publication design
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The evolution of publication designA N T O I N E R I V A R D
What is a publication?
The beginning
Manuscripts
Wood block pringting
Moveable type
Publication in the modern world
Type design and publication
Historic classification of type
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Contents
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The evolution of publication design
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TO PUBLISH IS TO MAKE CONTENT
PUBLICALY KNOWN. The term is most
frequently applied to the distribution of text
or images on paper. It must be published
on paper, the publication must be generally
available and the date of publication is the
date the published material became generally
available. Among publications are books,
and periodicals, the latter usually including
magazines, journals, and newspapers.
A book is a set or collection of written,
printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of
paper, parchment, or other material, usually
fastened together to hinge at one side. A single
sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each
side of a leaf is called a page.
The various elements that contribute to the
production of magazines vary wildly. Core
elements such as publishing schedules, formats
and target audiences are seemingly infinitely
variable. Typically, magazines which focus
primarily on current events. The Miehle printing press and manufacturing co-operation 1905
What is a publication?
“Among publications are books, and periodicals, the latter including magazines, journals, and newspapers”
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ANTOINE RIVARD
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Although similar to a magazine in some
respects, an academic periodical featuring
scholarly articles written in a more specialist
register is usually called an “academic journal”.
Such publications typically carry little or no
advertising. Articles are vetted by referees or
a board of esteemed academics in the subject
area. The whole process is rapid.
A newspaper is a publication containing news,
information, and advertising. General-interest
newspapers often feature articles on political
events, crime, business, art/entertainment,
society and sports. Supplementary sections
may contain advertising, comics, and coupons.
Newspapers are most often published on a
daily or weekly basis, and they usually focus on
one particular geographic area where most of
their readers live. Despite recent setbacks in
circulation and profits, newspapers are still the
most iconic outlet for news and other types of
written journalism. Because their contents vary
greatly from day to day, newspapers usually
have very complicated grid structures. A photo of newpaper type-settingUsed by Benjamin Franklin in 1725
An inscription found on the base of Trajan’s column
“Despite the recent setbacks in circulation and profits, newspapers are the most iconic outlet for news”
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The evolution of publication design
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ALPHABETIC WRITING EMERGED IN
EGYPT AROUND 1800 BC. When writing
systems were invented in ancient civilizations,
nearly everything that could be written upon
- stone, clay, tree bark, and metal sheets - was
used for writing. Papyrus, a thick paper-like
material made by weaving the stems of the
papyrus plant, then pounding the woven sheet
with a hammer like tool, was used for writing
in Ancient Egypt. Papyrus sheets were glued
together to form a scroll.
It is believed that the Phoenicians brought
writing and papyrus to Greece around the
tenth or ninth century BC. Whether made
from papyrus, parchment, or paper in East
Asia, scrolls were the dominant form of
book in the Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese and
Hebrew cultures.
The more modern codex book format form
took over the Roman world by late antiquity,
but the scroll format persisted much longer
in Asia. Papyrus scrolls were still dominant in
the first century AD. A codex (Latin for block
of wood) is a book in the format used for
modern books, with separate pages normally
bound together and given a cover. It was a
Roman invention that replaced the scroll.
This change happened gradually during the
third and fourth centuries, and the reasons
for adopting the codex form of the book are
several: the format is more economical, as
both sides of the writing material can be used;
and it is portable, searchable, and easy to
conceal.
Wax tablets were the normal writing material
in schools, in accounting, and for taking notes.
They had the advantage of being reusable:
the wax could be melted, and reformed into
a blank. The custom of binding several wax
tablets together is a possible precursor for
modern books. The etymology of the word
codex (block of wood) also suggests that it may
have developed from wooden wax tablets.
From the first page of codex Argenteus
The beginning
“It is believed that the Phoenicians brought writing and papyrus to Greece”
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ANTOINE RIVARD
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THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
IN THE FIFTH CENTURY A.D. SAW
THE DECLINE OF THE CULTURE OF
ANCIENT ROME. Papyrus became difficult
to obtain due to lack of contact with Egypt,
and parchment, which had been used for
centuries, became the main writing material.
