Wanted

For project one, I investigated the 19th century. Industrialization brought a very static and mechanic way of designing type. Purely based on legibility and readability, typography had become industrialized. As result, designers such as William Morris wanted to bring art back to Typography. With this, we finally see how type becomes a design element. A brilliant example of type as design is this 1865 wanted ad for John Wilkes Booth, after his assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The ad also uses perfect use of hierarchy as "THE MURDERER" headline in a sans serif is obviously the most important message for the receiver. This ad has about nine levels of type, and that seems like a huge amount, which in other circumstances would be way to heavy. However, in this image all the typefaces, the sizes, the positioning, and the balance of think and thin, really brings a cohesive message for the masses.