CONSISTENT TYPOGRAPHY
PRESENT
SURROUNDINGS STUDIES
DIMENSIONAL INTERVIEW
CROUWEL
N° 1
“ I see today designers that use all typefaces through each other, one atmosphere. I’m....I’m not...I don’t like that.”
day a typeface, the other day a typeface, all in favour of an certain -Wim Crouwel FROM Helvetica The Film
ENTERING: Everywhere we are affected by messages, texts and pictures that tries to communicate to us. It is just there. A perfect typography fulfills its role in communication and in its context. Perfection of typography will hardly be noticeable. It exists and harmonize in its surrounding. It should be noticeable in such a way that one can see that there is something. It is something that gild the text, making it easy to read or reach me in a prosperous way. In this publication, I have selected ten typefaces which I think has a certain beauty in itself, and in a way “talks to me.” It can be the font in its entirety, a letter or in combination with other fonts gives a certain feeling. Those elected, I can not proclaim to the best when the daily new fonts on the market and tomorrow I might fall in love with a new typeface. However, they provide a great foundation and inspiration for today’s typeface design. The publication provides a visual experience and up to you as a viewer to see, interpret and reflect on the font, its form both on the flat surface but also in a demosional form. The letters which takes a new form and get a totally new character and gives further opportunities for design. It followed then by the various interviews of artists and type designers that I find inspiring, is historical in basis to the current design.
JOHAN HAMMARSTRÖM
SURROUNDINGS
CONTEXTUAL TYPOGRAPHY Wherever we turn our eyes can behold a writing, a font. It may be a logo, body text in the yesterdays paper or a sign stating that you should not stand on the yellow marker. Everywhere. On closer study of the letters, you can start identifying some similarity in the letters and fonts. After Helvetica the Film began fonts naked to my eyes and similarities started to become clearer. However, dependent by its context.
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AVENIR Flags of Bloomberg fills the lamppost in New York
ANDALE MONO On signs with Helvetica & Bodoni by subwaystation in New York
Universe Black Subway, London
UNIVERS Ceilings of the underground trains Subway station London
DIDOT Memorial plate on building Verneuil in Paris
HELVETICA Board from American Apparel by sidewalk in Amsterdam
AKZIDENZ GROTESK Numbered by the station underground in New York
GEORGIA Monument in London
BODONI In front of Broadway waiting for Mamma Mia! New York
AVENIR Pick up point parkingplace in Munich
BASKERVILLE Baskervillehous Birmingham
BODONI Truck parked in San Fransisco
UNIVERS Mcdonalds basicfont Los Angeles
BODONI Typeface in a printing place
TYPEFACE You find it everywhere anywhere you find it
TYPE PORTRAITS
— P.25 AKZIDENZ GROTESK. H. Berthold AG Type Foundry P.27 ANDALE MONO. Steve Matteson P.29 AVENIR. Adrian Frutiger P.31 BASKERVILLE. John Baskerville P.33 BODONI. Giambattista Bodoni P.35 DIDOT. Firmin Didot P.39 GEORGIA. Matthew Carter P.41 HELVETICA. Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffmann P.43 SABON. Jan Tschichold P.45 UNIVERS. Adrian Frutiger
AKZINDENZ GROTESK
Akzidenz Grotesk
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Akzidenz Grotesk Bold
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ANDALE MONO
Andale Mono
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Andale Mono Italic
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AVENIR
Avenir 45 Book
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Avenir 85 Heavy
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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BASKERVILLE
Baskerville
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Baskerville Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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BODONI
Bodoni Book
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Bodoni Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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DIDOT
Didot
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Didot Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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GEORGIA
Georgia
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Georgia Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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HELVETICA
Helvetica
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Helvetica Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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SABON
Sabon
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Sabon Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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UNIVERS
Univers 55 Roman
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
Univers 65 Bold
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:; abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890 £%@*+?!.,:;
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TYPOG  [FROM GREEK] to strike & to write.
The design, or selection, of letter forms to be org and sentences to be disposed in blocks of type as
 RAPHY: anized into words printing upon a page.
STUDIES
DIMENSIONAL SHAPE OF LETTERS
CASE STUDIES BY J. Abbott Miller
How Is A Letters Form Seen? What Is The Potential Opportunity To Highlight Its Characteristic Features. By Adding An Additional Dimension Provides Opportunities. Forms Emphasized Further And Gives A Whole New Expression. A New Type.
