Volume 16–1.pdf

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Milestones
Jan
Tschichold
a
by
Allan
Haley
To look at him, you might think that he
was a kindly professor of Latin, or perhaps
classical literature. Jan Tschichold appears
to be a scholarly, gentle man. Certainly not
someone given to harsh words or radical
thought.
True to his image, Jan Tschichold was a
scholar and an educator. He wrote over
50 books and spent much of his free time
teaching. His educational contribution
was not, however, in Latin or Greek. Tschi-
chold's expertise was in typography and
typographic communication. However,
antithetical to his image, much of his work
was quite radical. And to muddy the pic-
ture even further, Tschichold was guilty
of contradicting himself on some very
basic issues.
fUf dEN NEUEN MENSChEN EXiSTiffT NU( dos
glEichgEwich -r zwisc hENNOTUr UNd OfiST
b
fill dEN NOiEN MEN1EN EKSiSTifT NUf dos
qtaihNEviij-r TSVON NOTUf UNTOOiST TSU
JEdEM TSOiTpUIKT clEr fEr9auNhai -rvarEN
alf VOfiCITSJONEN dES °LIEN >NOi abEr fS
Vaf NitT1 >dos< Nal(' Vif OUffEN Nihr fEICySEN
das Vif ON OiNEf VENdE dEf KULTUf fTEhEN'
afll ENdE OLE OLTEN di fOldUl fOLTSIT Slh hir
absolur UNT ENTOULTIK (MONdfiON)
Tschichold the Revolutionary
In the early part of this century, Jan Tschichold
revolutionized typography by virtu-
ally single-handedly making asymmetric
typographic arrangement the style of
choice among young designers. In doing
so he also vehemently attacked symmetry
as being an archaic and ineffectual typo-
graphic style. Twenty-five years later
Tschichold began the Herculean task of
redesigning, and restyling, the complete
library of Penguin Books. By the time
he was done, over 500 titles had been
reworked —almost every one of them
arranged typographically symmetrical!
When he was young, Tschichold drew
typefaces which were bold statements
of typographic reform; constructed sans
serifs, and calligraphic faces which broke
traditional rules. Late in life he created
Sabon, a classic example of traditional
typeface design.
How It All Began
From boyhood, Tschichold was exposed to
type, typography, and letterform design.
His father, a designer and sign painter,
enjoyed his son's company and encour-
aged him to spend time at his small shop.
When he was 12, as a treat, Tschichold's
father took him to a big printing and
graphic arts trade exposition. It was here
that the future typographic radical first
saw the work of Europe's best calligra-
phers and lettering artists. Tschichold was
hooked! He knew then that type and let-
ters would always be important to him.
First he tried calligraphy. Practicing when-
ever he had a chance, Tschichold tried to
develop his own writing style. As his skills
developed, so did his interest in the works
of past and present calligraphic masters.
The young designer began to study the
lettering manuals of Edward Johnston as
well as, the equally famous in Germany,
Rudolf von Larish. By the time he was
accepted into the Leipzig Academy of
Graphic Art and Book Crafts, Tschichold
had developed into a capable and prolific
calligrapher. He was a serious pupil: he
worked hard, practiced his lettering, stud-
ied the accepted rules of calligraphy and
learned traditional typographic theory. As
a result of his efforts, Tschichold eventually
became a graduate student at the academy
under the highly regarded German type
designer, Walter Tiemann; and was entrusted
with the responsibility of teaching a class
in lettering and calligraphy.
Up until his 22nd year, Tschichold's calli-
graphic and typographic style developed
along conservative, if not entirely tradi-
tional, lines. He was a "good young
An
attempt
to develop
a sans serif
firm
of the
alphabet,
1926-29.
ILLUSTRATION © 1988 MARK SUMMERS