In 1440, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg created a machine that changed history: the printing press. This press used movable pieces of type that were arranged into words and pages and then printed onto a page with ink.
How do you think peoplecreated books before this?
In the beginning, people had to write out entire books by hand. Can you imagine copying a book as long as the dictionary by hand? People also used a method called xylographywhich involved carving an entire page from wood and then printing it over and over again.
Movable type was actually invented in China in 1041, but it didnt catch on the way the printing press did.Why do you think it would be harder for movable pieces of type to be used for printing the Chinese language ?
Over the centuries, many different typefaces have been designed, such as the well known Helvetica (1957).The font many of you use on your computers called Arial (1982) is based on Helvetica. Can you see the difference?
Minor differences can change an entire typeface. These variations in letter forms are what make typefaces unique.The parts of letter forms have specific names and vary between each different typeface.
Where you find it….Serif - body of text, title of booksSan serif - headlines signs flyersScript - invitations graduation announcements, formal partiesOld English - newspaper names, old time eventsDecorative - company names, logos, party flyers, hand writing
Unique typefaces also help us identify products and logos.How many of these famous fonts can you recognize???