Phorm Mag

December 2012

Issue N. 30

Magazine of the Type Directors Club

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THE CULT OF THE UGLY DE STIJL PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE ERIK NIETSCHE

CONTENTS:

Board of Directors 2005-2006 Chairman Daniel Pravin

President

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James Montgomery Terminal Design Inc.

Vice President Greg Maxwell MaxwellFonts

Secretary-Treasurer

THE CULT OF THE UGLY

by Steven Heller DE STIJL

by Jessica Helfand

Alex W. Whitehead AWVC

Directors at Large James F. Barnam James F. Barnam Design Brian Diecken The Diecken Group Nina Drobayashi Foote Cone Belding Susan L. Mitchell Farrar, Strauss & Gibbons Charles Rix Charles Rix & Associates Diego Vanderbilt MJM Creative Services, Inc. Carol Walkett Hadassah

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Executive Director Carol Walker

PHORM

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

by Shel Perkins ERIK NIETSCHE

by Steven Heller

The Newsletter of the Type Directors Club

Editors Diego Vainesman and Carol Walker

Designer Diego Vainesman

Contributors Yvonne Dietrich Martin Solomon Daniel Pravin Alex Donaldson Carter Williamson

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Alexia McKnight

The Type Directors Club, Suite 44, level 9, 60 East Street, Melbourne Victoria 3001.

Telephone 9876 5000 Fax 9876 5002 email: director@tdc.com.au

www.tdc.com.au

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U G LY CU LT OF T H E

by Steven Heller ‘Ask a toad what is beauty… He will answer that it is a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large flat mouth, a yellow belly and a brown back.’ (Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, 1794). Ask Paul Rand what is beauty and he will answer that ‘the separation of form and function, of concept and execution, in not likely to produce objects of aesthetical value.’ (Paul Rand, A Designer’s Art , 1985). Then ask the same question to the Cranbrook Academy of Art students who created the ad hoc desktop publication Output (1992), and judge by the evidence they might answer that beauty is chaos born of found letters layered on top of random patterns and shapes. Those who value functional simplicity would argue that the Cranbrook student’s publication, like a toad’s warts, is ugly. The difference is that unlike the toad, the Cranbrook students have deliberately given themselves the warts.

Output is eight unbound pages of blips, type fragments, random words, and other graphic minutiae purposefully given the serendipitous look of a printer’s makeready. The lack of any explanatory précis (and only this end note: ‘Upcoming Issues From: School of the Art Institute of Chicago [and] University of Texas,’) leaves the reader confused as to its purpose or meaning, though its form leads one to presume that it is

towards new discoveries. Experimentations is the engine of progress, its fuel a mixture of instinct, intelligence or discipline is in the mix. This is the case with certain of the graphic design experiments that have emanated from graduate schools in the U.S. and Europe in recent years work driven by instincts and obscured by theory, with ugliness its foremost byproducts.

How is ugly to be defined in the current Post-modern climate where existing systems are up for re-evaluation, order is under attack and the forced collision of disparate forms is the rule?

For the moment, let us say that ugly design, as opposed to classical design (where adherence to the golden mean and a preference for balance and harmony serve as the foundation for even the most unconventional compositions) is the layering of unharmonious graphic forms in a way that results in confusing messages. By this definition, Output could be considered fashionable experimentation. Though not intended to function in the commercial world, it was distributed to thousands of practicing designers on the American Institute of Graphic Arts and American Center for Design mailing lists, so rather than remain cloistered and protected from criticism as on-campus ‘research’, it is a fair subject for scrutiny. It can legitimately be described as representing the current cult of ugliness.

UGLY DE SIGN CAN BE A CONSCIOUS AT TEMPT TO CREATE AND DEFINE ALTERNATIVE STANDARDS.

The layered images, vernacular hybrids, low-resolution reproductions and cacophonous blends of different types and letters at once challenge prevailing aesthetic beliefs and propose alternative paradigms. Like the output of communications rebels of the past (whether 1920s Futurists or 1960s psychedelic artists), this work demands that the viewer or reader accept non-traditional formats which at best guide the eye for a specific purpose through a range of non-linear ‘pathways’, and at worst result in confusion. But the reasons behind this wave are dubious. Does the current social and cultural condition involve the kind of upheaval to which critical

intended as a design manifesto, another ‘experiment’ in the current plethora of aesthetically questionable graphic output.

