Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spacing, and spaces between pairs of letters. The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type design is a closely related craft, sometimes considered part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider themselves typographers. Typography also may be used as an ornamental and decorative device, unrelated to the communication of information.
Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below.
Jan Tschichold, also known as Iwan Tschichold or Ivan Tschichold, was a German calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in the development of graphic design in the 20th century – first, by developing and promoting principles of typographic modernism, and subsequently idealizing conservative typographic structures. His direction of the visual identity of Penguin Books in the decade following World War II served as a model for the burgeoning design practice of planning corporate identity programs. He also designed the typeface Sabon.
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine, or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Zuzana Licko is a Slovak-born American type designer and visual artist known for co-founding Emigre Fonts, a digital type foundry in Berkeley, CA. She has designed and produced numerous digital typefaces including the popular Mrs Eaves, Modula, Filosofia, and Matrix. As a corresponding interest she also creates ceramic sculptures and jacquard weavings.
Josef Müller-Brockmann was a Swiss graphic designer, author, and educator, he was a Principal at Muller-Brockmann & Co. design firm. He was a pioneer of the International Typographic Style. One of the main masters of Swiss design. Müller-Brockmann is recognized for his simple designs and his clean use of typography, shapes and colors which inspire many graphic designers in the 21st century.
Willem Hendrik "Wim" Crouwel was a Dutch graphic designer, type designer, and typographer.
The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of the most important Irish artists, designers and art educators have studied or taught in the college. NCAD has always been located in central Dublin, and in 1980 it relocated to the historic Liberties area. The College has around 950 full-time students and a further 600 pursuing part-time courses, and NCAD's students come from more than forty countries. NCAD is a Recognised College of University College Dublin. It is also a member of the European League of Institutes of the Arts.
The Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Offenbach am Main is a German art and design university located in Offenbach am Main, in the German state of Hesse. It was given university status in 1970, and founded in 1832.
Sumner Stone is a typeface designer and graphic artist. He notably designed ITC Stone while working for Adobe. A specimen of ITC Stone is shown at his personal website.
George Auriol, born Jean-Georges Huyot, was a French poet, songwriter, graphic designer, type designer, and Art Nouveau artist. He worked in many media and created illustrations for the covers of magazines, books, and sheet music, as well as other types of work such as monograms and trademarks.
Fred Smeijers is a Dutch type designer, researcher and writer. He was educated at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem in the early 1980s.
ISIA - Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche, is the name of four Italian universities, which train students in the field of design. The ISIAs are in Rome, Florence, Faenza and Urbino. They are public institutions under the umbrella of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, AFAM division.
Josef Týfa was a Czech type designer. He significantly contributed to the cultivation of corporate style and the development of book design and advertising in the 1950s and 60s. Typefaces he designed include: Kolektiv, Tyfa, Juvenis, Amos and Academia, many of which he digitized with František Štorm, founder of Storm Type Foundry. He has indicated that his influences include Jaroslav Benda, Pier Luigi Nervi, and modern graphic design and architecture including functionalism.
Fernand Baudin was a Belgian book designer, author, typographer, and teacher. Baudin was active in the field of graphic design in many ways and described himself as a “typographiste”. He was part of national and international typographic organizations, like ATypI, the Graphica-Belgica Prize, and Rencontres internationales de Lure.
Erik van Blokland is a Dutch typeface designer, educator and computer programmer. He is the head of the Type Media Master of Design program in Typeface Design at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in the Netherlands.
Alan Kitching RDI AGI Hon FRCA is a practitioner of letterpress typographic design and printmaking. Kitching exhibits and lectures across the globe, and is known for his expressive use of wood and metal letterforms in commissions and limited-edition prints.
Adi Stern is an Israeli graphic designer, type designer, and the President of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.
Péter Virágvölgyi was a Hungarian typographer, calligrapher, graphic designer, associate professor at the Hungarian Academy of Craft & Design. He was the initiator of the italic handwriting curriculum for elementary schools in Hungary, author of the book A tipográfia mestersége számítógéppel and the designer of the Zeebevel font.
Betti Broadwater Haft was an American graphic designer. She was known as one of the few women who designed calligraphic letterforms for Photo-Lettering Inc (“PLINC”), a major typeface studio in New York City from 1936 to 1997.