Chapter eight introduces us to Rococo design, fancy french art and architecture composed of s and c- curves. Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune was very successful at this time, establishing an independent type-design by age 24, publishing a book presenting 4,600 characters by age 30, and planned a four-volume Manual of Typography of which only two were assembled before his death. Although he did not live to complete his greatest work, Fournier le Jeune had the greatest impact on graphic design and made more typographic innovations than any person his era. In 1720, William Caslon took up type design and became immediately successful from his Caslon Old Style with italic, the font was used in majority of English printing for the next 60 years, and when Benjamin Franklin introduced Caslon into the American colonies it was used for the official printing of the Declaration of Independence. After Caslon came John Baskerville, who was involved in all areas of the bookmaking process. Baskerville designed, cast, and set type, he improved the printing press, conceived and commissioned new papers, developed a new ink, and designed and published the books he printed. His type designs still bear his name today and are still used. He created a smooth, glossy paper by using a mold with a much finer woven screen and then hot pressing the paper after it was printed, this made the paper virtually texture free. Giambattista Bodoni ended the Rococo style creating the modern style with new type faces and page layout. Bodoni designed nearly three hundred type fonts and published them in a specimen book presenting his work, today it is considered a mile stone in the history of graphic design.
Chapter eight contained many famous names, it was interesting to learn about Caslon's font and how just one font made him so popular! Baskerville was also interesting to learn about because I see his fonts every so often but I never knew who he was or his accomplishments. Some other names that caught my attention were: Eli Whitney, Rene Descartes, and Benjamin Franklin.
What is Art Nouveau?
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