Given the increase in graduate school programs which provide both a laboratory setting and freedom from professional responsibility, the word experiment has to justify a multitude of sins.

The value of design experiments should not of course be measured only by what succeeds, since failures are often steps

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U G LY ugliness is a timehonoured companion? Or in the wake of earlier, more serious experimentation, has ugliness simply been assimilated into popular culture and become a stylish conceit?

The current wave began in the mid-1970s with the English punk scene, a raw expression of youth frustration manifested through shocking dress, music and art. Punk’s naive graphic languawge – an aggressive rejection of rational typography that echoes Dada and Futurist work – influenced designers during the late 1970s who seriously tested the limits imposed

by Modernist formalism. Punk’s violent demeanour surfaced in Swiss, American, Dutch and French design and spread to the mainstream in the form of a ‘new wave’, or what American punk artist Gary Panter has called ‘sanitised punk’. A key anti-canonical approach later called Swiss Punk – which in comparison with the gridlocked Swiss International Style was menacingly chaotic, though rooted in its own logic – was born in the mecca of rationalism, Basel, during the late 1970s.

For the elders who were threatened (and offended) by the onslaught to criticise Swiss Punk was attacked not so much because of its appearance as because it symbolised the demise of Modernist hegemony.

Ugly design can be a conscious attempt to create and define alternative standards. Like warpaint, the dissonant styles which many contemporary designers have applied to their visual communications are meant to shock an enemy – complacency – as well as to encourage new reading and viewing patterns. The work of American designer Art Chantry combines the shock-and-educate approach with a concern for appropriateness. For over a decade Chantry has been creating eye-catching, low-budget graphics for the Seattle punk scene by using found commercial artifacts from industrial merchandise catalogues as key elements in his posters and flyers.

SIMILAR FORMS HAD BEEN USED PRIOR TO THE 1980S IN A MORE SANITISED WAY

BY AMERICAN DESIGNERS SUCH AS PHIL GIPS IN MONOCLE MAGAZINE, OTTO STORCH IN MCCALLS MAGAZINES, AND BEA FEITLER IN MS. MAGAZINE.

An exploded view of the digital screen, informed by analyses of architecture, designers’ roles, avant-garde Dutch design from the De Stijl period and

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2 DE STIJL New Media and the Lessons of Geometry

by Jessica Helfand The simplicity that characterizes de Stijl thinking—and the order that can be traced in Dutch painting as far back as the seventeenth century—suggest conceptually provocative yet surprisingly practical methods for organizing space and for achieving visually engaging solutions in screen-based media. Such a hypothesis suggests that we reconsider the screen as a kind of picture plane: with this in mind, this essay suggests that to challenge the picture plane is to radically adjust our thinking about what a screen is, what a computer is, and what role design plays in the mix.

In his collected essays, Architecture and Disjunction, Bernard Tschumi argues that frames as architectural elements derive their meaning through juxtaposition. “They establish memory,” he writes, “of the preceding frame, of the course of events.” This idea that a structural element can serve a graphically direct yet intensely personal need is a compelling notion indeed, and recalls the ambitions of earlier twentieth-century visionaries who sought to embrace social order and spiritual harmony through simple, formal means: this is perhaps most true of the de Stijl group, an informal confederation of artists, architects, and designers working in Holland between 1917 and 1931. Strangely, however, while the lessons of modernism in general—and de Stijl in particular—have found their way into contemporary design education and practice, the invaluable formal principles upon which this thinking was based remain virtually absent in the design of new media.

In 1915 and 1916, theosophist M. H. J. Schoenmaekers published “The New Image of the World” and “Principles of Plastic Mathematics.” Suggesting that reality might best be expressed as a series of opposing forces—a formal polarity of horizontal and vertical axes and a juxtaposition of primary colors—the author posited a new image of the world, expressed with “a controllable precision, a conscious penetration of reality and exact beauty.” In an age in which we are bombarded with frequent, dense, and often contradictory messages about what it is we are saying, meaning, and making, this statement is refreshingly straightforward. Read literally, it also provides an inspirational way of deconstructing the complex role design plays in our increasingly digital culture.

