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--~ lllac:---..-..: •..: , Texts оп уре Cr1t1ca ~ itiqgs оп lТ•eу р 0.E0~jfeet '~i,D-_ ny SP11 hVilEi .оn j. ?J/8{Jgs and Texts ре lti Edited Ьу Steven Heller and Phlllp В. Meggs ЛLLWORШ Р1ЩS N.EW YORI eJ 2001 Steven Heller and Philip В. Meggs All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan-American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may Ье reproduced, stored in а retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or Ьу any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. 10 09 08 07 06 7 6 5 4 3 PuЬ\ished Ьу Лllworth Press Лn imprint of Allworth Communications 10 East 23rd Street, NewYork, NY 10010 Cover design Ьу James Victore, lnc. Page design Ьу Jennifer Moore Typefaces used in this book are credited as follows: Helvetica, designed Ьу Eduard Hoffinan and Мах Miedinger; Bembo, modeled on faces Ьу Francesco Griffo and designed under the supervision of Stanley Morison for the Monotype Company in 1929; Cheltenham, designed Ьу Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue; Zapf Dingbats, created Ьу Herrnann Zapf; and Cuba, designed Ьу РаЬ\о Medina. Page composition/typography Ьу SR Desktop Services, Ridge, NY Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PuЬ\ication Data Texts on type : critical writings on typography / edited Ьу Steven Heller and Philip В. Meggs. р. ст. Includes biЬ\iographical references and index. ISBN 1-58115-082-2 1. Туре and type-founding. 2. Graphic design (Тypography). 1. Heller, Steven. 11. Meggs, Philip В. Z250.T365 2001 686.2'24--dc21 2001018211 Printed in Canada [ Contents ] Foreword • Steven Heller v lntroductlon • Philip В. Meggs ,,;; 1 Aesthetlcs: On Form and Expresslon Found Poetry: The Dude Typographers • Alasюir Johnston 2 Old and New Fashions in Typography • Тalbot Вaines Reed 6 Art in Туре Design • Frederic W. Goudy 16 The Modern Туре Family • Charles Brodie 19 An Existential Guide to Туре • Karrie Jacobs 21 2 Crltlclsm: Туре as Dlscourse А Plea for Authentic Туре Design • Hermann ZApf 34 The Obscene Typography Machine • Philip В. Meggs 36 Туре 1s Dead: Long Live Туре • Matthew Butterick 39 Designing Hate • Steven Heller 42 А Post-Mortem on Deconstruction? • Ellen Lupton 45 Rumors ofthe Death ofTypography Have Бееn Greatly Exaggerated • Peter Fraterdeus 48 American Gothic • Rick Poynor 51 Anatomy: Understandlng Тypetaces в АdоЬе Garamond • Jerry Kelly 54 Modern Style with а Human Face • john D. Вerry 65 Мrs. Eaves • Zuzana Licko 68 An Examination of Egyptians • Ruari McLean 70 Lead Soldiers • Раи/ Shaw 77 Futura • Alexander Nesbitt 82 Univers: А New Sans Serif Туре Ьу Adrian Frutiger • Emil Ruder 88 Sideshows in the Evolution of the Alphabet • Jerry Kelly 90 The Space Бetween the Letters • Moira Cullen 93 Movement: Detlnlng Modemlsm From De Stijl to а NewTypography • Kees Broos 100 The NewTypography • LAszlo Moholy-Nagy 108 on typography • HerЬert Вауеr 11 О The Principles of the New Typography • ]ап Tschichold 115 The Bauhaus Tradition and the New Typography • L. Sandusky 129 The Consistency ofJan Tschichold • Jerry Ке//у 139 The Cult ofLower Case • Douglas С. McMurtrie 143 The Philosophy of Modernism in Typography • Douglas С. McМurtrie 146 Why Go Modern • F,ederic W Goudy 149 The Good Old NeueTypografie • Раи/ Rand 154 Typographical Warfare • Ot/ Aicher 156 Zombie Modernism • М,. Keedy 159 1 Prectlce: How Туре Works First Principles of Typography • Stanley Morison 170 ls the Abolishment ofJustification DesiraЬle? • Anonymous 178 Typographic Heresies • Еиgепе М. Ettenbe,g 182 Typographical Topography • Stefan Themerson 183 Оп the Choice of Typeface • Вeatrice Жirde 19 3 Grid and Design Philosophy • Josef Mйller-Brockmann 198 Оп Classifying Туре • Jonathan Hoejler 201 Туре 1s То Read • William Golden 210 Typography-"The Еуе 1s а Creature ofHabit" • David Ogilvy 215 1 Reflectlons: Туре end Pesslon 1 Am Туре • Frederic W Goudy 218 1 Am Туре! Revisited • Philip В. Meggs 219 The Dog of Alcibiades • М. F. Agha 221 The TrouЫe with Туре • Rudy Иmde,Lans 223 Experiments in Туре Design • ТоЬiаs Frere-Jones 228 Electronic lypography • Jessica Helfand 235 А Face Ьу Any Other Name 1s Still Му Face: А Tale ofType Piracy • David Pankow 239 Bad Credit • Zuzana Licko and Rudy Vande,Lans 257 The Land of Dancing Serifs • Pete, На// 260 The Authors • 263 Acknowledgments • 268 lndex • 269 1F oreword ] Ву Steven Heller The gniphlc slgns called 18t111r8 are 80 oompl8l8ly Ьlended wlth the 8tre8m of wrftt8n toought th8t thelr preиnce thereln 18 а unpercelved • the tlcklng of • clock ln the meaunнnent of tlme. 0n1y ~ an enort ot dlntlon do88 the \8ym8n dlec:over th8t th8y exlat 81 all. n cornee to hlm •• • aurprlи th8t t1м1И algм should Ье • l'Rlltt8r of concem to any one of the crefЬI ot men. -W.A. Dwiggins, Dir,:ct Advertising, 1919 ther than speculation aЬout how many angels fit on the head of а pin, could anything Ье more arcane than а dis course on typefaccs? The only difference Ьetween the for mer and latter is that average people, generally speaking, are more fascinated Ьу the viabili.ty of angels than the reality of