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of the period. For example, in classical Rome,

capital letters were often cut into stone on

public monuments to celebrate military victories.

The overwhelming sense of status is conveyed

through the materials used, the position of the

words both in relation to each other (centered or

justified), and to the reader (above head height),

and scale, whereas the letters themselves

(upright, square in proportion, and generously

spaced) are designed and arranged to be static

and symmetrically balanced. Words presented

in this way cannot be read in haste.

For a considerable time after the casting of

metal type for printing had been invented and

successfully applied, handwritten books remained,

for many, the superior product and the preferred

option. For example, while Venice, by 1500, was

the renowned center for printing, the rest of Italy

lagged far behind. Florence, the renowned center

for the art of writingwith the famous writing

schools of Niccol d Niccoli, Poggio Bracciolini,

and others producing their best workrefused

to accept any printed matter into its huge,

celebrated libraries. Vespasiano da Bisticci, master

scribe and famous bookseller (also the largest

employer of hand-copyists in Italy) said [In our

libraries] the books are superlatively good, all

are written with the pen; and were there a single

printed book it would have been ashamed in

such company.

If a medium or process is known to be a more

economic method (cheaper, easier, and perceived

to require less commitment or less skill toproduce), it will be attributed low status. This was

a problem that the early printersGutenberg,

Fust, and Schffer in Germany, and then Jenson,

Ratdolt, and Aldus Manutius in Venicehad

to overcome.They achieved this by their high

standards of scholarship as well as their printing

Cultural precedenceOpposite: Compare thethirteenth-century,handwritten German

manuscript (left) withJohann Gutenbergs 42-LineBible (right), the first printedbook in Europe, which usedmetal, movable type (circa1455, Mainz).The similaritiesare remarkable.

A new order of precenceBelow: Aldus Manutius,Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,1499. During the 45 yearsbetween Gutenbergs Bibleand HypnerotomachiaPoliphili, the form and statusof the printed word wasestablished in a largelypreliterate world through thescholarship and craftsmanshipof Plantin, Ratdolt, andManutius.They gave the booka universal structure and astate of permanence.Thetypes and arrangements theydeveloped continue to bemodels for most typographicendeavors today.

Authority and convention 3534 Issues

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Printing, composing, and house-style manuals 4140 Issues

problems might vary.The aim was to standardize

such solutions and in so doing make the process

of composition more efficient. Over a period of

time such books have become standard works:

in the UK, Harts Rules; in the USA, The Chicago

Manual of Style (the rules by which this book

is edited); and in Australia,Style Manual for

Authors, Editors and Printers of Australian

Government Publications.

Notwithstanding the influence and authority

of Harts Rules throughout the twentieth century,

the Penguin Composition Rules, written by

Jan Tschichold in 1947 and issued to all its printers

by Penguin Books, is of particular interest.This

document is also a model of efficiency, running

to just four pages.3 Tschichold, an Austrian, and

closely associated with the New Typography

of preWorld War II Europe, became an advocate

of a less doctrinaire approach to problem-solving

in later life. However, he remained passionate

about precision, clarity, and close setting.

Herbert Spencers Design in Business Printing,

1952, reinforced Tschicholds approach in what

was one of the first manuals to reflect the

New Typography in the UK.(See Typographica,

page 6.)

Some house-style manuals are produced for

specific kinds of documents. Newspapers, for

example, have had their own manuals since 1907,

and many publishers of books and journals

provide authors with guidance on matters of style

Rules and languageThe language used todescribe typographicactivities changed littlebefore the digital era, andmany of the words still usedtoday refer to letterpresspractices.However, predigitalmanuals contain a remarkableamount of detailedinformation that is rarelycovered in contemporarytypography manuals.

Below: A spread from HoraceHarts Rules for Compositorsand Readers at the UniversityPress, Oxford, 1952.Opposite, top: A spreadfrom Type and Style, printedand published by Baldin &Mansell in 1953 as their in-house book of instruction.Opposite, bottom: CalSwann, Techniques ofTypography, LundHumphries, 1969.

