Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Grade 3 - History of Typography

3rd Graders,
I am out of school at an educational technology conference. I am being a student, learning from other teachers about new tools, ideas, and how I can be a better computer teacher. Learning never stops, even if you're a teacher.

When we are typing we are entering our text using a particular font, or style of writing. But fonts aren't just fonts, they are "typography" or the art or technique of arranging type in order to make language visible.

Before computers there were typewriters and before that, handwriting. In order to make writing universally legible there needed to be typography.

Watch the video below and answer the questions as comments...

I know some of you saw this video last year, but not everyone has. Even if you did see it, you are now a year older and may have a different perspective or opinion about it. Regardless of whether you've seen it or not, all 3rd grades will complete this assignment


The History of Typography by Ben Barrett-Forrest from Dezeen on Vimeo.



The questions...

  • What did you learn about typography?
  • Do you remember any of the typography style names? Which was your favorite?
  • What did you think about the style of video?
  • Did you like the way the video looked and was animate?
  • If you saw this video last year, have any of your thoughts or opinions on typography changed? Did something new stand out to you?


Answer these questions in full and complete sentences as a comment below...

Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.

70 comments:

AveryC said...

I learned that a german man made the first font.I remembered the old style font and black letter and comic sans and my favorite one is comic sans.I think the style is pretty good of the video.I liked the animate of the video.No.

JaylenL said...

The video had different styles of writing.

Isabell.R said...

I thought that video was cool because when he tried to move the letters from a paper and it moved. I also thought it was interesting because there was movement and it had action .

EvanB said...

the video is cool. i like how he writes with his fingers. he is great with technology. i learned that you can do anything with technology. the man on the video tought us well.

MarcelV said...

The video was good because it showed me the different typography.

Misha.I said...

i think that the video was cool because it involved paper letters, paper pictures and last but not least a paper computer!

Lucas R. said...

I liked the video because they used a lot of animation and the video was so cool and interesting. I really like the video.

DaisyB said...

It was interesting because I learned all the typographies.

JaquelineP. said...


I thought that the video showed us all the different
ways to make your letters. Another thing I think about the video is that it showed the letters in a super fancy way.

NihmaZ said...

I really like this video because it was interesting and i learn,german invented the first font, the video show different way to tip and i learned tiping is really helpful when you are in a rush.

JonathanL. said...

The video was great. They show the life of typography it was so cool. The way they animate was cool. The style was so nice.

NathanielV said...

I learned that theres a lot of types of ways to type in the HIstory typography. I also learned that theres different ways to type at different times.

MirandaY said...

I think that the history of typography was a good video because I learned who made what font (type).

LibertyG said...

I think the video was pretty cool because when the person was building words and making them into other words. I also like all the different fonts.

EamonK said...

I learned many things about typography in the video. Gudenburg started typing. He invented Blackletter. Then there was Roman Type. I liked the way they animated it a lot.

MariaA said...

the video was interesting because it had different types of fonts. It was also cool and fascinating. I really liked the video.

AntonioR said...

What I learn about typography was it can be a type of word that mean something new

the style are old, transitional and modern. My favorite is modern.
the style of the video is transitional

ZoharS said...

I think that the history of typography was a good video because I like to type.It was good to learn new things.

isaiah.q said...

i learned that typography wasn't created that long ago. i thought the video was pretty lame.

jorden h. said...

I learned that a lot of people made fonts. I learned that a german made the first font.

james.s said...

the video was really lame and the animation is lame also and i didn't learn anything

De'Asia.B said...

I thought about the video that it was good.AND AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.I CAN LEARN NEW WORDS YOU CAN TYPE!

Carlosc said...

the video was nice because it tells you about who made up the letters and the video was good

Toni P. said...

I remembered there was a german man who made the first font. The font that he made was called black letter. It was big and bold but not that very clear to see. I liked it anyway

TeyjalH said...

I remember that a german man made the first font.The font that was my favorite was the font called old style. I like the way the video was animated because it looked like paper just appeared on the screen.I liked how the video was styled too.

Alhussain a said...

What Learned about typography style names are you can invent new typography style names

HanaG said...

I learned that Typography was once very popular . I don't remember my favorite style . I liked the style of the video, it was very cool.

Muhammad.U said...

I think the style is so cool. what did i learn about typography is you can make your own words and make bigger fonts.

Logang said...

I lered that many people participated in typography and there was many tip faces in the video

violet t said...

I learned people use different letters . The stye of the video looked different ,

GusH said...

