John Baskerville Research Paper

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One of the most important aspects of graphic design is typography. Typography is one of the most important characteristics of communication while, the visual components can be the ultimately be the deciding factor on how the viewers will perceive it. The history and creation of the Baskerville typeface began with John Baskerville and his determination to improve upon the Garamound typeface that had been around since the 16th century. John Baskerville was born in England, in 1706. Baskerville was illiterate and worked as a servant at the time his employer discovered his natural ability. This led to John Baskerville getting sent away to help further develop his natural abilities. It is no huge surprise that by the very young age of 17, John, was already …show more content…

Characteristics of transitional typefaces have greater contrast between the thick and thin lines, wide tapered serifs, with strong weighted contrast, and the larger x-height (Designing with Type). Unfortunately he passed away before his typeface became a standard favorite and majorly impacted the design type of the future. After John Baskerville’s death in 1775, his patterns and molds were sold by his widow and were passed through several others until they disappeared entirely.
In the beginning of the 20th century it was discovered once again by Bruce Rogers an American typographer that had stumbled upon it in a book store while working for Cambridge University. He recognized the typeface immediately and began investigating to ensure his theory was accurate. By 1919 Rogers became the printer advisor for Harvard Press. As soon as Rogers could, he requested to purchase the Baskerville typeface and use the typeface from the original molds.(Source 3) It was this act that lead to the revival of the Baskerville type face and it finally gained the attention it had always

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