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Typography has historically been conceived at the art of designing let-
depth through elaborate perspective constructions. Perhaps because of
ters:
adds a spatial and temporal concern
its deep roots in the history of ornamental and display typography, ex-
to the traditionally “flat” and static province of the letter. From early
trusion remains the most enduring strategy of dimensional typography
carved inscriptions to neon signs, numerous experiments in the history
today. Extruded letters signify monumentality, as in the 20th-century
of typography and signage have interpreted letters as physical, spatial
Fox logo, by rendering letterforms weighty and material. New software
entities. With the advent of motion pictures, animation and movie titles
programs automatically “dimension-alize” fonts by extruding them
have explored the temporal possibilities of letters moving through space
and rendering them in simulated stone, glass, and chrome.
and time. By now, the spectacle of the dancing, decorated, and three-
Extrusion is a predictable yet powerful expression of dimensional ty-
dimensional letterform is common in both print and electronic media.
pography. Its utter obviousness and widespread use tends to occlude
Developments in graphic design and multimedia have suggested two
the variety of other ways letterforms may become dimen-sional. For
directions for dimensional typography: on the one hand, “normal” let-
instance, the rotation of a letter yields classical forms: spheres, col-
terforms are agents in an increasingly complex layering of Information;
umns, and cones. As a formal operation, performed digitally or on a
the pioneering work of Muriel Cooper at the M.l.T. Media Lab is a
woodworker’s lathe, rotation is as basic as extrusion. But because it
prime example of this direction. In these experiments, readers navigate
transforms the signature silhouette of a letter into a solid, often closed
textual displays through spatial paradigms that represent depth. This
form, it is rarely seen in dimensional typography (even rarer is rota-
vein of inquiry replaces the small-to-large hierarchy of traditional print
tion along vertical, rather than horizontal axes). Rotation generates
DIMENSIONAL TYPOGRAPHY
media with a near to far spatial and temporal
less automatically legible forms, yet it suggests
dynamic, an eloquent transposition that maps
ways of introducing three-dimensionality that
neatly onto our sense of reading as a process of moving deeper and deeper into a document. This direction in dimensional typography investigates the spatial disposition of “flat” letterforms: depth is represented through the layering of successive planar surfaces. Dimensional typography can also be understood as an investigation of the dimensional forms
sculptural and three-
of individual letters. This
line of inquiry assumes that the ability to think
“Many letters evoke
escapes the conventions of extrusion.
three-dimensionality
it limits the “lathing” operation to the stroke
through shadowing
the character. Novelty fonts like Frankfurter,
or the use of implied
rative versions of tubing. Neon signs are an
light sources.”
Tubing is related to extrusion and rotation, but of the letter rather than the overall shape of or vernacular letters based on pipes, are figuobvious three-dimensional application of tubing which has, in turn, become the basis for the display fonts like Neon and Electric and
of letterforms as having spatial and temporal
others. Many letters evoke three-dimensional-
dimension brings with it new obligations and
ity through shadowing or the use of implied
opportunities to augment the visual and editorial power of letters. In its
light sources. This was another persistent motif of nineteenth-century
focus on the individual letterform, this direction is akin to the concerns
wood type. But shadow fonts were also of interest to designers at the
that preoccupy type designers. Rather than looking at how typography
Bauhaus, who were attracted to the relationship of shadow letters to the
is arranged within a spatial construct, this vein of research looks at the
“new vision” offered by photography. The design and photography of
formal, visual properties of individual characters.
Joost Schmidt and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy incorporated the cast-shadows
Yet these two avenues of research need not be thought of as exclusive of
of letters, and Herbert Bayer developed an alphabet which relies exclu-
one another: presumably, concern for the spatial aspect of navigation
sively on the cast shadow to delineate the letterform. A similar strategy
and the sculptural aspect of individual forms will converge in a new
was used by the American type designer R. H. Middleton in his 1932
approach to typography that fuses these two spheres of interest. Both
font called Umbra. Shadows have become such a standard technique
directions suggest an expanded field for design. Readers and viewers
that a “drop shadow” option is incorporated into most typesetting and
are increasingly able and willing to navigate texts and negotiate chal-
page layout software, accessed as easily as italics or boldface.
lenging textual and visual environments, whether they are the physi-
Two dimensional letters resembling ribbons and those created with ref-
cal spaces of exhibitions or the virtual environments of new media.
erence to stitching, threading, and lacing, comprise a genre linked to
Designers accustomed to dealing with the flat, pictorial paradigms of
sewing. In paintings from the Renaissance onward, curling ribbons are
print are now dealing with the architectural, ergonomic, and cinematic
shown bearing letters. In ceremonial documents the letters themselves
paradigms of environmental, immersive media.
rather than a supporting surface are represented as undulating ribbons.