Most important, perhaps, to the designer lamenting the intractable restrictions of today’s technological climate, the formal language of de Stijl—and its celebration of the purity of the x/y axis—is inspiration indeed.As the primary theoretical influence behind the de Stijl movement, Schoenmaekers’ thinking paralleled the evolution of a reductive visual vocabulary that embraced ideals at once utilitarian and utopian: with this vocabulary, artists such as Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesberg produced work that, in its spare elegance, has had a lasting effect on twentieth- century aesthetics.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Calculating a Freelance Rate

by Shel Perkins Many designers spend part of their careers as freelancers-it’s a great way to gain experience, build relationships, and develop a diverse portfolio. Some independant designers work directly with business clients, submitting fee proposals for specific projects. However, others prefer to work behind the scenes as an additional resource for established creative ?rms. If you are one of these people, how should you go about calculating a fair price for your services?

Most design Firms and agencies cope with temporary increases in their workload by bringing in outside designers on a subcontractor basis.

A freelancer with very specific skills is brought in to help with a particular phase or aspect of a project, and the freelancer is usually paid a negotiated hourly rate (and reimbursed for any necessary project materials). The rate you receive will be a gross amount-that is to say that no taxes will be withheld. As a self-employed worker, you are responsible for all of your own taxes and business expenses. For that reason, it’s important to calculate an hourly rate that is based on your own situation. The process is not complicated. Just follow these simple steps:

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3 Add up your expenses Start by adding up all of your annual business expenses. If you’ve been freelancing for a couple of years, this is easy-just look at “Schedule A” from your last year’s tax return. However, if you’re new to freelancing, you’ll need to prepare a worksheet with estimated amounts. Do some research to make the estimates as realistic as possible and be sure to include a reasonable salary for yourself-one that honestly reflects your skills and your level of experience. (As a reference, look at the annual survey of design salaries published by the American institute of graphic arts.) A complete list of your annual business expenses will look something like this:

General expenses • Office rent and utilities (if you work from a home office, these will be prorated amounts)

Labor expenses • Salary (this must be a competitive wage that is adequate to cover your personal expenses such as home rent or mortgagethe portion that does not relate to your home office-food and clothing, personal travel, and recreation) • Health insurance • Other employee benefits • Employer taxes

Estimate your billable hours The next step involves estimating how many billable hours you might be able to produce during the year. No matter how diligent you are, you can’t be billable every waking moment. Out of a full-time work schedule, most designers range between 50 and 80 percent billable. Here’s a format for estimating your potential for billable hours:

• Business taxes and licenses

FWhy is this example on the low end of the scale? In a large firm, staff designers have the potential to produce lots of billable hours because other employees are there to take care of nonbillable tasks such as marketing.

As an entrepreneur, however, you’ll be doing everything yourself. New business development activities may take up a significant portion of your time, particularly when you are first starting out.

• Depreciation (if you purchased any furniture, fixtures, or equipment during the year, add just one years worth of depreciation to the list, rather than the full purchase price)

At this point in the process, you know how much money is needed each year to keep your business afloat and you know how many

• Office telephone and internet access • Office supplies • Liability insurance • Advertising and marketing expenses • Business travel and client entertainment • Legal and accounting services

Know your break-even rate

hours are available to produce that money.

The next step is simply to divide the total expenses by the total billable hours available.

This gives you a break-even rate, meaning that you have to charge at least that much per hour in order to keep the doors open.

Bump it up to a billing rate However, you want your business to do more than just break even-you want it to produce a profit. To make sure that happens, you must decide on a target profit margin and build that margin into your billing rate.

This is an important management decision for you. The typical profit margin varies by design discipline, but it is usually somewhere between 10 and 20 percent.