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Craft and typography

44 Issues

In the past three centuries, the meaning of

the word craft has changed. In the eighteenth

century craft was used to describe political

acumen and guile, a way of doing rather than

making things. In some cases this still applies,

for example, for Freemasons, the phrase the

craft still has the meaning of power and

secret knowledge.1

The meaning of craft, in the sense that we

understand it today, did not develop until the

end of the nineteenth century with the Arts and

Crafts movement, and although it was made up

of both makers and thinkers (inspired by a crisis

of social and moral conscience), craft became

associated predominantly with making.

For a decade or so, at the end of the

nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth

century, the Arts and Crafts movement made

it possible for art, craft, and design to be

considered indistinguishable, and a fewnotably

type designer and sculptor, Eric Gillmanaged

to hold all three together. However, almostsimultaneously, the avant-gardists declared

The relegation of craftThe independent craftsman/artist as perceived by Eric Gill(1937) and the designer astechnocrat (before theMacintosh gave us theMacJockey) as perceivedby business.

Above: Eric Gill in front ofhis relief carving for theLeague of Nations building inGeneva. (Photograph byHoward Coster.)Right: Cover of TheMonotype Recorder, Volume41, No. 3, 1958, showing partof a drawing for Gill Sans C,D,G, O,and Q, dated20.12.32.

Far right: Promotional

photograph for the Crosfieldand Scitex electronic displaysystem, 1983. The hierarchyand function of the characters(including the computer,personified by the screenimage)is clearly displayed.

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Business communication

54 Issues

For several generations, secretarial staff produced

the correspondence and all other forms of

administrative documentation required by every

business and organization. The (virtually) all-

female typing pool,with its own hierarchy and

strict regimes,was often described as the heart

of the organization.The personal or departmental

secretary became a hybrid image of formality

and efficiencyqualities that were formulated

in large part by the rules of the typing manual.

Secretaries and typists were trained in-house

and/or at commercial college in typewriting,

shorthand, business conventions, and English

(with an emphasis on spelling, grammar,

terminology, and punctuation).1

The authority of the typewritten document

quickly became an essential commercial tool.

The crude, mechanistic appearance of the

characters punched onto the company notepaper

through the inked textile ribbon was in no way

detrimental to its commercial viability. Nor were

the severe limitations of only 88 key options.In fact, the resulting idiosyncratic appearance of

the typewritten document made it immediately

recognizable, and, once established in the larger

and successful companies, all other businesses,

no matter how small, had to own one to present

themselves to the outside world as a commercially

viable manufacturer, merchant, or service.

The conventions of the typing manual were

of limited interest to typographers until digital

technology provided everyone with desktop

publishing (DTP) software. During the 1980s,

the influence of the typing manual increased

considerably, while the demise of the corporate

typing pool was equally dramatic.This increased

influence is not so much because typists are now

doing DTP work (although, of course, the few

The influence of typistsTyping manuals werepublished in great numbersas the demand for typistsincreased.Between 1861 and1911, the number of maleclerical workers increased5-fold, the number ofwomen clerks 500-fold.

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Rural communication

60 Issues

Typographic decision-making begins when

children start to write, although most children

today also encounter DTP software from a very

early age at school as well as in the home.

The use of DTP in schools as part of the writing

process has the potential to provide emphasis to

typographic organization. In publishing their

documents, children are already being asked to

consider how it might be used and by whom, to

write with a specific purpose in mind through a

process that includes drafting and editing.They

are also asked to consider what would be an

appropriate appearance for the finished document 1

as it is commonplace for children to be asked at

school to produce newspapers,magazines, leaflets,

advertisements, etc., as a means of exploring

various ways of organizing text.

The problem is that for children (and teachers)

their general awareness of typography stems

from what they are conscious of seeing: what

attracts their eye in the environment of the street

and shops, on advertising boards, shop fascias,and on packaging, rather than the typography

they read every day in newspapers, magazines,

and books. For a child looking for ideas to help

in the design of, for instance, a newspaper

much of what attracts the eye is inappropriate.

And even if newspapers were available in the

classroom (and one must assume that in such

circumstances they would be), these would

require a considerable amount of detailed analysis

to be of any real benefit. Teachers are given very

little guidance about the potential of visual

organization to enhance the meaning of text,

let alone the finer points of typography.

