Manual of Typography

Page 1

yes no



table of contents 7 8 20 26 30 44 50 56 58 60 62 64 76 84

rules x - height hyphenation alignment justification font combination quotes, apostrophes, & dashes special characters bullets numerals & figures small caps paragraph breaks headers, subheads, & crossheads captions & notes


Typography


at its best is a visual form of language linking timelessness and time.

– robert bringhurst



yes no

rules The following is a compendium of the rules established in this book. You might want to check through them each time you complete a publication. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Use only one space between sentences. Use real quotation marks. Use real apostrophes. Make sure the apostrophes are where they belong. Hang the punctuation off the aligned edge. Use en or em dashes, use consistently. Kern all headlines where necessary. Never use the spacebar to align text, always set tabs and use the tab key. Leave no widows or orphans. Avoid more than 3 hyphenations in a row. Avoid too many hyphenations in any paragraph. Avoid hyphenating or line brakes of names and proper nouns. Leave a least 2 characters on the line and 3 following. Avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word. Avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word. Avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by.. Never hyphenate a words in a headline and avoid hyphenation in a callout. Never justify the text on a short line. Keep the word spacing consistent. Tighten up the leading in lines with all caps or with few ascenders and descenders. Use a one-em first-line indent on all indented paragraphs. Adjust the spacing between paragraphs. Either indent the first line of paragraphs or add extra space between them – not both. Use a decimal or right-aligned tab for the numbers in numbered paragraphs. Never have one line in a paragraph in the column or following. Never combine two serif fonts on one page. Rarely combine two sans serif fonts on one page. Rarely combine more than three typefaces on one page. Use the special characters whenever necessary, including super- and subscript. Spend the time to create nice fraction or chose a font that has fractions. If a correctly spelled word needs an accent mark, use it.

rules 7


8 x - height

yes no

x-height A typeface’s color is determined by stroke width, x-height, character width and serif styles + Readability and legibility are two key elements of printed text that typographer strive to maximize. Readability extended amount of text – such as an article, book, or annual report – is easy to read. Legibility refers to whether an refers to whether a short burst of text – such as a headline catalog listing, or stop sign – is instantly recognizable. + There are several factors that determine whether a text is readable. When deciding what typeface should be used for a job, consideration should be given to the typeface and its x-height. It is important to understand how a block of text can express a message through its texture/color, therefore suiting a particular design solution. Fonts set in the same size, same leading and column width will produce varying degrees of “color”. + In typography, color can also describe the balance between black and white on the page of text. A typeface’s color is determined by stroke width, x-height, character width and serif styles. + As a designer, if you are only asked to make the text readable on the page the following questions should be asked... who is to read it? + Someone that wants to read it? Someone that has to read it? how will it be read? + Quickly. In passing. Focused. Near. Far.


