![]() ![]() This should help novice computer users and those unfamiliar with standard notation to learn how to navigate to the folders mentioned throughout this article. By 'notation' I am referring to the path name. This is the power of the mechanical written word, of type, and this is intertwined with our power to produce gender.I first want to mention the notation of file locations. The computer with a word processor is already filled with a library of pre loaded fonts (various styles and sizes of type) that allow a word to manifest meaning beyond itself (the internal content) and be dressed in external attire that can range from matching its meaning all the way to contradicting the words’ intent. This once mysterious process of manipulating the look of type has been democratized and can be enjoyed by anyone who has access to a computer. After the Industrial Revolution there was a typographical shift of who controlled the way words look from the elite realm toward the majority. Those anointed with this design task experienced a level of control over their choices of how the written word looked that neither script writer nor calligrapher could ever reach. Throughout the history of typography (the art of arranging type) the ability to choose the characteristics of type remained in the realm of the esoteric few, mainly white males. This project will focus on the mechanical written word, also known as type within the context of the English language in Western civilization through mediums like print and screen, and how our gendered perspectives will forever influence those words. ![]() Words reside in two all encompassing worlds: oral and written. ![]() Words are the symbols we use to create meaning for our actions, ideas, and thoughts. Let’s face it, this type was made for you and me…. Les’ eponymous Usherwood, and Cartier Book by Rod M c Donald also make appearances. Much of this issue is set in Goodchild and Brown by Nick Shinn, R.G.D., MGDC. Hobart, MGDC) for the oh-so-apt Big-O cover and to my Circle colleague Susan McWatt FitzGerald, MGDC for this publication’s design and her review of Canadian Robert Bringhurst’s The Solid Form of Language and The Elements of Typographic Style. To this end, we owe special thanks to this issue’s eloquent, talented (and patient) contributors: Matt Warburton, FGDC in Vancouver for his recollections (and production coordination) Nick Shinn, R.G.D., MGDC in Toronto for his insightful articles and the supply of unique fonts Val Fullard for her piece on Mambo maritimer Rod M c Donald for the article and font Cartier Book Walter Jungkind, FGDC, of Edmonton for his scholarly call for a new alphabet to suit these times Richard Hunt for his words of wisdom regarding scalability the various contributors to the call for ‘character spaces ’ our production sponsors, StoraEnso, Blanchette and Pacific Bindery book designer Zab (E.A. The purpose of this journal is to provide a forum to encourage dialogue, to promote excellence in design and visual communication, and to help record the history and development of graphic design in Canada. What you’ll discover in these pages is only the tip of the iceberg, as regards typographis canadensis-a look at Luc Devroye’s extensive website at will bring you to a remarkable online collection of information and links-though you’ll be on your own in sorting the bona fide types from the ‘rasterbaters and pixel-jockies,’ as one cynical typophile labels the under-thirtysomething set. Arguably, there’s an aesthetic that grows in the vast spaces that separate Canadians (we can claim some of the widest character spacing on the planet) across the breadth of our five time zones. Good type has always had to do with the use of space, a rare commodity in much of the crowded world, yet something we have in abundance up here. ![]() In this issue you’ll encounter a variety of Canucks and their types, and you’ll read about others (past and present) who have left their imprint on our typology and communications landscape. Typecasting Canada, Canadians, and their ilk is also no easy thing. This journal (at long last) in your hands is a manifest attempt at same, even if it has had to skim past many a type-A typographer between Antigonish and Abbotsford. We are a lettered people, but admittedly, attempting a definitive ‘Canadian type issue’ may have been an impossible idea. Eh to Zed? Some contend that up here in the great, far-flung, white-space reaches of our strong-and-free O Canada we have our own true-North beginnings, ligatures and ends. ![]()
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