Pre-digital typography and design

[follicle]

I'm a recent graduate of a Graphic Design program. I am currently buying every publication possible (books, magazines) to broaden my education in the subject. I love to learn about designers, their personal approach, and the hard lessons they've learned being in the business for so long. However, there is one subject that escapes me...

Recently, I picked up Paula Scher's book, "Make it bigger". In it, her whole career story can be read (all very interesting, I might add). Mrs. Scher generally deals with typographic work in a non-digital environment. Going to art school in this modern age generally leaves the student without any education of the procedures for graphic design pre-desktop publishing / pre Adobe age. In her book, Paula speaks a lot out designing type, using pre-existing typefaces, and using a lot of photocopiers. The head of my design department at school mentioned this a few times, but never went into much detail.

Can anyone give me a basic rundown on how type was laid out and reproduced in the pre-digital era? What about existing typefaces like Garamond and Trajan? Where they traced by the designer for the layout or were there other methods? What about color? How was it all executed without computers?

I know this is ignorant, but I'm trying my best to learn. I wish modern art schools would also cover the practices of the past because from what I can understand, it was pretty interesting. Any help in the subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[distruktor]

look up things like Letraset and letterpress. I may be wrong but im way back i belive typographers had to draw a typface by hand at whatever point size was required. So essentially they "learned" typfaces.

It was a real skill back in the old days

[CamarotaDesign]

well, my teacher told us about these stickers that you could buy of alphabets, that would make camera ready. If you want to go even past that, Type foundrys would create faces out of lead. And you would order these big heavy boxes of metal type. They were chiseled out of blocks (I think, or they could have been poured into a mold).And the size of the block that was started out on was the determing factor of the type size. That is why some typefaces are a lot smaller than others even at the the same pt. size.

[distruktor]

well, my teacher told us about these stickers that you could buy of alphabets, that would make camera ready.

i think he was talking about letrasett... they werent really stickers more like transfers, kinda, that you had to burnish down on to the page.

If you want to go even past that, Type foundrys would create faces out of lead. And you would order these big heavy boxes of metal type. They were chiseled out of blocks (I think, or they could have been poured into a mold).And the size of the block that was started out on was the determing factor of the type size. That is why some typefaces are a lot smaller than others even at the the same pt. size.

i think that was called hot metal... but im not one hundred percent sure. They also used to carve letters out of wood (letterpress) these were all at varying sizes like the metal ones you were talking about Camarota, we,ve got a load here at work they are beautiful to look at

[CamarotaDesign]

Ah, thanks for stating it better than I could. Im a little hazy on that stuff, I should have added a disclaimer :D its been a while since I last talked to someone who wanted to talk about this stuff.

I'd definately like to see some of those woodblocks. got any photos?

i think he was talking about letrasett... they werent really stickers more like transfers, kinda, that you had to burnish down on to the page.



i think that was called hot metal... but im not one hundred percent sure. They also used to carve letters out of wood (letterpress) these were all at varying sizes like the metal ones you were talking about Camarota, we,ve got a load here at work they are beautiful to look at

[distruktor]

not at the moment but i can take some. Here is a cool desktop wallpaper of some wooden ampersands though it'll give you an idea of what it looks like

http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com/images/desktops/twistedsun/ampersands_1600.jpg

[cjoe]

before digital everything was film set (started in the sixities), or set by a linotype/monotype(hotmetal)/letterpress machine. I'm not sure how early offset was used in the production of large run highfidelity-type publications.

But yeah basically, with the monotype machine particularly, you could fine tune your kerning (little metal strips between letters) and leading (little metal strips between lines). The linotype machine was less flexible because it set lines of type at a time rather than the individual characters.
Fonts were originally developed exclusively for either mono or lino processes but foundries then began to develop them for both. The fonts were basically the sets of moulds that were used to create the characters, this of course was cheaper and quicker than woodtype, letterpress technology which relied on huge banks of characters which were all "hand cut". (someone invented a router that did this quickly but I can't remember who it was)

Interesting tidbit: We name Uppercase and Lowercase characters because of where they were stored in the font case for a letterpress machine. Capitals were stored in the upper case.

[jlknauff]

and leading (little metal strips between lines)Which is why we call it leading...for those of you that didn't realize that :D

You could also order paper text at whatever point size you needed for paste-up w/ hot wax.

[bishopdante]

OK you lot, that's rather tragic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing

Printing was invented in China somewhere around 1400 years ago. This was done with hand carved chunks of wood. Since then people have made relief prints with anything from potatos to platinum.

Traditional cut'n'paste is done again with pretty much anything you've got to hand. The digital transition started with running blocks of type onto bromide and slicing them up with a scalpel and spraymounting them into place. Before that, there was letraset, or a brush.

Hey ho.

Masters of pre-digital type:

Lead type was post-industrial. Good stuff. Lasted pretty much up until the 80s. Prime period of development: 1880-1930.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Gill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Goudy

[frankster]

I've had a lot of fun getting involved with maintenance and operation of linotype machinary. There's a UK based forum for people that still use this equipment for the love of it.

http://www.metaltype.co.uk (http://www.metaltype.co.uk/forum/index.php)

It's quite a facinating piece of engineering, from the non qwerty keyboard to the fluid motion casting the slug. Unfortunately it's usually elderly men that are involved in maintaining this stuff and the knowledge going to die off with them soon. The bloke who showed me this stuff is over 80 years old. This is the intertype that I've been "playing" with...

