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William Caslon: The Creator of Typography Essay

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Look around and what do you see? You see letters forming creative words on this page, on TV and magazines. These letters form words which can be read in such a particular way. The typography behind the design seeks for the readers attention. The typography in design is the unique personality that identifies the product or advertisement, similar to fashion. Typography visually gives more to the idea behind the design. It is a way to call out and be heard without making a sound. It combines elements in new ways with different themes and ideas. The idea of typography has not changed since it was first created. The late seventieth century and early eighteenth century, type designers work was laborious and they had very little …show more content…

This apprenticeship gave William experience in crafting. He later became an engraver of firearms from 1716-1719 (Ball 109). He engraved many firearms during those three years and Ball states, “The fact that Caslon is said to have been an ornamental engraver of gun-locks and barrels illustrates again the difficulty of recognizing a man’s trade” (72). William was a hard worker who gained experience from both as a Loriner and an engraver. He struggled to create well crafted work while being under appreciated. At the time people were not appreciative of the hard work that engravers or gunsmiths did. As he continued his career as a firearm engraver, he was also given the task of cutting type punches for various presses. He was surrounded by and worked with different types of typography. He enjoyed cutting type punches during his apprenticeship and learned many different techniques which would help him in the future as a type designer. William opened his own engraving shop in London. Here, he was making tools for bookbinders as well as. As he created tools and engraved, a printer asked him to engrave type punches. John Watts had William engraving type that would be used in London (Ball 123). He engraved by using his hands to cut the punches. There was very little error in the work that William was doing while engraving typography. According the Macmillan, “It was his skill as an engraver that

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