Just My Type
An introduction to swappable fonts for vintage typewriters
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
If we want to be great designers, I think it is essential that we pay attention to, and learn from, our rich heritage of designers, tools, processes, and methodologies.
Designers who operate in the vacuum of the present are unable to mine the valuable heritage of our craft for inspiration and instruction.
So, to help remedy that a little, let’s look at a little slice of design history together!
Typewriters can be easily overlooked as an important development in graphic design, but they should be thought of as an early precursor to desktop publishing. Before the typewriter the only common method to put strings of printed text on the page was to hand set and print tiny metal type using letterpress printing - not exactly a quick method! (I’m including the Linotype within the letterpress process as well.)
And, with this advent of typewriters, came new and exciting opportunities for expressive design for the new '“desktop designer.”
When most of us think of typewriter fonts, we often have something very specific in mind:
Monospaced
Monolined (including slab serifed)
And yes, that style was often the default and included font. It’s the very reason we have “typewriter” fonts in that very style today.
But did you know for some typewriters you could swap out the character ball??
This was an innovative way to utilize new fonts in your writings AND it created another product for manufacturers to extend the profitability of typewriters. Win/win!
I was already aware of cursive/script fonts, but when I found this vintage GP Technologies Typing Elements Handbook I was surprised to see several new-to-me fonts! In particular, I was most surprised by the Blackletter/ Old English styles. You can see some select examples in the photos I have attached below.
So, so cool!
I think more designers could benefit from seeing this little slice of design history - so if you're willing, please share this post and encourage others to check it out with a caption.
Thanks all. Let's raise the typographic bar together.
-Daniel
Hello! Is there a way I can get in contact with you? I would like to try and obtain high quality scans of this catalog for the purpose of digitizing these fonts. I collect typewriters, especially those with type-element systems such as the selectric, and I've reverse engineered them to create 3D printable elements with customizeable typefaces. With this tech, we can allow collectors to experience the ability to type in the desirable typefaces. Thank you kindly! My work may be seen at leonardchau.com
In university (early 90s) I had a Smith-Corona "word processor" which was like an electric typewriter thin LCD display a tiny bit of digital memory. It also had swappable typefaces and one of them was an italic/script face that I submitted multiple essay in. Somehow my professors didn't kill me.