January 26th. Lecture 1.

Egyptian innovation triggered the development of the alphabet or written language. The Asian contribution was the invention of papers and early types of relief printing. The Chinese had an extremely profound impact with their visual communication and writing. The development of Mono Line writing drastically changed how alphabets were written and read. The evolution of the Codex, writing on smaller pages to create books, was very important in the evolution of writing. The codex was used for many religious documents, used to preserve teachings and show others. Illuminated manuscripts are created with incredible detail and gold leaf, sometimes jewels. Knowledge production became the main reason for book making to preserve human thought. The Caroline Graphic Renewal was the period of standardization of the alphabet and layout features. Printing in Europe begins the period of the 'incunabula,' beginning with Gutenberg in 1454. 42 Line Bible was first printed book, they were individualized after the plain black was printed. The development of the Roman alphabet using both Upper and Lowercase letters allows for more forms of typography to develop. Garamond breaks away to design and sell types to printers on his own. Romain due Roi starts to turn to the engineer instead of the calligrapher. Transitional types are starting to become standardized leading into the modern period. Bodoni and Didot leave all signs of the classical types in the past for a new modern design. More geometic, with more thick and thin variation placed on better papers and more open layouts. Overall elegance reduced and letters all standardized.