How are the set of ideas of W.A. Dwiggins in ‘Layout of Advertising’ robust in the practice of Advertising? (20th and 21st Century) W.A Dwiggins worked most of his life in advertising, and released the book ‘Layout in Advertising’ in 1928, which he himself alongside Paul Rand and Bradbury Thompson played a significant role in creating an accepted and definitive approach to design within advertising. W.A. Dwiggins with his book ‘Layout in Advertising’ is seen as a reference for designers to look up to when designing in the field of advertising, but how does it live up to the practice of advertising, were it is taken into consideration into how the book was developed from Dwiggins’ own concepts and ideas and his life experiences. In ‘Layout in Advertising’ (1928), Dwiggins ultimately created something almost as a ‘bible’ in designing for advertising. In quite some depth, he criticised the upscaling use of the sans serif typeface. He wrote that typographers should provide “a Gothic of good design”1 and he mainly put the blame on the “capitals”. What Dwiggins' comments were more focusing on, was the new sans serifs coming out of Germany that were geometrically based and followed the philosophies of the modern design movement2. The main reason for this was simply due to the movement’s streamlined and geometric design, covering not only type design but print, fashion and architecture. Even though, it has been established the Dwiggins has a strong interest in type design, but it doesn’t say that he has a great concern for ‘all’ aspects of design within advertising. This also, proposes the fact that Dwiggins is a significant designer in terms of Advertising and for a great number of artists and designers and making his book ‘Layout in Advertising’ propositioned as strong in the field of advertising. ‘Layout in Advertising’ provides all answers / rules to follow in relation to advertising 3 In addition, to recognise Dwiggins strong commitment to type design within advertisement, we can see the creation of typefaces which reflect upon Dwiggins concepts of ‘good’ advertising and that of which should be used when designing for advertising. From 1926 onwards, beginning with the introduction of the 'Ionic' typeface, the Mergenthaler Linotype group, continued to develop the so-‐called 'Legibility group' of typefaces for newspapers4.
A very large portion of our daily intake of information comes through these types. Within the Linotype Company, its principal artist-‐under-‐contract, W.A. Dwiggins (author, among other things, of the 'Electra' and 'Caledonia' book faces) objected to the design quality of the 'Legibility group' and proposed solutions of his own5. Dwiggins experimented in several of his typefaces with increasing readability. His design Hingham (1937-‐43) was an unreleased experimental newspaper typeface designed for increasing readability by decreasing the extent of the ascenders and decenders. This does show Dwiggins’ strong interest in type design and how he would like to change the ‘standardisation’ / view of typography within the field of advertising. Unfinished Typeface – Development for Readability 6 “It was not until 1922, when the outstanding book designer William Addison Dwiggins coined the term ‘graphic designer’ to describe his activities as an individual who brought structural order and visual form to printed communications, that an emerging profession received an appropriate name.” This statement, by Philip B. Meggs7, shows that W.A. Dwiggins’ guidance on advertising in his book is ultimately focusing on type design, which is upon the topic of typography. This opens the idea that the book is not as robust in the practice of advertising as the book only limits itself to only type design rather than taking all other aspects into consideration. However, Dwiggins was known to be an open minded designer by numerous individuals8, which exposes the fact that Dwiggins was in fact taking into consideration all aspects of design within advertising whilst also creating recognition that type plays a big part in advertisement design. Furthermore, Dwiggins was a man of many skills and did not limit himself to one trade, although he said that he would like to be mostly remembered for his type design. However, Dwiggins with his utmost regards to type design he promotes the fact that type design is important in advertisement, not that type design is the only factor which Dwiggins only talks about. Even though this shows that his book ‘Layout in Advertising’ can be found as an authentic how-‐to guide as all parts of design is taken into consideration, but however it is ultimately focused on the topic of typography and the design of type. When in 1928, he wrote his book ‘Layout in Advertising’ which at the time, was considered to be the reference text for the field. He used his time away from work to construct a set of 12” marionettes and a marionette theatre, all carved by hand out of wood (according to his biography)9. This
