MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY TYPOGRAPHY
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1987. Graduated as a Graphic Designer from Universidad de Buenos Aires in 2010. He specializes in calligraphy and type-design. His creations have been used and awarded around the world. Cuando descubrí el arte de la caligrafía me enamoré (2006). Todavía era estudiante de Diseño Gráfico en la Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. De a poco, comencé a dedicarme casi exclusivamente a mancharme las manos de tinta, a experimentar, a lograr formas nuevas. Así nacería el estudio: Con aras de hacer renacer ese arte hermoso, en un mundo que hoy casi lo ha olvidado salvo pocas excepciones. Siendo en principio poco tradicional, mis primeras fuentes iban al límite: Literalmente intentaba llevar la expresividad y el
When I discovered the art of calligraphy I fell in love (2006). He was still a Graphic Design student at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Little by little, I began to dedicate myself almost exclusively to staining my hands with ink, to experiment, to achieve new forms. This is how the studio was born: With the aim of reviving that beautiful art, in a world that today has almost forgotten it, with few exceptions. Being initially not very traditional, my first sources went to the limit: Literally tried to bring the expressiveness and dinamismo de la caligrafía gestual a the dynamism of gestural calligraphy to digital. As the lo digital. Al pasar los años, fueron tornándose algo más conservadoras: years passed, they became more conservative: They Fueron de algún modo vistiéndose were somehow dressed in the con el traje de Tipografía. Encontré en la tipografía un espacio Typography suit. para poder desarrollar, experimentar I found in the typography a space to be able to y encontrar el equilibrio entre dos develop, experiment and áreas que son de mi interés: Lo find the balance between espontáneo de lo artístico con lo two areas that are of my rígido de las matemáticas. He sido siempre una persona con tendencia interest: The spontaneous of the artistic with the rigid y cariño hacia las ciencias exactas. of the mathematics. I have Quizás la tipografía es la rama del always been a person with diseño gráfico que más puede satisfacer mis necesidades. Nada es a tendency and affection bello porque sí. Debe haber algo por towards the exact sciences. Maybe typography is the detrás, un conjunto de decisiones branch of graphic design that muy conscientes, que dejan al azar can best meet my needs. fuera de la creación tipográfica. Nothing is beautiful, just because. There must be something behind, a set of very conscious decisions, that leave randomly outside the typographic creation.
A TYPOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION
Type is everywhere – street signs, magazines, the web. Every typeface you see around you has been painstakingly and carefully planned out, and each has its own personality and vibe. But have you ever stopped to wonder how the typefaces we encounter everyday came to be? Who invented them, and why? If you’re interested in learning more about typography, you’ve come to the right place. TERMINOLOGY EXPLAINED What’s the difference between a typeface and a font? Before you jump in, let’s clarify the terminology used. Typography is the art of creating the letters we use everyday. It’s designing them and creating them and making them real. A font is a collection or set of letters – they’re the mechanism you use to get your message across to your reader. Every letter and dash and
semi colon would be considered part of a specific font. A typeface is the design you see – the style and look of a specific font. Throughout history, typefaces have been influenced by technological advances, culture shifts, and just general boredom with the state of typography. Here’s how it all went down
TYPOGRAPHY
a 14 00 Guttenberg invented movable typefaces, giving the world a cheaper way to obtain the written word. Up until this point, all written materials were done by hand, and were very costly to purchase. Guttenburg also created the first typeface, blackletter – it was dark, fairly practical, and intense, but not very legible.
147 0 Nicolas Jenson created Roman Type, inspired by the text on ancient roman buildings. It was far more readable than blackletter, and caught on quickly.
15 0 1 Italics begin to be used as way to fit more words onto a page, saving the printer money. Today, we use italics as a design detail or for emphasis when writing.
C B D 1734 William Caslon created a typeface which features straighter serifs and much more obvious contrasts between thin and bold strokes. Today, we call this type style ‘old style’.
1757 John Baskerville created what we now call Transitional type, a Roman-style type, with very sharp serifs and lots of drastic contrast between thick and thin lines.
Firmin D Giamba Bodoni the first Roman (Didot, The con more ex ever be created fresh loo
TIMELINE
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D 178 0
Didot and attista created t ‘modern’ typefaces and Bodoni). ntrasts were xtreme than efore, and d a very cool, ok.
Vincent Figgins created Egyptian, or Slab Serif – the first time a typeface had serifs that were squares or boxes.
1815 William Caslon IV created the first typeface without any serifs at all. It was widely rebuked at the time. This was the start of what we now consider Sans Serif typefaces. During this time, type exploded, and many, many variations were
1816
Frederic Goudy became the world’s first full time type designer, developing numerous groundbreaking typefaces, such as Copperplate Gothic, Kennerly, and Goudy Old Style.
192 0's
1957
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About Th
he Museum The Broad is a contemporary
art museum founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, the museum offers free general admission and presents an active program of rotating temporary exhibitions and innovative audience engagement. The Broad is home to more than 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is one of the world’s most prominent collections of postwar and contemporary art.
The 120,000-square-foot build-
ing features two floors of gallery space and is the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library, which has been loaning collection works to museums around the world since 1984. Since opening in September 2015, The Broad has welcomed more than 2.5 million visitors. Generous support is provided by Leading Partner East West Bank.
GOTHAM
By Kenza Tazi
M u s e u m o f C o n t e m p o r a r y Ty p o g r a p h y 21 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012 w w w.th e mu s e umofmoderntype.org