What is Publishing?

Publishing and Editorial Design

Publishing is a dissemination of information. Newspapers, websites, magazines - different purposes,
audiences, etc. 

Editorial design is the layout and composition of type and image. Type is important, type setting,
typefaces, layout, composition. 

Stephen Fry - The Machine That Made Us

(Gutenberg Printing Press) - the first European printing press that could publish books 

The press made the publishing that was already happening much more efficient. 

What is the impact of the press in social terms? Does it have a role to play in social progression?

Books = Building Blocks

1450s - Gutenberg bible

Western Germany - Gutenberg birthplace

New information age fueled by the power of the printed word

Johannes (?) Gutenberg 

More than 500 years ago

15th Cent.

Scriptorium - small rooms, needed heat for warm fingers (for writing) many windows, lots of light in
the summer and candles in the winter. Pre Printing. Very cold and uncomfortable, dark and tiring

Made mass production of books possible for the first time in history 

Philosophy, propaganda was now accessible

Modern presses - two pull press. Two pages at a time. Gutenberg - one page at a time. 

Press evolved from wine presses which Gutenberg grew up around

Mainz was poor in the 14th Cent and had plagued - no richness. A city of the past

Mainz to Strasburg - Gutenberg arrived early 1440s

Gutenberg employed a carpenter to work on the press

Guild of Goldsmiths - crucial technical breakthrough. Type Foundry. ‘Punch’ - master copy of letter.
Carved by hand using file. 270 characters in the Gutenberg bible - a year to produce

Needed numerous versions of letterforms

Type mould- made of two halves in which the typeform will be formed in the middle with the matrix
underneath. How to make duplicates

Most high-end books were made out of ‘veloms’ (cow skins). This was too expensive. Single copy
or the bible - 140 calves. Paper was a new commodity in the West

Paper - made from cloth rags. Was very valuable in medieval times

Pressed, decorated by an illuminator, bound into a book 

1454 Frankfurt trade fair

Made to be a useful object, multiple times a day

Mr Fust demanded his loan back, Gutneberg could not repay - and so had to give him all his
printing materials, including the press

Technology spread across Europe for the next 500 years

Can not imagine a society without the printed word 

Idea to make the Gutenberg bible was to profit off the church. 

Became more about distributing political information. Everyone answered to the Pope and to the
bible. This may not have happened if the printing press had not spread.

Made it easier for people to learn to read because it was more accessible

Increased the popularity of education and knowledge

Socially, Culturally, Politically - it had a profound effect

Design is the wrong way to talk about this - the manipulation of type is restricted by the technology
that was available and also the conventions of type at the time. Black letter was styled based on
people’s hand-writting. 

Designed in two columns to make reading easier, based on what the bible's looked like previously 

Type setters / printers were craft people. Not designers 

Rules and conventions that had to be followed

Newspapers 

Piece of publishing which contains news on current events

Came up at the same time / at the same speed as books

Originated in Western Europe, then Britain, Then North America

Books were a one-off, but newspapers had editions

16th Cent - pamphlets and leaflets

17th Cent - began to be known as newspapers

First Newspaper - Relation

Printed on rags - expensive process

Content - sensational, propagandist, or heavily censored by governments

The Times in London was first to adopt a steam cylinder press

Design - columns, readability

Times New Roman was designed by The Times for their newspaper. Taken from the carvings that
the Romans did

Magazines

Dealt with different sources of information 

Within the same period as books and newspapers

Content was more leisurely in nature

Philosophical, political, literary discussion. Middle class

Evolved into non-serious, amusement based

Mid 18th Cent - began to become targeted towards either men or women

Not in blackletter anymore - Roman typeface instead

Became very accessible. Improved printing processes and improved literacy in 19th Cent. 

In the Late 19th Cent and early 20th Cent both newspapers and magazines proved to be great ways
of distributing advertising

Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu 1978

David Loeb Weiss

An age old printing press gives way to new technology 

The last day of printing

The linotype machine is nearing its end. It made mass education possible. It lasted 100 years

A new era of computerised, electronic type

14 lines a minute

Hot metal type - editors assume role of designers

Crafts people followed through on rules

The print industry has been declining since the invention of the TV in terms of how information is
conveyed

‘Lad’s Mag’s’ Have folded due to social change

The Independent closed their print and went entirely digital

The Guardian do everything very successfully 

The Times - not so much on the digital side, as with Critical Review

Despite the decline, independent magazines / zines have thrived - heavy on design 

Appeal to non-millennial middle class individual who embraces modern ideals

E.g. Delayed Gratification / The Happy Reader

The idea that print is dead is incorrect. We have digital media. But they co-exist 

Sustainability / economical crisis may be the final nail in the coffin