Essay: Critical Essay on Book Typography

The history and principles of Typography are topics that may have long been extensively researched upon and discussed by designers and industry professionals, and although there may be many different articles published on Typographic history, the subject seems to remain widely unexplored. This essay will review and discuss points as well as opinions on two different articles on the subject of Typography.
In an article written by Fraser Muggeridge entitled “Typography special section: Typography with words” published in 2010, the author talks about different Typographic principles and presents ideas and arguments through a collation of points taken from different articles written by different authors. The article talks about how Typography may be subjective in terms of design and how important distinction is in choosing font styles when designing for the content to be delivered more clearly.1 Relatively, the article points at how one must be careful in carrying out the Typesetting of a book as it is critical for a text material to be well-executed and well-laid out, thus it may be crucial to pay attention to each letter, each word and each line in terms of kerning, leading, hyphenation and widows as one small edit can not only make a great difference but can solve layout problems (Muggeridge, 2010).2 Although this may suggest that the author argues that Typography may be more about the function and less about the form, the author also encourages experimenting with designing text as this may lead to discovering new perspectives (Muggeridge, 2010).3
Another argument from Muggeridge which I find sums up the overall context of the article is where the author points at how important it is to first have a solid understanding of the rules and principles of Typography before deciding to break them.4 In the end, the author believes that Typography remains to be a complex subject and an abstracted concept (Muggeridge, 2010)5 as the article tackled different points, such as prioritizing content over aesthetics, making the reader understand how typography may sometimes be less about working within the guidelines, and how having a solid understanding of the different Typographic rules before deciding to break them may lead to new perspectives. I find it helpful that the author collated points from different articles written by people who are knowledgeable on the subject as it gives the reader different viewpoints and things to consider when it comes to Typography, which I believe is important as Typography exists for many different reasons.
In another article entitled Modern typography: an essay in critical history written by Robin Kinross and published in 2010, the author talks about how printing is a powerful tool to be able to spread knowledge and is fundamental in the development of the modern world, thus paving the way for modernization.6 The article focuses on content as the author elaborates on print production and content delivery and talks less about how content is designed and laid out. The author also believes that Modern or stunt Typography may be baseless in terms of history as the concept mainly focuses on aesthetics (Kinross,2010).7 In addition to this, Kinross debunks the idea that all typography is book typography.8 Furthermore, the author argues that understanding design, or the concept of it, has more to do with looking at the creative processes as opposed to focusing on output. The author points at how people may think of the product as the design, when in fact, the design is the process (Kinross, 2010).9 As Kinross relates Typography to Print Production and focuses on the purposes of both, this may suggest that similar to Muggeridge, he also believes that Typography is mainly about function.
Overall, I agree that printing has opened up opportunities for learning, which may have helped with modernization, and that paying close attention to how text is designed and laid out is crucial. Kinross emphasized the significance of printing and how printing paved the way for learning and establishing history, which I believe is important to note as gaining knowledge may be the primary purpose of ensuring that a piece of content is translated clearly through well-laid out and well-defined typography. I also agree that design is understood better, especially by non-designers, in terms of processes as opposed to just looking at a final product. To sum up, the article presented different points regarding the distinction between content delivery and Typography which helped better explain the significance, relevance, and relationship of and between both concepts.
In conclusion, I find that much of the points discussed by both Muggeridge and Kinross are helpful in teaching designers and non-designers alike the significance and history of Typography. The collated excerpts and anecdotes from Muggeridge’s article are an interesting way to present arguments and points regarding different Typographic concepts. His article made me realize that as a designer, I have to understand that Typography must be adaptive and responsive to different project demands and that it is important to have a strong understanding of the different typographic rules and principles before experimenting with typography.10 On the other hand, the article by Kinross, which focused on printing and how it may have helped with modernization presented solid arguments on the significance of Print production and well-delivered content. Although he talked less about Typography, he argues that it is critical to be careful with typesetting as this truly affects how a concept is translated and delivered. Meanwhile, the latter part of Kinross’ article talks about how it is important for people to understand design through processes and not through outputs, as people perceive design to be the product, when in fact, the design is the process in which the product is created (Kinross, 2010).
However, while I agree with Kinross that printing may have been fundamental in the development of the modern world and share a similar take on understanding design by looking at the method, I believe that his article, in relation to his argument regarding the significance of Print production, failed to discuss how content delivery and content creation have drastically changed and evolved from traditional printing in today’s digital age. I believe the author could have touched on these topics and tackled how Print production has evolved from traditional practices as well as elaborating on the relationship between Typography and Print Production further. Then again, overall, I would have to agree on much of the arguments presented by both authors as they discussed points which may allow the reader to understand and look at the different concepts, principles, history, and functions of Typography in a vaster yet clearer perspective.
Endnotes
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1 The distinction in terms of font style may make the overall layout and content clearer.
2 It may be critical to pay attention to each letter, each word and each line in terms of kerning, leading,
hyphenation, and widows as one small edit can solve layout problems.
3 The author encourages experimentation when designing and working with text as this may lead to
new perspectives (Muggeridge, 2010).
4 Have a solid understanding of Typographic Principles and rules before deciding to break them.
5 Typography is an abstracted idea (Muggeridge, 2010).
6 Printing allows for knowledge exchange and recording and establishing history which has
helped with modernizing the world.
7 Modern / Stunt or Bauhaus Typography is Baseless (Kinross,2010).
8 An assumption that all typography is book Typography (Kinross,2010).
9 Note that design is mainly about the process and not necessarily just the product.
10 Typographic principles are not fixed and should remain responsive to different kinds of demands.
References :
Muggeridge, F. (2010). ‘Typography special section: Typography with words.’ Eye: the International Review of Graphic Design, no. 19, pp.24–37.
Kinross, R. (2010). Modern typography: an essay in critical history. London, Hyphen.