Historical precedents in lettering, typography, and signage exert a
The linked forms of many script fonts, such as Matthew Carter’s 1966
strong influence on how we think about what three-dimensionality
Snell Roundhand, interpret the stroke of the letter as if it were formed
in letters might look like. Among the ways in which letters have been
from a continuous strand of ribbon. The possibilities of twisted, folded,
rendered dimensional, extrusion is probably the most prevalent. It is a
and pleated letter-forms suggests that the logic of sewing could fruit-
direct transposition of the ordinarily flat world of letters into object-
fully inform the construction of dimensional typography.
hood. The effect is of a letterform multiplied and stacked in depth, like
Another strategy with resonance for both two- and three-dimensions is
pages in a book. Nineteenth-century wood type explored illusionistic
molecular construction: letters that are built from similar, small-scale
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DIMENSIONAL
units to form a larger whole. Individual units may be identical as in the brick-like formation of bit-maps that comprise Zuzana Licko’s fonts Oakland and Emperor or merely similar in scale. Another formal principle that builds larger forms out of small-scale although not necessarily identical components, could be termed modular construction. Such letters that are built from a discrete vocabulary of often interchangeable parts, a notion inherited from the language of industrialization. The rationalist ethos of modularity has folded a number of investigation in twentieth-century type design, including Theo van Doeaburg’a 1919 geometric font, Josef Albere’s 1925 stencil font, and Herbert Bayer’s 1925 universal. Common to all of these approaches is an interest in reducing alphabetic forms to a limited vocabulary of repeat able marks. A more complex interpretation of modular construction may be teen in the ingenious Fregio Mecono, designed in Italy in the 1920s. It reduces the alphabet to sequence of curved, straight, and transitional forms, a kit-of-parts that can yield a tremendous variety of heights, widths, and thickness. 1995 font by Matthew Carter is not a strictly modular font, but it shares the constructive logic modularity by employing detachable slab-serifs. Accessed through optional keystrokes, the serifs may be applied as one might add a initial to a post. Another operation in this expanding, Imprecise system of classification that now further challenges the nomenclature of typography, may be awkwardly described as bloating. Bulbous, organic, corpulent, inflated, and biomorphic are all adjectives that come to mind when trying to describe letterforms that exhibit mutable, ductile qualities. Bloated letterforms are reminiscent of both the way skin envelopes a skeletal understructure, and the shapes produced by the expansion and contraction of membranous materials. Thus the associations of bloated forms range from the organic, vegetal, and bodily, to the balloon-like and tensile. A range of display fonts produced in the 1960s and ‘70s exhibit cartoon-like forms that bear the influence of the Pop appreciation of toys, kitsch, and vernacular objects. Pop art directly engaged letterforms and numbers as part of its inventory of everyday life. The soft sculptures of Clues Oldenburg, which presented letters and numbers as soft, pillow-like constructions, have directly and indirectly informed the sensibility of 1960s and 70s novelty lettering. In the case studies that follow, “dimensional typography” is explored at the micro-level of individual letterforms. We have interpreted historic and contemporary typefaces by transposing their two-dimensionality into volumetric and planar forms. Thus most of what follows builds on existing typefaces by historic figures like Ambroise Didot as well as contemporaries who have become our unwitting collaborators. The letters represented here are snapshots of “objects” constructed in digital environments: each letter could potentially be “output” as a three-dimensional artifact from the information used to describe them digitally. However, their physical manifestation is not a final objective: their exact role in either physical and virtual environments was bracketed off from their formal and conceptual development.
