Volume 16–1.pdf

Tschichold went on to reform the design of
every Penguin book.
More Choices
First he made sweeping changes to the
typeface repertoire formally supported by
Penguin. For the sake of consistency, and
probably convenience, all previous Pen-
guin books were set in Times Roman.
Tschichold felt that Times was a good
newspaper face (indeed, it was originally
created as such) but that it was somewhat
lacking when it came to book typography.
Not "to throw out the baby with the bath;'
Tschichold did continue to use Times
(about 20 percent of the Penguin books
continued to be set in the face), but he
also widened the composition spectrum to
include faces such as Baskerville, Bembo,
Garamond, Caslon.Even the Penguin
trademark did not escape Tschichold's
attention. After a number of his changes to
the book format, the old trademark looked
out of place. Tschichold's answer to the
problem? Redesign.
Tschichold worked at the Penguin book
project for 29 months. At the end, well in
excess of 500 books were prepared for
printing by his skilled hand —most on a
page by page basis. Tschichold, himself,
stated that his work must have set some
kind of typographic world record! During
the whole process he never wavered from
his standards, and never provided any-
thing less than 100 percent commitment
to the project. And, as a result, was com-
pletely satisfied with the results. Of the
project he wrote,"A publishing firm, that
manufactures books in millions to mil-
lions, has in any case been able to prove
that the cheapest of books can be just as
beautifully set and produced as more
expensive ones, indeed, even better than
most of them!"
Tschichold the Type Designer
In addition to being a teacher, typogra-
pher, book designer, and rebel, Tschichold
was also a typeface designer. While his
mono-case sans was not cast as type, and
only remains in reproductions of his draw-
ings, two typefaces were designed (and
released) in his younger, less conservative,
years.Transito is a sans serif in the tradition
of Futura Black and was created for the
Amsterdam type foundry early in the
1930s. It is strictly a display face and saw
little use when first issued—and less con-
tinued popularity. Shortly after the release
of Transito, Tschichold drew Saskia for the
Schelter & Giesecke foundry of Leipzig.
This too, was a sans serif design, but with
much more of calligraphic overtones than
his previous design. in fact, the final ren-
derings for the punch cutters were based
on letter forms Tschichold drew with a
broad edged pen. The completed design
was released in 6 to 60 point type and was
more stylish than practical, and enjoyed
little popularity outside of a small group of
Tschichold's followers. Tschichold also
produced a number of phototype faces for
Uhertype of Berlin, but none survived the
second World War.
Sabon, a typographic tour de force, is the
face which establishes Tschichold's reputa-
tion as a type designer.
In the early 1960s a group of German
printers approached Tschichold with a
decidedly unique and exceptionally dif-
ficult design problem. They sought a type
which could be set on either Monotype or
Linotype composition equipment, or as
hand-set foundry type, with no percepti-
ble difference in the final product. This
meant that all the drawbacks of both
Monotype and Linotype composing
machines, such things as varying point-
bodies, kerning restrictions, different unit
systems, and duplexing character sets,
had to be contended with.
The completed design, released in 1966,
not only solved the imposed design prob-
lem, it is also an exceptionally beautiful
(and useful) design in its own right. Such
that it, unlike his earlier faces, continues to
be used today; in metal —and in photo and
digital form.
Sabon has been called "modern Gara-
mond" which is somewhat misleading.
Actually it's not a Garamond, but its own
design which was patterned loosely on
specimen sheets of the early Frankfurt
printer and typefounder, Konrad Berner.
The story is told that Berner married the
widow of Jacques Sabon (hence the type-
face name) who, it is also said, brought
some of Garamond's original matrices to
Frankfurt (hence the design similarity with
Garamond).
The Teacher's Simple Rule
When Jan Tschichold died in 1974, the
typographic community lost one of its
kindest teachers and most gifted practi-
tioners. Tschichold was an artist and crafts-
person of the highest order, one who
practiced what he preached. He ultimately
demanded only one obligation of his
followers and students: to organize typo-
graphic communication so that it is easy
to read and pleasant to view "Grace in typog-
raphy," he wrote, "comes of itself when
the compositor brings a certain love to
his work. Whoever does not love his work
cannot hope that it will please others'.'
SA SI< IA
frohe Farben in das sonnigeBild des Sommers
zu tragen, und alle modischen PastelltOne
linden die anderen, die fur ihre Erscheinung
eine ruhigere Note lieben. Kurz- oder lang-
drmelige Pckchen werden zu diesen duftigen
Kleidern getragen und haben die Aufgabe,
THE PENGUIN' POETS
The
Centuries
Poetry
BRIDGES
TO THE PRESENT
DAY
"Saskia"
drawn
for the
Schelter &
Giesecke
foundry
in the
early
1930s.
One of
the many
covers
Tschichold
designed
for
Penguin
Books,
1946-48.
HEADLINE: ITC STONE SANS MEDIUM, BOLD TEXT. MEDIUM SUBHEADS. ITC GALLIARD BOLD CAPTIONS' ITALIC BYLINE. BOLD ITALIC
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