The Demise of Typography?

While reading the second section of our required reading, I was a little shocked to see that people had thought that the demise of typography would have come from the internet and other electronic communication.  Writes Lupton, "Critics of electronic media have noted that the rise of networked communication did not lead to the much feared destruction of typography (or even to the death of print), but rather to the burgeoning of the alphabetic empire" (Lupton 76).  As we have seen, electronic media has allowed typography to grow by leaps and bounds.  

Take any website...for example, look at the homepage of the New York Times.  Count the number of typefaces, including the iconic header that has graced the top of the newspaper for years and years.  Granted, many may be from the same families, but there is a lot of them!  Not to mention different sizes, bolds, italics, etc. etc. etc. 

The internet and electronic media have allowed the history of typography to continue and expand, as new typefaces are electronically (but still creatively) constructed and used.  There are data bases of fonts such as fonts.com, there are programs such as Suitcase that have lists and usable typefaces by the thousands, and all allow users of almost any skill level or age to master them.  It all comes down to point and click, which allows the replication of almost any font.  Try to do THAT by hand.  

NPR Music Web site

I picked NPR Music because I visit the site quite regularly so the design must be doing something right to keep my interest.

One of the main aspects I notice is that text does not overwhelm the page, a la The New York Times. Each section has minimal description; it provides just enough information to urge you to click the link and find out more. On top of this, images on the main page complement the accompanying text, also not becoming an overwhelming presence.

I prefer strict organization and the site designers seem to have had that in mind as well. The sections are clearly defined according to genre or function (live performances, interviews, song previews, etc.). An NPR reader would not have difficulty searching for their desired topic. The site's main page features many options to choose from but the uncluttered, basic approach to presenting their selection facilitates rather than frustrates. And, the reader becomes further engaged with the absorption of information because the site is focused on linking to other pages. This prevents passive reading and frees the page of unnecessary overflow.

This leads to the second question of how contemporary media culture will affect content presentation. As a proponent of reading a whole lot of information, I want to say that "less is more" will not permanently take hold. But I, like everyone else, am run by time, and time favors "less is more." Compound the numerous sources we are offered to sort through, and content that neglects brevity loses all functionality and convenience. So, the trend of dwindling word counts and lengthy descriptions will unfortunately continue.