x - height 9

yes no

X xhg

Xxhg

Frutiger 55 roman

Univers 55 roman

Adrian Frutiger

Adrian Frutiger

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional

+ x-height: large

+ x-height: large

+ character width: wide

+ character width: wide

+ color: dark

+ color: dark

sans serif

sans serif


10 x - height

yes no

X x hg

Xxhg

optima roman

Helvetica neue 55 roman

Hermann Zapf

Max Miedinger

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values

+ x-height: average

+ x-height: large

+ character width: average

+ character width: average

+ color: light

+ color: dark

sans serif

sans serif


x - height 11

yes no

X xhg

Xxhg

Eurostile roman

Gill Sans roman

Aldo Novarese

eric gill

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

+ x-height: average

+ x-height: average

+ character width: average

+ character width: wide

+ color: light

+ color: dark

sans serif

sans serif


12 x - height

yes no

X x hg

Xxhg

Franklin Gothic roman

Bell Gothic

Morris Fuller Benton

Chauncey H. Griffith

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

+ x-height: large

+ x-height: large

+ character width: narrow

+ character width: narrow

+ color: light

+ color: light

sans serif

sans serif


x - height 13

yes no

Xxhg

Xxhg

Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk

Rotis 55 roman

H. Berthold AG

Otl Aicher

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

+ x-height: average

+ x-height: average

+ character width: narrow

+ character width: narrow

+ color: light

+ color: light

sans serif

sans serif


14 x - height

yes no

X xhg Xxhg Volta t roman

Goudy old style roman

walter baum & Konrad F. Bauer

Frederic W. Goudy

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

+ x-height: average

+ x-height: small

+ character width: wide

+ character width: narrow

+ color: dark

+ color: light

serif

serif


x - height 15

yes no

X xhg

Xxhg

Mrs. eaves roman

swift roman

Zuzana Licko

Gerard unger

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institu-

+ x-height: small

+ x-height: large

+ character width: narrow

+ character width: average

+ color: light

+ color: dark

serif

serif


16 x - height

yes no

X xhg

Xxhg

rotis 55 serif

Priori roman

Otl Aicher

Jonathan Barnbrook

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

+ x-height: average

+ x-height: small

+ character width: wide

+ character width: narrow

+ color: dark

+ color: light

serif

serif


x - height 17

yes no

X xhg

Xxhg

century schoolbook roman

belizio roman

Morris Fuller Benton

David Berlow

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruc-

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and

+ x-height: average

+ x-height: large

+ character width: wide

+ character width: wide

+ color: dark

+ color: dark

serif

serif


18 x - height

yes no

X xhg

Xxhg

palatino roman

filosofia roman

Hermann Zapf

Zuzana Licko

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

+ x-height: large

+ x-height: average

+ character width: average

+ character width: narrow

+ color: dark

+ color: light

serif

serif


When deciding what typeface should be used for a job, consideration should be given to the typeface and its x-height.


20 hyphenation

yes no

hyphenation + In unjustified text, the text block is set with normal letter and word spacing. Because of the even word spacing the text will have an even texture – no large spaces between words. The lines will naturally vary in length. a ragged text block can integrate with the layout and add visual interest to the page. The difficulty is making the ragged edge have a pleasing silhouette. When the first line in the text is longer than the second, it becomes separate from the layout and creates a box-like shape. This destroys one of the advantages of unjustified text. The ragged edge needs to have a life, but a narrow column can be less active. Another advantage to ragged text is less hyphenation is needed. Therefore, names, dates or words which are normally read together can stay together. hyphenation rules pay attention to: + how the text is read avoid widows (one word on the last line of a paragraph) + avoid hyphenating or line brakes of names and proper nouns + leave a least 2 characters on the line and 3 following + avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word + avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word + avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by.. + never hyphenate a words in a headline and avoid hyphenation in a callout


hyphenation 21

yes no

headlines good bad + Don’t hyphenate headlines. That’s a law.

Don Quixote de la Mancha

+ Also, watch where the first line of a two-line headline ends—does it create a silly or misleading phrase? Fix it.

Professor and The- rapist to Lecture

Don’t Lose Your Self Respect

+ Don’t leave widows (very short last lines) in headlines.

Man Walks Barefoot Across Bay Bridge

+ Fix it either way, or rewrite!

Man walks barefoot across Bay Bridge Man walks barefoot across Bay Bridge


22 hyphenation

yes no

what are bad line breaks anyway? + Look for bad line breaks thorughout every line of body copy. Of course, do this only on final copy, after all editing has been done! Here are several examples of the sorts of things to look for:

Casing Adder Bat Heresy borsch-boil starry a boarder borsch boil gam plate lung, lung a gore inner ladle wan-hearse torn coiled Mutt-fill. Mutt-fill worsen mush offer torn, butted hatter putty gut borsch-boil tame, an off oiler pliers honor tame, door moist cerebrated worse Casing. Casing worsted sickened basement, any hatter betting orphanage off .526 (fife toe sex). Casing worse gut lurking an furry poplar—spatially wetter gull coiled Any-bally. Any-bally worse Casing’s sweat-hard, any harpy cobble wandered toe gat merit, bought Casing worse toe pore toe becalm Any-bally’s horsebarn. (Boil pliers honor Mutt-fill tame dint gat mush offer celery; infect, day gut nosing atoll.) Butt less gat earn wetter starry.

1

Casing Adder Bat 2 3

4

5

6

7 8

9

Heresy borsch-boil starry a boarder borsch boil gam plate lung, lung a gore inner ladle wan-hearse torn coiled Mutt-fill. Mutt-fill worsen mush offer torn, butted hatter putty gut borsch-boil tame, an off oiler pliers honor tame, door moist cerebrated worse Casing. Casing worsted sickened basement, any hatter betting orphanage off .526 (fife toe sex). Casing worse gut lurking an furry poplar—spatially wetter gull coiled Any-bally. Any-bally worse Casing’s sweat-hard, any harpy cobble wandered toe gat merit, bought Casing worse toe pore toe becalm Any-bally’s horsebarn. (Boil pliers honor Mutt-fill tame dint gat mush offer celery; infect, day gut nosing atoll.) Butt less gat earn wetter starry.

