In the short video “fun history of type” i enjoyed how it explored the history of typography and such in a interactive way . Although it can be hard sometimes to gather information from something so interactive but it was a good amount of information I was able to retain so I think it was pretty informative . In fact , one of the new things I kinda got from the video is that the first things kids used to write on in school was wax tablets until someone thought of the bright Idea to fold papyrus . Who knew it was something as simple as that . 

On the other hand in the video a “A brief history of type” just about gave a lot of the same information but in a more historic informative way . I thought it was good to have the combination of the two because it helps me understand and retain the information more . One thing I learned from the video was that the first movable type form was created in China in the 11th century using ceramics material . And in the Clip that they show it looks like stamps so something so common now back than was used to create words and sentences . 

A Brief History of Type: I found this video particularly excellent, given that it is an informative video. In my opinion, I prefer this video over the “Fun History of Type.” I feel that anyone who sees this last one will not take as much information about the topic; instead, they might get distracted by “the funny way to summarize the history of type.” Technically they are expressing the same idea but with a different approach to it. I need to say that I’m amazed by the way that the Type has evolved over the centuries. The world needs were the reasons for it to transform; initially, the only way to find writing was in the Gutenberg Bible, but only rich people could get their hands on it. The black letterforms were difficult to read, so the need for a highly readable typeface that could reach more people was what started the Type’s evolution. The reason for the creation of more typefaces can be credited to multiple events on history, like the industrialization and even WWI/WW2. It’s incredible to see how Type affects our daily lives and how it influences us to choose something depending on how the typeface visually reach us.

On “A Brief History of Type”, Leuschke explains how typography and the use of writing changed from basic use to create a universal method of communication and standardizing currency, to utilizing it for artistic and stylistic purposes. Hans Gutenberg as it was said, revolutionized the way typography was used and purposed by creating his version of the Christian Bible, which is still used today. It was interesting to learn that he basically created the idea of mass producing writing and thus being the pioneer for printmaking. Creators like Nicholas Jensen were the first to stylize writing in a simplistic and aesthetic way, which was akin to the artwork that was popular during the time. These different styles like Baskerville, Garamond, etc. all popularized the way we think about fonts and typefaces as not just a way to communicate, but as a way to express artistic emotion. I also found it interesting how advertisments were started and popularized with its relationship to the spread of literature, as well as the invention of the lineograph machine which changed the way mass production of writing forever. The creation of this machine inspirsed the invention of the monotype and and the typewriter, and later the most tenchologically advanced way of writing, the computer. Presently, typeface has now explored the idea of creating fonts that mirror hand written designs, which shows how the evolution of type is constanty changing and discovering new ways of creating art.

A “Fun History Of Type” teaches us an interacting way of learning about the history of how type is used today. Learning how books over scrolls were popularized, as well as the mass production of written books were created was something I never knew. The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg revolutionized how mass writing was able to take off and reading and writing was popularized. This was the start of how type was used indefinitely. Now, living without typeface would be impossible; it is integrated in our everyday lives. from phones, to computers, to advertisements, to newspapers, type is now our primary way of communicating and connecting with one another. As long as technological advances are made, typography and the way written languages are created will also advance to adapt to our future.

In the “History of type”, I learned that typography went through many changes from centuries past to the present, especially how type was made. For example, type before was used in dyes, currency punches, and seals, and then one day in the 11th century, China created the first movable type using ceramic materials and in Korea, was the first metal type. Moreover, people like Johannes made the first massively produced Guttenberg bible that included movable type. With type being the main focus, a lot of emphasis on the type was usedfor many things such as posters, books, plays, and there were even nbewer ways in which type was gooing to be created for much convenience. In the case of Otmae Mergenthaler, he created the hot lead alloy metal type which allowed typing to be less cumbersome. As the years go on, type was used in advertisiment and for commercial use.

In the ” Fun history of type” I learned that during the ages of humankind, different ways of calligraphy and typography were used in different time periods. In ancient Egypt, papyrus was used to write out hieroglyphs, stone tablets in Ancient Rome. When Guttenberg came along, he massively produced the Guttenberg bible using first ever movable printing press. With the printing press being movable, many establishments like schools and churches used it to write more books, texts, etc. Advertising was heavily used during the industrial time period with different, fancy typefaces and when apple came along in the 1980’s, a new reading habit appeared with the pixelated letters. Finally, in the 90’s and nowadays, types are heavily digitized with using a computer to moving our screens on our mobile, tablet devices.

The first video was a 10 min explanation of how was the evolution of type, starting with the symbolic forms of the Egypts to the complex way that we can read through a screen. The video was interesting, i like the way how well is explained the historical process of type, specially with the creation of books and the type machines. I believe that the invention of mass production of books was what actually made start a lot of people their process of type design to what is today.

The second short video is pretty much the same, but cover the essential things in a more interesting way than the long video, i can say that i liked how this video explain the origin of type starting with the people that used to live in caves to the creation of big metal machines to start the production of books when they become famous and wanted for everybody. Also i liked how the video explain must of the most famous type designer in their beginnings and the war between some type web pages in order to become the most used type font web page of that time.

Elijah Moyd 

MMA215

Fun History of Type: This video is about the history of type and the way we read throughout history. I learned a lot about the evolution of type starting with Ancient Egypt to current times. It was really interesting knowing that we started off from drawings to communicate one another to letters what we know today. Especially the process of finding a way people can read books with ease which is why digital reading is more popular today because it involves fonts that are easy to read such as Veranda and digital screens being more useful reading on paper. 

A brief History of Type: This informative video talks about the short history of type. The video gives insight from different time periods and how type (or forms of communication involving type) started evolving and the impact it produced to the world. Impacts like the Renaissance, Reformation, and the numerous world events. The video made me also learn about the origin of creating easier to read typefaces starting from the difficulties to read Gutenberg work causing numerous typographers to emerge and impact the world. For instance, Nicholas Jenson created an easy to read font but also the first Roman face based on human characteristics. I also learned the evolution of creating and displaying fonts from numerous technologies like the Linotype, Monotype, Metal types (the mergenthaler linotype), and computers which led to more creative and modern typefaces.