I have always had a fascination with letters and words for as long as I can remember and until a few years ago, I did not realise that my actual fascination was with typography and lettering. The way the letters can form so beautifully leaves me in awe. It seems natural for me to focus my dissertation on lettering and typography.
The terminology is often confused. Lettering is the art of drawing letters by hand, usually in a one-off decorative way. Whereas typography is the study of letters applied to typefaces and usually the creation of fonts, such as Helvetica.
In my dissertation, I am planning to explore lettering in the digital age and how it is used in branding and advertising rather than modern techniques such as vinyl and ordinary fonts while questioning its value in this day and age. I would like to focus specifically on sign writing and sign painting and question whether it is still necessary to use these old methods when there are simpler, faster and cheaper options available. Will it ever die out completely? How much of our culture, as well as American culture, will we lose if this is the case?
After watching a documentary called “Sign Painters” which told the stories of several sign painters and their craft, it made me think about the cultural, aesthetic and historic value of the trade. In recent times, the vinyl machine has put many sign painters out of business and at what cost? Looking up at old brick buildings, you can see the ghost of an old painted sign – whether it is a factory sign or an advertisement for what the building used to contain or sell. In the future, there will be no evidence of what used to be in the building as all shop owners, apart from a small number of independent businesses, use vinyl and pl...
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...o of our own softness – our own fallibility” (Sign Painters) and I cannot help but agree with him. With our world being so technologically driven, do we crave more of a human touch in our day-to-day lives? I believe that I do. Being a letterer myself, I appreciate the delicate craft and I prefer the human hand to the digital, reproduced and unoriginal option.
Though technology makes our lives easier, we are losing the human touch and this almost alienates us from one another. Although, the current onslaught of technology may be the reason hand lettering is staying alive and it may even be fuelling its comeback as “it is at the moment of a craft’s disappearance that its cultural value suddenly becomes plain to see” (The Sign Painters, Glenn Adamson) and maybe we are finally realising the value and the virtue of the trade in our technological world of gratification
Kutcher claims “ We haven’t lost romance in the digital age, but we may be neglecting it, in doing so, acquainted art forms are taking on new importance.The power of a handwritten letter is greater than ever. It’s personal and deliberate and means more than e-mail or text ever will.’’(96)Handwriting is different and unique for each individual. You can look at the letter and judge how much effort a person put into writing it. The mistakes they make show how we as humans are not perfect. and in an intimate relationship writing to your signficant other in a sense you are giving them apart of yourself.It shows feeling, sensitivity and thoughtfulness.Your thoughts and feelings written on paper that they can go back and review it at any time they wish. It has much more meaning versus a text that may have taken just a few seconds. The meaning behind handwriting and letters are by far much deeper. It takes a few effortless seconds to glide ones fingers across a screen and send a text.The effort put into a text does not compare to the time thought out in physical form. Thus the connection is simply not as
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2006. Rabinowitz, Tova. Exploring Typography. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/ Delmar Learning, 2006.
By being educated at a young age in literacy, I included it in my pottery and also working for newspaper companies strengthened my form of expression. Working in the South Carolina Republican and then later on The Edgefield Hive as a typesetter, it was a good experience helping my literacy skills but I didn’t feel fully indulged. I did it because I had to but also to learn. By understand typography, I was able to understand the science of the anatomy of type. They taught me the use of size, spacing, and placement of typography in order to show hierarchy, direction and attraction. I became to understanding that type is a collective of shapes and strokes. Master Abner 's newspaper did not get a lot of publicity and hit a crisis, which led him to cease publication of the newspapers. Master Abner then moved to Columbia, South Carolina, in 1832. He decided to leave me back in Edgefield and...
This new technology is not without its shortcomings. First, the printing press used limited materials. Next, as Mumford notes, the advent of print led calligraphers and manuscript copyists out of work. Furthermore, as Graff finds, it created “typographical fixity”—material once printed cannot be changed. Finally, mass production was dependent and limited to large markets (Mumford, 95)....
Maybe we need both cursive and typing. But in my opinion as the years sail by technology will catch-up with cursive. But until that day, cursive will still be around. And will be used because there some things computers still can't do yet that cursive can
The words you choose and the form they take on paper are an important part of the writing. Some people say they appear like diamonds on paper (Kenn, 2011).
