A Very Brief History of Motion Graphics

blackletter

tradition is alive

Cottage Grove Sentinel (Cottage Grove), etc.) have their titles displayed in Blackletter.

WORDS + DESIGN

ULAD SLABIN

Today we tend to take the simplicity of everyday symbols and signs for granted. However, to achieve this simplicity, mankind underwent a many-millennia cultural evolution. Many years ago, letters of the Latin alphabet were written and printed in a way that nowadays would be considered strange, although interesting, too.

Simple Latin letters were carved on Trajan’s Column in Rome in AD 113, but for easy handwriting people used rustic capitals. The latter evolved into Uncials, and then into Half-Uncials and Visigothic. Depending on specific geographic area in Europe, Half-Uncials over centuries transformed into Insular, Beneventan, and Luxeuil. Carolingian Renaissance (8-9th centuries) gave rise to Carolingian minuscule as a calligraphic standard for scriptoria in West Europe. Blackletter in its early Protogothic version was developed on the basis of Carolingian minuscule c.1150.

When Johannes Gensfleisch von Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press in 1439 - a revolutionary event! - he used Blackletter. From 1455, when this German genius printed the Bible, one could find about Blackletter not only as a script but also a typeface.

Blackletter has four styles, developed in 11-18th centuries. Textura was popular in Germany, France, Netherlands, and England. It was the very typeface that Gutenberg used. Less angular Rotunda is an Italian version of Blackletter. Bastarda is a hybrid of Blackletter styles, developed in France. Fraktur, the most popular style in Germany, was also in use for centuries in Denmark, Estonia, Latvia. Bauhaus designers in the 1920s considered Blackletter antiquated. As the typeface fell out of favor, new typography replaced it with sans serif. N owadays, usage of Blackletter is limited, yet it retains popularity among amateurs of history and tradition. For instance, it is appreciated and practiced, along with other beautiful handwriting styles, in Valley Calligraphy Guild in Eugene. They regularly host workshops for those interested in lettering and calligraphy. There are many handwriting and calligraphy groups on Facebook, where people generously share their exercises, as well as videos in Youtube that teach writing in Blackletter.

Image by LuisFe CM @PipesCalligraphy

Although not common in modern cities, Blackletter can still be found, even in Eugene and Oregon. As a tribute to tradition and to emphasize their history, many newspapers in Oregon (The Oregonian (Portland), The Register-Guard (Eugene), Baker City Herald (Baker City), The News-Review (Roseburg), Albany Democrat-Herald (Albany), One can see Blackletter on beer and candy labels, in logos of heavy metal bands, ads of gangsta rappers, and of course in the logo of famous Disneyland!

Typographers like Blackletter for its elegance due to high contrast, difference between thick and thin strokes - it is comparable to modern typefaces. Various Blackletter typefaces are available, including for free download, at many font websites: Ancient, Angel Rhapsody, Canterbury, Lucida Blackletter, Old London, Proclamate Heavy, Seagram, and many others.

Although Blackletter had periods of bloom and decay, it did not disappear and still has a lot of followers. Together with serifs and sans serifs, displays and stencils, Blackletter contributes to the typographical diversity of the world.