62

IMBEIIEVRBLE

imPLE

Evolution is the process of matter
becoming ever more intangible as it
moves toward the ephemeral, eventu¬
ally reaching the realm of pure informa¬
tion. Take type, for example. It started out
as hunks of metal and wood. Today, it's
anybody's guess as to whether the com¬
puter fonts we design actually exist at all.

Eil TS

Type and Lettering 1 in the Prepixel Era

Primitive "COMMAND-Z" DEVICE. Apparently dubbed the
"Dandy Rub" (a dandy was the forerunner to the dude), the
device, a monolithic slab of malleable rubberoid material con¬
taining no moving parts, was used to efface the markings
caused by the реп-cil; for instance, if one erred. But instead
of simply pressing Command-Z or Delete as we now do, the
"eraser," held firmly between thumb and forefinger, required a
repetitious and vigorous rubbing motion, which soon became
tiresome. This device—which never truly erased, but left ghost¬
ly remnants along with gougelike реп-cil impressions in the
paper—was also available in classic pink, like the smaller ver¬
sion typically appended to the posterior region of the pen-cil.

PEN-CIL An intriguing manual input device of the twen¬
tieth century. With one hand firmly grasping the faceted
amber shaft, the user of this lead-impregnated wooden
implement would impress the pointed end upon a sheet
of paper and draw it in any direction, producing a series
of smudged lines that came to be called a "drawing."
Often these "drawings" were executed in such a manner
as to describe the contours of a person or object or even
to delineate alphabetic characters.

The machines that "proved" type's existence
were massive handpresses built of iron and
wood. The output devices we use today for
the same effect can weigh as little as a few
ounces and will not degrade in soil. Ever.
Now that's progress!

The day fast approaches when all the
world's knowledge, the memory of every
single event that ever occurred and ever
will, all the great works of music, art and
literature throughout history, and every
cool font on the Internet will be storable on
media so minuscule that it'll make the
Akashic records seem like an 8-track tape.

So it kinda makes you chuckle to take a
look back at some of the unbelievable and
cumbersome implements devised by ever
resourceful early lettering man (homo-
speedballus) of the nineteenth and twentieth

MEASURING STICK. Used forjudging relative intervals in an arbitrarily devised system of meas¬
ures. Made obsolete with the adoption of standardized paper and print formats, and the inven¬
tion of Step and Repeat, Copy and Paste, and Duplicate functions. This stainless steel model
includes the "Inch," the "Point," and something called the "Pica," which the dictionary
defines, curiously, as a syndrome involving the abnormal desire to eat unusual substances,
such as dirt, june bugs or household cleanser, like my little brother used to do. Not surpris¬
ingly, he's also become a graphic designer.

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TRI-ANGLE. So named, because anyway one turned it,
it was still a triangle. Model shown in pear and
mahogany, with flush-mounted butterfly spleens.
As an improvement over the plumb bob, the tri¬
angle was unsurpassed for drawing upright
straight lines. Commonly available in
30°-60o-90° or plain 45° styles, the
tri-angle was at one time offered in a
wide range of styles such as the
curiously popular 27°-65°
model, which succumbed to
market imperatives, just as
one can no longer pur¬
chase the duke, prince,
or queen sizes, but
must now accept
only king-sized
toothpastes.

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE

centuries, and to grouse over how difficult
and annoying it all used to be.

n those olden days, graphic design
was arduous, backbreaking labor, like
shoeing horses or shoveling coal. I
spent my first twenty years in the busi¬
ness—really, since childhood—learning to
use many of the tools shown on these
pages. And my hands still bear the cal¬
luses to prove it!

In the old days, graphic designers fre¬
quently succumbed to yellow fever, dysen¬
tery, pellagra and halitosis from the long
hours, overcrowding and tight underpants
that rendered many of us sterile. After
hours we all sat around in murky beer
halls scraping rubber cement off our fin¬
gers and nurturing one another. Between
the rubber cement and the fraternization,
graphic designers may actually have
invented "male bonding." Female design¬
ers were not exempt from such problems. I knew one
whose long hair got caught in the waxer (a rubber
cement alternative). Not a pretty sight!

The letterer's arsenal in those days consisted
of a slanted drawing table, a T-square for
drawing horizontal lines, triangles for draw¬
ing vertical lines, French curves for draw¬
ing wavy lines—talk about confusing!
Then, of course, there were the pencils,
pens, brushes, compasses, erasers,
inks, paints and palettes.

Some of us still use many of
these manual implements, but
fewer every day, as art supply
store owners will lament. I
still have all my old tools
stuffed in drawers (in
case the electricity goes
down), which mean¬
while provide enter¬
tainment for my
young daughter.

63

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DECORATIVE
BACK SCRATCHER.
Numerals indicate it
may also have served
some secondary func¬
tion relating to the
gauging of type.

Left, the Queens Composition
Corp. was one of many such
typesetting operations that
flourished before the advent of
the personal computer. Now,
you and I get to do the design
as well as set the type!