As the printing press spread across the world, standardized sets of cast metal letters began appearing as well, bearing the names of their designers: Bodoni, Didot, Caslon, and others. Today there seems to be a font for every occasion, mood, and usage. How do we interpret the meanings behind the typefaces? In this episode, we explore how printing has changed our alphabets and how type design can amplify a message.   

Thanks to our guests: Clare Withers, Anais Grateau, and Jeanann Haas. Find out more about Pitt’s Archives and Special Collections.  

Processing... is a production of the Center for Creativity at the University of Pittsburgh. Many thanks also to our partners at the University Library System as well as Archives & Special Collections. More information about the new Text & conText Lab can be found at creative.pitt.edu/text-context-lab 

In this episode: 

• 2:40 The Roman alphabet has not always had 26 characters
• 3:16 A special chapbook from Pitt's Children’s Literature collection
• 6:53 Even cheap books were printed on quality paper 
• 9:12 The alphabet in 1790, including the archaic “long s"
• 12:15 Value of chapbooks then and now
• 16:23 Voicemails from Pittsburgh: what is your favorite font? 
• 23:14 Introduction to Neutraface, the “gentrification font" 
• 24:07 What fonts do we see around Pittsburgh? 
• 27:14 Whose voices are heard through typography?  

External links: 

• Check out Pitt's Nesbitt Collection of children’s literature and History of Books and Printing collections! 
• Want to print your own copy of the chapbook we discussed in this episode? Follow this link to Ask an Archivist. 
•  Many more chapbooks to discover in the Elizabeth Nesbitt collection. 
•  The article from Vice that inspired this episode: “A Deep Dive Into the ‘Gentrification Font’” 
•  More typeface history and a chart that shows the evolution of the Roman/Latin alphabet. 
•  An investigation into Gutenberg’s first typeface.  
•  Two articles on Bi Sheng and the world’s first movable type. This one includes a video of the printing process.  
•  A short video interview with type designer Ed Benguiat

 Music in this episode  

• Blue Dot Sessions: sessions.blue 
• Chris Zabriskie: chriszabriskie.com  “Undercover Vampire Policeman” and “Land on the Golden Gate” by Chris Zabriskie are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.