Before Class: Chapter Eight

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
Throughout the chapter it talks about changes in graphic design type faces, layouts, sizes, printing and papermaking. From about the 1720s to the 1770s, rococo art and architecture flourished. Rococo was a very fanciful, ornate, and intricate design that was composed of S- and C-curves scrollwork, tracery in plant forms from nature. Romain du roi was the type used by royality. Louis Simonneau designed Romain du roi off of 2,304 squares. Fournier le Jeune pioneered standardization with typeface sizes. He created the Cicero size, which is the equivalent to the 12-point type, and created type families. George Bickham, an English writer and engraver was most celebrated penmen of his time. William Caslon was an Englishmen who reworked the Old Style roman typographic design. His typefaces were not particularly fashionable or innovative, but they were easily legible and had sturdy texture (friendly to the eye). John Baskerville broke the rules in design and printing. He bridged the gap between Old Style and modern type. His letters had thick and thin strokes, and his letters were wider. His paper had a smooth, glossy surface that was achieved with hot-pressed woven paper. Descartes created the first graph using X and Y axis, and plot points (Cartesian Coordinates). William Playfair used Cartesian Coordinates to graph statistical data into graphs like pie-charts. Louis Rene Luce designed a series of types that were narrow and condensed and used sharp serifs. Both Fournier le Jeune and Luce died pre-French revolution. Bodoni was an Italian who led to the modern style type who was inspired by Baskerville and Fournier le Jeune. He standardized the type sizes. He had thin and thik lines and used serifs at 90 degree angles. During Bondoni's time, there was a Didot family who did similar things. Bodoni had greater skill, Didot had greater scholarship. Shakespeare press was established in 1786 due to British national pride. William Martin was called to London to design and cut types. His types were a combination of Baskerville's proportions with modern fonts. Thomas Bewick was called father of wood engraving. William Bolmer used Martin's types and Bewick's wood engravings together in a series of volumes, which were like the designs of Bodoni and Didot.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
The dispute between Bodoni and the Didot brothers on who influenced who and who was the originator. Even though they both were working around the same time, shared common influences, and had the same cultural milieu.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
Why were there so many different standardizations of print and type sizes?