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6327/april072ip0.jpg

and here's a good explanation of one in action (one of the more modern intertypes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUChG8rgXw4

Prior to the line casting machines moveable type was set with individual lead characters called sorts (aparently the term "out of sorts" came from this, as in it was a shitter if you ran out of a particular sort that you needed to finish setting the piece) I did some letterpress printing from individual sorts arranged in a composing stick, which was cool, but putting the ****ers back in the right place in the case when you were done was very boring indeed. At least with the line caster the machine resorts the matrices and you just melt down the slug to reuse the lead.

[budafist]

Now who is calling who a noob? ;)

Printing was invented in China somewhere around 1400 years ago.

I didn't know the Chinese invented print.

[PrintDriver]

Only noobs resurrect old 2006 threads to call people noobs.
:D

[MikeHun]

After cast type linotype machines there was the emergence of photo-lithograpy
If you have ever seen the klunky computers back in the 60's you know what I mean.
Type setters was a job classification unto it's own and graphic designers
would "spec" or specify type top be set in a way to fit your paste-up.
So as a Designer you need toknow your math and the word count.
You would need to set your type height, factoring in your leading to
Copy fit your text.
So the job of a designer was MUCH! harder back before Desktop computers came along.. if any one is interested I have pictures
I can snap of paste-ups to upload and Litho stripping oh yea that was a
pre-press position you were called a Stripper!

[MikeHun]

Here is a shot of still pliable Letraset circa 1985
I will post some shots of paste - up boards
whenever I can digg them up:D

[garricks]

Is it sad that I still have chartpack tape sitting on the light table three feet from my Mac Pro?

I remember the nightmare all nighters when we'd take the paper cassette out of teh Lino and feed it into the developer, only to discover the stop bath (or was it fixer? it was only a 2-step process...anyway) had contaminated the developer, turning it all into a gooey white mess. That always created some very colorful language.

Oh, and when changing clothes after a day of pasteup, I'd always find little letters stuck to my shirt, right about the waistline. LOL

[morea]

Only noobs resurrect old 2006 threads to call people noobs.
:D


LOL :D

[MikeHun]

processing / developer... I knew people who got up and
quit when the film was a bad batch, some I know from that era
said if it wasn't for digital they would have left mechanical art.

No the chartpak is cool I have a full roll/tin of registration marks too

brought to you by the letter q

[MD]

Only noobs resurrect old 2006 threads to call people noobs.
:D
http://ilikedevouringbabies.tripod.com/pwned.jpg

[jimking]

Now who is calling who a noob? ;)



I didn't know the Chinese invented print.

"Born to a wealthy family around 1400 in Mainz, Germany, Johann Gutenburg, a goldsmith, was to become the inventor of removable type that was also reusable as well. The Chinese had formed earthenware type in the 11th century and the letterpress as early as the 6th century, but neither proved acceptable for the mass production of printed materials. The Dutch may have also experimented with a crude sort of movable type in the 1430’s, but Gutenburg’s methods of casting type are the basis from which modern printing has evolved. His invention replaced the tedious and time consuming task of copying books, word for word, letter for letter, by hand."

http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b2gutenburg.htm

[MikeHun]

By monks in cold dark dank dungeons....
Hey wait that was my last job

[garricks]

By monks in cold dark dank dungeons....
Hey wait that was my last job With Xerox® machines? LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IgH2M02xek

[MikeHun]

Ah Ah ha ha ha ah ahaha hahh ahahhh That is soo F$kin funny,
and could you see every topic and tread discussed.

1 thing tho bro, do away with the doo

tooooo much like no counry for old men

[frankster]

With Xerox® machines? LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IgH2M02xek

Lol, you reminded me of this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

[MikeHun]

I say there... bit of lateral thinking going on here!

[frankster]

Funny monks and youtube that's all. Not all that lateral.

[garricks]

MikeHun, frankster and I are just MONKeying around on a friarday.

frank, that was great! I've never seen it before. :D

[frankster]

Lol! Friarday. You are a silly sausage.

[morea]

I miss the old Xerox logo.

Frankster, I just went to look that one up on youtube - the Xerox vid made me think of "the book" too! :D

[MikeHun]

Thank god i'ma friar T.G.I.F.

[frankster]

We had a show in the UK on a friday night after the pubs had chucked out called "T.F.I. Friday" It was loony. They had segments like "freak or unique" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsajAFFxReA) and "fat lookalikes" along with celebrity interviews (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIdTSlqYpj8) and music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZds9bOQPjo). It was on in the late nineties.

[budafist]

2128 views and 30 posts!

[PrintDriver]

It's all those googlers doing reports on typography. LOL!

[Menkerios]

wow, talk about mind numbing and easy to mess up if you don't pay attention...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVvbWdXRMQs

[PrintDriver]

That's where the phrase, "Mind your p's and q's came from."
And how many fonts do you think you had to choose from back then? Bear in mind that movie is only from 1959.

Feeling spoiled yet?

[garricks]

That cabinet had 16 cases in it. So even if each typeface only had Roman, Italic, Bold and Bold italic font cases, the cabinet would only hold two typefaces.

Now you know why copy was thoroughly edited before being typeset.

[PrintDriver]

You forgot about point size. That cabinet probably only holds 1 typeface in various point sizes. Forget bold, italic, etc. :D

[garricks]

Oh, DUH!
I never actually set lead type, I apprenticed under a guy who did. He told great stories about "back in my day." :D

And while we're helping the kidz with their typography reports, here's a map showing the spread of printing across Europe in the 15th century.

Clicky (http://atlas.lib.uiowa.edu/)

It's also a pretty cool Flash Web page, as a bonus.

[MikeHun]

For bonus points.... Can anybody in the class explain the importance
Of Albrecht Durer and the "intaglio" process and what are the modern day parallels in the high volume print runs of today?

[garricks]

More info on early printing and copy work. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i6FwrY3c7c) :D