Typography is the most important element of Graphic Design
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make language visible. This involves selecting typefaces, point size, line length, leading, tracking, and kerning. Typography is not the art of designing typefaces, but the art of laying them out.
Modern-day applications
Typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic designers, web designers, art directors, comic book artists, graffiti artists, clerical workers and anyone else who arranges type for a product practice the art of typography. If you've ever edited a text document and played around with the look and feel of the document, you have practiced the art of typography.
A brief history
Tracing its origins to the first punches and dies used to create currency in ancient times. Typography first surfaces in text by reusing identical characters and dates back as far as 1600 BC.
Summary
Typography is all around us. We read books, emails, billboards, ads, and watch television. If you're reading something, then you are viewing typography. Without it, how would one communicate with another person? Typography only takes a secondary position to the message being delivered.