I liked Transitional style by Baskerville. All the others were cool but Baskerville's was the best in my opinion. Baskerville's seemed plain and simple and san serif.

KateA said...

I learned that italics is a slanted version of roman type and that blackletter was the first typography ever made from the video.

KnoxO said...

I learned that many people participated in typography for many years. t is also cool that you can make your own fonts.So many type fonts...

TheoY said...

1.I did learn that it started in the 15th century.
2. I remembered Helvetica and it was my favorite.
3. The style was cool and I don't know how he moved the letters like he did.

CaseyP said...

I learned that Gudenburg invented the Blackletter font which was the first type of typography. My favorite font is Pixel Type.

IsisC said...

I learned that different types of different fonts have been changed over the centuries. One of the typography names was the Egyptian font. I really like the style of the video because what he did with his hands was really cool.

OliviaG said...

What did you learn?
1.I learned that there are more than 5 people discovered the power of typography. And I did not know that!

PhineasF said...

1. I learned that there are lots of phases of typography.
2. my favorite style is italics.
3. I think the style of the video is stop motion animation.
4. I did see the video last year and none of my thoughts changed.

MiloS said...

I learned that the first ever written font was BlackLetter. I remember BlackLetter, serif, sans serif, comic sans, and old style. I like BlackLetter best. I loved the style of the video. I think that it is stop motion animation. Yes, I liked the way the video was animated. My thoughts did not change. Nothing new really did stand out to me.

LenaG said...


I learned that serifs are the edges of the letter that stick out, and the font on this computer does not have serifs.
I remembered the names Blackletter, Roman type, Sans Serif, Modern, Old Type, Italics, and Comic Type. My favorite was Italics because It is slanting, good for emphasizing, and looks like cursive, which I am horrible at.
I thought the style of the video was a bit odd, because it used both stop motion animation and regular filming.
Even though the video was sort of odd, the style was catchy.
I saw the video last year, and nothing really changed, because I am still the same age and in the grade, and I have a good memory.

MadaG said...

1. I learned that the guy who invented Blackletter was German. 2. I remember Comic Sans, Pixel Type,Futura, and Modern. My favorite font is modern. 3. I thought the style of video was cool. 4. I liked the video. 5. No.

Jaila.T said...

I learned that typography is different types of letter styles. I remember the egyptian style and the egyptian style is my favorite. I thought that the style of the video is really cool. I really like the way that the video looked and was animated.

SophiaE said...

I learned that the great grand son of Caslon invented Sans Serif.My favorite font was Modern(Didot).The video is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BanjoS said...

I learned that there is a font that is called Comic Sans. It is my favorite font, because I love comic books. I did see this last year so I almost know everything.

EshaanN said...

1. I learned that a lot of typographers were from Europe. 2. The typography style names that I remember are blackletter, helvetica and baskerville. 3. The style of the video was cool because the author the author didn't just take a normal video he animated it. 4. I liked how the video was animated because the author took photos and added them together. 5.Nothing new stood out to me.

NaomiS said...

In the video "the history of typography" I learned about where all the type faces came from. I think my favorite type face is Helvetica. I wonder how the guy made a this video, it would probably take a long wile. No, my thoughts didn't change about this video from last year.

CamiloM said...

[In response to the question "Did you like the way the video looked and was animated?] Wow, this video is really cool! I really like the way it was animated. It looked as if the person that was doing it really had magic!
[In response to the question "If you saw this video last year, have any of your thoughts or opinions on typography changed?"] I did see the video last year, and no, I don't think any of my thoughts changed. They might've changed about the way I interpreted it because now I'm older, but not much else.
[In response to the question "What did you think about the style of the video?] I thought the style of the video was pretty cool! I loved the way it was animated! I wish I was able to do that!
[In response to the question "What did you learn about typography?"] I didn't learn much about typography, because I already know a lot (not to brag or anything, though!), partly because my dad uses the computer a lot and most of the time he types, partly because I'm smart.

HaleyH said...

Glad to comment again! I learned a bunch of new facts about typography, one of them is that there was such thing as "Blackletter. Also I didn't know that when computers invented, the font was automatically was Pixel type. I thought the animation of this video was creative and fun! My favorite type was Helvetica, very simple but nice.

EllaJ said...

I learned that the first font was " Blackletter" . I also learned that italics was another font that was the 2and or 3rd one. "Blackletter " was my favorite font. I thought that the style of the font was pretty cool.

isabellaF said...

