Volume 16–1.pdf

TYPOGRAPHIC
COMMUNICATIONS TODAY
Juni-Fulani* are 1951
1410le Grassy' Sul
Orenslin. hex 13. Juni 1351. 20 15 Dr
C. lit v. Weber Otrvertirn Ope .Eunsi
Eugen Ormandy P. gin; r
mak) Seca* alr.4 . lroeln. a
SqM
19
Alexander Brailowsky
Nlna
Karim rift 5.50 w WO w Verwinf
arbielcani.M1Gukshaulali
0
rder and organization.
The striving
for these two qualities
that was initiated
by El Lissitzky,
further developed by
van Doesburg, Moholy-Nagy and
Bayer, and broadcast throughout
Western Europe, and eventually
the United States and Canada by
Jan Tschichold, reached its
zenith in the 1930s in Switzerland.
There, in schools in Zurich
and Basel, what had been an
emphasis on functionalism in
communication typography
became an overriding concern,
with the emphasis on communication
clarity and systematically
orderly typography. Typographic
functionalism of the 1920s was
fine-tuned to become typographic
clarity in the 1930s. Just
as painting had run the gamut
from Constable to Kandinsky, so
typographics, an art for aiding
18
19 One of many concert posters by Josef
Muller-Brockmann for The Tonhalle
Gesellschaft, Zurich. These posters
illustrate the designer's ability to combine
design orderliness with beautiful,
exciting, eye-appealing graphics.
Rich colors are employed. Eye-flow is
controlled.
communication, ran a reverse
gamut from the explosiveness of
futurism to the orderliness of the
grid systems.
One can trace the roots of
grid systems to the classical
architecture of Japanese Zen-
Buddhism or, more recently to
the architect Le Corbusier. Major
contributors to the early development
of the grid in 20th century
graphic design included
Herbert Bayer, Max Bill, Richard
Paul Lohse and Karl Gerstner.
The grid system divided the area
to be used into blocks or modules
by a series of horizontal and
vertical lines. All elements of
the job, illustrations as well as
type, are lined up with these
lines rather than being freely
positioned.
A grid can be applied to any
graphic design problem but is
most useful in multi-page work
such as newspapers, magazines,
books, annual reports,
catalogs. Grids can be customized
for any job if so desired. The
use ofgrids need not produce
dull nor look-alike graphics.
17,18 A grid with 20 grid fields. Empty
spaces, as between title and text, are
equal to one line of type to assure that
columns align with each other. Lines can
be set centered, flush left and right, or
ragged. The same grid is here applied to
text/graphics pages. Only by a few of the
possible variations with such a grid are
shown. Note how the position of all the
elements is controlled by the grid.
Good designers can use a grid
to bring order to the job without
stifling its visual vitality.
Some of the thinking of the
Swiss pioneers of the Swiss grid
system is revealed by teacher
and typographer Emil Ruder
(1914-1970). Although he
focused on the need for clarity
and order in typography, Ruder
felt that the typographic
designer must be receptive to
novelty. He advocated experimental
workshops and stressed
the need to produce vital work
reflecting the spirit of the times
while avoiding the excessively
modish. Stressing the crucial
role of readability, he wrote:
"Typography has one plain duty
before it and that is to convey
information in writing. No argument
or consideration can
absolve typography from this
duty. A printed work which cannot
be read becomes a product
without a purpose': Ruder also
stressed the importance of
manipulating white space in
creating an effective design and
in building visual rhythm into a
typographic composition.
Josef Muller-Brockmann,
through his design, his books
and his teaching, also
influenced the acceptance and
understandings of the grid system.
Like Karl Gerstner and
others he showed how spirited
graphics could be produced
with it.
The grid system, widely
used and taught in Switzerland,
soon was adopted by designers
in Italy and Germany, some of
whom had studied in the schools
in Basel and Zurich, and eventually
throughout the world. It is
widely, albeit selectively,
employed today.
20 Max Huber, in Milan, integrated type
with photography in this 1940-41 pharmaceutical
piece. Huber, from Switzerland,
was a major force in bringing Swiss
grid thinking to Italy via Milan's Studio
Boggeri but his approach was less
dogmatic than that practiced in Basel or
Zurich.
HEADLINE/TEXT. ITC FRANKLIN GOTHC BOOK ITALIC INITIAL: MEDIUM ITALIC HEADER: ITC MODERN NO. 216 LIGHT