The Development of Blackletter and Cuneiform

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         Cuneiform has existed since before 35 BC, when it was altered from the pictographic lettering of previous iterations. Blackletter, however, is far younger, having come into use around 1400 with the advent of Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing press. Both typefaces have evolved since then, branching off into styles and histories of their own, more storied with each passing year.

Cuneiform began as a series of animals, everyday objects, and pictographic actions. This is to be expected, as such abstract concepts as letters without universal context to them could be seen as just as alien as introducing a young reader to War and Peace before you hand them a picture book. The transition to letters, however, occurred naturally, as surrounding cultures and nations developed their own systems of writing and perfected them. Cuneiform faced a problem of efficiency--an issue not necessarily shared with Blackletter.

Blackletter is efficient when it is printing high volumes of work at a time, as the blocks are built to be easy to reposition and adjust. Its shortfalls, however, come in its design, as the typeface is immensely blocky, bold, and difficult to simply scan through without straining your eyes. The solution to this problem comes in simplification: The typeface is “skinnied” down, and more commonly used in titles and subheads, not as a body font in which the customer will grow exhausted before they’ve even understood what the creators of the book/poster/sign is trying to tell them.

Overall, it’s important to recognize where many typefaces come from, as they’ve been utilized throughout history, and many older typefaces which have been lost to time, seemingly at least, might be revived if given the right attention and care.

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