Type Evolves

Over at UXblog I found a pointer to an excellent little site on the evolution of type. Not only educational, but also lovely to view.

The brief paragraph on handwriting doesn’t mention my favorite piece of penmanship trivia. When universities first started adding the library science degree for aspiring librarians, they were all required to take a class called “Library Hand.” In that class they all learned how to write letterforms in a particular style as cards in the library card catalog were all written out by hand at the time.

Under “Letterform: Styles” there’s a nice timeline from 1400 to 2000 AD showing the popular typeface for each selected time period. I used the typeface Univers just the other day. Who knew it was popular in 1957? I just thought it was a nice contrast to the serif font I was using for some bodytype. And Trixi! I remember when that was oh so cool. They indicate it was popular in 1991, I don’t think I was aware of it until 1995, but once I was conscious of it, I saw it everywhere.

If that’s not enough typographic goodness, they also have a list of terms with nice concise definitions.