Drucker explains the advent of typography through the graphic art movement of the late nineteenth century. She explains typographic ennunciation as either marked or unmarked.

Three Important Aspects:

  1. Marked and unmarked typography both came about with the invention of printing. While they shared this origin, they both had distinct features that evolved out of specific traditions.
  2. Marked text “had its most vibrant spurt of development in the domain of advertising, where manipulation, practically for its own sake, motivated the development of a wide range of typefaces, styles, and conventions governing their use” (95). This visual element became the defining feature.
  3. Unmarked text found a base in literary production and “‘appear to speak themselves’ without the visible intervention” (95).
of author or printer.

Two Misunderstood Aspects:

  1. What is the involvement of typeface in literary texts? If the visual elements of typography can influence the feel of the medium, wouldn’t everything become marked text?
  2. I don’t understand how unmarked texts seem to be defined by their lack of need for the reader’s interaction. I suppose they appear to show the un-involvement of the writer/author/printer in the reading process, but how does that affect the reader?

One Question:

  1. With the ever increasing amount of typefaces and graphic ability produced by computers, how will future texts define themselves stylistically, and what effect will that have on readers?