OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Appropriate Typefaces

To celebrate this event, it will are appropriate to create a poster using the methods that were used at this time. After looking into styles and the history of printing, it is clear that type is a major part in the design process.

In the 19th century there was less exploration of typefaces and slab-serif's proved popular in printing. Both slab serif and sans serif were popular for headers for newspapers and posters, however were not used for a continuous body of text. Their main use was for attention grabbing in advertisements and posters. Old style faces were popular in the latter of half of the 19th century and were iconic for their narrow style.

To ensure this poster is as authentic as possible, the typeface choice is essential as it will be the main body of the poster. Of the typeface wood and lead blocks that are available there are some that would have been in circulation in the 19th century. Clarendon, Throne Shaded, Caslon and Thorowgood were all in use in the printing presses during the time of the tramway opening and would of appeared on any posters. It is disputed when Akzidenz Grotesk actually appeared in printing presses, however due to the nature of victorian era printing and their uses of sans serif, it can be argued that it is an appropriate typeface to use.