shows his strong emphasis on how type design was important in advertising and not that type is the only aspect to look at and his book it can be clearly seen that a significant number of aspects of design have been considered. Such influential work from W.A. Dwiggins, there were some influential moments in his life that influenced him to carry out his famous works; More specifically in the field of advertising and backing it up by producing ‘Layout in Advertising’. In 1922 he was diagnosed with diabetes; bearing in mind there was no insulin at the time10. Conceivably it was this diagnosis that prompted him to “make every day count”11. This diagnosis did not keep W.A. Dwiggins from remaining in motion throughout his career. He was in fact “handicapped by the clock and calendar” and the “twenty-‐four hour day was not long enough”12. With so many ideas, it significantly prompted to note down all his philosophies in his book ‘Layout in Advertising’. In this matter of understanding, W.A. Dwiggins’ book is henceforth well respected and acknowledged; Through his experience, Dwiggins learned to rationalize shape and type. We can see these ideas of Dwiggins’ in the recent advertisements based in New York by ‘Outfront Media’ (Kanga Bulletin)13 where they have taken into consideration regarding a big issue tackled by Dwiggins, which is readability and getting the message across effectively. From the bulletin design below (Kanga), you can see clearly, what the business is and what they do. This relates back W.A. Dwiggins’ concept of readability and clarity – within visual design and message. Kanga Bulletin in Atlanta, GA (Outfront Media)14 “Whiff of Chlorine” is what Dwiggins labeled the advertisement on “gas ammunition”15of which he was appalled by the extensive research behind such advertising that had sprung up after WW1, “Advertisements not only aligned products with military superiority but also offered personal rejuvenation within the gendered spheres of wartime society”16. Having opened up his criticisms of seductive advertising, Dwiggins followed his defence of informative advertising by writing ‘Layout in Advertising’ (in 1928)’ a summation of all that he had learnt in his nearly 25 years of the business. This shows that Dwiggins wrote his book in the sense that it was a reaction to the horrors of war in WW1 and this limits its robustness in the world of advertising, as the book is a reactant to WW1. However, the
reactance of creating the book, was almost an excuse to show the world; what advertisement is, etc. ‘Layout in Advertising’, was considered by many to be the standard book in its field of advertising well into the 1950s, and it can still be read today with benefit17. Contrary to the title, the book deals with almost all aspects of graphic design for print, not simply with advertising layout. In a consistent logical and comprehensive manner, Dwiggins discussed the means of design paper, type and illustrations. This ‘openness’ promotes the books robustness in the practice of advertising greatly as its ‘openness’ increases its audience of designers and creates a surge of invitation for the world of advertising. In addition, his discussions were accompanied not by actual advertisements and designs, as one would expect, but by illustrations designed specifically for the book. As a result, Dwiggins was able to explain his points simply and precisely. Dwiggins’ text is excellent, not only in its comparison to Rand’s text18 “…The writer has not assumed to give directions. He has aimed, rather, to help the practitioner compile his own book of directions. The help that the text may be expected to provide, then, will be along the lines of evocation—or education in the root meaning of the word—drawing out of the receptacle what was already there. If it succeeds in enlightening the student of graphic advertising as to methods of attack and analysis it will have done one good thing. If it then inspires him to build up his own structure of judgments and standards, based upon the exercise of his own faculty of criticism, it will have accomplished its aim.”1, what this shows is a promotion of diverse approaches balanced with an steady commitment to craft and ‘Layout in Advertising’s’ instructions are on organisation, forming of ideas, layout, and typography are as applicable today as they were in 1928. Whereas Rand dictates what good design is, Dwiggins is open-‐minded. Dwiggins book can be used greatly in the practice of advertising as it’s a book of open mindedness not dogmatic where a significant number of aspects of design is considered and thus creating further ‘inspiration’ for designers and to reference back to in designing for advertising. In contrary, Paul Rand is a big name in the design world, credited with visually transforming America post WWII by developing radical new methods of approaching advertising, logo creation and design19. One of Rand’s greatest legacies in his design career was his removal of copywriting from the principal position in design, instead placing it on the same tier as design, suggesting that by simplifying the amount of type, and instead letting form and function interact, the design would work better. Rand’s book8 , where all his ideas ‘are the set of instructions to success in advertising’, where all other aspects of design has become irrelevant, making his set of ideas particularly in his book very dogmatic and discriminatory. Ultimately, Dwiggins book can be firmly