Robust Typography from Modernism, Neoclassical and Postmodernism

ROBUST TYPOGRAPHY FROM

MODERNISM, AND

NEOCLASSICAL,

POSTMODERNISM JAN TSCHICHOLD AND LUCAS DE GROOT

“The GOAL of every

typograph typograp is communication, whose means it represents.

Com Com

pher her

mmunication mmunication must appear in the

shortest simplest and most

FORCEFUL form.�

- Jan Tschichold

TYPOGRAPHERS Jan Tschichold and Lucas de Groot are from the same century of typography design but reveal the transformations typography experienced through the century.

Jan Tschichold was born April 1902 in Leipzig, Germany (In Honor). He assisted his father in sign writing, spawning his interest in calligraphy (In Honor).

Tschichold educated his interest by studying books covering writing calligraphy and ornamental script (In Honor).

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Later in the century, he changes his style and declares a new style of design and typography. Lucas de Groot was born 1963 in Noordwijkerhout in The Netherlands (Fonts). Groot attended the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague from 1983 to 1988 where he flourished in all subjects (LucasFonts). After graduation he focused on page 4: top, portrait of Jan Tschichold. bottom, sketches of Sabon typeface by Jan Tschichold. page 5: above left, poster design of hand drawn typeface Narsdesis by Lucas de Groot.

making type, and in 2000 founded his type foundry Lucas Fonts (LucasFonts). Both Jan Tschichold and Lucas de Groot were influenced by the styles of typography and design that formed in the historical time, as well as their unique nationality influences.

above right, portrait of Lucas de Groot.

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page 6: above is portrait of Jan Tschichold; left is the cover of Die Neue Typographie by Tschichold. page 7: image of the Bauhaus building.

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M O D E R N I S M & N E O C L A S S I C A L TO. . .

Jan Tschichold experienced in his designs were incrediby influential as his style changed.

Nationalism was a main influence as he started started his experiences in calligraphy, as well as the natural forms of Art Nouveau (In Honor). It was in 1923 when Tschichold’s German Nationalism style made a major transformation after he visited a Bauhaus Exhibition (In Honor). The styles of the Bauhaus influenced him into a minimalist, simplified typographic and graphic design style that extended into the ornament free Neo Classical style and the functionality of Modernism (“Graphic Design”). Tschichold wrote and simply published one of his greatest accomplishments “Die Neue Typographie”, “The New Typography”, an outline for the new principles that demanded a

streamlined, modern typography

(Drucker, McVarish 205). In 1927, Jan Tschichold was a founding member of the Circle of New Advertising Designers, a group dedicated to advancing the conceptual, new typography (Drucker, McVarish 204).

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...POSTMODERNISM The Postmodernism era influenced Lucas de Groot as he began his career in typography in the midst of the fresh, flamboyant era. Groot studied graphic design at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague from 1983 to 1988, and received an education to be a well rounded designer, but upon graduation focused on typography (LucasFonts). He continues to experiment with legibility and effects in type and likes and likes to alter his fonts to create a new one. He founded FontFabrik to specialize in design and modification of custom fonts and LucasFonts in 2000 (LucasFonts). The expressive style principles of postmodernism continue to show in Groot’s custom typography. From the late 1900s into the early 21st century, Groot was part of the growing era of the Digital Age. The inventions of the computer and the internet has changed so much in design, and designers like Lucas de Groot have had to morph with the new age to and develop with the new devices that have been created.

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page 8: top, post modern book cover. page 9: top,screen shot of digital programing from The Digital Age. bottom, Lucas de Groot’s typeface JesusLovesYouAll.

abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 9

“[When type]

becomes purely

rational

unhe 10

you get fonts

that

look

ealthy AND

unfriendly.�

- Lucas de Groot 11

GERMAN ROBUST The German aesthetic in was one of the strongest of Tschichold’s time. In his early career around the 1920s, mainly robust typefaces were used (In Honor). Tschichold was greatly influenced

by German typography, especially the strong German black letter Maximilian Grotesk by Rudolf Koch (In Honor).

Tschichold even modeled his handwriting style (In Honor). In older manuscripts designed

by Tschichold,

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he had commonly used classic, older typefaces, like Granjons italic. At that time

typography in design did not have an order of selection, nor an array of

styles to choose from (In Honor). The now basic, roman fonts were not common. In 1925 was Tschichold’s exposure to Bahaus that changed his design completely. He believed page 12: poster by Tschichold using calligraphy. page 13: Maximilian Grotesk typeface.

that abandoning the static rules, gaining symmetry and sans serif style was the cure to the robust typography (In Honor). A few Modernist painters, like László Moholy-Nagy and El Lissitky also influenced Tschichold in obtaining the balance and contrast in his new style of typography (In Honor).

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abcdefghijklmn qrstuvwxyz page 14: above, type face Punten designed

by Lucas de Groot. bottom, Wendingen cover of Diego Rivera by Vilmos Huzar, 1929.

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page 15: diagram of Lucas de Groots’ interpolation theory.

TH E RADICAL SOLUTIONS Lucas de Groot attended a school of design that

designed experimental alphabets

aimed to expose their students to all forms of

that are conceptual and thrilling

design, including illustration, photography,

(LucasFonts). He formulated the

lead type and typography, in order for them to

Interpolation Theory, a formula

be successful graphic designers. As he worked

for calculating in between weights

his way through school, he became interested

for type, that optically adjusts

in typography. He was highly influenced by one

the weights to show a visual

of his teachers, Gerrit Noordzij (Middendorp 219).

contrast (LucasFonts). Groot uses

nop

Noordzij was a writing teacher

this thoroughly in his typefaces.

and director of the writing and lettering program in the graphic design department until 1990, but also an extremely successful book designer, lettering artist,

lettering carver and author (Middendorp).

