Antonio Serna Rosellini - Chapter 7 Blog Post

Antonio Serna Rosellini

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Dolores Wilber

Chapter 7 Blog Post

What interests me about chapter 7th is the progression of type as a form of physical engagement part of our lives. By physical engagement, I mean the ability for people to interact with type in real-time and gain a response from the engagement, a cause and effect relationship. Originally type was seen a purely appeal design. Fairly lengthy typing practices, as seen through the linotype or even the monotype meant type had to be mainly error free and was typically used for mass production of information deemed valuable for the mass public, news, stories, scripture, etc. From here, type evolved from of means of exchanging human conscious and thought to a means of persuasion and conditioning. Persuasion came from the ability to mass-produce type and the adoption of type into advertising. As advertising progressed and inanimate objects were given thought and voice through type, the digital age brought about a newer form of human engagement with type.

Before explaining the revolution that came from the digital age, I must note another aspect of type brought about by the digital age. Up until personal computers, the creation of type and ability to lay down words in various forms, other than personal works in the form of books, was reserved for the people with the knowledge and access to type machines. These were not personal machines and thus, little public access was available.  Digital computers created to major changes. The first was the ability to create a new form a type, “Web type is meant to be not only read but also engaged. This can take the form of links, which allow site users to load new pages or access additional information, or other interface components that allow further interaction with content.” (pg.131). Digital type also allowed for each person with access to digital computing to create their own written works.