The 15th Century is a pivotal point in the history of type. Whilst many credit the beginning of moveable type with Johann Gutenberg and his creation of the Gutenberg Print Press, they are wrong to assume that he invented the printing press and metal type, as these technologies had been prevalent for several hundred years in China. What Gutenberg did do was make the technologies far more practical and useable.
He 'perfected a workable system of moveable type, developing an ingenious process employing a separate matrix, or mold, for each alphabet character, from which metal types could be hand-cast in great quantities. These types could then be assembled into a page of text, and imprinted to paper via special inks and a printing press of his own design. For the first time, a technical system of mass production was applied to publishing.'
From that point, different typefaces began to emerge and develop within different eras. The earliest were the humanist typefaces, created to emulate the handwriting of italian renaissance philosophers. It superceded black letter and gothic typefaces,which were more difficult to read, and modernised them.
Characterisitcs included a inflection in the e, and notable examples include Jenson, Centaur, Kennerly and Jersey.
Old style fonts, first designed in the 1500's took their forms from the Venetian style, and signify a classic, renaissance and sophisticated style. Examples include Palatino, Perpetua and Goudy Old Style.
Transitional typefaces began to emerge in the 17th/18th century, around the period of enlightenment, where science and mathematical practices became the norm, as opposed to the previous heavily religious culture. This meant that the typefaces being designed became much more logically crafted.
Notable examples include the Romain Du Roi, a royal typeface designed by Phillip Grandjean. The typeface was formed on the principles of order.
William Caslon is another typeface designer from the transitional period, whose designs were characterised by crisp, upright characters.
Modern/Didone typefaces are attributed to Fiormin Didot, in 1784, but one of the most influential didone typefaces was created by Giambattista Bodoni, whose characterisitcs were high contrast, abrupt serifs and vertical axis, and is often associated with elegance and style, which is why it is one of the typefaces used on the front covers of Vogue magazine.
Slab serif/Egyptian fonts were seen in the 1800s, and were a product of industrialisation. The forms are large and clunky in their design, and were created that way to grab a readers attention in a bustling and chaotic environment which began to appear in the industrial era. Fat Face and Clarendon are examples of typefaces inspired by the slab serif fonts, and one of the most widely recognised uses of the typeface is in Milton Glaser's I Heart New York, which employs a typewriter style of slab serif.
Sans Serif typefaces began to appear since the 1800s, but were developed and seen more in the modernist era, due to its principles of design being linked with the anti decoration ideals of modernism.
Akzidenz Grotesk is an early example of the sans serif typeface, whilst other examples such as Bayer and Gill Sans are also widely recognised.
There have also been backlashes to these developments in type, such as the creation of serif type Times New Roman in 1932, which references older roman fonts, technically making it an example of post modernism , whilst the typefaces used in the Nazi propaganda used black letter type.
One of the most famous and ubiquitous typefaces seen today is Helvetica, which was designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger. It's design is sharp, minimalist and slick, which is why it has been employed to communicate so many things, from transport signs to corporate brand identities.
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