I learned that a lot of people invented different fonts and that they changed over the years.
I remember a font called helvetica and black letter and some other ones like roman type and roman italics.

I think the style of the video because it so cool how they make the video and I like all the videos.

NickK said...

I learned that type changes over the years. I forget most of the fonts but my favorite is italic. I liked the style of the video. I thought it was very funny. I liked how he animated the video with stop motion.
Ciao!

Kate M said...

1. I learned that there were so many types of typography and the first was called '' BlackLetter".
2. I remember a lot of the typography names and my favorite is ''San Serif" because it's the easiest to write for me.
3. I think it was really cool how the person did the video.

ZenM said...

my favorite font is Helvetica. l learned that the inventor of typography is german. I like the animation.

AlessndraAR said...

1. What did you learn about typography? I learned that the first man that made a font was a german man.
2. Do you remember any of the typography style names?Which was your favorite? I think one of the style names is Casol. My favorite was Black letter.
3. What did you think of the style of the video? I though
thought the style was pretty cool with the way they edited it and all that stuff.

GabrielT said...

1. Since I barely knew anything about typography, I learned almost everything.
2.Yes, I remember some styles of fonts. Some are: Blackletter, old style and Sans Serif
3. Yes, I LOVED the way the video was animated!!!

SequoiaR said...

I learned that Caslon IV made San Serif because he got tired of Serif. I remember two of the fonts.One of them is modern. The other one my favorite is blackletters. I liked the fact that it was animated with paper.

HelenF said...

I learned that theres a type called Futura. Some of the type faces i remember are Blackletter, Helvetica, Sans serif, Old style, Roman type, Egyptian, and Modern. my favorite is Mordern. I really like the style of the video. I also like the animation of the video.

JacobHB said...

My favorite typefaces are: 1. Helvetica 2. Blackletter 3. Italics.

NathanielV said...

I learned that Typography are types of fonts. THe types of font names I remember are Roman type and Black letter and Comic sans my favorite is Black letter. like the type of style the clip was. I really liked the way it looked and how it was animated. I saw this video last year and I haven't changed my mind on my opinions of Typography. The history of Typography stands out to me.

MariaA said...

1. I learned that a german made the very first font.

2.My favorit font is modern. Modern seems like a neatly formed font.

3.The style of the video was unique and interesting.

4.Yes.I really liked it.

5.The thing that stood out to me was the man with the interesting paper.

Lucas R. said...

What I learned about typography is that it is like a kind of type. I remember italics. The one I liked is Roman Sans. I thought the style that the video was so cool. I really liked the animate. it was so cool.

AntonioR said...

What i learn about was it can be a type of word that means something new. the styles are old , transitional and modern. my favorite is modern the style of the video is transitional. I like the animate because the typing was cool

IsaiahP said...

I learned that BLACKLETTER was the 1st font ever. I liked GEOMETRIC SANS, MODERN, BLACKLETTER, and ITALICS. Good. Yes. No

MarcelV said...

I learned that the first person to make a font was a german man. My favorite typography style was black letter.I like that the video go fast and it like art and I like art. Yes I like the video and the animate in was so good.

MiaA. said...

my favorite font is droid sans because it has neat
writing.

i liked the video because it shown different fonts.

DianaE said...

What I learned is that these famous people invented all these kind of words that they made them bold thick and skinny . also the people are william casal and other people.

DaisyB said...

I learned that the germans created typography.My favorite typography style was helvetica.I liked the style of the video because it was arranged by time.I liked how it was animated because the man who made the video used his hands to make the typography appear.the thing that standed out to me was that he told who created typography.

MirandaY said...

1-I learned that typography is different fonts.2-The fonts I remember are Italics,Blackletter,Comic Sans and Roman Type. My personal favorite type is Blackletter because I think that it is a creative font that looks old fashioned .3-I thought that it was a pretty awesome video because it was like an alive collage.4-Yes I thought the video was stop motion or animation.

IsabellR. said...

1. typography in that is when you switch letters around and different letters and words.

2.I remember the name william Caslon and Eric gill.
Another one is Nicholas Jenson. My favorite one is Nicholas Jenson.

3. I think the style of the video was cool because he moved the letters

4.I liked the videos look and how it was animated

JosephS said...

I learned that typography is a way to show letters on a computer or screen.I remember old style and black letter. my favorite is black letter.I think the style of the video was cool because he moved the letters.
I liked the videos look and how it was animated.