Introduction to Typography
Learning Outcomes
In this session, you will learn to:
3⁄4 Explain various forms of typography
1.1 History of Typography
1.1.1 The Origin of the Typographic Forms
Written words are accepted as a primary method of communication in our culture. Its primary elements, the characters of the modern alphabet, were once quite literal symbols of everyday objects which were gradually abstracted to the letters of the alphabet.
Cave paintings, dating as far back as 20,000 B.C. are the first evidence of recorded pictures, true written communication is thought to have been developed some 17,000 years later by the Sumerians, around 3500 B.C. Sumerians created cuneiform. Refer to Figure 1.1.
1.1.2 Pictograms
Sumerians recorded and records preserved stories by using simple drawings of everyday objects, called Pictograms. A Pictogram is:
3⁄4 also known as Pictograph.
3⁄4 an Ideogram that conveys meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object.
3⁄4 often used in writing and graphic systems where characters to a great extent are pictorial in appearance.
Pictures began representing as they were, Pictographs, and eventually certain pictures represented concept or an idea, Ideographs, and finally to represent sounds that are Phonograms.
Early written symbols were based on:
3⁄4 Pictographs (pictures which resemble what they signify). 3⁄4 Ideograms (symbols which represent ideas).
Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began to use such symbols over, developing them into logographic writing systems. Pictographs are still used as a medium of written communication in some non-literate cultures in Africa, Oceania, and The Americas. Most contemporary cultures use pictographs as simple, pictorial, or representational symbols. Refer to Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.1: Cuneiform
Image Courtesy: http://www. designingwithtype.com/items/ itemsSumerian.html
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