150). Groot’s Dutch nationality exposed him to the powerful yet simple influences for his designing. Dutch design combines the unexpected and adds a quirky twist (“Dutch Design”). Dutch design has a strong commitment from its culture in in acceptance of the innovative, radical solutions it is exposed to (Middendorp 9).

Their unorthodox views in political and social cultures has been a significant factor in the design style (Middendorp 9). The Netherlands is a small nation with a true sense of practicality and openness (Middendorp 9). Since Lucas de Groot was born, raised and studied design with a Dutch culture, he naturally explored the radicalness in Dutch design. Groot has

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THE QUALITY TYPEFACES

AAA AAA

by Tschichold and Groot are widely used. Tschichold was still

a very

successful type designer even though he only has a few that are widely known. His craft was impeccable and he gave great thought to his principles and how they reflected in his designs. His most notable typefaces are Transit from 1931, Saskia from 1931, Zeus from 1931, and Sabon from 1967 (“Jan Tschichold”). Sabon is Tschichold’s most notable

typeface; it is elegant, classic humanist type variation of Garamond (“Jan Tschichold”). In comparison, Lucas de Groot has dozens more typefaces to his name. With credit to the advancement of technology giving the ease of digital type and the simplicity of altering existing fonts, Groot has created: Narsdesis, FolhaSerif, SunSans, TheAntiquaB, TheMix, TheSans, Corpid, Floris, Punten, TheSerif, (Fonts). He designs custom typefaces as well. TAZ was for the newspaper die Tageszeitung (LucasFonts). An alternative to Courier, Consolas and Calibri for Microsoft, and Calibri is the new default typeface for Microsoft Word (LucasFonts).

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page 16: top left, the letter A in six weights of TheSans. page 17: popular typefaces Sabon,

by Tschichold, and TheSans and TheSerif

by Lucas de Groot.

Sabon Roman ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz 1234567890

Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz 1234567890

Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz 1234567890

Plain Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz 1234567890

Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz 1234567890

Plain Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnop qrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnop qrstuvwxyz 1234567890

TheSans Plain ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz 1234567890

TheSerif Plain ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnop qrstuvwxyz 1234567890

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“Perfect

typograp is certainly the

MOST

18

elu

phy

usive of all

ARTS�

- Jan Tschichold 19

CALLIGRAPHY TO PHOTOGRAPHY Between these two type designers, technology has made some of its greatest advancements.

Jan Tschichold grew as a designer with writing tools, movable type and the earlier forms of photography (In Honor). Tschichold used calligraphy pen and ink in his early experiments of type and design.

As his typography developed, movable type of wood and metal required

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required carving and cutting to make letters; it allowed for a more consistent typeface in comparison to handwriting (Baines, Haslam 92), as well as the Monotype and Linotype machines which he designed his famous typeface Sabon for (In Honor). Tschichold experienced photography, and believed it to be a page 20: image of Jan Tschichold with writing tools. page 21: image of a 1950’s camera that was used in Tschichold’s time.

typographic tool saying, “We find its addition to the means of typographic expression an enrichment, and see in photography exactly the factor that distinguishes our typography from everything that went before” (Tschichold, McLean).

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page 22: Linotype 505 photo type setting machine. page 23: Lucas de Groot working on his Mac.

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SU RGE OF TEC H NOLOGY Lucas de Groot was exposed to lead type setting, drawing tools and photography. He favored hand drawn type in the beginning, and would use photography to reproduce his type; Narsdesis was his biggest hand drawn, photo reproduction typeface (Middendorp 220). In the 1980s were the inventions of the internet and the Macintosh computer (Bellis). It was not until the 1990s when Groot became Mac savvy at his job with BRS Premsela Vonk in Amsterdam (Middendorp 219).

As technology developed, the new typography was no longer physical type but digital typesetting (Baines, Haslam 109). Digital typesetting, along with PostScript, allowed designers to create and store their typefaces on the computer (Baines, Haslam 109). PostScript is the computer language that allows multiple typefaces from different manufacturers to be read by any computer with PostScript capabilities (Baines, Haslam 109).

Lucas de Groot developed alongside digital typesetting and to this day uses the technology in creating his type designs in the more advanced softwares of the present day.

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LEGENDARY Jan Tschichold is a legendary type designer that made a lasting impression on the design world.

His change in style was influenced by the Bauhaus and modern art, which created a sense contrast and functionality that he expanded into his “Die Neue Typographie” (Drucker, McVarish 205). His new principles established a new perspective on design and typography. Lucas de Groot has made his mark in type design with over a dozen fonts widely used today. His postmodernism influences and Dutch culture have given him a style that is not afraid to alter his work and experiment with type designs. Jan Tschichold and Lucas de Groot have different historical time periods and nationality influences as they became designers. They took different paths into type design and experienced different typographic technology, but both designers have experienced great success in their field of design.

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page 24: top left, Lucas de Groot’s graphic illustration of the possibilities in type design using existing forms. page 25: sketches of letterforms by Jan Tschichold.

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“I think

type desi should be a

mix

Designer: Jamie Cooper-Anderson Typefaces: Sabon, TheSans, TheSerif, Nebulae, TheSans MonoCondensed Course: Typography 3 Faculty: Francheska Guerrero

ign

xture

of

intuition AND

calculation.�

- Lucas de Groot