Illustrations made by Johan Hammarstrom in study of the motion and the shape of the typeface
STUDIES
DIDOT — The thin hairline strokes becomes a solid anchor to strengthen the letter and vaults to its shoulder The shapes are distinct but also soft in the movement
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DIMENTIONAL
HELVETICA — Found a bag full with perfect formated letters Just as obvious as seen from the front
STUDIES
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DIMENSIONAL
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INTERVIEW
WIM CROUWEL —
STRIKING THE EYE INTERVIEW BY Michael & Nicola Place FOR CREATIVE REVIEW
WE WERE IN DUBLIN FOR CANDY’S SWEETTALK 24 EVENT , WHERE MR CROUWEL HAD GIVEN AN ENGAGING, HOUR- LONG PRESENTATION A POTTED HISTORY OF HIS WORK AND THINKING WHICH WAS THEN FOLLOWED BY THE DUBLIN SCREENING OF HELVETICA THE FILM. Looking at your work, I always think it’s so incredible; the form, the
Yes, he definitely understood the value of good design, that design
typefaces, the layout. It’s very influential and yet we are seeing this out
should reflect the [new] thinking of the time. He had a law background
of context from the time it was created. At the time, did it seem shock-
but became director of art museums as an art lover; in 1954 he bought
ing or was it accepted by those around as just good design, or were
the first Picasso in Holland, for which people thought he was crazy. He
people quite indifferent?
went on to buy many more pieces and this is how he developed the col-
It was an amount of luck, we had the right clients who embraced this
lection of the Stedelijk.
sort of thinking – mainly the director [of the Van Abbemuseum, and
You said in your presentation that the director would always cri-
then of the Stedelijk Museum] who was a great and long term client. We
tique your work but not until after it was done. Was his critique ever
met through my art school in Southern Holland [Groningen] where I
harsh?
was teaching in 1954 (up until then I was painting, I didn’t really know
Oh, usually he would say something like, “that was not so inspired” or
what to do) – the head of the school knew the director – and six months
something like that. He was never too harsh. We had a long ongoing
after I had started teaching I got a phone call, which was the beginning
relationship like this.
of a long relationship with him. He wanted to represent artwork with a more advanced way of thinking that reflected what was happening
When you became director [of the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum]
with Modern Art. We were very interested in the abstract at that time.
you were then the client. Did you take anything from your time as
He was very supportive, as I dealt with him directly, and he dealt with
designer for the Stedelijk that helped you in commissioning design for
the curators, who always wanted to have a say in the way their shows
the museum?
were promoted or represented. I just dealt with him, and he was very
Oh, yes. I adopted many of the same techniques – of critiquing after and
supportive of my ideas, as they fitted with the ideas of abstract paining,
dealing with the curators on behalf of the designer. I had 15-20 years
so my ideas were really quite accepted.
of experience working as a designer which I wanted to bring to my role
How did the public perceive your work?
as director. Sandberg, the director [of the Stedelijk], was a practising
Well, the general public, I don’t really know. But the interested public
typographer and when we had meetings he always had a ruler and was
were very receptive to it. I was often invited to talk and the public that
drawing type. But when I became a director myself I found it was dif-
came to these talks were very accepting. In 1952 I had met a swiss
ficult to manage the responsibilities of director and be as involved in the
designer whilst working for an exhibition design company in and be-
design as I would have liked, so I hired two people to work with me. My
tween ‘52-’54 we worked together on large-scale projects encompassing
brief to them was not “work with my grids” but rather “make the Insti-
art, architecture and design, our aim, to ‘redefine the visual world’.
tute visible” through a series of catalogues and posters for the museum.
From this came an institute which translates as ‘The Foundation of
After a period of time we looked at the work as a set, and found that is
Good Living’, which produced a magazine promoting good interiors
was quite mismatched, it did not seem to have a single voice. So, I had
and therefore good living. It was a different direction for interiors, pro-
to think how to address this. At around this time I had been approached
moting a new, functional aesthetic, so even then there was a sense of
by 8vo to write a piece on lower case typography for Octavo magazine.
promoting new thinking, new ways of looking at the world. In 1955 I
I knew that Hamish Muir and Simon Johnston had been taught by the
met Kho Liang Le who was an interior designer and we worked very
Swiss typographer Wolfgang Weingart, and that they had taken this
well together, later setting up Designstudio.
back to the UK and – with the other 8vo partners – had developed a new
You mentioned that luck has played a part in your success – that the
kind of language that had evolved away from this Swiss background;
director of the Stedelijk being a patron of what you did really helped
and that hadn’t made it back to Switzerland or Holland – which I found
to break the work to a wider audience and had you not met him that
very interesting. This is how I came to commission 8vo to work with
things could have been very different...