Monasteries carried on the Latin writing
tradition in the Western Roman Empire, and
they stressed the importance of copying texts.
The clergy were the predominant readers of
books. The tradition and style of the Roman
Empire still dominated, but slowly the peculiar
medieval book culture emerged.
Before the invention and adoption of the
printing press, almost all books were copied
by hand, which made books expensive and
comparatively rare. The bookmaking process
was long and laborious. The parchment had
to be prepared, and then the unbound pages
were planned and ruled with a blunt tool
or lead, after which the text was written by
the scribe, who usually left blank areas for
illustration. Finally, the book was bound by
the bookbinder. Different types of ink were
usually prepared from soot and gum, and later
also from gall nuts and iron vitriol. This gave
writing a brownish black colour, but black or
brown were not the only colours used. The
first publications used parchment or vellum
(calf skin) for the pages. The covers were
made of wood and covered with leather.
Because dried parchment tends to assume
the form it had before processing, the books
were fitted with clasps or straps. Irish monks
introduced spacing between words sometime
in the seventh century.
An Armenian manuscript
Manuscripts
“It is believed that the Phoenicians brought writing and papyrus to Greece”
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The evolution of publication design
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IN WOODBLOCK PRINTING, A RELIEF
IMAGE OF AN ENTIRE PAGE WAS
CARVED INTO BLOCKS OF WOOD.
They were then inked, and used to print
copies of that page. This method originated
in China, in the Han dynasty (before 220AD),
as a method of printing on textiles and later
paper, and was widely used throughout East
Asia.
The method (called Woodcut when used
in art) arrived in Europe in the early 14th
century. Publications (known as block-books),
as well as playing-cards and religious pictures,
began to be produced by this method.
Creating an entire book was a painstaking
process, requiring a hand-carved block for
each page; and the wood blocks tended to
crack, if stored for long.
Printed in Seoul, Korea in 1438
Wood block printing
“The method arrived in Europe in the early 14th century”
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ANTOINE RIVARD
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IN MOVEABLE TYPE CAST, IN CLAY
AND HELD IN PLACE BY A METAL
FORM, WAS INVENTED IN CHINA
AROUND 1040. Koreans were casting type
in metal and printing books this way by the
end of the fifteenth century. The invention
of movable type was not seen as a significant
discovery by the countries of the Far East.
China, Korea, and Japan all lack an alphabet
since their written language consists of over
forty thousand separate symbols. It was the
alphabet as it existed in Western languages
that gave movable type such an important
place in the history of printing in the West.
Around 1450, in what is commonly regarded
as an independent invention, Johannes
Gutenberg invented movable type in Europe,
along with innovations in casting the type
based on a matrix and hand mould. This
invention along with the impact of the
industrial revolution gradually made books
less expensive to produce, and more widely
available. Compared to woodblock printing,
movable type page setting was quicker and
more durable for alphabetic scripts. The
metal type pieces were more durable and
the lettering was more uniform, leading to
typography and fonts. The high quality and
relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible
(1455) established the superiority of movable
type, and printing presses rapidly spread
across Europe, leading up to the Renaissance.
Metal moveable type
Moveable type
“Moveable type page setting was quicker and more durable”
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The evolution of publication design
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STEAM-POWERED PRINTING PRESSES
BECAME POPULAR IN 1800. These
machines could print 1,100 sheets per hour,
but workers could only set 2,000 letters per
hour. Monotype and linotype presses were
introduced in the late 19th century. They
could set more than 6,000 letters per hour and
an entire line of type at once.
The methods used for the printing and
binding of books continued fundamentally
unchanged from the 15th century into the
early years of the 20th century. While there
was of course more mechanization, Gutenberg
would have had no difficulty in understanding
what was going on if he had visited a book
printer in 1900.
Gutenberg’s “invention” was the use of
movable metal types, assembled into
words, lines, and pages and then printed
by letterpress. In letterpress printing, ink is
spread onto the tops of raised metal type, and
is transferred onto a sheet of paper which is
pressed against the type.