type. W.A. Dwiggins, who coined the tenn "graphic design," asserted that typecast letterfoпns are so inextricaЬly wed to written language that the public routinely takes them for granted. And rightly so. Even in the current personal com puter era, where the word "font" is famili.ar and typefaccs are accessiЬle to all, type is still not а common а subject of V conversation. Except, that is, for those who are passionate. Dwiggins was indeed passionate and obsessed with the art and craft of type. Не once wrote that "to Ье concerned with the shapcs ofletters is to work in an ancient and fun damental material. The qualities ofletterforms at their best are the qualities of а classic time: order, simplicity, grace. То try to learn and repeat their excellence is to put oneself under training in а most simple and severe school of design." For those who design or compose letterforms, type is an article of faith. For the true believer, а classic typeface embodics ideals of truth and perfection. But as Dwiggins astutely observed, "Ву а remarkaЫe paradox the one person who should not Ье called upon to perceive the fine qualitics of the shapes of letters is the person who reads them. . . . If any single character presents itself to his attention as а single character, the process of reading is disturbed." Then it is the passionate and obsessive user of type who is duty bound to examine its every nuance and critically address its very essence-if only to unburden the reader of such concerns. The closest that the average person will come to lengthy reading aЬout type are sec tions in manuals about downloading fonts onto computer hard drives. Otherwise, there is little impetus for the layman, indeed even for most graphic designers, to read type analy ses or lore for pure enjoyrnent. Nonetheless, there is no shortage of aficionados who enjoy contemplating the minutiae; likewise, there is no dearth of essays concerning the intricacies of type. Moreover, such writing is neither trivial nor involuted. In fact, the best texts on type are fascinating exegeses on the art and craft-history and practice-of this lingua franca. For anyone involved in transforming words into print (or on the screen), learning how type functions, or why certain faces perform better than others, or how letterforms have соте to embody various meanings and moods, is as necessary as understanding operating procedures. Although one can naively play around with type faces, invariaЬly those without а grounding in the history, aesthetics, and function of typography are doomed to Ье as clumsy as those writers who lack а grasp of grammar and syntax. ln recent years type has become more overtly integrated into mass communications. What was once а rarefied profession has experienced widespread adoption, starting as early as elementary school, through the use of user-friendly page-making programs. The computer has also made custom fontography easy while basic РС type bundles have democratized the overall practice Ьу enaЬling access to thousands of specimens. As а byproduct, the rules concerning legibility and readability have been challenged, and the tenets governing type have Ьееn seriously questioned. Although this convention-busting is not entirely detrimental to the 6.eld, ignorance of true standards is indeed а proЬlem. Just because one can easily mutate and distort typefaces, even with momentarily pleas ing results, does not guarantee an intelligent piece of typography. In fact, it usually pro motes duЬious principles that demand serious scrutiny. Although maintaining а body of critical essays on type and typography does not insure the practice of sound aesthetics, it is, nonetheless, а rerninder, particularly in this age, that type is not а slave to caprice and whim. The purpose, in part, of this anthology, including myriad texts on different aspects of type design and typography, is to reinforce the idea that type is not some ad hoc col lection ofletters, like so many rubber slugs in а children's rubber stamp kit, but а venera Ьle communications form rooted in historical precedent. The study and practice of type is not as arcane as one rnight think. While some of the vi essays in this book are decidedly aimed at the serious typophile, most neither require advanced journeyman training nor а terminal degree in design to appreciate and learn from them. Although the editors have mainly scoured trade journals and professional periodicals, these essays do not comprise а ghetto of arcana shut off from the average type user. Since type is indeed the vernacular of mass communication, these texts on type are fundamental commentaries on what is truly the commonplace. [ lntroduction ] Critical Writings Typography оп Ву Philip В. Meggs ypography inspires passion. The magnificent orchestration of forms in а beautifully crafted type font; the unlimited possibilities of spatial syntax; and the meticulous atten tion to detail in а well-set page are attributes causing many graphic designers and printers to become fanatical aЬout their craft. А vast divergence of opinion exists in the typographic community, whose members range fi:om unyielding traditionalists to unbridled advocates of the shockingly new. А ceaseless parade of unprecedented fonts and page designs makes once progressive ideas seem ossi.