Look for industry comparisons Now that you’ve calculated your personal billing rate, compare it to the rates that other freelancers use for similar work. Ask around within your community and check for recent surveys. A junior production specialist may bill for as little as $35 an hour, while a creative director may bill for $75 or more per hour, so it’s important to find comparative information that is a close match to your own skills. Most advertising agencies and design firms use lots of different freelancers. This means that they know what the typical rates are, although in conversations with you they may be tempted to understate them a bit as a negotiating strategy. If you are asking to be paid more than the going rate, you will need to explain why that is appropriate.

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Stay competitive You may want to adjust your own billing rate in response to the industry comparisons that you have found, but you should never sell your services at less than your break-even rate. If you are a freelancer with modest expenses but a high number of billable hours, then you may have the luxury of adjusting your billing rate upward. However, if you find that you need to adjust your rate downward in order to be competitive, then you need to go back over your calculations very carefully.

As a businessperson, you must find ways to cut costs and/or increase your billable hours.

You might also consider lowering your target profit margin, but you should never eliminate it altogether.

Finally, you should keep in mind that calculating an hourly rate is not a onetime process. You need to update your rate periodically because costs change, your skills change, and overall client demand changes.

It’s a good idea to recalculate your standard rate once or twice each year to make sure it remains as current and competitive as possible.

May/June 2005 In the design profession, nearly all important projects are too large to be completed by just one person. Because of this, each creative firm strives to develop a culture that fosters effective teamwork. In many other professions, teams can be rather hierarchical, inflexible, and slow. This is especially true for corporate teams that are together for a number of years. Over time, they often become inwardly focused and bureaucratic.

They suffer from turf battles and politics.

Design teams, however, are quite different.

They are brought together for a short period of time, usually just a few weeks or a few months to complete a single project. No two projects are identical, so the size and composition of each team varies. A cookiecutter approach will not work—most projects need different processes and tools.

To accommodate this, design firms structure their resources like a network, making them scalable and flexible enough to allow multiple configurations.

Design teams have fewer rules and a greater flow of information, both of which are important for rapid innovation. Design teams are externally oriented and focused on client needs. Because of this, the organizational structure for the team tends to be decentralized and organic rather than hierarchical and rigid. Having fewer layers and rules allows the group to be more adaptive to the external environment. Design teams also have an egalitarian nature that encourages self-management and regular participation in decision-making by all group members. Individuals who do well in this environment are those who are drawn to challenges and are strongly motivated by opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Getting the right mix of skills When a new project is first being pitched, one of the most important aspects of advance planning is to determine the exact mix of skills that will be required for success. Smart planning includes lining up the appropriate resources and resolving any competing demands for their availability.

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Design of course is the magic ingredient in the mix, but other skills will be vitally important as well. The needs of a large project will span multiple disciplines.

A complex problem will require a wide range of expertise—from research, strategy, and content development to technology, engineering, and project management.

The ultimate success of the project will depend upon getting just the right mix of talent, technical skills, and industry experience.

The exact size of each team is determined by the number of separate skill sets required.

On a large project, there will be a core team that is augmented by other players on an as-needed basis. Many organizational experts advise that the most effective size for a problem-solving group is between five and seven people—core teams tend to be small.

Other resources are called upon in a very targeted way. In design firms, the core team for a project will be composed primarily of employees. The firm makes an important business decision about which skills to have on staff. This defines its core competencies and enables it to meet the recurring needs within its category of services. Outside resources are used for temporary needs and to accommodate project variations. Keep in mind that key project skills can also be provided by the client organization. Good design firms work in close collaboration with clients, functioning more like a partner than a vendor.

When other professionals are brought into a project, they may be freelancers or separate creative firms recruited on a subcontract basis. Within each of the many possible skill

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sets, there will also be people at different levels of experience, from senior down to entry level. Not everyone will be involved for the full duration of the project—some may be needed during one or two phases only.

The full team must of course be large enough to accomplish the work—the project will be doomed if the overall team is too small to carry the load or if key skills are missing.

However, as teams increase in size, they can suffer from less cohesion, more confusion, and escalating costs.

