Applied design for printers

Fig. 24. Type border used as geometric ornaments.

Fig. 25. Further use of type border to make a flat pattern or “all-over”
design. Compare the effect with that shown in the facing illustration.

In the artistic development of the various races, geometric design has often been the result of religious restrictions upon the imitation of any animate forms. The Mahometans have developed it to its highest type of expression. Arabian and Moorish architecture and handicrafts are the best examples, with the crystal beauty of the Alhambra, the wonderful palace built by the Moors in Spain, as the supreme achievement of geometric design.

Geometrical design uses simple materials, being the oldest of the elements of decoration. The implements of savages and the tattooing of the Indians prove this. From the first crude expressions of the original squares, circles, zigzag lines, and sundry simple combinations, gradual development led finally to the delicate forms of Moorish design. The elaboration of this style involves deep mathematical problems and careful draftsmanship.

The majority of geometrical ornaments may be divided into three groups. As we find them in typographical material these groups are bands or borders, made up visually of repeated units or spots; enclosed spaces or panels; and unlimited flat patterns or “all-over” designs.

Fig. 28. Development of the motif used in Fig. 27 into a natural ornament.
The forms and growth are not distorted but the rendering is in flat surfaces to hold the decorative quality.

In nearly every style and period of design the plant-world has been the biggest source of material for adaptation. The direct imitation of natural forms, keeping as much as possible of their shape, color, formation, etc., is called naturalistic design. A departure from the exact details of the natural form, forming the design according to the rules of rhythm and symmetry, with strict attention to regularity leads to a result more artificial in character.

Whether the ornament you consider be naturalistic or artificial, the original source, which is the plant-form or other natural form from which the design was made, is called the motif of the design. It is interesting to survey the world about you and note here and there a recognizable motif in the design of wallpaper, hangings, furniture, rugs, books, and so on all through the works of man.

The development of a motif into ornament or decoration calls for the use of all the principles thus far established, plus familiarity with the medium to be used and the inventiveness that comes only with some experience. If the reader lacks this experience and is interested in undertaking to devise ornament or decoration with pen, pencil, or brush, he is advised to consult some one or more of the books on the subject which are listed in the bibliography. If he has facility with his pencil and enthusiasm for the work he will find it a most fascinating undertaking.

Periods of Design Which Have Most Affected Printing

The student of design finds that historical study of his subject carries him through the entire history of art, from the crude expressions of prehistoric man down the long and varied centuries to the styles and fancies of the present day. He will find his theme closely interwoven with the story of the development of races, the rise and fall of nations, the whole thrilling drama of ancient and modern history.

Printing, as a means of making records and of embodying and illustrating thought, has given us the wide field of literature on design. But in the making of books as an application of design, and in the making of all other forms of printed matter, printers since Gutenberg have been influenced by relatively few of the many distinct periods through which art has come. And those few have usually been the artistic feeling which prevailed at the time the printers lived.

To trace the periods of design that have most influenced printing is to tell in part the history of the craft. Since that subject is developed elsewhere in this series, suffice it to follow briefly the steps through which the making of books has passed.

Since the invention of movable types came opportunely to meet the desire for enlightenment by means of books, it was natural that printed books should be planned closely to imitate the hand-written or lettered books. These latter, having been produced for centuries by the men of the church to whom had been given training in the arts, had been brought to a high state of perfection in design. It has often been said that Gutenberg’s forty-two line Bible, one of the first books printed from type, has never been surpassed in pure beauty of design and in the rich quality of its type masses.

Fig. 30. A reproduction, greatly reduced, of a page from a Manuscript Bible
of the early 14th Century. Entirely the product of the quill and brush
of the writer and illuminator. Such books were usually done in black ink
on parchment or vellum and decorated in water colors and gold leaf.

Fig. 31. A page from an illuminated Flemish manuscript of the middle
15th Century, showing characteristic treatment of illustration and
decoration. This and the preceding example are shown for
comparison with Figs. 32 and 33. They demonstrate the
effect of the writing of books upon the development of printing.

Fig. 32. Type of the Mazarin Bible (exact size).