1 Justify the headline so it stays on the line. 2 Use a line break (Shift Return) to bump “a” down to the next line, where it fits very nicely. 3 Kern the line a tiny bit to bring the rest of the word up. 4 Type a dischy in front of the word to bumb it down. 5 Never hyphenate a person’s name. I had to go up a few lines, bump “off” down, which bumped the other line endings down. This also took care of the inappropriate widow in 6. 7 There is plenty of room to squeeze “bought” on this line, perhaps by kerning the line a tiny bit. 8 “Horsebarn” is a good long word that could be hyphenated; type a dischy. Better yet, when “bought” moved up, it gave enough room to move “horsebarn” up. If not, try opening the text block or text box a wee bit. 9 Edit: to get rid of that terrible widow, exchange a short word for a long word. Story is by Howard Chase.


yes no

widows & orphans + Never leave widows and orphans bereft on the page. Avoid both of these situations. If you have editing privileges, rewrite the copy, or at least add or delete a word or two. Sometimes you can remove spacing from the letters, words, or lines, depending on which program you’re working in. Sometimes widening a margin just a hair will do it. But it must be done. Widows and orphans on a page are wrong. widow + When a paragraph ends and leaves fewer than seven characters (not words, characters) on the last line, that line is called a widow. Worse than leaving one word at the end of a line is leaving part of a word, the other part being paraphrased on the line above. orphan + When the last line of a paragraph, be it ever so long, won’t fit at the bottom of a column and must end itself at the top of the next column, that is an orphan. ALWAYS correct this. rivers + In typography, rivers, or rivers of white, are visually unattractive gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text. They can occur with any spacing, though they are most noticeable with wide word spaces caused by either full text justification or monospaced fonts.

hyphenation 23


“Right and wrong


do not exist in graphic design. There is only effective and non-effective communication.�

— peter bilak Illegibility


26 alignment

yes no

alignment If someone insists that fully justified text is better than leftaligned text, tell them they are wrong. If someone else tells you that left-aligned text is better than justified text, tell them they are wrong. + If they are both wrong, then what’s right? Alignment is only a small piece of the puzzle. What works for one design might be totally inappropriate for another layout. + As with all layouts, it depends on the purpose of the piece, the audience and its expectations, the fonts, the margins and white space, and other elements on the page. The most appropriate choice is the alignment that works for that particular design.


yes no

justified text + Traditionally many books, newsletters, and newspapers use full-justification as a means of packing as much information onto the page as possible to cut down on the number of pages needed. While the alignment was chosen out of necessity, it has become so familiar to us that those same types of publications set in left-aligned text would look odd, even unpleasant. You may find that fully-justified text is a necessity either due to space constraints or expectations of the audience. If possible though, try to break up dense blocks of texts with ample subheadings, margins, or graphics. + Often considered more formal, less friendly than left-aligned text. + Usually allows for more characters per line, packing more into the same amount of space (than the same text set left-aligned). + May require extra attention to word and character spacing and hyphenation to avoid unsightly rivers of white space running through the text. + May be more familiar to readers in some types of publications, such as books and newspapers. + Some people are naturally drawn to the “neatness� of text that lines up perfectly on the left and right.

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

alignment 27


28 alignment

yes no

left-aligned, ragged right + Often considered more informal, friendlier than justified text. + The ragged right edge adds an element of white space. + May require extra attention to hyphenation to keep right margin from being too ragged. + Generally type set left-aligned is easier to work with (i.e. requires less time, attention, and tweaking from the designer to make it look good).

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.


yes no

centered + There is nothing inherently wrong with centered text. As with ragged right or fullyjustified text alignment, what works for one design might be totally inappropriate for another layout. There are simply fewer situations where centered text is appropriate. When in doubt, don’t center it. + As with all layouts, alignment depends on the purpose of the piece, the audience and its expectations, the fonts, the margins and white space, and other elements on the page. The most appropriate choice is the alignment that works for that particular design. + No matter what alignment you use, remember to pay close attention to hyphenation and word/character spacing as well to insure that your text is as readable as possible.

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

alignment 29


30 justification

yes no

justification Justify text only if the line is long enough to prevent awkward and inconsistent word spacing. + The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. + When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. + Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. + Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


yes no

what is the ideal space between words? + If text is set ragged right, the word space (the space between words) can be fixed and unchanging. If the text is justified (set flush left and right), the word space must be elastic. In either case the size of the ideal word space varies from one circumstance to another, depending on factors such as letterfit, type color, and size. A loosely fitted or bold face will need a larger interval between the words. At larger sizes, when letterfit is tightened, the spacing of words can be tightened as well. what does this inspector do, what do these numbers mean? + This inspector allows customization to the justification settings. + Word Spacing – The space between words that results from pressing the spacebar. Word Spacing values can range from 0% to 1000%; at 100%, no additional space is added between words. + Letter Spacing – The distance between letters, including kerning or tracking values. Letter Spacing values can range from ‑100% to 500%: at 0%, no space is added between letters; at 100%, an entire space width is added between letters. + Glyph Scaling – The width of characters (a glyph is any font character). Glyph Scaling values can range from 50% to 200%.

justification 31


32 justification

yes no

Helvetica Neue 55 roman + minimum: 85% + desired: 110% + maximum: 250% + Gaps are so close that the word spacing becomes unclear.