A job well done At the end of a project, the team delivers the completed work to the client or hands it off to a third party such as a printing company for implementation. As soon as that happens, all team resources are reassigned. This raises a very important psychological issue. To stay in business, each design firm must line up a constant stream of assignments. The master schedule is kept very tight so that as soon as one ends, everyone is immediately shifted to the next. However, it can be frustrating if there is never a moment’s pause to savor what the team has accomplished together.

This can damage staff morale and contribute to burnout. At the very least, the full team should have one final meeting to conduct a postmortem review of the completed project.

This is an opportunity to evaluate the finished work in light of its success criteria.

It’s a chance to discuss what went well and what didn’t, and to learn from any failures.

In a large firm, there should also be a way

This encourages personal and professional growth.

of sharing what you learn with the rest of the organization, so that you’re creating a culture of learning for the overall company.

For staff members, there should also be a way to include feedback on team play in their performance evaluations.

A shared understanding of the process Design teams need a common framework and shared language for working together. Effective collaboration requires a commitment to shared methodology, terminology, and milestones. The process will include open critiques with all members participating—the goal is to identify and develop the very best ideas from all sources.

To respect everyone’s schedule, keep it short and simple. In the meeting, state what has changed and what has been achieved. Be sure to recognize positive behaviors, results, and contributions, and include bad news, if there is any. This is a chance for the group to correct any miscommunications, clear the air if necessary, and refocus its energies.

(However, the team leader will have to make a judgment call if a serious personal problem has come up with an individual team member. It may be best to remember the old adage about praising publicly and criticizing privately.)

Input should be solicited from every team member and each should have an opportunity to contribute. At the end of the meeting, summarize the decisions that have been made and the follow-up actions that are needed. For each action item, identify the person responsible and the date when it must be completed.

There must be personal accountability for results.

Whenever possible, keep progress visible.

Display the latest iterations of the creative work and any other important documentation such as research findings and brand strategy documents. Post charts that show the burn rate on budgets and updated schedules that remind everyone of important milestones and deadlines. There should be one central repository for project information. It could be an intranet site, but it’s more beneficial if the team has a shared physical space.

Many industrial design firms set up a workroom where all of the materials related to a large project can be left spread out.

All team meetings take place there. If the materials are confidential and must be protected when the team is away, the workroom will have a door that can be locked. Having a shared space enables the team to work in close physical proximity, which increases interaction and encourages camaraderie.

It’s a good idea to recalculate your standard rate once make sure it remains as current and competitive as possible.

ERIK NITSCHE: T H E R E LUCTA N T MODE R N I ST

by Steven Heller T H E L I F E A N D WOR K O F T H E Q U I ET LY PI VO TA L S W I S S M O DE R N DE S I G N E R I K N I TSCH E , W HO’S CL I EN TS R A NGED F ROM T H E MOM A TO RCA I N A CA R EER T H AT S PA N N E D T H E 2 0T H C E N T U R Y.

Although he never claimed to be either a progenitor or follower of any dogma, philosophy, or style other than his own intuition, the work that earned him induction last year into the New York Art Director’s Club Hall of Fame, including the total identity for General Dynamics Corporation from 1955 to 1965 and the series of scientific, music, and world history illustrated books, which he designed and packaged during the 1960s and 1970s, fits squarely into the Modernist tradition.

fast pacing and dramatic juxtapositions. Rather than adherence to Modernist orthodoxy, Nitsche insists that the methodology that most closely resembles a Modern manner, clean, systematic, and ordered, developed because of his restlessness at doing mostly illustrative work during the early part of his career.

Although he might not own up to the fact that he had played a formidable role in the Modernist legacy, Nitsche does not deny that he was as good - certainly as prolific, if not more so - than any other designer of his age.

Yet Nitsche’s approach was not a cookie-cutter Modern formula that so many designers blindly followed at that time. It was a personal fusion of early influences (classical and otherwise) and contemporary aesthetics based on

He also speculates that had it not been for his asocial tendencies (“I preferred to do the work, not talk about it”) and a few poor business decisions along the way (he says he turned down a job at IBM that later went to Paul Rand),

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4 he might be as well known today as any of the other acknowledged pioneers.

