The feeling of typography: from Letterpress Type to Touchscreen

Raph Levien

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“Looking at Language: the Materialized Word”

15 May 2015, Caltech

Psalterium cum Antiphonis

ca. 1475

Photo Credit: Boston Public Library

“Plantin letterpress” by France3470 - Own work.�Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“Yangzhou Museum - woodblock for printing - CIMG2878” by User:Vmenkov - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

1568 illustration of a German type founder pouring molten type metal into a hand mold.

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"Fotothek df tg 0008060 Ständebuch ^ Handwerk ^ Schriftgießer" by Deutsche Fotothek. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

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“Handsatz” by Wilhei - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Linotype operators,

Chicago Defender, 1941

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By Farm Security Administration [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“Linotype Gusszeile - Type Slug” by Gerhard Doerries - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Sampler,

Hellen Goodrich

Silk embroidery on linen, 1806

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Photo credit:

Cooper Hewitt Museum

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“A person reading a braille book” by José Antonio Alonso. Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Nixie Tube,

ca (before) 1969

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"ZM1210-operating edit2" by Georg-Johann Lay with a slight edit by Richard Bartz - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Photo credit: Peter Dassow

Sharp PC-1211 pocket computer

ca 1980

Apple Macintosh, 1984

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“Macintosh 128k transparency” by w:User:Grm wnr - Modifications of Image:Macintosh 128k.jpg and w:Image:Macintosh 128k No Text.jpg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Chicago font, Susan Kare, 1983

Anonymous Pro,

font by

Mark Simonson, 2009

“Color TFT-LCD Layout”. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Laptop, ~100dpi

4k monitor, ~200dpi

(Dell P2415Q, 2015)

Cell phone, 468dpi

(HTC One m7, 2013)

Material design typography guidelines,

Roboto font, 2014