me for the museum. I didn’t want to impose my thinking but up to that
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INTERVIEW
point 8vo had mainly used Helvetica, whereas the museum’s typeface
had drawn up all the letters for me based on my sketches, so it was very
was Futura, so this had to be a rule – as well as to have one size of cata-
possible to work on this to make it a full typeface. They [The Foundry]
loge and one of posters. That would mean everything had a consistency.
also worked to develop Gridnik, which started life as a commission for
Do you think 8vo felt daunted working with you and on such a large
Olivetti typewriters. Myself, Joseph Müller-Brockmann and another
undertaking?
designer were each commissioned to develop a typeface for the in-
Well they didn’t seem to be. They dealt with the curators themselves,
terchangeable balls for the typewriters, but in the end these were not
each curator wants to make their own catalogue, so my only directive
used. So, I had the drawings for Gridnik for 20 or 30 years, and David
to the curators was to let the designers design.
Quay developed it for release, as well as creating the missing letters and the different weights now available. I’m not a typeface designer, so
Everyone seems to have a piece of Wim Crouwel work that they love.
I needed to work with someone to complete the typeface.
For me it really is your typeface design – was that driven by a lack of expression in other available typefaces – or a reaction to the work/brief
I am currently working on a typeface and when you design a whole
that became the seed for the new idea/design?
alphabet you realize its such specialist skill. Listening to your talk last
We never designed a full typeface, only around the ten or so letters that
night, I was thinking that of course when someone presents their work
were needed. I always searched for the abstract, something that would
we see all the good parts, the cream of the work, and that naturally
strike the eye.
the stresses and difficult times disappear into the background or get
I love sans serif typefaces. I love to work with Gill or Akzidenz Grotesk
lost in time. Has your experience really been the ‘golden time’ that it
– both have an unevenness, which for many is fantastic. As Spieker-
appears to be?
mann says in the [Helvetica] film of Helvetica: “all the little things
Oh yes, it has been fantastic and it is as you see it. Although, in the be-
make it interesting.”
ginning, designers used to be called ‘Advertising Designers’ who used to
I’m a great believer in personal expression in graphic design and I be-
fight with everyone. But we designers all knew each other and wanted
lieve that graphic design can ask questions as well as answer them. Do
to lift design to a professional level, make it a profession in its own
you see design as pure problem solving – or is that personal expression
right. But we also realized we would never get very rich as a group;
vital?
between the years 64-85 Total Design never really made much money,
Of course design is about problem solving, but I cannot resist adding
although we each had good salaries, but the business itself never made
something personal. A page should have tension.
huge profits. In fact, one year, we made a loss. But we borrowed money
Was there anything else that was influential to you in designing type-
from the financial directors who funded the studio and each year we
faces?
paid them back, so the business was stable and we were able to have
I was, of course, very influenced by Joseph Müller-Brockmann. We met
good salaries and pensions.
in 1957 and were friends since then. But Müller-Brockmann only every
I started designing by doing record sleeve design – is that something
used Akzidenz Grotesk, never anything else, but he was a great inspira-
you have thought about?
tion.
I have never done any record sleeves.
Did you and JM-B ever critique each others work? No, I had far too much respect for him: He was ten years older than me,
You did one!
he was one of my heroes. I loved the abstract quality of his work – it was
Did I? Oh yes, for quite a strange project. Yes, a friend brought us to-
amazing. Müller-Brockmann was my man!
gether, me and the [music] artist – but music is not my business.
I came to your work quite late on, when I saw a version of New Alphabet on a Joy Division cover. Did you know about Peter Saville and that
Record sleeves have always been a really exciting area of design, for
he had used that at the time?
me anyway, especially in the UK. Do you think design for music is
No, I had never met him at until we met in a chance meeting at the Mies
important?
Van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.
Well, yes I do, music can be very inspiring, but design for music has
How did you first see the Joy Division cover?
never crossed my path, only where I have created theatre/ dance post-
In a magazine and on the internet. Somebody kindly took the letters
ers. Design for music is just not in my system.
and made them more legible, which of course wasn’t the original idea!