But the first books printed from type were all of religious character, and the type itself was designed to imitate the black, condensed “text” letter forms which had been developed by the scribes. The elaborate initial letters which marked the sundry divisions of thought were repeated by the early printers, sometimes to be illumined by hand and later as engravings on wood or metal. There was no distinct departure from the ecclesiastical style of the monks save as was necessitated by the mechanical limitations of the new process of printing. Hence came a style which marked the first years of printing with the influence of the church. And that style today can be embodied in modern work by means of typographic material, black text types, missal initials, and liberal use of color. But it will always be associated by the power of tradition with church literature and ecclesiastical printing.

Fig. 33. Reproduction of a page from Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible, of which it
has been said that no later book has been more beautifully designed.
In completing this book and for some years after, the illuminating and
decoration were done by hand, only the type being set and printed on the press.

Perhaps it was fortunate for the future of the printing art that the upheaval in Mainz drove printers out of the restricted atmosphere in which their craft was growing. For with the spread of printing into Italy, where printers sought freer fields, there straightway came a marked change in its use. The first Roman type was cut and the printers grew under the influence of the most splendid period in the history of art, the Italian Renaissance, the revival and further development of the arts which had well-nigh perished through the dark centuries. The purity of line and form, the severe dignity, and the almost too perfect proportion which had been developed by the Greeks over a thousand years before were revived and interpreted with more human feeling by the Italians of the fifteenth century.

Just as Gutenberg, Fust and Schoeffer set a standard in ecclesiastical printing with their first efforts, so Nicholas Jenson in cutting his first Roman type established a precedent which has lived to the present day.

Designers of today find inspiration in the classic expression of the Greeks for printed work which is to be similarly restrained and dignified. Type faces have been developed which are distinctly classic in feeling, echoing the letter-forms of the inscriptions which were cut in stone by Greek and Roman artisans. (Figs. 35-6.)

The design of the Renaissance has been embodied in the books of many nations. Indeed, it may be said that modern book design dates from the start of printing in Italy. But, just as the fine arts have never since flourished as they did in that resplendent period, so has the progress of design in printing been a matter of the work of individuals or limited groups rather than the character of a period or a national expression.

The voluptuous vagaries of the successive French periods of design gave little lasting distinction to contemporary printing.

Type faces were cut at various times and by men of different nationalities which have marked characteristics, but they are not to be noted as establishing periods or styles in printing.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries printing in England grew into forms of expression which have been recognized under the term of “Georgian” or “colonial.” The first editions of Shakespeare typify the earlier development of this style, which was marked by poor typographical materials that were nevertheless arranged in a direct and interesting manner. (Fig. 37.)

A few years later the growth of printing in the American colonies brought this form of typographic expression into most of the printed matter which has been preserved. The museums of printing and the literature dealing with the times are rich with examples. See Figs. 39 to 41.

Through the ensuing decades printing developed mechanically, but it lapsed into styles which had little or no relationship to design. It is interesting historically to follow the efforts of the printers who rode on the first steamboats and railroad trains; who recorded the rise and fall of slavery and secession; who bent their rules and jumbled their type faces during the “early Pullman days” that marked the start of many modern successful printers. The history of the craft through all these times has been picturesque and closely identified with the growth of the country. But it has little or no significance for the designer.

Fig. 37. Title page, much reduced, of a Shakespeare first folio, showing the
Georgian style of typography. The types were poorly fitted and of
uncertain alignment. The “stock” ornaments, cut on wood, were
often bruised and worn. Yet there is undeniable charm in the result.

Fig. 38. An early American page, dated 1685, showing the influence of the
Georgian style upon the Colonial printers. An improvement in mechanical
quality may be noted. Large capitals, a profusion of italics, and
frequent use of cross rules mark this period of printing.

Design in printing has suffered through the marvelous mechanical development of machines and devices whose sole purpose has been to multiply gross output. Necessary as sheer volume of production has been, it has remained for very recent years to witness a renewal of interest in the beauty of printing, as determined by the principles of design.

