ANOTHER NEGOTIATION
Technology: Movable Type
The printing press was an incredible technological advance for the written word; modern text technology can be traced back directly to that invention. Today, movable type is the use of printing presses to set multiple loose characters into words.
At first, I was confused as to what exactly what movable type is, today. Like several other people in our class, I planned on trying to do something on my own. I was relieved to find out that we had access to real printing presses, and was excited to be able to use them.
Going into the workshop, I didn’t really know what we would be doing or how.
Walking through the process of setting the letters, inking them, and printing the paper was involved, but enjoyable!
The first time in the lab, I focused on learning the process. I set a simple phrase and did my best to make it “correct”. The resulting process was so beautiful! But it took a lot longer than I was expecting.
The second time in the lab I experimented with creating an abstract composition with letters, instead of a traditional phrase. The process for this is more complicated, because it’s hard to set type that is not in a straight line. However, I was very happy with the result.
The process of physically setting type is detailed, precise, and takes a long time. I am most definitely a child of the digital age, and used to being able to set type on the computer and print it out (which is a very quick process comparatively). Learning the way of physically setting the type helped me understand why things on the computer are the way they are.
I was intrigued by the process of setting movable type, and really loved the results. There’s something very satisfying about beautiful type printed onto a page by hand (and machine). The result truly cannot be created using any other method. Ultimately, however, it is a very long and painstaking process, and this must be taken into account when considering working in this medium.
I really enjoyed learning how to use the traditional letter presses, and learned so much about the process. The concept of leading, kerning, and spacing makes so much more sense now that I have physically set the letters with my hands.
I do want to do more with this in the future, and hope to take more classes and work in into projects in my coming semesters.