Douglas Thomas: How a typeface helped launch Apollo
دوغلاس توماس: كيف ساعد خط مطبوع على إطلاق أبولو
Douglas Thomas's research explores the power of fonts at the intersection of design and culture. Full bio
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the great leap for mankind.
they walked on the surface,
مشوا على سطح القمر
that in America we say is a triumph.
الولايات المتحدة على أنها نصر.
amazing accomplishment.
this flag, though.
a little bit about.
that there's two globes,
nice poetic language,
that's perfect for this moment.
مثالي لهذه اللحظة
for something on the moon: Futura.
for this moment.
than just ceremonial.
من مجرد زخرفة.
experts on typography.
فاقدي الوعي في الطباعة
of how fonts inhabit our world,
تسكن الخطوط في عالمنا،
of the words we use.
that's funny about this, though.
you're not a font nerd,
لست مهووسا بالخط،
but if you're not, that's alright,
لكن إن لم تكن كذلك، فلا بأس
for the perfect project,
للمشروع المثالي
of dollars every year,
with the right features.
every day, evaluating fonts.
في تقييم الخطوط.
think about how you got here.
فكّر كيف وصلت إلى هنا.
and which to ignore.
buying a new product,
whether something is expensive
أو سهل العثور عليه
something out of place,
and why I love Futura,
what I study is everywhere.
every book that I pick up,
is filled with the thing I love.
and what happens with typography,
لما يحدث عند الكتابة،
of everything before you.
this is modernism in miniature.
الحداثة بشكل مُصغر.
infiltrated this country
or promiscuous typeface,
شهرة، أو الأكثر إباحة،
the aphorisms of modernism.
the same thing happened.
focus on the basic shapes,
وهي الأشكال الأساسية،
inherent in Futura
are all based on circles,
apex of the triangle.
المُنتصبة الخاصة بالمثلث.
they might have been made
they feel mathematic, precise.
carries through with the way
على هذه الطريقة
like other typefaces, to be something new.
الخطوط، ليكون شيء جديد.
the medium weight and the bold weight.
different things to commend to it.
by a machine, and not by hand.
this is what I mean.
with a calligraphic brush or a pen.
say like a Garamond,
where it get little bit thinner at the top
someone had made it by hand.
وكأن من كتبها فعل ذلك بيده.
no one had touched it at all,
who made this in 1927, employed.
joins with the vertical shaft,
just every so slightly.
to look geometrically perfect,
ليبدو شكلًا هندسيًا مثالي،
designers do all the time
at the same time in Europe and America.
بالعمل نفسه في أوروبا وأميركا آنذاك.
excellent examples from Europe,
for the new age, a new moment in time.
جديد لعهد جديد، حينها.
look very similar to Futura,
or different proportions.
أو قصيرة أو ذات أبعاد مختلفة.
the titles there,
don't quite roll off the tongue:
Berthold-Grotesk, Elegant-Grotesk.
وإليغنت-غروتسك.
household names, are they?
التي تُكتب فيوتشورا،
good choice by the marketing team.
اصابوا في خيارهم.
is that this is a name
and an idea about the future.
for future in German,
larger audience, a universal audience.
بمعنى جمهور واحد.
to what was being done in America --
ما كان موجود في أميركا...
from the same period
like what the stock market looked like
كانت موجودة في سوق الأسهم
going nuts in the 1920s.
is doing something revolutionary.
about an example of the typeface in use.
لاستخدام هذا خط.
probably know today, "Vanity Fair."
"مهرجان الذهو."
in 1929, in the summer.
في 1929، في الصيف.
nothing wrong with this design.
وكأنه يُعاني من شيء.
of an important person,
then-governor of New York.
روزفلت، عُمدة نيويورك آنذاك.
everything seems symmetrical.
of ornamentation,
some vestiges of the painted lady
بعض البقايا من الأسلوب الإباحي
to help you get into the text.
استهلالية تُساعد على فهم النص.
and in October of 1929,
ففي تشرين الأول عام 1929،
and redesigned "Vanity Fair."
تصميم مجلة "مهرجان الذهو."
it looks like with Futura.
of an abstract, beautiful setting,
there's nothing at all.
layout is now asymmetry.
أصبح غير مُنتظم.
the further you enter the magazine.
من هذا التصميم المتطرف.
even more dramatic asymmetry.
by Pablo Picasso, moving across the page
you might notice something.
قد تلاحظ شيء آخر.
in the title or the captions on this page.
في العناوين الرئيسية أو الفرعية.
any book or go to any website,
going to find it very easily.
الأسلوب يُستخدم كثيرًا.
(عدم تكبير الأحرف)
what capital letters denote,
the name of our corporations,
America's the home of capitalization.
أميركا هي موطن الأحرف الكبيرة.
taking away all the capital letters.
the same political force
like pronouns in our society today.