б.ed, making the dialogue about typography passion ate and often controversial. ln the motion picture, book publishing, and fine arts arenas, critics monitor, evaluate, and explain new material. Conversely, although typography permeates the lives of every one, until recent years it has remained an anonymous force in юciety. Before the comput er revolution of the last two decades, most lay persons were totally oblivious to typogra phy. lt remained the exclusive domain of а small group of professional practitioners and Иi trades persons. Like physicians whose prescription pads dictate the dispensing ofbillions of dollars of prescription pharmaceuticals each year, type professionals controlled an entire industry for the presumed benefit of all. An apt metaphor for the evolution of typography might Ье found in а relic fi:om the industrial age. After building enormous pressure in its pistons, а steam locomotive finally manages to jerk its wheels into motion and move thousands of tons of steel forward а fraction of an inch. Slowly inching along, it gradually gains speed, until it is hurling down the track with such vigorous momentum that it takes а half mile or more to stop. Typography has seen а similar expansive momentum. Technology, aesthetics, and cultural change have propelled this once rarefied craft into а rapidly changing activity practiced with varying degrees of accomplishment Ьу millions of people. Compositors controlled type during the four hundred years of handset metal type, then layout artists became important when hand-set display type was combined with machine set type fi:om keyboard-operated Linotype and Monotype machines in the 1880s. The nature of type professionals changed markedly as the nineteenth century yielded to the twentieth century. Designing typefaces and composing pages was largely the province of punch-cutters and compositors trained in industry. Technological advances such as autornatic punch-cutting machines that cut punches fi:om drawings, and machine set text--spurred а shift to typeface designs and page layouts based on drawings Ьу artisti cally adept individuals. These changes occurred just as а revival in printing and typogra phy was underway. The leader of the English Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris, is the pivotal fig ure largely responsiЫe for а remarkaЬle reinvigoration of typeface design. Нis Kelmscott Press inspired an interest in recapturing the quality of late Medieval and Renaissance printing; Morris used hand presses to imprint types emulating designs Ьу past masters on handmade papers. Нis efforts inspired а tiny but ardent group of practitioners to reexam ine earlier typography and printing. During the first half of the twentieth century, а very small number of passionate schol ars and historians established а body of connoisseurship and disseminated information helpful for effective practice. Even then, there were fears aЬout falling artistic and techni cal standards due to more accessiЬle technology and unschooled practitioners. А critical dialog took place within the cadre of literate printers, typographers, book, and typeface designers. Lirtle magazines popped up to provide forums for discussions. With names like Alphabet and Image, Fleuron, Paper and Р,шеs Лlustrated Monthly, PiCil, and РМ (for Production Manager), these periodicals usually had modest press runs and brief lives. The ardor of their editor and/o r publisher was fi-equently the primary fuel availaЬle to keep them running, sometimes barely remaining financially viaЬle. These publications were joined Ьу coverage of typography Ьу the more mainstream graphic-arts press. Periodicals including Inland Printer (now published as Printer's lnk) and Ammcan Printer routinely offered monthly columns and articles about typography. Тhese provided the unschooled with basic information about typographic refinements and advocated standards of quality in а field where routine and mediocre work was still the norm. Advertising and promotional specimen Ьooklets from typefoundries offered another outlet of information. These sometimes lacked а critical editorial intent, for their overriding goal rernained advocacy for the sponsoring manufacturer's typefaces. Throughout this literamre, а concern for typographic niceties and aesthetics recurs. Fundamental concerns, such as getting typesetters to talce the time to kern misfit charac ters, or use appropriate leading, occupied those who took to their typewriters in an effort to improve the craft. Alongside critics hammering away at basic issues during the first half of the century, several titans emerged. /unong ttaditionalists whose passion and scholarship helped shape classical typography, Englishman Stanley Morison loorns large on the horizon. Morison achieved а level of connoisseurship aЬout rnatters typographic comparaЬle to the great historian of painting, Bernard Berenson. Morison 's anthologies of historical