In fact, he worked for many of the same clients, including Orbachs, Bloomingdale’s, Decca Records, RCA Records, Filene’s, 20th Century Fox, The Museum of Modern Art, Container Corporation of America, the New York Transit Authority, Revlon, and more. Judging from the sheer volume of work bearing his signature or type credit, there are few others who can make this claim.

Both his General Dynamics work and book packages had a profound influence on younger designers during the 1960s and 70s. Seymour Chwast, co-founder of Push Pin Studios, compares his tattered, well-thumbed copy of Dynamic America, the ambitious corporate history that Nitsche edited and designed between 1957 and 1960, to Herbert Bayer’s landmark Geo-Graphic Atlas for its innovation in the area of information graphics. And Walter Bernard, principal of WBMG, routinely shows slides of Dynamic America in lectures describing his early influences.

Bernard also credits the book’s exceptional cinematic pacing as having radically changed the way that he achieved kinetic flow in his own books when he was a designer for American Heritage in the early 1960s.

Nitsche’s books, annual reports, and other sequential printed material rely on meticulous attention to the details of page composition, the elegance of simple type presentation, and the expressive juxtaposition of historical and contemporary artifacts on a page. His method exerted an impact on a portion of the field that had become too reliant on rigid Modernartifacts on a page. His method exerted an impact on a portion of the field that had become too reliant on rigid Modern formulas, which in turn limited variety and fluidity.

Yet this reluctant Modernist was so absorbed with creating and producing his own wares that he had little time to reflect on what he was actually doing to change the attitudes of other designers. Even today he is surprised to hear that his work made an impression. In fact, during his long career Nitsche neither sought the limelight nor participated in design organizations (other than an invitational membership into the Alliance Graphique Internationale — AGI). Although his work started appearing in European graphic design annuals and magazines back in the early 1930s, Nitsche did not engage in the social politicking that might insure his place in the design pantheon.

His induction into the Art Director’s Club Hall of Fame came as a pleasant surprise. But nevertheless, he says that it came too late to ‘do me any good,’ implying that had he been inducted earlier he might have benefited by attracting new clients, which is not the usual outcome anyway. Nevertheless, his induction validates the major contribution that has gone largely unheralded except for those aficionados who know (and collect) his posters and books.

Nitsche’s career began virtually at birth. He was born into a family of commercial photographers on July 7, 1908 in Lausanne, Switzerland. His grandfather had worked in China during late nineteenth century and his father and uncles were noted portrait photographers. The artist Paul Klee was a family friend and exerted a profound influence on young Nitsche, who wanted to be an artist rather than enter the family business.

Although Nitsche initially thought he might study with Klee at the Bauhaus, after a short stint at the College Classique in Lausanne when he was 18 years old, he attended the

YET THIS R E L U C TA N T M O D E R N I S T WA S SO ABSORBED WITH C R E AT I N G A N D P R O D U C I N G H I S O W N WA R E S T H AT H E HAD LIT TLE TI M E TO R E F L E C T O N W H AT H E WA S A C T U A L LY D O I N G T O C H A N G E T H E AT T I T U D E S O F O T H E R DESIGNERS.

Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich. There he studied with the famous German typographer F.H. Ehmcke and eventually won a prestigious award for a poster competition for an annual Munich ball.

ERIC N I T S C H E M AY N OT B E AS WELL K N O W N T O D AY A S HIS CONTEMPORARIES, L E S T E R B E A L L , PAU L R AND, OR SAUL BASS, BUT HE IS THEIR EQUAL. ALMOST 90 YEARS OLD, THIS SWISS BORN GRAPHIC DESIGNER IS A R G U A B LY O N E O F T H E L A S T SURVIVING MODERN DESIGN PIONEERS.

In 1930 Nitsche began his peripatetic professional life. He went Cologne, Germany, with Professor Ehmcke where together they designed The International Press Exhibit (Pressa). A year later Paris beckoned. But it was hard to sell what he calls ‘enlightened design’ in the City of Light at that time, recalling that ‘French advertising was unbelievably corny.’

Nevertheless, it was the period when A.M. Cassandre and other French poster artists were beginning to make a profound impact with stylish work that opened up creative possibilities. Moreover, French advertising agencies were smitten by Swiss graphic design, which was largely illustrative. The Draeger Freres agency, for whom Nitsche first worked, welcomed Swiss designers as though they wereconquering heroes.