اليوم حول استخدام الضمائر.
had a communist revolution.
الشيوعية في الاتحاد السوفيتي.
a socialist infiltration into America.
تَسَلّل الإشتراكية إلى أميركا.
that this was an egalitarian,
المجتمع كان قائمًا على المُساواة
into one equal playing field.
متساوي من كل المناحي.
you do capitalize something
in which Futura was using this idea.
فيوتشرا على تطبيق الفكرة نفسها.
were doing other things with Futura.
يستخدمون فيوتشورا بأشكال أخرى.
of modernism with it,
new illustration styles,
types of illustration.
الجديدة المثيرة.
to use a new typeface,
إذا أردت استخدام خط جديد،
onto your computer.
الخط ببساطة إلى الحاسب.
in everyday typography,
capitalists, what did we do?
with the name Futura,
that World War II started,
الحرب العالمية الثانية،
to boycott Nazi goods.
تُحاول مصادرة البضائع النازية.
"Go ahead and use our copies.
"هيا استعملوا نُسَخنا.
use Vogue, use Tempo.
وسبارتن وفوغ وتمبو.
they didn't even learn the new names,
أغلب الأسماء الجديدة،
في المخططات أو المصورات،
حتى الوثائق السياسية.
expansion football team.
of the most important advertising
في العديد من أبرز الإعلانات
was picking a typeface
الأميركية تريد انتقاء خط
for new maps and new projects,
في الخرائط والمشاريع،
it wasn't a radical choice,
to do with communism.
on some of the most important maps,
first started the Mercury program,
that he was using were in Futura.
كانت مكتوبة بخط فيوتشورا.
Mercury morphed into Apollo,
مشروع عطارد إلى أبولو،
more and more for more things.
on instrument panels,
في لوحات أجهزة التحكم،
to show how the whole system worked.
على فهم كيفية عمل النظام بأكمله.
that they handed out to people.
التي وزعت على الناس فحسب.
that helped the astronauts
making everything.
(الوكالة الوطنية للفضاء والطيران)
العالمية ومكدونل دوغلس...
different typefaces and different systems
لستخدام خطوط وأنظمة مختلفة
in the space shuttles.
مكون داخل الحوائم الفضائية.
impossible to navigate
a cognitive overload
to open up a new system.
being used on the interface
and make it more clear.
it was used on labels,
بل وعلى العناوين،
to tell them what to do.
والعتلات ليعلموا ما عليهم فعله.
that were complex be more simple to them,
الأشياء المعقدة أكثر بساطة،
entirely in Futura,
what to do with that one moment.
everything in their head,
in the world to see and refer to.
الأشياء ليراها ويشير لها الجميع.
make that system,
a very difficult and complex system,
an astronaut might have seen
شيء قد يراه رائد فضاء
or exiting the spacecraft
of how Futura worked in this way
لدي لإظهار فعالية الخط
that was made by the Swedish company.
وصنعت من قبل شركة سويدية.
some of you might have used one,
وبعضكم لربما استخدمها،
as a really great camera.
if you know anything about cameras,
على دراية بآلات التصوير،
modifications made to it.
placed all over the film canisters,
على أوعية التحميض،
out of the astronauts.
they're not experts in art.
would know how to use this camera
الرواد استخدام مثل هذه الآلة
placed there in Futura.
that they had legitimacy
before it would expose.
إطار الفيلم قبل أن يتعطل.
we would have never had
without this label.
التي بحوزتنا بدون الإطار.
as this, a ceremonial patch,
than just something ceremonial,
that had just been picked for its design.
because of this choice.
I want to talk about in closing.
is that all of them tell stories.
tells a very powerful story
being taken into America
and worst things America does,
التي تقوم بها أميركا،
and we spit them out back again
جزء من ثقافتنا وتغييرها
exactly what happened with the technology
تمامًا ما حدث عند استخدام تقنية
taken in, made into an American commodity.
ألماني وأُخِذَ وأصبح سلعة أميركية.
all came from Germany as well.
on an American plaque
الخط الألماني المكتوب على لائحة أميركية
with the technology.
you realize that typography on the moon
أن الكتابة تلك على القمر
represents authority,
the power to get to the moon.
القدرة للوصول إلى القمر.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Douglas Thomas - Designer, writer and historian of typographyDouglas Thomas's research explores the power of fonts at the intersection of design and culture.
Why you should listen
Douglas Thomas is is the author of Never Use Futura (Princeton Architectural Press, 2017). His work explores the nexus of typography, design and culture. He specializes in user experience design, publication design and branding. His design work has been featured in Communication Arts, Eye, Design Observer, Print and Graphis. He is assistant professor of graphic design at Brigham Young University.
(Photo: Kei Ito)
Douglas Thomas | Speaker | TED.com