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in

picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


justif ication 33

yes no

Helvetica Neue 55 roman + minimum: 20% + desired: 100% + maximum: 300% + Some spaces are so condensed the period almost becomes irrelevant

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size

of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


34 justif ication

yes no

Helvetica Neue 55 roman + minimum: 30% + desired: 90% + maximum: 100% + Gaps are so close that the word spacing becomes unclear

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in

picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


yes no

justif ication 35

Helvetica Neue 55 roman + minimum: 200% + desired: 200% + maximum: 200% + rivers are everywhere + words per line aren’t enough

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page.

Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


36 justif ication

yes no

Helvetica Neue 55 roman + minimum: 50% + desired: 200% + maximum: 200% + small rivers are formed + words spread out too much

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to

satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


yes no

justif ication 37

Goudy Old Style roman + minimum: 50% + desired: 50% + maximum: 200% + spaces between words are inconsistent

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be

about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


38 justif ication

yes no

Goudy Old Style roman + minimum: 25% + desired: 25% + maximum: 25% + no rivers here means not enough spacing

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type

you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


justif ication 39

yes no

Goudy Old Style roman + minimum: 85% + desired: 90% + maximum: 500% + justification should not look like a pattern, every space is too big

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the

text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


40 justif ication

yes no

Goudy Old Style roman + minimum: 60% + desired: 80% + maximum: 100% + it’s not horrible, but minor spacing issues could be resolved

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the type; that is, if

the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


yes no

justif ication 41

Goudy Old Style roman + minimum: 25% + desired: 200% + maximum: 1000% + spacing makes page really tight

The only time you can safely get away with justifying text is if your type is small enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don’t have many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You’ve seen newspaper columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap in the middle. Gross. But that’s what can happen with justified type. When you do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in some lines, while other lines will be all squished together. When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the example on the bottom of the previous page. Here is a general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the point size of the

type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like. Justified text was the style for many years-we grew up on it. But there has been a great deal of research done on readability (how easy something is to read) and it shoes that those disruptive, inconsistent gaps between the words inhibit the flow of reading. Besides, they look dumb. Keep your eyes open as you look at professionally printed work (magazines, newsletters, annual reports, journals) and you’ll find there’s a very strong trend to align type on the left and leave the right ragged.


“There is no binding


recipe for type combinations. It is a matter of typographic sensitivity and experience. Expert typographers, as well as careless amateurs permit themselves combinations that would horrify colleagues with more traditional sympathies.�


44 font combinations

yes no

font combinations When combining serif and sans serif text fonts, one shroud try and match the characteristics of form and type color: proportion, x-heights. + Although there is not recipe there is a place to start: keep an eye on the characteristic shapes of the letterform. A well designed page contains no more than two different typefaces or four different type variations such as type size and bold or italic style. golden rule

+ Using 2 different serif fonts or 2 different sans serifs fonts in the same composition is never a good idea.


yes no

aa BB ee GG gg + Frutiger bold 18pt: Humanist sans serif + Goudy Old Style roman 9pt: Old Style + These two fonts work together in a contrasting way. Frutiger is a clean and simple font, and the bold dominates the lightness of Goudy Old Style. The give-and-take aspect works nicely.

aa BB ee GG gg + Garamond roman 18pt: Old Style / Gerald + Akzidenz Grotesk light 9pt: Grotesque sans serif + The nice letterforms of Garamond lead you into the copy. Akzidenz Grotesk keeps works by staying simple and legible.

font combinations 45

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.


46 font combinations

aa BB ee GG gg + Century Gothic bold 18pt: Geometric sans serif + Baskerville roman 9pt: Transitional + The heirarchy is addressed with the combination of these two typefaces. Also, it blends new with the old.

aa BB ee GG gg + Gill Sans bold oblique 18pt: Humanist sans serif + Times New Roman roman 9pt: Transitional + Making the title oblique fits in with the interesting forms of Times New Roman.

yes no

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.


yes no

aa BB ee GG gg Didot roman 18pt: Modern Gotham light 9pt: Geometric sans serif The light copy works well with Didot, even though the actual structure of Gotham is naturally larger than Didot.

aa BB ee GG gg + Walbaum bold 18pt: Modern + Helvetica Neue light 9pt: Grotesque sans serif + Both typefaces are nice individually because they are so “locked” in with the way they were designed. When put together, it’s a nice style and it feels “contained”.

font combinations 47

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

WORDS IN LIBERTY

A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.


