The Quiet but Essential Job of Typography
Typography is used everywhere in types, advertisements, and documents. Previously before this class I mostly looked over typography and did not take notice of the miniscule details in presentations or advertisements that can make or break the entirety of the message. I was unaware of the role of typography and the scale of it; there are seemingly infinite types and iterations of how to type words. Prior to the activities in class and learning specifically about typography, the only time I would interact with typography was using the MLA format, presentations for class, and when creating my business cards/flyers.
During the activities in class I learned and experienced through hands-on activities and learning by doing the basics of, how to use, and the history of typography. Like many others I knew how to change the font and size of type, but the point system did not make sense to me since until learning it was the system used when type was metal and had to be manually imprinted, layered, and placed. This system was carried over when everything was digitized, which I was unaware of. Having physical type that we were able to measure, and use aided in the connection and allowed us to experiment but also make those physical connections that would otherwise be not possible. The part of Learning by Doing that resonated with me most was the name tag assignments since we were able to choose our own fonts, but it also showed how different fonts may be perceived but also what they mean to me personally. It was interesting to me that using a different font could connect to a different group, career, or person as a whole. Being able to see type in person after learning some background information on it was pivotal in my learning experience with the content, I liked being able to use the type with the hands-on activities including measuring and writing our names with the type. Watching videos of the professional using type aided the activity in that we learned more about how to properly use it from a credible source while being able to use it ourselves.
Through these activities I learned the history of type, why it matters, and how to use type. I’ve realized that type is much more than how the word looks, it conveys messages on itself such as professionalism or emotions. In the future I plan to use the knowledge I acquired in these lessons to make better writing, presentations, and other forms of communication when possible. In this very moment I plan to improve my use of typography in my lawn and landscape business by editing the business cards, flyers, and social media pages to improve the visual appearance and message I am communicating to possible customers.