be pushed forward in topic of advertising in comparison to Rand whether it be specifically in typography or to designing logos. Another significant designer in the field of advertising going by the name of Bradbury Thompson reached many thousands of typographers and students. He had an exceptional ability to merge and blend modernist typographic organisation with classic typefaces and historic illustrations20. He saw himself as teacher and guide; “The art of typography, like architecture, is concerned with style and service in present-‐day terms, however the typographic designer must present the arts and sciences of past centuries as well as those of today. Although he works with the graphics of past centuries, he must create in the spirit of his own time, showing in his designs an essential understanding rather than a laboured
copying of past masters”21 and this is what Dwiggins has achieved, which can be linked with his open mindedness about design specifically with ‘all’ set parts of design. In contrast, Bradbury Thompson does however precisely give specific details in which should be considered when designing for advertising. This itself promotes the fact that Bradbury Thompson ideas and concepts is robust to the practice of advertising to an extent; "I believe an avid interest in Type necessarily includes a zest for everyday life,"11. Thompson here is creating further thinking for readers / connotations; “avid interest" – he is explaining the matter that type should be pervasive, intellectual, functional, and demanding. Also should be a deep font that can be informed in a variety of disciplines in an array of applications. This shows that Thompson has a clear vision of what ‘good’ advertisement is, but fails to understand that with this precise / specific ideas which were coined during his time, limits its robustness in the practice of advertisement as it is ultimately short-‐distanced. Moreover, it can be further pushed that Dwiggins was greatly a man who wrote a book where it can be referenced for designing in advertising; William Golden who is described by AIGA as “(a member of) a distinguished group of pioneers in the post-‐World War II era who gave shape to the emerging field of graphic design,”22 William Golden is an accomplished designer who changed the industry both stylistically through his bold, punchy work at CBS. He also pushed for the recognition that an artist and a designer were to be thought of as two different things, thus helping shape the graphic design industry in a more defined way. And this is a firm example of Dwiggins; the fact that he is open minded and has a set of ideas and concepts that can be used in an array of applications within the practice of advertising. This makes Dwiggins even more of importance in relation to his book, where his book can be largely be respected by a great number of artists and designers and therefore can be a powerful tool for artists and designers. Additionally, ‘Layout in Advertising’ is important not only for its comprehensiveness unique method of presentation, but also its attitude towards design process. Taking into consideration and reacting strongly to recent efforts to standardise design, such as Jay Hambridges theory of dynamic symmetry23, Dwiggins stated, “The practitioner in any art is obliged to build up his own technique. He cannot lift a method of procedure, ready made, out of a handbook”1. This shows an excessive stress that a book such as ‘Layout in Advertising’ can do no more than offer a method of solving a problem. It cannot provide actual solutions. In conclusion, ‘Layout in Advertising’ by W.A. Dwiggins and Dwiggins’ 1922 article in the Boston Evening Transcript can be seen as a prelude to this well known book of his. In it he uses the term “graphic design”24 twice with the second instance being of no consequence; “The book [Layout in Advertising] tries to exhibit the method of this preliminary study, and to show how these preliminary concerns shape the graphic design of an advertisement.”. Instead of discussing the “graphic designer” (or even the “advertising designer”) he refers often to the ‘layout man’, where the ‘man’ is the one who plans the layout of material to be printed or reproduced25. This brings out strongly that Dwiggins is influential in the field of advertising as he expresses the fact that planning the design of advertisement is important which takes all parts of the designing process into consideration and thus creates further interpretations and ‘sparks’ into how an advertisement should be tackled when being
designed. Ultimately, we can say that the key role of intuition in graphic design emerged in part from the work of modernist predecessors such as Rand, W.A. Dwiggins and Bradbury Thompson, who founded, defined and promoted the discipline as an intuitive practice that could also be used as a strategic tool for business. Graphic design is indebted to these practitioners whose creative powers uplifted the discipline, giving it a visible, national recognition. 1 Dwiggins, W.A.D. (1928). Layout in Advertising. New York: Harper and Brothers. 2
Font Bureau. (2016). William Addison Dwiggins. Retrieved from http://www.fontbureau.com/historical/WilliamDwiggins/.
