Response: Applying the Lupton reading to Spring Preview

This week we were supposed to read the majority of the first section of Ellen Lupton's Thinking with Type which focuses on letters.  In class we were asked to apply the reading to our most recent assignment, the spring preview.  So here goes...

I love reading about type as embarrassing as that is to admit.  I am a total typography nerd.  So learning that when typographers started playing with thicker and bolder types it was controversial was really interesting.  On the one hand you could say this is a reflection of history and cultural understanding, but I am guessing most people just think it is boring.  We use type everyday and I never used to think about how much work goes into making all the various typefaces available on computers.  As a nearly-digital native, I just assumed they were always there.  I have to say I love all fonts.  Classic, modern, ornamental, and everything in between.  If the typeface controversy of the early 1900's had played out differently, I might not have been able to create the contrast I liked so much between the month and the year in my Spring preview layout.  So while others find it boring, I find it inspiring.  Some guy didn't like abstract typefaces back in the day?  Well, that just makes them all the more interesting to me and adds a new dimension to think about when using typography.

Another thing I took from the reading that had never really set in before and would have helped me to be successful earlier in the design process of the spring preview was understanding how x-sizes relate to appropriate typeface treatment.  I remember from news design and magazine design that different fonts are good for different things, but this reading helped illustrate for me in a way I don't think I will forget that typefaces with larger x-sizes can make bigger impacts at smaller sizes and ones with smaller x-sizes make for more elegant headlines and display type.  Had I known that before I might have done the event blurbs on my spring preview design a little differently from the beginning to make them as clean and legible as possible.