types present ed well-designed specimens to the English-language audience. Не edited four of the seven volurnes of the Fleuron, establishing viaЬle approaches to typographic criticism. As typographical advisor to many firrns including Lanston Monotype Corporation (Вritish) and the Times of London, he initiated many new and revival typefaces. Morison's essay "First Principles of Typography" (page 170) appeared in the final volume of the Fleuron in 1930, then was published in small book form in 1936. Absolute in its dicta but some times ambiguous about specifics, "First Principles ofTypography" offered а canon of beliefs for others to accept or reject. Morison suffered assaults from distracters who ques tioned whether а critic not directly involved in typographic composition should Ье dic tating to the professionals. One curious note is Morison's contention about typography being "the efficient means to an essentially utilitarian and only accidentally aesthetic end." This disparagement of the aesthetics of type seerns strange for several reasons, corning from а man who devoted his career to upgrading the quality and availability of typefaces. Excellent typographic craft in alignment, finish, and optically adjusted spacing improve both legibility and aesthetics. While aesthetics might Ье accidental in vernacular and unschooled lettering, fine typog raphy has benefited from а lengthy tradition of artistic concerns. From its earliest decades in the 1400s, this sternmed from long apprenticeships, а Ьоdу of criticism, and the use of typographic artistry as а marketaЬle cornmodity-first to differentiate books from other printers' editions of the same tide, then in the sale of fonts. Туреfасе design has always been а core concern in the literature aЬout type. IndeliЬle contributions to our understanding of historical typefaces were made Ьу the American printer and scholar, Daniel Berkeley Updike, whose 1937 two-volume Printing Typts: Тheir Histo,y, Fonn, and Use is а definitive study of old style and Renaissance fonts. Updike achieved а rare level of aesthetic Ьigotry, rejecting all innovations of the Industrial Revolution, including sans serif and slab serif types, as aberrations unworthy of considera tion or use Ьу serious typographers. Updike's narrow-minded stance did nothing to mar his definitive documentation and assessment of pre-Industrial Revolution typefaces Ьу Jenson, Garamond, Caslon, and other masterful designers. Critiques of new fonts as well as revivals of earlier typefaces has long Ьееn а staple of the typographic dialog. Essays discussing revivals of Garamond and Baskerville, the arrival of new (and at the time of their release, radical and unproved designs) twentieth-century sans serifs such as Futura and Univers, and experimental fonts such as Мatthew Carter's Walker helped shape the look and feel of typography in successive decades. The weight of past controversies often stalk the type critic. When Jerry Кelly evaluated the newly released Adobe Garamond font (page 54), he surely understood the status ofBeatrice Becker Warde's study of Garamond and its derivatives, as well as the raЬid hostility many type experts held toward phototype-era Garamonds designed in the 1970s. ix The traditions of typography were strongly challenged in the years Ьetween the world w.irs when the modern art movement turned its attention to the proЬlems of typographic communications. Leaders of the modem design movement, especially Laszlo Moholy Nagy, Herbert Bayer, and Jan Tschichold, were quite adept at arguing their case for а rejection of tradition and embrace of а new functionalism and aesthetic. Essays Ьу early pioneers of the modern movement contributed to the world-wide acceptance of modern typography. Drawing from the breakthroughs of Constructivism and de Stijl movements, the German Bauhaus design school Ьесаmе а center for launching modernist typography. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's three essays (page 108) about modern typography are а call to arms, vigorously advocating clarity of communication, embrace of the machine ethic, and innovations based on emerging technology. Нis former student, HerЬert Bayer, was more the practitioner and less the theorist; his essays (page 110) focus upon the practical real ization of modernist theory. The ovemight conversion ofJ an Tschichold-from traditional calligrapher and designer of symmetrical layouts using historical letterforms to the leading advocate of mod ernism-occurred after he visited the 1923 Bauhaus exhiЬition. Не proved to Ье the most influential of modernists, because he not only argued for its validity but used his articles and Ьooks to teach а generation of designers and compositors aЬout asymmetric typography, sans serif fonts, and geometric construction of the page. Нis seminal 1928 book, Die пеие Typographie, codified the new approach with clarity and unrelenting advo cacy. The section tided "The Principles of the New Typography" excerpted here (page 115) provides а logical yet impassioned argument for the new approach.
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