Twentieth Century Type Designers

Since its first publication in 1987, Twentieth Century Type Designers has become a standard reference work for typographers, designers and students alike. This new edition includes an examination of the latest technological developments in the design and composition of type, and introduces the work of some of the more recent designers to have made their mark this century.Although the skeleton shapes of the letters of our alphabet hardly change, many skilled type designers have devoted much time, sometimes their whole lives, to drawing different versions of the outlines. This book serves as an introduction to the concept of typefaces and to some of the personalities who have created them - Goudy, Rogers, Koch, Gill, Morison, Van Krimpen, Trump, Tschichold, Frutiger, and Zapf - and places them in the context of the enormous changes that have occurred this century in the methods of creating and setting type.A new generation of typographers working in the latter half of this century, such as Matthew Carter, Sumner Stone and others, are now profiled. Working with entirely different tools from their predecessors, they reflect the new typography in varying degrees.The introduction in the 1880s of the Linotype and Monotype hot-metal composing machines, and in particular the Benton pantographic punchcutter, revolutionized the manufacture of type, and caused a flood of new typefaces. More recently, filmsetting and digital typesetting have brought new opportunities - as well as new disciplines. This book examines the conflicts arising from these technological advances, which have pitted craftsmanship against commercial interests, and forced designers to come to terms with the new creative opportunities.Whatever motivates type designers - whether it is in the practical need to create new faces for machines, the ideal of producing the perfect letter-form for our age, or whether type is designed as an offshoot of other artistic activities - their work has had a far-reaching impact on our culture.