Pierce Horvath: Chapter 7 Response

When reading this chapter, I found myself posing the question, “What’s next?” After going through this brief yet thorough history of the technology and machines that help make up modern typography, it leaves you wondering how we can move ahead after the digital age. Computers, the internet, smartphones, and the budding world of virtual reality have already taken over a great deal of human interaction, so it’s no surprise the greatest frontier for us designers lies within the depths of cyberspace.

Imagine having to create a printed version of this 250 or so word response by hand using a press mechanism or even the Linotype Machine. It probably takes the average 21st-century citizen thirty minutes, give or take, to compose something like this on a laptop or desktop computer. I could only imagine that time duration being multiplied three, four, or even five-fold with one of those tried and true contraptions.

Don’t feel bad, I shuddered too.

Even with a typewriter, phototypesetter, or scanning system, you’d still find yourself manipulating type at a pace that could not keep up with your iPhone. That being said, I regress back to the question I posed at the top. What is next? I wouldn’t be surprised if we’d find people composing essays in a 3D virtual space within the next decade or so. Type can become a truly interactive element. Within the realm of research, we are uncovering just how we respond to specific typefaces and other elements of typography. All this said, I feel that we creatives are living in an age where anything we can fathom becomes tangible. If I wanted to, I could’ve 3D printed this response and linked the characters together like an exquisite quilt. Maybe the next reading assignment?