Stenciling is an ancient craft, used since the Egyptians painted with stencils in the tombs of the pharaohs. Over the course of history, stenciling has fallen in and out of favor, and both peasants and kings have employed it to decorate walls, churches and furniture.
For my research proposal, I wish to discuss the involvement of the LDS church, known as the Mormon Church, within the Indian removal that took place during the 1830’s. The Indian Removal Act was passed approximately one month after the initial organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The founder of the LDS church, Joseph Smith, received a revelation that he was to preach his gospel in Indian Territory. In September of 1830, roughly 6 months after the founding of the church, he gave a mission calling to one of his church members who held the Mormon priesthood, his name was Oliver Cowdery. This calling was given to Oliver Cowdery in New York State where he then commenced his mission in October of 1830. The interesting part of Oliver Cowdery’s missionary calling was that he was supposed to proceed on a 1,500 trek across the known country in Western Indian territory where he to then preach to the Indians. Instead of simply teaching to a local tribe, the order was given to preach in the same area where at nearly the same time, southern Indian tribes would also be relocating to as a result of the Indian Removal Act. Oliver Cowdery and his companions began their mission in October and the first Indians they were able to teach were the Cattaraugus Indians in Buffalo, New York who accepted two copies of their Book of Mormon.
7. Jean, Georges. Writing- The Story of Alphabets and Scripts. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1992.
John Taylor’s picture of the signing is very realistic, especially when compared to Wolf’s picture, which is in a much more abstracted form. In Taylor’s picture the viewer can easily recognize natural objects shown in their true form. For example, the landscape in the background of the piece is easily recognizable as a forest. The layout is filled with tall trees and wavy grass. The
Kysilko, David. “The Handwriting Debate." NASBE. National Association of State Boards of Education, Sept. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
Students pursuing post-graduation towards a Ph.D. degree may require dissertation consulting. The value of dissertation consulting can be amply grasped only by those who have either used it or are in need of such consulting. Dissertation is a singular most important paper that doctoral aspirants are required to submit in partial fulfillment of earning their coveted degrees. This degree forms the corner-stone of their career and their bright future. Hence, seeking the service of a consultant at this important stage is probably the wisest decision that doctoral students may take.
The battle for superiority and dominance between words and images is long and on-going. Both can be found everywhere, mostly in books, magazines, television, paintings, and movies. However, in more recent years, the dominance of images over words can be seen. In a world where better, faster, and easier communication is necessary, images are a far better option than words. Mitchell Stephens in “By Means of the Visible: A Picture’s Worth,” Ward Churchill in “Crimes Against Humanity,” and the director of Within These Walls, Mike Robe, concur that images such as gestures, symbols, and pictures have a widespread and profound influence. In truth, “painting is much more eloquent than speech, and often penetrates more deeply into one’s heart” (Stephens 473). Thus, images are more powerful than words because they communicate more clearly and concisely, cater for a wider and more diverse audience, and connect with people on a deeper level.
I welcomed the opportunity to supervise and serve as a reader of a Graduate Project and Thesis (SW 5960, Fall 2016; and SW 5992, Spring 2017). Specifically, I supervised Amber Simmons Graduate Project that focused on raising awareness of suicide among college students and served as a reader (committee member) on Tsola Ekokai thesis, which examined the sex reassignment decision-making process of Nigerian parents, living in the U.S., who have an intersex child. At the outset of the process, I met with each student one-on-one to learn more about their particular interests and ascertain how I might best serve the students. I met regularly with students to consistently enforce standards of rigor and academic conduct
Printing in a simple description is the duplication of images and text. The art of printmaking can be said to date all the way back to before 3000 BC with the Mesopotamians who created a cylindrical seal that could be used to imprint its images onto clay tablets by rolling it across the clay with a little pressure. Skipping along years and years ahead, wax seals to represent a family, guild, church, or nobility were used to seal letters using a carved stamp and imprinting it on hot wax applied to the folded parchment. Some time around 200 CE, in China; woodblock printing became the main method of printmaking and continued so until the 19th century. Woodblock printing works just as a stamp does, except it is made of wood, unlike the rubber stamps we use today. Woodblock printing was a very popular art form in Japan, however, was not held as high and prestigious as painting. One of the most recognizable pieces is from a set of 36 views of Mt. Fuji called: “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai.