Typography? What's That? Aesthetics? Who Cares? Graphic Designers? Who Needs Em!

It's possible that you'll only think this College Humor TV "Font Conference" video funny if you are old enough to know what typography was. A long, long time ago, back in the early 1980s, before the scourge of desktop publishing made every secretary a "designer", typography was integral to the aesthetic of graphic design. Then, to the horror of those who care about design, programmers became designers and the graphic arts went to hell. And typography went down the tubes with it. Sigh.

Posted by BL Ochman

Thanks for sharing, BL. I absolutely love this, being a type fan myself.

What a wonderful piece of work. Thanks for making my day, BL.

BTW, I worked for an ad agency in the '70s that owned a printing company. They could and did still set hot lead type by hand for special jobs. Talk about kerning! And line spacing! And beautiful results.

For those of you that care, here is a tribute
to the long lost art of art direction. Thank you BL
for paying due respect.

http://madisonavenew.com/mad169.html

Donna - i remember hot type because my family had a typography business when i was growing up. it morphed into a service bureau that now does sophisticated graphics and specialized mail and printing programs. Type shouldn't become a lost art.

Stephen! so nice to see your name here. i love kerning and beautiful type!

Harry - thanks for the link to your great post about the good old days of advertising.

you know the old joke:
What's the difference between God and an art director?

God doesn't think he's an art director.
hehe

seriously, art directors brought something to the mix that is sadly lacking these days - knowledge of the history of design and communication. sigh.