48 font combinations

aa BB ee GG gg + Caslon bold 18pt: New Transitional + Century Gothic roman 9pt: Geometric sans serif + These two contrast eachother in many ways, but it still makes sense together. You would have much more copy in Century Gothic than Caslon to not make it overwhelming.

aa BB ee GG gg + Univers bold 18pt: Grotesque sans serif + Georgia roman 9pt: New Transitional + Normally, the more visually interesting typeface belongs in the header, and the simple typefaces are in the copy. But switching this idea up makes the copy more interesting to see and works with the bold type of Univer.

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WORDS IN LIBERTY

A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.


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aa BB ee GG gg + Archer bold 18pt: Slab Serif + Twentieth Century roman 9pt: Geometric sans serif + Almost any sans serif typeface will go well with Archer. Twentieth Century is naturally smaller and contrasts well with the size and stability of Archer.

aa BB ee GG gg + Tahoma bold 18pt: Humanist sans serif + Memphis light 9pt: Slab Serif + Slab serif typefaces can work as the copy because of their legibility and serifs. Memphis is light and compliments the simplicity of Tahoma.

font combinations 49

WORDS IN LIBERTY

A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.

WORDS IN LIBERTY A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.


50 quotes, apostrophes, & dashes

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quotes, apostrophes, & dashes


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quotes, apostrophes, & dashes 51

quotation marks + Use real quotation marks – never those grotesque generic marks that actually symbolize ditto/inch or foot marks: use “and” – not “and”. Most software applications will convert the typewriter quotes to the real quotes for you automatically as you type. Check the preferences for your application – you’ll find a check box to tell your application to automatically set something like “typographer’s quotes,” “smart quotes,” or “curly quotes.” Then as you type using the standard ditto key (“), the software will set the correct quotation marks for you. + But it is necessary to know how to set them yourself because sometimes the software doesn’t do it or does it wrong. opening double quote: “ + Type: Option [ closing double quote: ” + Type: Option Shift [ opening single quote: ‘ + Type: Option ] closing single quote: ’ + Type: Option Shift ]

Bridge Clearance: 16’ 7” The young man stood 6’ 2” The length of the wall is 153’9”.


52 quotes, apostrophes, & dashes

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apostrophes +’ + Type: option shift ] + As as aside, people often are confused about where the apostrophe belongs. There are a couple of rules that work very well. for possessives + Turn the phrase around. The apostrophe will be placed after whatever word you end up with. For example, in the phrase the boys’ camp, to know where to place the apostrophe say to yourself, “The camp belongs to the boys.” The phrase the boy’s camp says “The camp belongs to the boy.” for contractions + The apostrophe replaces the missing letter. For example: your’re always means you are; the apostrophe is replacing the a from are. That’s an easy way to distinguish it from your as in your house and to make sure you don’t say: Your going to the store. + As previously noted, it’s means “it is”; the apostrophe is indicating where the i is left out. Don’t means “do not”; the apostrophe is indicating where the o is left out. for omission of letters + In a phrase such as Rock ’n’ Roll, there should be an apostrophe before and after the n, because the a and the d are both left out. And don’t turn the first apostrophe around — just because it appears in front of the letter does not mean you need to use the opposite single quote. An apostrophe is still the appropriate mark (not ‘n’). + In a phrase such as House o’ Fashion, the apostrophe takes the place of the f. There is not earthly reason for an apostrophe to be set before the o. + In a phrase such as Gone Fishin’ the same pattern is followed — the g is missing. + In a date when part of the year is left out, an apostrophe needs to indicate the missing year. In the 80s would mean the temperature; In the ’80s would mean the decade. (Notice there is no apostrophe before the s! Why would there be? It is not possessive, nor is it a contraction — it is simply plural.


“The big exception to this is its. Its used as a possessive never has an apostrophe! The word it only has an apostrophe as a contraction — it’s always means it is or it has.” Always. It may be easier to remember if you recall that yours, hers, and his don’t use apostrophes — and neither should its.


