Design
History of Typography-Part 2 of 3
A typeface is a set of one or more fonts each composed of glyphs that share familiar design features. Typography is the art of creating the letters we use on a daily basis. It’s designing them and creating them and making them real. A font is a collection or set of letters – they’re the mechanism you use to get your message across to your reader. Every letter and dash and semi colon would be considered part of a specific font. A typeface is the design the style and look of a specific font.
The History of Typography – Animated Short
Created by Ben Barrett-Forrest
Ancient cave paintings that date back to 20,000 B.C. are perhaps the very first recorded written communication. However, formal writing is said to have been developed by the Sumerians at around 3,500 B.C.
Cave paintings, Lascaux (15,000-10,000 BC)
Discovered in 1940 by teenagers the Lascaux cave paintings are the best example of paleolithic cave paintings. The paintings contain imagery that represents animals, human figures and abstract signs.
Early Sumerian pictographs (3100 BC)
The Sumerians used pictographs created on clay tablets using a “wedge” shaped tool. The pictographs are the earliest form of writing and the first alphabet to be discovered.
1800 BC
The typographical principle, that is the creation of a complete text by reusing identical characters, is first realized in the Phaistos Disc, an enigmatic Minoan print item from Crete, Greece
Law Code of Hammurabi 1750 BC
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating to ca. 1700 BC (short chronology). The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay tablets.
Book of the Dead 1300 BC
The text consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person’s journey through the underworld, and into the afterlife. The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts.
Rosetta Stone 197 BC
The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts (with some minor differences between them), it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Trajan’s Column constructed 114 AD
Trajan’s Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan’s victory in the Dacian Wars. At the base of the column the letterforms represent perhaps the most elegant, and certainly the most celebrated, example of the Roman letter. The inscription has served as the model Roman alphabet for almost two millennia.
Book of Kells 800 AD
The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland’s finest national treasure.
Chinese invent movable type 1040 AD
Wooden movable type was first developed around 1040 AD by Bi Sheng (990–1051), as described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095), but was abandoned in favour of clay movable types due to the presence of wood grains and the unevenness of the wooden type after being soaked in ink.
Woodblock printing in Europe 1400 AD
In Europe, Woodcut is the oldest technique used for old master prints, developing about 1400, by using on paper existing techniques for printing on cloth. The explosion of sales of cheap woodcuts in the middle of the century led to a fall in standards, and many popular prints were very crude.
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Design
Development of Explainable AI (XAI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving field that has the potential to change the way we live and work. The latest research in AI is focused on developing more advanced and sophisticated AI systems that can perform a wide range of tasks with greater accuracy and efficiency.
One area of AI research that has gained a lot of attention in recent years is deep learning. This is a type of machine learning that uses neural networks to model complex patterns in data. Deep learning has been used to achieve breakthroughs in areas such as image recognition, natural language processing, and speech recognition. AI is also expected to have a significant impact on the field of robotics. Advancements in AI are making it possible to develop robots that can perform a wide range of tasks with greater autonomy and intelligence. This has the potential to revolutionize industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare.
Another area of AI research that is attracting a lot of attention is the development of generative models. These are AI systems that can generate new data, such as images or text, based on what they have learned. This has the potential to revolutionize fields such as art and design, music, and writing. Another area of research is the development of explainable AI (XAI), which aims to make AI systems more transparent and understandable. This is important for ensuring that AI systems can be trusted and used responsibly. XAI has been recognised by AI researchers as a crucial component of reliable AI, and explainability has recently attracted more attention. To address growing ethical and legal concerns Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) is a useful tool for as well as important How? and Why? questions about AI systems. However, despite the demand for explainability across several disciplines and the growing interest in XAI research, XAI still has a number of drawbacks.
The creation of AI systems that can clearly and transparently explain their decision-making processes is known as explainable AI (XAI). This is crucial in circumstances when an AI system’s decisions could have broad repercussions, such as in the legal, financial, and healthcare systems. Here are a few instances of XAI in action:
- Healthcare: An AI system that diagnoses medical issues must be able to justify its findings by referencing the patient’s medical history, test results, and other pertinent information.
