In The Crystal Goblet, also known as Printing Should be Invisible, is an explanation of the purpose of type and how it should be properly used in print. She made it clear that the most important job for print is to communicate “thought, ideas, images, from one mind to other minds”. There is more than one way to accomplish this goal, but it is crucial to understand the “science of typography” and its purpose before making any assumptions.

Warde also put emphasis on type as the antithesis of a fine art form. Type is not an art. It has a means to an end. It was made to be recognized and understood, rather than aesthetically pleasing on its own. Readability and legibility are two main factors that should be considered when setting type. The first metaphor in the reading refers to typography as wine in a crystal clear glass as apposed to an elaborately decorated solid gold goblet. Wine can be appreciated more so in a clear glass than a tinted one because it does not alter the color. Same goes for type. If set appropriately, type is autonomous to its container. Nothing should hinder the reader from comprehending the ideas within a field of text.

With the countless amounts of fonts a graphic designer has to choose from today, it is easy to get caught up in the endless amounts elaborately decorated ornamental type—what I know now to be a “doughnut-typeface”. For the most part, their design relates to general cultural assumptions or connotations and their sole purpose is to reignite the flame to which they were. Type void of connotations, or “coffee-type”, relies more on content to create meaning.

In addition, Ward states that type that is used well “is invisible as type”, meaning it is autonomous. Ward compares typesetting to a perfect speaking voice, that which is “inaudible as a voice”. Type is “the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas”. The best set type is most readable and legible kind…legible meaning how easily distinguishable the letterforms are, and readability being the level of ease in which text can be comprehended.

Beatrice also compared a book typographers job to a window.  A stained glass window, although it may be in the fine art sense a beautiful work of art, is essentially not a good window. A great window is transparent and displays an outdoor landscape to the viewer on the inside, just as typography essentially brings “that landscape which is the author’s words” to “the reader inside the room”.

In the end, typography was created to be read without unnecessary interruption. In today’s modern world, I believe Beatrice would have been surprised at the technological advancements that have taken place. But as technology progresses, so do the number of ways typesetting can go horribly wrong. “The Crystal Goblet” helped me understand the function of type, which is to be read. It is best not to leave obstacles for the reader to have to hurdle. It is best if everything is crystal clear.

“The reader ‘plays’ the text as a musician plays an instrument.”  (page 97). Text is how we interpret our speech. Each reader has their own perspective of how it should sound. Spacing is a crucial element in making text flow effortlessly. Without it, there would be no breathing room in massive amounts of text. It would not be interpreted as easily as speech. With the technology we have today, the designer has all the tools necessary to communicate any message.

“How texts are used becomes more important than what they mean” (97). Text is no longer bound to what word it represents. During the Dada movement of the 1920s, the system was challenged by artists and poets of the Futurists agenda. They broke free from the format by integrating form and content resulting in a new technique to effectively communicate a message.

F.T. Marinetti

Today’s technology and software allows typography to be much more flexible. Adobe InDesign can manipulate tracking, or “the overall spacing of a group of letters” (104). The book had good examples of how subtle the effect can be, but it can be used to show emphasis. I especially enjoyed the Cruet & Whisk logotype by Duffy & Partners. It is a fine example of how a little tracking can add a sort of softness to text if well thought through.

Duffy & Partners

But what seems most important to me is kerning. Lupton defines it as “an adjustment of space between two letters” (102). Kerning is a bit like tracking, except looking through a microscope. Not every two letter combination can be optically balanced. Someone once told me that the white space between each letter in a word should be filled with equal amounts of “imaginary sand”. I suppose that is if you want to be perfectly optically balanced. InDesign offers the tools necessary, including line spacing alignment, for making communication more exciting. Text can be crushed together to convey claustrophobia or break them apart so it will be read slowly. The options seem endless.

Prior to reading about the grid I was not expecting anything complex, but then I the example of a modular grid on page 194. Grids are used to govern the layout of a page. It is a useful tool for organizing information. There are all sorts of grids that can be applied to various projects. Grids can vary depending on how much or what kind of information you are having to work with.

At the end of the day, I learned a lot about the use of the grid, organizing information and data, and space, and its importance in typography. Below are a few pieces I found through the web that I felt went along what I have been learning so far.

Milton Glaser

Paul RandSeymour Chwast

Ellen Lupton; Thinking with Type, 2nd revised and expanded edition: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students

After completing the first reading assignment, I found the evolution of type to be highly fascinating. I was interested by how something so natural and human such as the act of communicating evolved from handwritten characters to well thought out typefaces with somewhat of a narrative included into their design. As technology advanced and ideologies changed, so did the designs of the typefaces we see today.

The early traditional calligraphic typefaces took a giant leap for modernism during the Industrial Revolution with the invention of type cut from wood, specifically the pantograph and router. It allowed for more variations of the same typeface. Also with the new technology, scale was no longer an issue and it allowed various decorative elements to be added to a parent typeface giving each typeface more of a variety. That alone is the reason advertising with posters, or bills, became so popular and high in demand.

The most intriguing aspect to me was the De Stijl movement. It challenged and reformed the standards of the time with a new sort of simplicity that disregarded the standards of the Humanists. The  new style was more geometric and abstract than the prior calligraphic Humanist styles, incorporating squares, which were inspired partly by the cubist movement of the time, as well as perfectly round circles, triangles, and also straight lines. I feel as though that was the first step into the world of modernism we know today.