54 quotes, apostrophes, & dashes

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dashes + Never use two hyphens instead of a dash. Use hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes appropriately. + Everyone knows what a hyphens is—that tiny little dash that belongs in some words, like mother-in-law, or in phone numbers. It’s also used to break a word at the end of a line, of course. + You might have been taught to use a double hyphen to indicate a dash, like so -- . This is a typewriter convention because typewriters didn’t have the real dash used in professional typesetting. On a Mac, no one needs to use the double hyphen—we have a professional em dash, the long one, such as you see in this sentence. We also have an en dash, which is a little shorter than the em dash. hyphen + A hyphen is one third of the em rule and is used to link words. It serves as a compound modifier where two words become one, such as x-height. A hyphen is also used to break works at syllables in text blocks. en dash + To type an en dash: hold the Option key down, then tap the hyphen key + An en dash is half of the em rule (the width of a capital N) and is used between words that indicate a duration, such as time or months or years. Use it where you might otherwise use the word “to.” + In a page layout application, the en dash can be used with a thin space on either side of it. If you want you can kern it so it is not a full space. + October – December + 6:30 – 8:45 A.M. + 4 – 6 years of age em dash + To type an em dash: hold the Shift and Option keys down, then tap the hyphen key. + The em dash is twice as long as the en dash—it’s about the size of a capital letter M in whatever size and typeface you’re using at the moment. This dash is often used in place of a colon or parentheses, or it might indicate an abrupt change in thought, or it’s used in a spot where a period is too strong and a comma is too weak. + Our equivalent on the typewriter was the double hyphen, but now we have a real em dash. Using two hyphens(or worse, one) where there should be an em dash makes your look very unprofessional. + When using an—no space is used on either side.


hyphen en dash – em dash —


56 special characters

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special characters The following is a list of the most often-used special characters and accent marks. On the following pages are the key combinations for just about every accent you might need.


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how to type these “ Option [ ” Option Shift [ ‘ Option ] ’ Option Shift ] – Option Hyphen — Option Shift Hyphen … Option ; • Option 8 fi Option Shift 5 fl Option Shift 6 © Option g ™ Option 2 ® Option r ° Option Shift 8 ¢ Option $ € Option Shift 2 ⁄ Option Shift 1 (one) ¡ Option 1 (one) ¿ Option Shift ? £ Option 3 ç Option c Ç Option Shift c + Remember, to set an accent mark over a letter, press the Option key and the letter, then press the letter you want under it. ´ Option e ` Option ~ ¨ Option u ˜ Option n ˆ Option i

special characters 57


58 bullets

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bullets bullet, of course! This very useful typographic element can add emphasis, clarity and visual interest to all kinds of copy. + Simply put, a bullet is a large dot used to draw attention to each item in a list or series. The items can be single words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs. Even if you use the bullet that is part of your font, don’t automatically assume it’s the right size: it might need to be altered in scale or position to make it look balanced next to the text. + Bullets should be centered on either the cap height or x-height, depending on the nature of your copy. If all of your items begin with a cap, center the bullet on the cap, or a bit lower so it balances with the negative spaces created by the lowercase. If your items all begin with lowercase characters, center the bullets on the x-height. Insert some space after the bullet to avoid crowding. + The preferred way to align bullets is with the left margin. You can also have the bullets overhang the margin, and keep all your text aligned with the left margin. Whichever style you choose, your listing will look best if items that run more than one line are indented so that the copy aligns with itself, and not with the bullet on the first line. + To be more creative, substitute symbols or dingbats for the actual bullets. Try squares, triangles or check marks (just not all at once, as shown in the illustration!). Keep these simple and in proportion with the rest of your text.


bullets 59

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dingbats as bullets + Make sure to take advantage of the baseline shift feature when using dingbats or ornaments as bullets. Sometime dinbats or webdings can be too large, so all you have to do is reduce its size. If the character is not aligned, use the baseline shift to move it up to where it ought to be.

Choose a dingbat instead of the dumb ol’ bullet. • lovely • surly • ghastly • manly • saintly • ungodly • stately • sprightly

You have lots of dingbats to choose from, but they are usually too big. 6 lovely b surly k ghastly u womanly c saintly v ungodly f stately p sprightly

You can decrease the point size of the bullet, but then it sits too low. t lovely t surly t ghastly t womanly t saintly t ungodly t stately t sprightly

Raise the dingbat higher off the baseline. t lovely t surly t ghastly t womanly t saintly t ungodly t stately t sprightly


60 numberals & figures

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numberals & figures Oldstyle figures are a style of numeral which approximate lowercase letterforms by having an x-height and varying ascenders and descenders. + They are considerably different from the more common “lining” (or “aligning”) figures which are all-cap height and typically monospaced in text faces so that they line up vertically on charts. Oldstyle figures have more of a traditional, classic look. They are only available for certain typefaces, sometimes as the regular numerals in a font, but more often within a supplementary or expert font. The figures are proportionately spaced, eliminating the white spaces that result from monospaced lining figures, especially around the numeral one. + Oldstyle figures are very useful and quite beautiful when set within text. Unlike lining figures, they blend in without disturbing the color of the body copy. They also work well in headlines since they’re not as intrusive as lining figures. In fact, many people prefer them overall for most uses except charts and tables. It’s well worth the extra effort to track down and obtain typefaces with oldstyle numerals; the fonts that contain them might well become some of your favorites.


