Chapter 2 reading

Before I read Chapter 2, I always thought of letters as just letters. After I read this chapter, I realized that there are so much more to letters. One of the main importance in letterforms are their proportions. They basically have four proportions; the ratio of letterform height to stroke length, the variation between the thickness and thinnest strokes of the letterform, the width of the letters, and the relationship of the x-height to the height of the capitals, ascenders, and descenders. From reading Chapter 2, I learned that you need to have knowledge of those proportions in order to make a readable and legible letterform. I also learned that a lot of the typefaces we use today are historical typefaces. For example, with Italic typefaces, they were used back then as an independent type-style by Aldus Manutius to get more words on each line. Today they're used for emphasis and differentiation. Old Style typefaces were started y Fracesco Griffo who worked with Aldus Manutius. A lot of the Old Style typefaces he used are typographic letter forms that I see today. What I also learned from the reading is how you can makes changes to type families. You can change their proportions by either making them wider or narrower, or you can change their weight by making them bolder. By doing this to the type families, you can make them more dynamic. Overall, what I basically learned from this chapter is that letters are more than just letters. They are able to give off a certain visual look and communicate something at the same as well as be used again and again for over thousands of years.