What is Isotype?

Isotype, International System of Typographic Picture Education, consists of a type of set standardized and abstracted pictorial symbols with specific guideline. Its main purpose is to disseminate information using pictorial means, in other words “picture language”. It was invented by Otto Neurath,  an Austrian who was one of the leading figures of the Vienna Circle influencing 20th century philosophy.

History

Before Otto Neurath, there was Gerd Arntz. Gerd Arntz was an artist that generally used black and white wood and lino cuts to create isolated characters without any text to guide the viewers. Thereby designing more of pictograms that contributed to the formation of isotype.

Principles of Isotype

“larger quantities were to be displayed by repetition of the same symbol and not enlargement of that symbol, as that was less accurate and more difficult to understand.”

Languages being transmitted to image makes it an easier way to understand and hence a universal language for all. These simplified pictures and are easier to remember and the short texts often provide a guide or a type of measure to quantity and scale of measure.

Horizontal arrangements are often preferred as compared to vertical or circular types of display. Colour was also used strategically and only for informative purposes instead of decorative purposes.

Modern Info graphics

Info graphics often uses the same principles as isotype but even more so with the varied use of text, information and data. It is an extension of isotype where it aims to do more than translate to universal language but be able to analyse trends and see patterns.

As the world becomes more complicated, the use of isotype evolves despite its basic principles still applied to the modern info graphics. With more information and content that is required to be relayed to the audience while ensuring higher retention rate, info graphics make use of varies arrangements to showcase as much information as possible. Despite isotypes minimizing the use of graphs and charts, they made their return in the use of info graphics.

Despite the little changes, the main purpose of info graphics is used for mass communication similar to isotypes that are early examples of info graphics conveying ideas and information quickly, ensuring that they are easily digested by the majority.

Change in Society Needs being reflected

From pictograms to isotype and to info graphics, the evolution of the three different yet similar modes of using imagery to convey a message suggests the different types of information our society looks for and how the society changes.

While pictogram often shows similarity to the object it represents, isotype focuses on using the representation for a greater purposes of showcasing a trend using image and info graphics combines the idea of text, statistical data and images together. The change suggests a surge in information that we must digest and put in while ensuring that it remains simplified. This poses as a challenge especially so for modern day context to create an impact and informative info graphic. At the same time, it also shows the growth in our society where we now understand not just images but also gaining the ability to identify patterns and at the same time to infer and define new trends.

References:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/exmgwz/isotype-the-proto-infographic-you-probably-didnt-know-existed
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neurath/
The Isotype revolution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerd_Arntz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infographic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictogram
https://www.informaticsinc.com/blog/2014/5-tips-creating-effective-infographic/amp

Exploring Slab Serifs

History

Slab Serifs developed in the 19th century with their block-like, thick and geometric serifs as distinct characteristics of their type. It was first introduced by Vincent Figgins, a British type-founder that helped shaped the British Print Industry with variety of serifs and display fonts. However, it declined in popularity with the Arts and Craft Movement as people turned towards Old Style Serifs instead.

Serif VS Slab Serif

Serif: Old style

Serif: Transitional

Slab Serif

As serif transitions from old style to transitional and eventually to modern typeface, there is a constant change in the letter stress and the decreasing difference in thickness within each letter. However, slab serif has minimal difference between the thickness of the strokes and generally gives off an square and rigid feel. Its purpose was designed for improved legibility on newsprint due to poor paper quality in the 19th century.

Slab Serifs often make better display fonts as compared to Serifs due to the idea of its boldness and heavy strokes that grabs people’s attention and is often seen in advertising posters or web designs. While it worked well for the use of display text, it was a little too heavy and chunky when used as body text, making some of the content difficult to read as compared to serifs that gave breathing spaces due to the variation in thickness of strokes.

Slab serifs fonts included Courier that was used in typewriters. This resulted in mono spaced text fonts to arise as well. Mono spaced text are text that are non-proportional fonts, with each letter occupying an equal amount of space horizontally.

