CONTENTS
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THE TYPE OF A MAN
THE REBEL
Born on November 8, 1918 – Nuremberg, Germany,
He and his brother experimented and built a crystal
Zapf was born during turbulent time marked by
radio and alarm system for his house. In school
German Revolution in 1918 –1919, the end of world
days, he involved into type and invented ‘Cipher
war 1. He was sent to school in 1925. Zapf was mainly
text’(cryptography) alphabets to exchange secret
interested in technical subjects. One of his favorite
messages with his brother. He was ambitious about a
books was ‘Das Neue Universum’ meaning ‘The New
career in electrical engineering after leaving school
Museum.’
in 1933.
Zapf was unable to attend OHM Technical Institute due
from the exhibition and taught himself calligraphy.
to political problems and was advised by his tutors to
Also studied calligraphy examples at Nuremberg City
become a lithographer as was good at drawing. He
Library.
took up an internship as re-toucher in a company that didn’t ask him any political questions.
His expertise in calligraphy were noticed by his masters and was shifted to letter re-touching and improving
In 1935, he attended an exhibition in his hometown (Nuremberg) in honor of late typographer ‘Rudolf Koch’ . This was his first interest of lettering. He purchased books
colleagues’ work.
"TYPOGRAPHY IS TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARCHITECTURE, BASED ON EXPERIENCE AND IMAGINATION, AND GUIDED BY RULES AND READABILITY. AND THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF TYPOGRAPHY: THE ARRANGEMENT OF DESIGN ELEMENTS WITHIN A GIVEN STRUCTURE SHOULD ALLOW THE READER TO EASILY FOCUS ON THE MESSAGE, WITHOUT SLOWING DOWN THE SPEED OF HIS READING."
Zapf moved to Frankfurt in 1938 as was not able to get
Since 1960 started to work ok typography in computer
work-permit to work in the companies in Nuremberg.
programs. His idea was not taken seriously and
He went to ‘Werkstatt Haus Zum Frankfurt’ – a building
rejected in Germany but was appreciated in the US
that was run by Paul Koch, son of Rudolf Koch. He
where he was to speak about computerized type
spent most of his time there on typography and writing
setting at Harvard in 1964.
songbooks. The creators of ‘Lucida’ type family – Charles Bigelow He
designed
his
first
printed
typeface
called
“Gilgengart”– fraktur type font for type foundries
& Kris Holmes were former students of Hermann Zapf who influenced them to be type designers.
D.Stempel, AG and Linotype. In 1998 created ‘Zapfino’ – a calligraphy typeface In 1939 was conscripted to Pirmasens. Not used to hard
based on a word Zapf which was originally penned
labor job, he developed heart problem after which
in 1944.
was assigned a desk job of writing camp records and sport’s certificates.
Palatino & Optima are his most renowned typefaces.
Top & right: Optima & Palatino, fonts by Hermann Zapf
He was strongly interested in Dadaism, Futurism and
Language is a way of expression, if language is limited
Constructivism which influenced much of his work.
our expressions are limited. Find new ways to say things
The members of Dada movement decided that art
about who we are, what we believe and where we are
should not be such a serious subject and dominated
going, says Brody.
by painting. They used collages, newspaper cut-outs, photo-montages to create a radical result. This radical
He suggests typographers and designers to create more
approach influenced Neville which can also be seen in
work to uplift local language, as many designers making
his work.
big brands which are going everywhere and making same culture everywhere e.g. Starbucks and McDonalds
Punk rock was beginning to have a major effect upon
go to every country and make us follow same culture so
London life. He realized that this was the inspiration
we loose our individual identity which is a big problem,
needed. It did not go well in the beginning and at one
says Brody.
stage he was almost kicked out of college for putting Queen’s face sideways on a stamp. His tutors often accused his designs as “non-commercial”. Although frustrated with limitations of the market, he continued to tear up the rules and diversify different styles of typography.
Neville Brody was born on April 23rd 1957 in Southgate – London. He studied A level Arts from Minchenden Grammar School. Later he persued Fine Arts at Hornsey College of Arts in 1975. In 1976 he did a 3 yrs. B.A course in Graphics from London College of Printing. After Graduation he revolutionized the look of
Typography is an art porn that expands the potential of letters through design changing the letters themselves and the way they are arranged. He says,“typography is about providing info and about providing who we are. It is a way to bring emotions and open up thinking spaces. Its visual poetry.”
magazines, album-covers and packaging in the year 1980. He thought,“Why can’t you take a painterly approach within the printed medium?” He wanted to communicate to as many people as possible. Neville was one of the most influential designer’s of the late 20th Century. Also as of today if we talk about graphic design, Neville Brody is one name that comes in Top 5 graphic designers you must know about.