- Finance: An AI system that evaluates loan applications must be able to clearly explain the reasons a loan was authorised or denied, taking into account elements like income and credit history.
- Legal: An AI system that helps judges make sentencing decisions must be able to provide a clear explanation of how it arrived at its recommendations, taking into account factors such as the defendant’s prior criminal history, the circumstances of the crime, and relevant laws.
In each of these examples, the ability to explain the decision-making process of an AI system is critical for building trust and ensuring accountability.
It is important to be aware of the potential of this technology and actively seek ways to harness its power for the benefit of society as a whole. The latest research in AI is focused on developing more advanced and sophisticated AI systems that can perform a wide range of tasks with greater accuracy and efficiency. From deep learning, generative models, explainable AI and robotics, the potential applications of AI are vast and it is expected to play an even greater role in the coming years, leading to new and exciting opportunities for innovation and progress.
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Design
Extended Reality (XR), an evolving technology
Extended Reality, or XR, is a catch-all phrase that refers to a variety of technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). These innovations enable the development of immersive and interactive experiences that converge the real and virtual worlds. In the world of entertainment and gaming, XR has several applications. Virtual worlds and games that can transport users to other locations and eras can be created using VR and MR. The fields of training and education are further applications for XR. Users can learn and hone new abilities in a secure environment by using VR and AR to create realistic simulations and scenarios.
The performance and responsiveness of XR applications have recently improved because to the utilisation of edge computing and 5G. Edge computing allows data processing to occur closer to the user, which reduces latency and increases responsiveness. The use of AI and machine learning to enhance the realism and interactivity of XR experiences is another breakthrough. For instance, MIT researchers have created a virtual reality (VR) system that uses AI to create realistic scenes and characters that react to the user’s input in real time.
A rapidly developing technology, XR has numerous potential uses across numerous industries. There will probably be more advancements and use cases in the near future since it enables the construction of immersive and interactive experiences that blur the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds.
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Design
Multi-material printing and innovation in hybrid manufacturing
A type of 3D printing called multi-material additive manufacturing allows for the simultaneous printing of numerous materials, each with a variety of unique features. This technology has a wide range of applications and the power to completely alter how goods are created. The production of intricate and personalised products is one use for multi-material printing. It can be used, for instance, to print items with various textures, colours, and even degrees of hardness or flexibility. This makes it possible to produce items that would be challenging or impossible to make using conventional manufacturing techniques.
Engineering and prototyping both use multi-material printing. It can be used, for instance, to make workable prototypes of things like gears and bearings, that have different properties in a single print. This can greatly speed up the prototyping process and reduce the costs associated with creating multiple prototypes. Multi-material printing also has applications in the field of medicine. For example, it can be used to create customized prosthetics and other medical devices that have different properties in a single print. This allows for the creation of prosthetics that are more comfortable and functional for the patient.
New printing methods and materials have been used recently in multi-material printing. As an illustration, MIT researchers have created a technique for printing with several materials using a single nozzle, enabling the production of things with various qualities in a single print. the practise of “multi-material jetting,” which enables the use of a single print head to print numerous materials simultaneously. For instance, the J750 3D printer, and J850, which aims to “push the boundaries of 3D printed realism” from Stratasys can print with up to six different materials simultaneously, such as transparent materials, rigid and flexible plastics, and even color-changing materials.
Innovation in “hybrid manufacturing,” which mixes various production techniques including 3D printing, CNC machining, and casting to produce items with distinctive features. For example, researchers at the Technical University of Munich have developed a hybrid manufacturing process that allows for the printing of high-strength aluminium parts with embedded electronics.
Multi-material printing is a rapidly evolving technology with many potential applications in a wide range of industries. It has the ability to produce complex and customized objects that would be difficult or impossible to create using traditional manufacturing methods, and it’s likely that we will see more developments in the near future.
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History of Typography-Part 3 of 3