Wood Type
木活字ディスプレイ / 1827– / Technique / Type Classification
Gigantic letters cut from wood for broadside posters created the display vocabulary of extreme condensation, extension and ornament.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Gigantic sizes
- Extreme condensing and extending
- Carved ornament
- Ink scuff and material grain
Best used for
- Large announcements and banners that must maximize words within a fixed sheet
- Signs and menus for eating places borrowing the air of markets and shows
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Change face and width by line, choosing widths to fit each word
- Composition
- Justify every line to the full sheet and divide bands with rules
- Material
- Firm impression showing grain, few colors, chips and wear left in
- Caution
- Multiplying faces line by line without ranking them flattens the order of emphasis, and no one can tell what to read first.
- Further study
- Darius Wells's lateral router / Hamilton Manufacturing / Rob Roy Kelly's American wood type research
Related entries
- Letterpress (活版印刷)Shared effects: Nostalgia.Compare Wood Type and Letterpress
- Slab Serif (スラブセリフ)Same Type Classification lineage.Compare Wood Type and Slab Serif
More from Type Classification
Continue through styles in the same Type Classification family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Blackletter (ブラックレター)Shared effects: Nostalgia.
- Fat Face (ファットフェイス)Shared effects: Exhilaration.
- ITC Style (ITC様式)Shared effects: Exhilaration.
Browse all Type Classification entries
Cite this entry
The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.
- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/wood-type
- Markdown
- [Wood Type — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/wood-type)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/wood-type">Wood Type — IndexStyle</a>