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Dwiggins, W.A.D. (1928). 'Layout in Advertising' Book Cover. [Photograph]. , retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/pietschreuders/3392076928. 4 Carter, S.C. (1995). Twentieth Century Type Designers. London: Lund Hymphries. 5
Monotype GmbH, i. Linotype: Fonts for Desktop, Web & More. Linotype.com. From http://www.linotype.com/ 6 Dwiggins, W.A.D. (2000). Type Development. [Photograph]. , retrieved from http://www.christianschwartz.com/addison.shtml. 7 Meggs, P.B.M. (1983). A History of Graphic Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 8
Heller, S.H. (1991). W.A. Dwiggins: Master of the Book. Retrieved from http://ww.w.hellerbooks.com/pdfs/step_dwiggins.pdf 9 ADC. (2015). W.A. Dwiggins. Retrieved from http://adcglobal.org/hall-‐of-‐fame/w-‐a-‐ dwiggins/. 10 Palacio, B.G.P. & Vit, A.V. (2009). A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications and History of Graphic Design. USA: Rockport Publishers. 11 Heller, S.H. (1996). The Man Who Invented Graphic Design (6th ed.). USA: Eye. 12 Hollister, P.H. (1937). W.A.D. : The Work of W.A. Dwiggins, shown by the American Institute of Graphic Arts at the gallery of the Architectural League. New York: A.I.G.A. 13 Outfront Media. (2016). Kanga. Retrieved from http://www.outfrontmedia.com/. 14 Outfront Media. (2016). Kanga Case Study. Retrieved from http://www.outfrontmedia.com/campaignsatwork/casestudies/pages/kanga.aspx. 15 W.A. Dwiggins. (1922) “Advertising uses seduction to exploit weaknesses of mankind” Direct Advertising (11). USA.
16 Lasswell, H.D.L. (1927). Propaganda Technique in the World War. New York: Kegan Paul. 17 Abbe, D.A. (1974). William Addison Dwiggins (9th ed.). Boston: The Boston Public Library. 18 Rand, P.R. (2014). Thoughts on Design. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 19 Heller, S.H. (1996, November 28). Pual Rand, 82, Creator of Sleek Graphic Designs, Dies. The New York Times. 20 The Art Directors Club. (1977). Hall of Fame. Retrieved from http://adcglobal.org/awards/. 21 Westvaco, W. (1956). Westvaco 22 AIGA. (2016). Design. Retrieved from http://www.aiga.org. 23 Hambidge, J.H. (1967). The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry. New York: Dover Publications. 24 Dwiggins, W.A.D. New Kind of Printing Calls for New Design. Firefly Press. 25 merriam-‐webster. (2016). Layout Man. Retrieved from http://beta.merriam-‐ webster.com/. Further Reading: 1. Hawkins, D.I.H., Best, R.J.B., & Coney, K.A.C. (1995). Consumer Behaviour, Implications for Marketing Strategy (6th ed.). USA: .. 2. Aulich, A., James, J., Hewitt, H., & James, J. (2007). Seduction or instruction?: First World War posters in Britain and Europe. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 3. Unger, G.U. (1981). Home > Journals > Quaerendo > Experimental No. 223, a newspaper typeface, desig... Advanced Search button for Search Experimental No. 223, a newspaper typeface, designed by W.A. Dwiggins (V11 E4 ed.). Netherlands: Quaerendo 4. Godfrey, J.G. (2009). Bibliographic: 100 Classic Graphic Design Books. London: Laurence King. 5. Consuegra, D.A. (2004). American Type Design & Designers. New York: Allworth. 6. Gerber, A.G. & Lutz, A.L. (2006). Influences: A Lexicon of Contemporary Graphic Design. Berlin: Gestalten Verlag. 7. Remington, R.R.R. & Bodenstedt, L.B. (2003). American Modernism: Graphic Design 1920 to 1960. London: Laurence King.
8. Doubleday, R.B.D. (2006). Jan Tschichold, Designer: The Penguin Years. Aldershot, New Castle, Del: Lund Humphries. 9. Bringhurst, R.B. (2008). The Elements of Typographic Style (3rd ed.). Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks, Publishers. 10. Blakerman, R.B. (2005). The Bare Bones of Advertising Print Design. Lanham, MD, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.