History Lesson

Frank Romano worked in the Mailroom at Merganthaler Linotype when Mike was Director of Typographic Design.  Frank's career has blossomed in the most amazing ways.  He is now the President of the Museum of Printing, an author of many books on Printing and a Professor Emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology.  He is one of my favorite teachers:

    

Frank Romano’s History of Printing in 15 Minutes

By Adam Dewitz on July 17th, 2008

At drupa Frank Romano gave WhatTheyThink a video on the history of printing he created with his students a few years back. In the video, Frank walks you through major milestones in the history of printing. From Johann Gutenberg to papyrus toimportant contributors in the development of typeto Ben Franklin to Mergenthaler to Frederic Ives.

Update Some have asked how the video was made. Here’s what Frank had to say:

For the video, the paintings were digitally photographed. I was video taped in front of a green screen and then the recording was digitized.

Using Adobe After Effects, vector outlines were created so I could be behind or wherever.

We had to watch the sound (there is a cable up my pants leg), the size ratio of me to the painting image, and where I had to look or point.

Frank's new book is going to be on Mergenthaler Linotype during the period he and Mike were there.

This Week with Frank Romano: Documenting the history of Mergenthaler Linotype

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Published on May 13, 2009

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