Graphic Design History. AMERICAN WOOD TYPE POSTERS 1820-1880

AMERICAN WOOD TYPE POSTERS

1820-1880

I Look at the poster below. It is an example of a wood-type poster. Why do you think the posters had such a name? Look at the poster closely. What did the designer do to make the initial letters important words stand out and catch our attention? How would you describe the style and spacing of the letters in the phrase Maryland Day! ?

II Study the active vocabulary and focus on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.

 intricately хитро

woven сплетений

solution рішення

tool інструмент

impact впливати

bear with me послухайте мене

illuminated ілюстрований

manuscript рукопис

hand-drawn рукописний

monk монах

scribe переписувач

labourintensive трудомісткий

movable type рухомий набір літер

printing press друкарський верстат

mold відливати у форму

slug блок металу

ink чорнило

type шрифт

surface поверхня

take apart розбирати на частини

limitation обмеження

headline заголовок

break apart розбивати

fortunately на щастя

wood деревина

carve вирізати

emulate наслідувати

elaborate детально розроблений

font шрифт (за розміром та іншими характеристиками)

rely покладатися

fanciful фантастичний

typeface шрифт

dingbat графічне маркування текстового блоку

mashup гібрид

chaotic хаотичний

 human touch   людське тепло

clinical відсторонений

typography типографія

assume припускати

 replace заміняти

letterpress printing типографський друк

incredibly неймовірно

excellence досконалість

workshop майстерня

offset printing офсетний друк

limited edition book книга з обмеженим накладом

wedding invitation запрошення на весілля

yearn  тужити

III Vocabulary focus. Study the words and  word combinations, check flashcards, practise translation, spelling. Take a  test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their translations to make cards disappear)  and save the planet from asteroids by typing in correct translation of the words.

  

IV Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

Workshops; page; pressed; today; technology; printing techniques; headline; excellence; letter; individually; increase; schools; century; printer; emulate; books; designers; changed; hand-drawn; handmade; digit; link; combined; elaborate; limited edition; carve; offset; yearn; break apart; limitation; warmer; birth; letterpress printing; allowed; organic; fanciful; promote; assume; taken apart; technical; invitations; technician; metal; printing; movable type; complex; styles; chaotic; monks; small; needed; process; digitally; things; handmade; presume; accomplished; solution; wood type; true; individual; processes; energy; copies; advertising; books; variety; old; time; paper; images; economical; intricately; designing; varied; ink; wood; introduction; multiple; surface; produce; sell; later; posters 

Design and 1)______ are always 2)______ woven together. New 3)______   _______and tools change the way 4)______ work, and this leads to new 5)______ and solutions. Take the Macintosh for example. The 6)______ of this tool in the 1980s not only 7)______ how designers worked, but impacted the look of the 8)______ we designed. Now, this gets a little 9)______, so bear with me. For centuries 10)______ and illuminated manuscripts were 11)______  typically by 12)______ or scribes. If you wanted 13)______ copies, that monk needed to hand draw each one 14)______. This took a long 15)______ and was very labour intensive. In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg invented the 16)______   ______ printing press. This 17)______ began with 18)______ letters molded from metal into slugs. They were 19)______ to create paragraphs, 20)______ was applied to the metal type and 21)______ was pressed on to the 22)______. This process 23)______ for multiple copies to be made from the same metal type. When the 24)______ were completed the type was 25)______  ______ and recombined into another 26)______ or paragraph. By the 19th 27)______, and again due to the Industrial Revolution and 28)______ of products, there was a large need for 29)______ and promotion. A manufacturer could 30)______ 5000 cups, but then needed to 31)______ them. The 32)______ type process worked well on 33)______ and posters with small type, but the individual 34)______ forms made of metal had a size 35)______. When it was attempted to make large 36)______ size version that metal forms would 37)______  _______. The 38)______ was to make posters only with 39)______ type or find a new way to make big letter forms for 40)______. Fortunately an American 41)______ Darius Wells began making letter forms out of 42)______. A printer could 43)______ these letter forms as large as they 44)______. This answered the call for big type to 45)______ events. This was the 46)______ of the American wood type poster. At first the printers of these posters tried to 47)______ the look and feel of the older metal type designs with 48)______ ornaments and a 49)______ of fonts. This was 50)______ by mixing large 51)______   ______  with smaller metal type. It was also very difficult to print 52)______. So printer relied on 53)______ typefaces and multiple rules and dingbats to create 54)______. As you might expect this mashup of 55)______ created a 56)______ and at times 57)______ design. The 58)______ quality gave a sense of the human touch, which feels 59)______ and less clinical than some of the typography we use 60)______. It’s easy to 61)______ that a new technology replaces the 62)______ one. But like radio before television that’s not 63)______. Today 64)______    _______  with wood type is incredibly popular. Companies such as Hatch Show Print in Nashville are looked at for design 65)______. And many 66)______ have built their own letterpress 67)______. Wood type and letterpress are usually more 68)______ than 69)______ printing when making smaller quantities. Experimental work, 70)______   _______ books, even wedding 71)______ are perfect for the letterpress process. Over the last thirty years as design became more and more 72)______ based many people 73)______ for the 74)______ and 75)______ and return to the printing technology of the 19th century creating again wood type 76)______.

V Watch the video again and answer the questions.

1 What is the connection between design and technology? What examples of technology affecting the work of designers can you give?

2 Why for many centuries were books difficult to create? What techniques were used to create and illustrate books? Could such books be mass produced?

3 How did the invention of the printing press change the production of books?

4 What was the new printing technique? What did it use and possibilities did it give?

5 What problems did type size present for printers in the 19^th century?

6 How was the problem of type size limitation solved in the 19^th century?

7 What id American wood type posters look like? How did they emulate handwritten manuscripts?

8 Why did people want to have that chaotic design crated by the combination of different printing techniques?

9 Is letterpress printing still popular today?

10 When is letterpress printing better than offset printing today?

VIII OVER TO YOU. A) Find a modern example of letterpress printing. What characteristics of wood type printing can you find in this modern poster? Why do you think the use of wood type printing was successful or was not successful for this product?

B) Study the examples of the wood type fonts below (some of them were created later than 1880, but still use the same principles). Which (if any) would you like to use in your own designs? Think of a word in English that you find inspirational or important and that has more than 4 letters and could be printed using one of the wood type fonts given in the example. You can create this word yourself, i.e. draw it using the fonts as example or create a collage of available examples of individual letters. (For example the word Columbian in the last picture).