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numberals & figures 61

dingbats as bullets + Make sure to take advantage of the baseline shift feature when using dingbats or ornaments as bullets. Sometime dinbats or webdings can be too large, so all you have to do is reduce its size. If the character is not aligned, use the baseline shift to move it up to where it ought to be. + Notice how large and clunky these numbers appear:

Dear John, please call me at 438-9762 at 3:00 to discuss marriage. Or write to me at Route 916, zip code 87505. + Notice how beautifully these numbers blend into the text:

Dear John, please call me at 438-9762 at 3:00 to discuss marriage. Or write to me at Route 916, zip code 87505.


62 small caps

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small caps Small caps are uppercase (capital) letters that are about the size of normal lowercase letters in any given typeface. Small caps are less intrusive when all uppercase appears within normal text or can be used for special emphasis. Computer programs can generate small caps for a any typeface, but those are not the same as true small caps. True small caps have line weights that are proportionally correct for the typeface, which mean that they can be used within a body of copy without looking noticeably wrong. acronyms + Use small caps for acronyms. Set acronyms such as NASA or NASDAQ in small caps when they appear in body text or headlines. abbreviations + Use small caps for common abbreviations. Set common abbreviations such as AM or PM in small caps so they don’t overpower the accompanying text. Use small caps for A.M. and P.M.; space once after the number, and use periods. (if the font does not have small caps reduce the font size slightly) true small caps fonts + Use true small caps fonts. Avoid simply resizing capital letters or using the small caps feature in some programs. Instead use typefaces that have been specifically created as small caps.


yes no

see the difference + Caps

Harriet, an FBI agent turned on CNN to get the dirt on the CIA before going to bed at 9:30 P.M. + Small Caps

Harriet, an fbi agent turned on cnn to get the dirt on the cia before going to bed at 9:30 p.m.

small caps 63


64 paragraph breaks

yes no

paragraph breaks Paragraph breaks set a rhythm for the reader. The breaks have a relationship with the column of text as well as the page margins. A break may be introduced as an indentation, as a space or both. The over all page feel will be influenced by your choice. definitions + In typography there are 4 rules regarding paragraph breaks: + first line at the beginning of an article should be flush left (do not indent first paragraph) + block paragraphs are flush left and are separated by extra leading not a full return + the amount indent is = to the leading (sometimes needs a bit more) + never hit two returns between paragraphs


yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

paragraph breaks 65


66 paragraph breaks

yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


yes no

futurism was first announced on february 20, 1909, when the paris newspaper le f igaro published a manifesto by the italian poet and editor f ilippo tommaso marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. but is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. while marinetti’s opening manifesto for italian futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present 1909, the later manifestos of futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

paragraph breaks 67


68 paragraph breaks

yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term— still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-ofthe-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

paragraph breaks 69


70 paragraph breaks

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Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. 6 6 6 But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. 6 6 6 While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

paragraph breaks 71


72 paragraph breaks

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Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pubt lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The t name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he t conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, origit nality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorit fied contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and t motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of t a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the t automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence t and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, t and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and t libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive t and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, t to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, t if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, t had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and t life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & t Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now somet times seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all t that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in t favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artt ists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The t key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become t “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to t be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it t resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the t use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as t set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with t the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried t off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language t happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances t mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engaget ment, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer t them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is

is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian

Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

paragraph breaks 73


74

yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” — charles eames


76 headers, subheads, & crossheads

yes no

headers, subheads, & crossheads header + The material which is separated from the main body of text and appears at the top of a printed page. subhead + A phrase, sentence, or several sentences that are near the title of the article or story.

