Not directly marketing related but the history of the Gutenberg Press is truly fantastic. I watched a great program tonight with Stephen Fry, who apart from being a fantastic author, actor, comedian, and generally an uber fantastic guy, managed to convey just how revolutionary Gutenberg was, and how his risk taking, (or vision), changed the world as we know it.
What got me though, was the attention to detail…
Gutenberg produced eight variations of the letter ‘e’ so that the text could be justified. Seriously, it is this attention to detail, and design that really stood out as an amazing feat. Nearly a years worth of work was required to produce the letters to set the press alone.
He was a perfectionist, and although one of our tenants is to ‘just get it out there’, you have to admire a man like Johannes Gutenberg for his self belief, fortitude, and drive to produce a machine or system that would revolutionise information forever.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Agreed, the attention to fine detail, to doing things well,
is what makes people like Gutenberg so far above average.
Good on you Dan for having an eye on,
and personal interest in, the same; fine quality!