On the community bulletin board of every

village, there will be homemade notices and

posters. Most amateur community notices and

posters today are produced digitally, and yet,

NonconformityAbove: The variety of signsindicating a public footpath isaccepted, indeed celebratedas part of a more relaxed, lessregimented way of rural life.

Symmetrical arrangementOpposite: A village bulletinboard.The variety ofinformation and the rangeof technical standards is

remarkably diverse and yeteverynotice or poster has acentered arrangement. In fact,the appearance of notices onvillage boards such as this,despite the digital revolution,has changed little.Noticesremain remarkably similar tothe hand-drawn versions ofthe 1960s and 1970s.

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Urban communication

64 Issues

The extent of the urban streetscape for local

pedestrians is generally the pavement, the road,

and the first floor of the buildings. Off the main

street, graffiti, fly posters, stickers, temporary

traffic signs, and small vernacular shop fascias

are an integral part of urban living and working.

Much of this typographic material will have been

done by amateurs, some by vandals, and some,

although quite a small percentage, by designers,

including professional signmakers.

Some of the nondesigned typography willhave been made with commercial or political

intent, some will be serendipitous, or simply

caused by neglect. In older districts, the pedestrian

can often find ad hoc remnants of businesses

from previous generations, providing clues of

past political and/or industrial upheaval. Most

urban communication will have been the result of

optimism: a good idea, something new, exciting,

and worth shouting about.

In all towns and cities a range of wayfinding

signs, locational identity signs, and situational,

ad hoc messages can be seen. Some of the signs

are rule-governed brandings: corporate logo,

name, and associated livery. Other signs are

bespoke,one-off signs on fascias and vans,

hand-chalked menus, and sale offers.

The amateurs hand-drawn notice or sign

attracts attention because we seem to be naturally

drawn to anything different or unexpected.

However, signs must attract for the right reasonand certainly, in the urban commercial

environment, the public are highly attuned to the

way messages are relayed to them. A hurriedly

drawn (informal) price sign on a market stall will

not be perceived to represent a lack of concern

by the stallholder for the quality of his fresh fruit,

quite the opposite, because immediacy and

impermanence are both qualities appropriately

associated with fresh food. However, if a

Eye-catching typographyLeft: Effective and attractivehandwritten price signs(Colchester, UK.)

Right:This conspicuouslettering has all but obscuredthe buildings. Bold, expanded,outlined, and drop-shadowedsans serifs dominate asbusinesses fight each otherfor the attention of passingtrade.(Photograph taken inAuckland, New Zealand,byAlan Robertson.)

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66 Issues

permanent (formal) sign, displaying the

stallholders name for example, is hurriedly (and

ineptly) done, its informality will be perceived to

be inappropriate. Typography, when bad, is easy

to recognize, but difficult to get right.

The long-established department store

generally offers a more formal persona (even if

it prides itself on friendly service). A less formal

method of conveying information can still be

initiated for short-term events such as a sale, but

this material must be disposed of the moment theevent is over, so as to enable the formal presence

of the business to be restored.

People understand the effort involved (if not

the process) in the production of notices and

signs. Something that requires time to plan and

then paint or carve, print or build, will generally

Utilitarian typeFar left: Small service coverset into the pavement.Theraised pattern (an antislipsafety requirement), appliedwith minimum regard for thefunction of the letters, hasresulted in a rather crudeappearance.Despitethis (or

perhaps because of it) I findthis highly utilitarian productvery alluring.Left: In inexperiencedhands, capital Ms and Wscan be a source of confusion.

be considered more formal because it has gone

through a process of design, making, and/or

manufacture, and is already clearly intended to

be in place for a considerable time.The materials

chosen are very important in reflecting this.

Letterforms bought off the shelf and fixed

DIY style, either by authoritative organizations

or by the individual business entrepreneur, are

notorious disasters: M and W mixed up,S upside

down, but more commonly,poor spacing.

In the context of hand-lettered signs,newsbills are an anomaly. Until very recently,

newsbills were a hand-drawn form of public

advertisement for daily newspapers sold on the

city streets. It is remarkable that hand-drawn

newsbills should have remained in existence for

so long, especially because their function was

Urban communication 67

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