Nitsche was next hired by Maximilien Vox, an enterprising typographer, advertising designer, and writer for the influential applied arts magazine Arts & Metiérs Graphiques.

He headed his own agency which did typographic work running the gamut from packages to labels to letterheads.

At the time, the moderne (or Art Deco) style dominated the French scene, and Nitsche explains that ‘stylistically speaking, I did too many different things.’

However, he learned one essential French design principle: ‘Try to give everything you design a feeling of elegance,’

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he says. But Nitsche was also attracted to the Bauhaus and its rationalist discipline which went counter to the French intuitive nature. It was not the look of the avant garde that impressed him: ‘I was not interested in what the Bauhaus produced as much as how they did it,’ he recalls. ‘Having grown up in Switzerland, I think I always had a sense of order.’ Thus that convergence of French and Bauhaus sensibilities defined his early efforts.

As a testament to Nitsche’s prolificacy he still has the original accounts ledger in which he chronicled every freelance job (and the payments he received). From around 1930 to 1935 he recorded literally hundreds of illustrations and political cartoons for weekly publications such as the French Vu, and the German Simplicissmus and Querschnitt, as well as scores of advertisements for magazines and newspapers. Working for both French and German clients gave him considerable creative latitude and a fairly decent income during this dangerously inflationary period in Europe.

But sensing the larger troubles to come, like many of his contemporaries (including Alexey Brodovitch whom he first met in Paris), Nitsche decided to leave Europe for the United States in 1934. While Brodovitch landed in Philadelphia, Nitsche ventured on to Hollywood where he joined his friend Frederick Hollander, the song-writer for Marlene Dietrich, who got him a job designing sets and curtains for a musical called All Aboard.

But since Hollywood was so obsessed with attitude and class, and Nitsche was such a devout social recluse, he remembers that it was an unbearable place to live and work. So after a year he packed his bags.

New York was still feeling the effects of the Great Depression. Apartments were cheap, and Nitsche fortuitously rented what he called a ‘marvelous studio’ penthouse adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art. He also found that it was surprisingly easy to get work.

‘I was a Swiss in the graphic arts,’ he explains.‘I had no problem. I walked into places like Harper’s Bazzar [where Brodovitch had settled in as Art Director] and Town & Country [where an old friend from Paris, LouisMarie Eaud, was art director] and got work immediately.’

His assignments included witty editorial and fashion illustration, studio photography, and a modicum of layout.

Working on fashion became his bread and butter for quite a while (although he was not terribly fond of the women editors with whom he worked and describes them as prone to ‘crying fits when they couldn’t handle a situation”).

He also painted covers for Fortune, Vanity Fair, Stage, Arts & Decoration, and House Beautiful that were either comical or decorative. At another leading shelter magazine, House & Decoration, and House Beautiful that were either comical or decorative.

At another leading shelter magazine, House & Garden, he did product and still-life photography under the auspices of art director Leslie Gill.

( A LT H O U G H H E W A S N O T T E R R I B LY FO N D O F TH E WO M EN EDITO RS WITH WHOM HE WORKED AND DESCRIBES THEM AS PRONE TO ‘C RY I N G FITS WH EN TH E Y C O U L D N ’ T H A N D L E A S I T U AT I O N ” )

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Each of these titles also has a special handbound edition, with relevant typographic ephemera.

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Type & Typography: Highlights from Matrix, the review for printers and bibliophiles,

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with introductions by John Randle and John D. Berry – 400 pages, designed

by Jerry Kelly. $65, special edition (60 copies) $225, deluxe (10 copies) $500

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16

The Well-Made Book: Essays and Lectures

by Daniel Berkeley Updike, edited & with an introduction by William S. Peterson – 408 pages, $55, special edition (40 copies) $220 Gudrun Zapf von Hesse: Bindings, Handwritten Books, Typefaces, Examples of Lettering and Drawing, with an introduction by Professor Hans A. Halbey – 224 pages, designed by Hermann Zapf. $75, special edition (80 copies) $215