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Before the inception of the personal computer, typography was limited
to the few who had studied the drawing of letterforms, had the skills to be able to
manipulate the precise drawing tools and processes, quality of handiwork and understood
the history of type. There was a guild-like sentiment to type design. This inhibited the lay
person from designing type because of its technical, craft-like nature. With the advent of
the personal computer and the computer programs that allow for the ease of type design,
the laborious task of letterform design has been democratized. Now anyone with a
computer and the accompanying software can, to a certain extent, design a typeface.
What has this meant to typography? This can be answered simply by comparing a type
specimen book circa 1985, only ten years ago, with a specimen book of a digital type
“foundry” of today. The first thing that stands out is the pure number of
typefaces that are available today as compared to 1985 (over 9,000 in some cases as
compared to 1,000). This proliferation of type has allowed the designer an expanded voice,
the ability to better visually express language. It has allowed the type designer a vehicle to
design type that may be specific to each poster, newsletter, etc. with a much greater ease
than hand drawn type. It seems that this democratization is a good thing for typography
and graphic design, but not a well received one. It has lead to a great deal of experimentation
and variety of letterforms, both good and bad.
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