DIGITAL DESIGN IS LIKE PAINTING, EXCEPT THE PAINT NEVER DRIES. According to Neville, digital age is changing a lot and
Neville Brody has a major contribution towards graphic
letter form has to adopt to new kind of technology.
industry. From posters for big brands to creating his own typefaces. His versatility reflects in work he has done.
“Earlier we used to think of print, now we think about screen. We read differently on screen. We don’t read so
A blend of dadaism, futurism and constructivism gives a
much and tend to read in short pieces”, says Brody.
new perspective to his work.
“Society is always changing and you can never be comfortable, so have to develop ideas and new ways to say things. The language has to keep moving with the changes”, he adds.
Top & right: works by Neville Brody
Son of a block maker, Wim Crouwel was born in
pylons and railway tracks. He studies one year at
Groningen city of Holland in 1928. He is among the
Amsterdam Art Academy in 1952-53. He was greatly
great Dutch design icons, he is indeed the single most
inspired by expressionism while he was painting and
influential graphic designer in post-war Holland. Famous
created his first poster in 1950.
for injecting a creative approach in designing letters, Crouwel produced typographic designs that captured
He soon realized the pleasure that he got from organizing
the essence of the emerging computer age.
and visualizing gave him which fascinated him to Bauhaus.
Studied fine arts at Minerva University from 1946-1949 but was interested in architectural structures – electricity
There couldn’t be better contrast between poetry of
A few years later, in 1963, he founded the Total Design
expressionism and functionality of Bauhaus. He took a
Studio, and became known as the designer of posters,
very balanced approach towards Bauhaus as he knew
catalogues and exhibitions of the Stedelijk Museum in
machines couldn’t be as precise as human eye. He was
Amsterdam.
inspired particularly by Bauhaus typography and perhaps his background in arts allowed him to think differently and
In 1967, Crouwel designed ‘New Alphabet’ where the
develop his own unique ideas. His work runs in two parts –
letters were formed on a grid basis and had no diagonals
poetic and functional.
or curves. He claimed it was “over-the-top and never meant to be really used” since it was unreadable, but the
He is well known for his systematic approach using grid
New Alphabet received massive coverage and a lot of
system to experiment with the type faces. In 1957 hand-
criticism.
drawn letterforms appeared in Crouwel’s designs, around the same time he created what became one of his best known posters for an exhibition by F. Léger.
The meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface, and that is why we loved Helvetica very much.
Crouwel is a modernist and impressed by a typeface
designer Josef Müller-Brockmann. He developed an
like Helvetica, which was more neutral than any other
original graphic language, combining the structural logic
typeface. “A face shouldn’t have a meaning in itself, the
which is characteristic of Swiss design with the vigorous
meaning should be in the content of the text.” In his work
expressivity typical of Dutch design, generally more
Crouwel chose sans-serif faces that allowed numerous
exuberant.
combinations, like Gill (Van Abbe museum) and Universe (Stedelijk).
His projects – among which there are several great works of art – are full of history and rich of pathos. They are
He began making posters and catalogues for the ‘Van
characterized by a masterly use of intimate and vibrant
Abbe Museum’. His ideology behind designing was that
colours, and by a strong typography imposing itself as a
each poster should be different and neutral in itself and
true image within the composition.
doesn’t interpret artist’s style or work. Apart from designing in 1972, he became a part time When choosing between functionality and aesthetics,
professor at Delta Technology University. In 1980 he left
Wim always chooses aesthetics as he says “when you are
design and became a full time professor at the same
a functionalist, you want to make things comprehensible,
university.
readable which makes your ideas visible. I find myself being modernist, functionalist but aesthetics always stand
In 1985 he was named as the director of ‘Museum
in the way.”
Boijmans Van Beuningen’ in Rotterdam. He was director until 1995.
He started working in the Fifties, becoming one of the main protagonists of Modernism, together with the Swiss
Right: work by WIm Crouwel