William Morris, in England, devoted a very few years, toward the end of his life, to a protest against the commonplace and mechanical qualities which had dominated printing previously. He revived many of the old traditions and marked his books with his strong personality. We owe much of our present wide-spread reverence for good design in printing to his influence, even as we are similarly indebted to him for the well-designed and useful appurtenances of our daily life which have supplanted twisted and distorted furniture, stuffed birds under glass jars, and all the atrocities of a generation or two ago. See Figs.

Among the present-day designers of printing whose work shows an intimate study of the principles and the traditions of the craft are such men as Rogers, Updike, Goudy, Cleland, and Currier. The product of their work may frequently be seen in reproductions in the trade publications. It should be studied by younger designers, for it shows the results of earnest and understanding effort to make modern printing reach and even pass the artistic standards which were established nearly five hundred years ago.

Fig. 39. Page from Poor Richard’s Almanack, one of the best known
of the Colonial publications. Its style is typical of that period.

Fig. 40. Illustrating the period of transition from the true Colonial
style. Type and material are obviously improved in mechanical
qualities, but the compositor must have been seeking
for “something new” in typography.

Fig. 41. Showing a typical title page composed at the beginning of the
decline of typography in America. During almost the entire 19th Century
there was neither reason nor design in most of the printing produced.

Figs. 42 and 43. Facing pages from “The Tale of Beowulf,” as designed
and printed by William Morris. The small reproductions give but
a suggestion of the Morris conception of book-making.

After a century or more of the most haphazard printing, Morris revived
the traditions of the first book-makers, thereby stimulating a
world-wide renewal of interest in typography and design.

Fig. 44. Page designed by Mr. Bruce Rogers.

Fig. 45. Title page by Mr. F. W. Goudy.

Fig. 46. Folder cover arranged by Mr. T. M. Cleleand.

Fig. 47. Catalogue page by Mr. D. B. Updike.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

The Principles of Design. By Ernest Allen Batchelder. Inland Printer Company, Chicago.

Design in Theory and Practice. By Ernest Allen Batchelder. MacMillan Company, New York.

A Manual of Historic Ornament. By Richard Glazier. B. T. Batsford, 94 High Holburn, London.

Line and Form. By Walter Crane. G. Bell and Sons, London.

The Bases of Design. By Walter Crane. G. Bell and Sons, London.

A History of Ornament. By A. D. F. Hamlin. Century Company, New York.

Ornament and Its Application. By Lewis F. Day. Scribner’s, New York.

Nature in Ornament. By Lewis F. Day. B. T. Batsford, 94 High Holburn, London.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

The following questions, based on the contents of this pamphlet, are intended to serve (1) as a guide to the study of the text, (2) as an aid to the student in putting the information contained into definite statements without actually memorizing the text, (3) as a means of securing from the student a reproduction of the information in his own words.

A careful following of the questions by the reader will insure full acquaintance with every part of the text, avoiding the accidental omission of what might be of value. These primers are so condensed that nothing should be omitted.

In teaching from these books it is very important that these questions and such others as may occur to the teacher should be made the basis of frequent written work, and of final examinations.

The importance of written work cannot be overstated. It not only assures knowledge of material but the power to express that knowledge correctly and in good form.

QUESTIONS

1. What purpose in the works of mankind is served by design?

2. In what manner does design influence man’s handiwork?

3. What is design?

4. What is “a design”?

5. What is the difference between beauty and fitness to purpose?

6. What are the elements of design?

7. What relationship has a printer to a sculptor, an architect, a painter, a decorative designer?

8. How does the printed page limit its design?

9. What is the difference between a printed picture and a printed design based upon that picture?

10. Why are pictures unsuitable to decorate a printed page?

11. What are the materials of design?

12. Analyze a well-designed typographical ornament into the materials which compose it.

13. When the materials of design are put to use, what conditions must be satisfied in their arrangement?

14. What is harmony?

15. What is balance?

16. What is proportion?

17. What is rhythm?

18. How may the foregoing qualities be demonstrated?

19. What shapes should be used in combination?

20. What further relationship should they have?

21. On a type page 20 picas wide by 30 picas deep would a panel 18 picas wide by 8 picas deep be proper? What, if anything, would be preferable?

