Chinese Typography History Research Point

The history of typography is bound together with the history of language, since over a millennia ago the western alphabet we know today has been developing. It started out as drawings, letterforms and writing traditions from ancient Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan and Roman times. Typography has developed over time as well to create letterforms to suit the needs of the times. Typography refers to the mechanical reproduction of words through printing strictly speaking. Lettering though implies handwritten type, writing and calligraphy.

It's easy to presume that we invented many of the developments in these technologies however it was ancient China and Korea who developed paper, movable type and printing presses centuries before Europe.

Movable type: Movable type was a key development in the history of typography and it was invented by Johann Gutenberg when he printed a copy of the English Bible in 1455.

Caxton was the one who printed the first English book however for Caxton there was no standardised English language that we no today regarding spelling, grammar and meanings. It was through printing that the English language became unified.

Research Point: I was asked to research an area of typography. I decided to research Chinese calligraphy, as this form of writing has always fascinated me, how the use of symbols has influenced a written language so much.

The earliest form of Chinese writing is on Oracle Bones they were incredibly basic as they were carved using a sharp pointed instrument so you couldn't achieve the variation and other attributes caligraphy considered part of true calligraphy 

oracle bones

During the Han dynasty, Chinese artisans perfected the manufacture of basic materials still used in Caligraphy today such as Xuan Paper, Maabian Paper and Lianshi Paper. The traditional brush is commonly made from Bamboo, Ink is made from lampblack (soot) and binders which must be rubbed with water on an ink stone. 

There is a number of physical parameters that affect the artist's calligraphy for example with the brush it's the: Shape, size, stretch and type of hair used. Other physical parameters include the colour and density of ink as well as the quantity of the ink/water they let the brush take up. When the artist begins to draw the text the pressure, inclination and direction they give to the brush can also affect the outcome.

Usually, traditional Chinese calligraphy is passed down from teacher to apprentice and they practice by copying out scripts, I thought id attempt to practice some of my own as I just find it fascinating.

here is my attempt

Playing with words: This exercise required me to create typographical representations that present both the word and suggestion of its meaning. Now, this exercise required me to print out different words and present them on a piece of paper, however, I decided that to challenge myself a bit further I would create my own, using my sketchbook I would be able to expand my creativity and play around with colour, use of font and style. I still followed the same words.