided to move it to fit along the 'L'. I think this is a good area to place the Optima if the postcard is landscape. I think in this postcard there is too much colour, and this is too in your face', if I reduce the brightness of the postcard I think this would look like an interesting effect to the postcard.


I think this version looks a lot better, the colour of the postcard has become more friendly, and looks more interesting with characters fading in and out of each other. The letters merge a lot better with each other, and I think the characters overlaying makes an unusual effect to the postcard. This postcard could be a final piece option.

Otimpa Postcard designs

Design 3:


The next design I wanted to create was a very simple, but effective postcard. The previous design was very Pretentious and there was a lot of going on. With this design I have applied the simpleness to the postcard, and I think this looks better. I think the black and white creates a good effect, and this draws attention to the description.

I have added some more letters at the bottom of the postcard to create more of an interesting effect to the postcard. I think this looks very good, and I like how the letters join up. this is to show the effect of the font. I think this font is very smooth, and flows very well. I think this shows how the font flows. I really think this looks very unusual. 















This is another version, and development to this design. I think this   is too much, although this looks too much I think. I think the grey 'A' works well, as this does not attract contact, although draws you in to the postcard. This works really well, and creates a interesting effect. I like how the characters are all in line, and spaced out evenly.

Otimpa Postcard designs

Design 4:

 This was another image I created trying to go with a simple approach. I think this is too much on the postcard. I like the design of it, although I think I can change the layout of this postcard. I like that the Optima font is in white to draw attention to the font name. The characters are in grey so this is not as noticeable. I think this is a good technique.                              

 I have added a background of letters from Optima font. I have connected them to show the smoothness of the Optima font. I think this is a good postcard, although I think this is too much to be on a postcard.

 This version I have added Optima font behind, to attract attention to the Optima font. This is to show that the postcard is about Optima.

 I have designed a white version of the design to see how this would look. I think this looks a lot more calm, and this looks like I have used less characters on the postcard. I still think there is too much going on the postcard.

 With this version I have created the same image, although changed the postcard to white. I think this looks better than the black version. The white version looks a lot more calm, and more friendly to the public.

 This is the same image as above, although I have changed the colour to black. I think this looks more interesting, although this looks more cluttered, and needs to change the layout of the postcard.

 I decided to go with the simple approach, and I think this looks much better. I think this looks professional, and creates a good effect to the postcard. I decided to keep with the effect at the bottom right, behind Optima font, as this creates more attention to the area of the postcard.

This version is the same above, although I changed the background colour to white. I think this white makes the postcard even more simple, although I think this needs something to add to make the postcard look interesting.

Optima Final Design

The design I have chosen will be this design:

I chose this postcard because I think this looks professional, and neat. I like how simple the postcard looked. Another are that I like is that each letter is spaced out evenly, and placed in the same area below. I think this postcard looks neat, and professional. I think the black and white work well and draws you in to the postcard. I think this is an interesting postcard. The reason why I have included the letters at the bottom is to emphasis that the font is very smooth, and flowing. I think the font flows very well, and links in with each character well. I like how in some areas of the characters it ends sharply, and other areas it finishes with a soft flick. The mixture of both of these work really well, and creates a good looking effect to the postcard.

On the there is a small description of the font, and also the St Bride Library details. I have also added an area to place the stamp, and lines to write. I think this is a good back design, as this is simple, although still looks attractive, and gives a good effect. I have kept with the front design with the letters at the bottom, although faded them out so this would not look distracting. I think this is a good design, and a good postcard.

History postcard designs

Design 1:

 This is the first design I created for the history postcard. I thought that I would focus on paper, and how type has got to paper. Type has come from cave drawings and evolved into books. I though ti would have an image of a old, ancient book to create this effect. I  overlaid 'History of Type'. I placed this on 'mulitiply' so that the image would be shown thought the title. I think this looks good, although I would like to do something more with what I have researched.

I created another version, although changed the levels, brightness, and contrast of the image to make it more bright, and stand out more. I think the image looks better, and I like that it looks golden representing the old ages.

History postcard designs

Design 2:

I like this design, I think this is a good postcard. I like that this evolves what I have been researching. This postcard is the Greek alphabet, and I have added the names of each character below. I think this is a good simple postcard that would attract people. Another reason why I think this postcard would be good is because people would like buying products with information, or something to learn on them. My postcard shows them the Greek alphabet, and how to pronounce them.

I have done another version, although changed the colour of the background. I added a slight yellow creamy colour to the postcard to give an old or ancient effect to the postcard.

History postcard designs

Design 3:

 I think this design is too plain, and too boring. I think if I would develop this postcard I think the idea was good. The background image I got off the internet, although I added the Egyptian characters on, and made them look like they have been carved into the wall. I was linking this in to the research I have found.

This version is the same, although I have changed the colour. I made the colour become more brighter. I did this so this would be seen more clearer.

History Final Design

History Final Design

I have chosen this design for my history postcard, as I thought that this would be very interesting. I also chose this as my final design, because I think that this will work really well, because people can buy this, and learn the Greek alphabet at the sometime. I think the border really makes the postcard stand out. I also think it looks professional, and neat.

This is the back of the postcard, I have written a blurb of what I was focused on. I focused on the Greek alphabet and described on how the Greek alphabet has evolved into type at the moment. I have added the St Bride Library details at the bottom of the postcard. I have also added lines so you can write your message. I have left a rectangle to where the stamp will be placed. I think the back of the postcard looks professional, and neat. I am very happy with the outcome of this postcard.