22. Would a rule line 6 points wide be suitable to surround a mass of 18 point Caslon old style caps? Why?

23. If the printed page is to be other than black and white, what further consideration of harmony is involved?

24. What must we consider in related areas with respect to their size or measure?

25. What relationship of sizes is often most interesting?

26. Place a single line on a cover page in a desirable position.

27. Is the eye always to be trusted in the judgment of space relationships?

28. Should mathematical measurements or the effect upon the eye be the guiding factor in arrangement? Why?

29. What is the effect of the surrounding edge or border upon the masses of a design?

30. How should the masses in a design be arranged with respect to the surrounding edge?

31. What mathematical principles influence this arrangement?

32. How is equality in the halves of a printed page sometimes desirable and sometimes not?

33. When there is no equality in the halves of a design, what condition exists and what principles must guide such an arrangement?

34. What is ornament?

35. What qualities may ornament possess? Define them.

36. In what periods of design does each quality appear most pronouncedly?

37. How is ornament related to nature? To inventiveness or ingenuity?

38. How is ornament related to mathematics?

39. What are the important divisions of mathematical ornament?

40. What happens when an ornament is developed from a natural source?

41. What is the source called?

42. What periods of design have most affected printing? Why?

43. Explain how each of the above periods influences modern typography.

44. What should be the typographer’s attitude toward the activities of designers of every age and period?

45. What has been the effect of mechanical development in printing upon typographic design?

46. Name some of the modern men whose work is of interest to the typographer.

GLOSSARY

TERMS OF DESIGN AS APPLIED TO PRINTING

Assyrian (Art)—The Assyrian Empire lay in Southwestern Asia between the Tigris and the Euphrates, now part of Turkey in Asia. Its art was largely expressed in the treatment of flat surfaces, using enameled bricks, painted stuccoes, figured bronzes, etc. Bricks were the only building material. The period dates from 4000-3000 B.C. to about 500 B.C.

Attraction—The force exercised upon the eye by a mass through its tone, color, size, or shape.

Axis—A line dividing a surface for purpose of comparison or construction.

Balance—An apparent state of rest between the various attractions in a design. To balance the elements of a design is to arrange them so that they are set at rest with one another.

Byzantine (Art)—The art of Eastern Christendom, from the time when Byzantium (now Constantinople) became the capital in 330 A.D. until the taking of the city by the Turks in 1453 and even later. Byzantine art embodied Asiatic luxury in splendor and in profusion of color and gilding. Its forms of design were purely geometrical and conventional, with no use of the human figure.

Celtic (Art)—Particularly active in the fourth century among the people of what are now the British Isles. It was influenced by Central Asia and Persia, and is thus somewhat oriental.

Chinese (Art)—Characterized by the use of fantastic forms and brilliant color. Best exemplified in porcelains, lacquers, and carvings in wood and semi-precious stones. The source of inspiration of the Japanese who have commercialized and cheapened it in everything save wood-block cutting and printing.

Classic—The period of early Greece and Rome.

Colonial (Art)—Found in the printing and other applied design of the early American colonies and during the first years of the American Republic. Derived from England and sometimes called “Georgian.”

Color—The kind of light reflected by a surface.

Conception—The process of forming an idea or scheme.

Decoration—Any thing or group of things that embellishes or adorns.

Design (In general)—An arrangement of forms or colors, or both, intended to be executed in hard substances or pliable material or to be applied to a fabric or other surface for ornament.

(In printing)—The arrangement of masses, lines, and dots to secure the qualities of beauty, and fitness.

(Specific)—“A design”: any piece of work into which the elements of design have been incorporated.

Egyptian (Art)—Includes the period of art activity in Egypt dating from about 4000 B.C. through successive steps to 500 B.C. It was highly conventionalized, richly decorated, making use of material forms interpreted with vigorous color. In architecture its chief characteristic was durability.

Esthetic—Pertaining to beauty as manifested in the fine arts. “The esthetic imagination differs from the scientific.... The difference is seen in the fact that the end is no longer knowledge but beauty.”

Ecclesiastical (Style)—That which characterized the books and manuscripts of the early churches, usually in black text letter forms with elaborate ornamentation and illumination.

