About

Once confined to print, the disciplines of visual design are becoming increasingly valid in creating communication for a wide range of new media. From video, to the web, to portable devices, the aesthetics and clarity of communication achieved by executing strong typographic discipline and understanding are even more valid as these techniques expand their reach and influence beyond the printed page. As the demand for an emphasis in typography grows, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the very soul of typography exists far beyond the mathematics and geometry of a series of letterforms. Rather, the discipline has come to comprehend that typography possesses a kind of poetry and philosophy that few other art forms can claim, enriching design not only with its vast history, but by a hitherto underappreciated awareness of its voice and personality.

 

Condensed at its smallest point to the very counter of a letterform or spreading its voice across an entire family, the innate character of a typeface can sustain a visual mood or create an intriguing and captivating visual rhythm. When observed in context with its history and the design discipline within which it was created, a typeface becomes much more than the way letters merely sit on a page; instead, its visual presence is a substantive representation of the visual history of typographic communications within the history of language itself.

 

Unfortunately, the interconnected nature of a typeface's history, philosophy and design discipline is often overlooked within the curriculum of a graphic design education. Furthermore close attention to the details, which renders the typographic voice is often never discussed. Admittedly, while the above may seem unduly obscure, it is this vast and expansive nature of typography that speaks to design itself. While typography is often regarded as the mere gloss of a designed object, type itself not only embodies a system of meticulously planned visual geometry and design harmony but also a rich history and philosophy, that can be enriching to not only the design process, but ultimately to that for which it speaks.

 

It is with this belief in mind that Phillip Chan, author of To Advance Typography, set out to make public his extensive academic and personal research to expose the voice and personality of type. Trained and professionally accomplished as a painter, Phillip Chan has over thirty years experience as an educator, with nineteen of those years teaching graphic design and typography at Youngstown State University. As he tells it, he was stunned by the fact that the sort of “ear training” that seemed so necessary was not integrated into the graphic curriculum. Perhaps it is the very fact that Phillip Chan came into typography from painting that permitted him to see this particular pedagogical absurdity, for it was that very contradiction, together with the beauty of type which lead him towards his research. The body of work collected in To Advance Typography is not only a poignant reminder of the subtle beauty of type’s forms, but it also exposes that beneath it subtle beauty lies a structural harmony that articulates the foundations of formal unity for understanding.

 

This website has been created to seek out feedback that will help us in moving forward with the To Advance Typography project. We are providing the text of 5 of the 100 typefaces the book analyzes to seek opinions from others in regards to the validity and usefulness of the work. We would appreciate any and all feedback, and hope that you enjoy reading the work as much as we have enjoyed researching and preparing it for potential publication.