I love the work of Sean McCabe. He does a lot of hand lettered type that’s always beautiful. He used his knowledge of typography to create different typefaces for the quote, and It’s very successful.

This is a great example of leading. THere is so much information on these pages, but the speaking between lines makes it look readable. Nowhere on the page is there any dense type, the spacing makes it attractive.

This is bad kerning. Look how “available” just stands out because of the awful kerning. The real question is how nobody noticed this.

These paragraphs are marked with line breaks. The text holds form, and the paragraphs are clearly marked. It looks great and its beautifully laid out.

The font Bauhaus was designed in 1975 by the designers Victor Caruso and Ed Benguiat. The font was based off of shapes that are geometric and the stroke weights are very plain. The stroke weights are basically the width of the separate lines used when creating a font. The font was originally created to be used for a design made particularly for display use.

It was originally created with an outline version, but it was eventually dismissed was refrained from being used. The Bauhaus with the heavy stroke was partly made from the text offers. Adobe, which is a company which focuses on design created an OpenType Std version.

The romain du roi was a typeface that emerged in France during the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th-18th century.  It was commissioned by King Louis XIV who wanted a unique typeface exclusive to the royal printers.

The Age of Enlightenment was a significant period in the Western World due to it’s deviation from tradition and faith; promoting reason and science. In the spirit of the age, the romain du roi was created by three members of the Bignon Committee from the Academy of Science, with an emphasis on the math and sciences for the design. The designs were produced on a 48×48 grid (2,304 squares) with careful measurements, with distinctive thick and thins.

The emergence of the romain du roi marked the beginning of the Traditional period in type history.

Dead History typeface was created in 1990 by P. Scott  Makela, an American graphic designer. Dead History typeface combines the features of traditional serif font Centennial and the Pop Classic VAG Rounded creating something entirely new and unexpected. If you notice Dead History, this typeface is rounded looking and has serifs mostly on the left side of each letter (capital +lowercase) edges and the right side are just sans-serif font.   Unlike other typefaces , Dead History uses a mixture of serifs and san-serifs within one single letter which makes it a unique and innovative typeface.

Dead History was designed around the time when personal computers emerged in the mid 1980s. Makela was among the first to use the digital programs such as Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to create this. Dead History typeface’s unique features become more visible when the letters are big and bold.

This documentary “The Printed Word” was quite interesting. Although it spoke about the difference or change in culture between actual books and new age products such as kindles and other ways to read them. I really don’t think that I will completely change the everything because there are still so many people that like to pick up and actual book regardless of it’s weight or the space it may take up in a book bag or purse. Sure these are all factors to consider when traveling and saving space but yea there are way too many people out there that prefer to keep it “old school”. In the video there were many older people in bookstores discussing this and pointing out the fact that it’s not the same. My favorite part is where the girl keeps smelling the books as if she was really appreciating the smell of the book (made me chuckle) at first the I realized she may be right. The other gentleman took a whiff of his kindle and when he was asked what he smelled he replied “plastic” haha that was funny. Anyhow yea I really think that there will always be actual books around.

Monster fonts are considered a technological breakthrough in the advancement of modern typefaces. Monster fonts break the code of traditional typefaces and also leaves a plethora of design independence for the typesetter. Design programs have made it easier for typesetters to design an abstract style font and subsequently develop a concept unlike any other.

The monster font family is made up of many fonts varying in style, design and concept. Within this style, there are no specific guidelines that necessarily need to be followed          per se. Traditional typefaces tend to have a sense of fluidity and easy readability. This is where monster font concepts vary immensely. A monster font can be made up of abstract designs or even traditional typefaces with a modern twist. This style of font gives the designer the opportunity to develop font consisting of a certain identity which would pertain to a specific project or concept.

This documentary was a great reminder of how technology is changing our culture, in this case the book culture. Over the past years I have been noticing more people reading from an e-reader tablet than from a paper book. Is this evolution good? It’s evident that many bookstores are greatly affected by this resulting them to go out of business. However, from the consumer’s point of view, e-reader are much more convenient but it fails to give that unique feeling of the book. The texture, flipping each pages, and the scent of the book are aspects that make reading a book unique! Also that abundant feeling of being inside a bookstore filled with books with all the different sections of genres, noticing small to big sizes of books, and vibrant colors/designs of the books! These you cannot witness with a tablet. Nevertheless, this whole experience is more interactive and personal. Therefore, it’s important to preserve our paper books! Although more people may favor the e-reader form of reading now days, still there is another half that want to read from a paper book and keep the ultimate personal sensation! In defense of the paper books, I hope technology will not take that unique experience away from us.

Most of us, active and hungry-for-culture people, have seen or heard about this ongoing debate: paper vs. screen.  Everyday, we experience this clash of generations right in front of us, inevitably forcing us to take sides on the undisputed battle between these two. On one hand we have the immortalized paper book and every artistic element that surrounds it. The smell of the pages, the covers’ design, the type used to immortalize the words and the feeling of passing a page are some of these components. For some people, these elements are simply unchangeable as they will eclipse any upcoming technology. It wont matter how fascinating, inexpensive and practical it could be. On the other hand, the powerful E-reader, capable of superior practicality (especially in a narrow city as NYC where every inch counts), inexpensive and trendy.

I guess its pretty much about  individual choice and personal function. If you are more practical, cold and less sentimental then buy an E-book reader. If you are a classic dude or dudette who enjoys a good 3-4 pounds of awesomeness, then stay with the paper alternative. Anyway, why do we have to settle for one or the other? Nowadays, the word “Book” is taking a new meaning for people, and even though the E-book industry is practically taking over the paperbook, we are far away for having to settle for one choice.