Typography

Typography is the craft of arranging type so that written language is clear, easy to read, and visually pleasing. This involves choosing typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, spacing between lines, spacing between letters, and the gaps between specific letter pairs. The word also refers to the style, layout, and look of the letters, numbers, and symbols produced through this process. Type design is a related skill, sometimes grouped under typography, but most typographers do not create typefaces, and some typeface designers do not see themselves as typographers. Typography can also be used purely for decoration or ornament, without any goal of conveying information.

Today, typography is done by graphic designers, art directors, manga and comic book artists, and anyone who arranges words, letters, numbers, or symbols for publication, display, or distribution—from office workers and newsletter editors to people self-publishing. Before the Digital Age, typography was a specialized job. Personal computers opened it up to new generations of designers and casual users who had not worked with it before. As the ability to create typography became widespread, the use of principles and best practices developed over centuries of skilled work has declined.

The English word *typography* comes from the Greek roots *týpos* (meaning "type") and *-graphía* (meaning "writing").

Although today it usually applies to printed, published, broadcast, or reproduced materials, all words, letters, symbols, and numbers written alongside early human drawings can be called typography. The term traces back to the first punches and dies used to make seals and currency in ancient times, linking it to printing. Uneven spacing of impressions on brick stamps from the Mesopotamian cities of Uruk and Larsa, dating to the second millennium BC, may show early type, where identical characters were reused to create cuneiform text. Babylonian cylinder seals were rolled on wet clay to make impressions. The Phaistos Disc, a Minoan printed item from Crete dated between 1850 and 1600 BC, also used typography. It has been suggested that Roman lead pipe inscriptions were made with movable type, but German typographer Herbert Brekle later dismissed this idea.

Medieval artifacts like the Latin Pruefening Abbey inscription from 1119, made with the same technique as the Phaistos Disc, meet the key criterion of type identity. The silver altarpiece of Patriarch Pellegrinus II (1195–1204) in Cividale Cathedral was printed with individual letter punches. The same printing method appears in tenth- to twelfth-century Byzantine reliquaries. Other early examples include individual letter tiles, assembled in order to form words, which were fairly common in medieval Northern Europe.

Movable type was invented during the eleventh-century Song dynasty in China by Bi Sheng (990–1051). His system used ceramic materials, and clay type printing continued in China until the Qing dynasty. Wang Zhen was an early pioneer of wooden movable type. Wooden type was more durable under mechanical handling, but repeated printing wore down the character faces, and new pieces had to be carved to replace them. Metal movable type was first invented in Korea during the Goryeo period, around 1230. Hua Sui introduced bronze type printing to China in 1490. The spread of both movable-type systems was limited, and the technology did not reach beyond East and Central Asia.

Modern lead-based movable type, along with the mechanical printing press, is most often credited to goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in 1439. His type pieces, made from a lead-based alloy, worked so well for printing that the same alloy is still used today. Gutenberg developed specialized techniques for casting and combining cheap copies of letter punches in the large quantities needed to print multiple copies of texts. This breakthrough helped start the Printing Revolution, and the first book printed with lead-based movable type was the Gutenberg Bible.

Rapid technological advances transformed typography in the late twentieth century. In the 1960s, camera-ready typesetting could be produced in any office or workshop with standalone machines like IBM's Selectric typewriter. Around the same time, Letraset introduced dry transfer technology, letting designers apply type instantly. The famous *Lorem Ipsum* text became popular because of its use in Letraset. In the mid-1980s, personal computers allowed type designers to create digital typefaces using commercial software like Fontographer. Digital technology also let designers create more experimental typefaces alongside the practical ones of traditional typography. Typeface designs could be made faster and for more specific purposes. The cost of developing typefaces dropped drastically, making them widely available. This change has been called the "democratization of type," giving new designers more chances to enter the field.

The design of typefaces has developed alongside typesetting systems. Although typography has changed greatly since its beginnings, it remains a largely conservative art that tends to stick close to tradition, because legibility is the top priority.