Today most publications are printed by offset
lithography in which an image of the material
to be printed is photographically or digitally
transferred to a flexible metal plate where it
is developed to exploit the antipathy between
grease (the ink) and water. When the plate is
mounted on the press, water is spread over it.
The developed areas of the plate repel water
thus allowing the ink to adhere to only those
parts of the plate which are to print. The ink is
offset onto a rubbery blanket (to avoid all that
water soaking the paper) and then finally to the
paper. Recent developments in publications
include the development of digital printing.
Publication in the modern world
“Gutenberg would have had no difficulty in understanding what was going on”
A page out of the Guternberg bible, a newer cheaper alternative
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ANTOINE RIVARD
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TYPE IS ONE OF THE PUBLICATION
DESIGNER’S MOST IMPORTANT
TOOLS. Type is everywhere. It was the
development of printing, the discovery of
moveable type, and the invention of paper
and improvements in paper quality which
allowed type design to flourish. Two main
classifications of type are “serif” and “sans
serif”.
The serif helps the reader’s eye distinguish
individual letters while providing visual
continuity across words. Stroke width is
variable, thereby creating more visual cues
for the reader. Where continuous reading is
required, a serif typeface is usually preferred
over sans-serif. Serif is the oldest style of
type. The black letter style of type used by
Gutenberg, was, very loosely speaking, a serif
font.
“Sans” means “without”. It was originally
introduced by the English type designer
William Caslon in 1816. Because the English
thought that it looked primitive compared
to serif type, it became known as “gothic,”
meaning barbarous or primitive.
It wasn’t until over a hundred years later
that the Bauhaus school of design in 1919
popularized sans serif type design. Stroke
width is consistent, which gives it a clean and
modern look particularly fitting for Bauhaus
design. Sans serif is geometric with a strong
vertical stress. There is a higher contrast
between plain and bold.
Type design and publication
“Where continuous reading is required, a serif typeface is preferred over sans-serif”
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The evolution of publication design
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THERE ARE A NUMBER OF HISTORIC
TYPE CLASSIFICATIONS, ALL OF
WHICH FALL UNDER EITHER
THE “SERIF” OR “SANS-SERIF”
CLASSIFICATION. Classical or venetian
roman typefaces from the late fifteenth
century were initially designed to imitate the
handwriting of Italian Renaissance scholars.
These typefaces originated as book type and,
because of their clarity and legibility, are still
being used for that purpose.
The transitional phase was during the
eighteenth century. For the first time, type
designers began to use complex mathematical
formulas as part of their design process.
This period was transitional in that it used
elements from the both “oldstyle” designs
and the modern (Didone). Some of the best
known type designers were active during this
period. William Caslon based his designs on
seventeenth century Dutch type and his work
is still very much in use. John Baskerville, an
admirer of Caslon’s work, designed what is
today one of the most popular English book
Both Caslon’s and Baskerville’s designs have
consistently and successfully been used for
text-extensive situations, usually as books
because of their regularity and precision.
Modern type is characterized by its emphasis
on strong verticals and fine hairlines, which
creates a strong visual contrast on the page.
In France, during the late eighteenth
century, the Didot family took advantage
of improvements in paper production,
composition, and printing which allowed
for these refinements in type design. The
Italian printer Bodoni took these refinements
further, developing numerous versions of his
designs, and they quickly became popular
throughout Europe. He increased the strength
of his verticals and made hairlines even
thinner, making them especially well suited
to headings, title pages, and other situations
where a heavy, yet elegant, style is desired.
Later, humanist typefaces incorporated some
features of serif types, such as a slighly more
varied stroke than is typical of sans serif type.
Slab serif typefaces, have strong, square,
finishing strokes, and were first used in the
early nineteenth century for advertising
posters, flyers, and broadsides.
Historic classification of type
“Type designers began to use complex and mathematical formulae”
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ANTOINE RIVARD
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Garamond ligature