+ The main header or headline is essential to be bold and leap out as the main title of the page or chapter start. If it does not, the reader may be confused as to where the document actually starts. So I always think its a good rule to ensure the reader knows where a section starts and make it quite plain. The main header should also look like it belongs to the first sentence. This can be achieved by ensuring that its paragraph spacing (the space after a hard return) is smaller than the paragraph spacing of the first sentence. Paragraph spacing is not commonly used - even amongst designers, but it is an extremely useful tool. Many people add spacing by hitting return but this does not give much control and cannot be styled from style sheets.


yes no

headers, subheads, & crossheads 77

words in liberty a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

radical mix of art & life


78 headers, subheads, & crossheads

yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


yes no

headers, subheads, & crossheads 79

words in liberty a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on

February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.

radical mix of art & life

While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term— still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-ofthe-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


80 headers, subheads, & crossheads

yes no

words in liberty a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. radical mix of art & life But it is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


words in liberty

yes no

headers, subheads, & crossheads 81

a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.

radical mix of art & life

But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


82 headers, subheads, & crossheads

yes no

words in liberty

a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism,

coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. radical mix of art & life But is is the movements

which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of

which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled

with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant

today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


“Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.”

— joe sparano


84 captions & notes

yes no

captions & notes footnotes & endnotes + Footnotes and endnotes are necessary components of scholarly and technical writing. They’re also frequently used by writers of fiction, from Herman Melville (Moby-Dick) to contemporary novelists. Whether their intent is academic or artistic, footnotes present special typographic challenges. + Specifically, a footnote is a text element at the bottom of a page of a book or manuscript that provides additional information about a point made in the main text. The footnote might provide deeper background, offer an alternate interpretation or provide a citation for the source of a quote, idea or statistic. Endnotes serve the same purpose but are grouped together at the end of a chapter, article or book, rather than at the bottom of each page. + These general guidelines will help you design footnotes and endnotes that are readable, legible and economical in space. (Note that academic presses and journals can be sticklers for format: before proceeding, check with your client or publisher to see if they have a specific stylesheet that must be followed.) numbers or symbols + Footnotes are most often indicated by placing a superscript numeral immediately after the text to be referenced. The same superscript numeral then precedes the footnoted text at the bottom of the page. Numbering footnotes is essential when there are many of them, but if footnotes are few they can be marked with a dagger, asterisk, or other symbol instead. Endnotes should always use numerals to facilitate easy referencing. size + Footnotes and endnotes are set smaller than body text. The difference in size is usually about two points, but this can vary depending on the size, style and legibility of the main text. Even though they’re smaller, footnotes and endnotes should still remain at a readable size.


yes no

words in liberty a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered 1. Philip Meggs, formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant History of today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new Graphic Design, images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” Van Nostrand This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposiReinhold, 1988 tion, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t 2. parole in liberta end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off = words set free the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” (liberty) of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between 3. selbst = himself themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

radical mix of art & life

captions & notes 85


86 captions & notes

yes no

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

1. philip meggs, history of graphic design, van nostrand reinhold, 1988 2. parole in liberta = words set free (liberty) 3. selbst = himself


yes no

captions & notes 87

words in liberty a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on

February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.

radical mix of art & life

While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term— still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-ofthe-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. 1. philip meggs, history of graphic design, van nostrand reinhold, 1988 Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to 2. parole in liberta = words set free (liberty) break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 3. selbst = himself (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


88 captions & notes

yes no

words in liberty philip meggs, history of graphic design, van nostrand reinhold, 1988

parole in liberta = words set free (liberty)

selbst = himself

a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. radical mix of art & life But it is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”


words in liberty

yes no

captions & notes 89

a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.

radical mix of art & life

Philip Meggs, History of Graphic Design, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988

But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

selbst = himself

parole in liberta = words set free (liberty)


90

yes no

words in liberty

a prologue to futurism Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism,

coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and inno1. philip meggs, history of graphic vation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified design, van nostrand reinhold, 1988 contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto’s rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention. radical mix of art & life But is is the movements

which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of

which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avantgarde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great “art” movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become. While Marinetti’s opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled

with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal, “technical” approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term—still resonant

today—was parole in libertà2, by which poetry was to become “an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena.” This freedomof-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarmé. But the verbal liberation didn’t end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that “scurried off the page in all directions at once,” as Emmett Williams phrased it for the “language happenings” of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists’ performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference 3. selbst = himself and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical.”

2. parole in liberta = words set free (liberty)


“Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking.”

— ellen lupton


designed by bradley brooks + Class project for Professor Herstowski’s Typography 02 at the University of Kansas, Spring 2011. + Text for the book was compiled from the following sources: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, Getting it Right with Type: the Do’s and Don’ts of Typography by Victoria Square, Mac is Not A Typewriter by Robin Williams. + This book is not to be sold to the public and to only be used by the designer for their reference and student design portfolio.


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