Geometrical (Design)—Based upon spots, bands, or all-over patterns made up of straight and curved lines developed geometrically.

Georgian (Period)—Included the English and Colonial American design of the 17th and 18th centuries. Similar to “Colonial.”

Gothic (Art)—Developed in the architecture and applied design in Europe from 1200 A.D. to 1500 A.D. Characterized by vertical lines, pointed arches, and decorative material based directly upon nature.

Greek (Design)—That of early Greece, dated from about 620 B.C. to about 350 B.C., developed under the influence of Egypt and Assyria but rising far above either in purity and expression. “The Greek artisan had the unerring taste of the artist and sought his inspiration from the same sources.”

Harmony (In art)—A state of completeness in the relationship to things to each other.

Headband—The horizontal strip of decoration used to ornament or to set off a type page.

Indian (Art)—That of the East Indies or India, which have several styles, all oriental in character. American Indian art was manifested in geometric ornament, raw colors, and crude representation of animate forms.

Initial Letter—A large letter, unornamented or decoratively designed, used to mark the beginning of a chapter, an important change in the text, or to decorate a single mass of type.

Japanese (Design)—Derived from the Chinese and usually commercialized in its application. Of chief interest to printers in the arrangement and rendering of wood-block prints.

Mahometans—Followers of the Prophet Mahomet, including Arabian, Indian, Moorish, Persian, and other nations.

Mass—One of the main portions of a design, readily distinguished and having some unity in itself, yet remaining in proper relationship to the whole scheme.

Materials of Design—Masses, dots, and lines which compose the completed design.

Motif—The original source for a decorative scheme or element.

Natural Forms—Motifs of design chosen from nature, either animate or inanimate.

Naturalistic (Design)—The direct imitation of forms taken from nature, retaining as much as possible of their original shape, color, etc.

Optical Illusion—An error, normal to the average eye, in the perception of certain lines, angles, and spaces. Recognized by the designers of type and of typography.

Ornament—Similar to decoration.

Persian (Art)—Covered by the period from about 550 B.C. to 330 B.C. Derived from Assyrian art but strongly influenced by the Greek.

Point of Balance—The point, unindicated in the finished design, upon which the various attractions of the design are balanced in appearance.

Proportion—The comparative relationship between the various elements in a design.

Renaissance—The period of art activity in the 14th and 15th centuriesin Italy. A revival of the classic arts but developed and enriched beyond former heights.

Rhythm—Movement, characterized by the regular recurrence of accent or motion.

Roman (Design)—A transplanted development of Greek design, influenced by Roman habits and character. More realistic in the treatment of natural forms than the Greek.

Shape—The contour or appearance of an area.

Scandinavian (Design)—That of the nations Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, characterized by rich interlacements, and many symbolic devices.

Symbolic—Typifying or representing the idea or purpose of a design.

Symmetry—Regular arrangement of parts across a given axis, so that a division through that axis will give similar halves.

Tone—The amount (not kind) of light reflected from a given surface—“a light tone” or “dark in tone.”

Variety—An intermixture of elements in a design different in form or color and not arranged symmetrically.

TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES
FOR APPRENTICES

The following list of publications, comprising the Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices, has been prepared under the supervision of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America for use in trade classes, in course of printing instruction, and by individuals.

Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States—employers, journeymen, and apprentices—with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study.

The publications of the series are of uniform size, 5 x 8 inches. Their general make-up, in typography, illustrations, etc., has been, as far as practicable, kept in harmony throughout. A brief synopsis of the particular contents and other chief features of each volume will be found under each title in the following list.

Each topic is treated in a concise manner, the aim being to embody in each publication as completely as possible all the rudimentary information and essential facts necessary to an understanding of the subject. Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text.

In order that the pamphlets may be of the greatest possible help for use in trade-school classes and for self-instruction, each title is accompanied by a list of Review Questions covering essential items of the subject matter. A short Glossary of technical terms belonging to the subject or department treated is also added to many of the books.

These are the Official Text-books of the United Typothetae of America.

Address all orders and inquiries to Committee on Education, United Typothetae of America, Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A.

PART I—Types, Tools, Machines, and Materials