I couldn’t be more proud of my newest fridge art featuring hand crafted design from my typography & layout class at Pikes Peak Community College.
In the days before digital design, commercial artwork was mocked up by hand using precise pica measurements and a technique sometimes dubbed ‘Live Greek’. Designers of that era might submit a piece like this to a production artist who would translate the mock-up and notes into tangible print media you’d expect in a magazine or newspaper.
Pica refers to a specific measurement of type. This can be seen today in our digital platforms. 12 points make 1 pica. For perspective, 6 pica almost equal 1 inch.
Live greeking is the process of creating dummy text that visually communicates where type resides and how it may appear. After marking baseline and x-lines, one can scribble haphazardly the appearance of type. Occasional letter ascenders and descenders create an even more convincing effect.