Slab Serif Sub-Categories

Clarendon

• Bold and solid structure often used for body text of prints in the 19th Century
• Bracketed Serifs that become larger as they reach the main stroke
• Large x-height, short ascenders and descenders

French Clarendon

• Heavy stems, dramatic, attention-drawing
• Reverse-contrast type: The stress is placed on the opposite side compared to the usual letter
• Often used in circus posters

Typewriter

• Strike-on typewriting
• Mono spaced text

Geometric Design

• No bracketing
• Evenly weighted stems and serifs

Personal Reflection on Slab Serif

I was generally aware about the existence of Serifs and San Serifs, while Slab Serifs were a new thing for me to learn about. I was interested in the bold and heavy nature of the type face and its ability to act as both a Display type and a Body type. While researching on it, I was able to see the extent at which the type’s potential was used in both the areas of display and body text.

What made it more interesting was how the type was influenced by the need of society and changes in art movements. While Slab Serifs has always been competing against Serifs, the rise of Slab Serifs was due to the need to increase legibility on prints (from society). While the rise in Serifs after the 19th Century was due to the Arts and Craft Movement that arise from the rejection of machinery and moving back to Old Style Serif typefaces.

The constant change between moving forward in the period of industrial revolution and the constant resistance to bring back the old seems to be a constant cycle through out the art industry as seen in the future art movements. The reflection of these changes and reactions to events in society in type itself allows Typography to tell a certain history through its development and holds a prominent place in the history of graphic design.

References
https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/type-anatomy/type-classifications
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_serif
https://designshack.net/articles/typography/font-types-explained-serif-sans-script-slab/
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-typography-determines-readability-serif-vs-sans-serif-
and-how-to-combine-fonts-629a51ad8cce/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/110690103325153099/
https://elavdeveloper.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/monospace-ubuntu-font/

Finding out more about the Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is important in the history of type as well as in understanding the Ancient Egyptian History, giving us a peak into the period of 196 BC in Egypt. The inscription on the stone is a decree by a council of priests, affirming the royal cult of Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation. The inscription was written in three different forms: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Ancient Greek. This was key as the different forms of inscriptions allowed modern people to track back using Ancient Greek to decipher the Hieroglyphic and Demotic inscriptions.

Image showing how the Rosetta Stone would have been while it was still intact.

Rosetta Stone was actually attached to an even greater part of the slab and only portions of the text was captured on the remaining of the artifact for all three forms of inscriptions. Besides of the incompleteness of the text, there was an even bigger challenge where Hieroglyphic could represent a sound, abstract concept or even literally what has been drawn all depending on the context which increased the difficulty to decipher. However, the presence of presence of cartouches which indicates that the text enclosed is a royal’s name, helped made the deciphering slightly easier. As the name was constant throughout the three inscriptions, parts of the Ancient Greek text could then be easily matched with the the Hieroglyphic and easily decipher meanings of certain Hieroglyphic.

Image showing an example of Cartouches

What was interesting to me about this artifact is how key it is to the history of understanding typography. Without this piece of artifact, it may have been even harder for us to understand Hieroglyphic and how it was read. Perhaps missing out on a key stage in the process of typography and understanding how ancient Egyptians influenced the progress of Ancient Greek alphabets and to the modern alphabets.

It also gives us a glimpse into the Egyptian life back then where the three inscription served different purposes despite conveying the same content. Hieroglyphic was likely for priests, Demotic as the “language of people” and Ancient Greek as the language of administration. From this example, it also shows how typography could be a reflection of status and lifestyle within that time. As typography progresses, there is also a change to become more cohesive and compatible into a single form rather than multiple forms.

References:
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rosetta Stone

https://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/trs/trs07.htm
https://www.historyofvisualcommunication.com/03-the-alphabet

(Image Reference)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone
https://www.britannica.com/story/what-does-the-rosetta-stone-say