What Does typography Mean
Do you know the etymological origin of the word typography? If not, and before entering fully into what is the analysis of the meaning of the term, it is important that you know that it is found in the Greek. Specifically, this word comes from the union of three components: the word types which means "mold", the concept graphos which can be translated as "write or engrave" and the suffix - ia which is equivalent to "quality or action".
Typography is known as the skill, trade and industry of choice and the use of fonts (the letters designed with unity of style) to develop a printing work. It is an activity that takes care of everything related to symbols, numbers and letters of content that is printed on physical or digital media.
Type design, appearance, and dimensions depend on the typeface. It is possible to distinguish various branches or divisions in this art, such as creative typography (which explores graphic forms beyond the linguistic purpose of symbols), edition typography (linked to the normative properties of type families), typography of the detail or microtypegraphy (focused on the line spacing, the line spacing and the visual mark) and the macro type (specialized in the type, style and body of the symbols).
Typography originally imitated calligraphy. Over time, the most legible and easy-to-understand types were chosen, a decision also linked to technical advances.
The original movable types were developed by Johannes Gutenberg ( 1398 - 1468 ), although these experiments were already carried out by the Chinese in the 11th century. Gutenberg set about engraving the characters in reverse relief on a die made of steel and, in 1445 , succeeded in creating the first printed Western book (the Bible ).
The aforementioned book, which is also known as the 42-line Bible, alluding to the number of lines that formed each page.
When talking about types, which are each of the existing types of letters or the pieces of the printing press that are used to enhance a specific letter or sign, we must emphasize the fact that they have a series of components that make up what is your anatomy. Thus, for example, they have a height, antlers, an arm, a tail, a certain inclination, finials and even an ear.
In this way, starting from this set of elements and many others, the establishment of two classifications of types is carried out: historical or by form.
In the case of the first mentioned modality, we can say that it is composed of ancient, Egyptian or modern types, among others. Meanwhile, in the second, this set of letters are differentiated based on whether or not they have auctions that facilitate or hinder their reading.
In the 19th century , typography opted for two great techniques: monotype (where each symbol is cast in relief in isolation) and linotype (complete lines are cast separately and, at the end of printing, everything is re-cast. ).