And then as hurriedly as we arrived, we had to leave. We thanked Mr
Eventually I worked with David Quay at The Foundry to make the
Crouwel for so generously giving us his time, and suddenly we were off
New Alphabet a fully working typeface. He had approached me to see
to the airport. Where, of course, we found our plane was delayed an
if I would be interested in working on it and because all the drawings
hour and we could have continued talking for a good while longer. Isn’t
existed for this it was possible. My father was a draughtsman and he
that called Murphy’s law?
WIM CROUWEL
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- 66 -
WIM CROUWEL
CREATOR — of Alphabet 1, 2 and 3 Stedelijk Alphabet Fodor Alphabet Gridnik Alphabet
Massimo Vignelli INTERVIEW FROM The Helvetica film
Now should I talk, should I not talk?
It’s not the notes, it’s the space you put between the notes that
You want me to say something? Say something say nothing.
makes the music. We always say that to use very few typefaces.
Life of a designer is a life of fight. A fight against the angriness.
It is not that we blame a type, we believe that there are not many
It’s just like a doctor who fights against a disease. For us the
good typefaces. If I want to be really generous I would say that it
visual disease is what we have around and what we try to do is
is a dozen. Basically I use no more then three. There are people
to cure it with design. Good typographers always has the idea
that thinks that the type should be expressive, and they have a
of distance between letters. Within typography there is black
different point from mine. I don’t think type should be expressive
or white. Typography is really white. You know, it’s not even
at all. I can write the word dog with any typeface and it doesn’t
black. Its is the space between the blacks that really makes it. In
have to look like a dog. But there are people when they write
a sentence its like the music.
“dog” it should bark. - 68 -
Matthew Carter BIOGRAPHY FROM Encyclopedia
At the age of 19, Carter spent a year studying in The Netherlands
as well. Under Linotype, Carter created well known typefaces
where he learned from Jan van Krimpen’s assistant P. H.
such as the 100-year replacement typeface for Bell Telephone
Raedisch. Raedisch taught Carter the art of punch cutting at
Company. In 1981, Carter and his colleague Mike Parker created
the Joh. Enschedé type foundry. By 1961 Carter was able to use
Bitstream Inc.[1] This digital type foundry is currently one of
the skills he acquired to cut his own version of the semi-bold
the largest suppliers of type. He left Bitstream in 1991 to form
typeface Dante.
the Carter & Cone type foundry with Cherie Cone. Matthew
Carter eventually returned to London where he became a
Carter focuses on improving many typefaces’ readability. He
freelancer as well as the typographic advisor to Crosfield
designs specifically for Apple and Microsoft computers. Georgia
Electronics, distributors of Photon phototypesetting machines.
and Verdana are two fonts that have been created primarily for
Carter designed many typefaces for Mergenthaler Linotype
viewing on computer monitors. - 69 -
Peter Saville TEXT FROM Pioneers of Modern Typography
The look of Punk didn’t offer much hope for a fresh graphic
Wave that was evolving out of Punk. In this, as it seemed at the
language. This is where Malcolm Garrett was to be invaluable.
time, obscure byway of graphic design history, I saw a look for
Malcolm had a copy of Herber Spencer’s Pioneers of Modern
the new cold mood of 1977-78 …
Typography.
So for me, the door to graphic enlightenment was the book,
The one chapter that he hadn’t reinterpreted in his own work
Pioneers of Modern Typography. My entire education about the
was the cool, disciplined “New Typography” of Tschichold and
art and design movements of the twentieth century, other than
its subtlety appealed to me. I found a parallel in it for the New
Pop, began at that point.
- 70 -
Stefan Sagmeister ALBUMCOVER FOR Lou Reed
The CD case sold with the album was a dark purple/blue hue,
The bright yellow aspect and the “rays” of the cover image were
making the cover look simply like a dark blue picture of Reed’s
only made apparent when the liner notes were removed from the
face.
case.
- 7 1 -
“I GRAVE MYSELF THINKING WHAT IS IN THIS. WHAT IS IN THIS WORLD. THIS WORLD IS DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS OF EACH AND THIS PRINTS THIS TEXTS THIS WORDS THIS LETTERS THIS INK THIS WHITESPACE THIS DOTS THIS SOLIDARITY OF THIS WORLD. WHY SPEAKING WHY LISTENING ITS CONTENT CANT MAKE YOU FEEL DIFFERENT. MEANINGS ARE JUST A WAY TO GREED FEEL AND TREAT. TREATING IS BAD IS BAD IS BAD. COULD YOU WOULD YOU WILL YOU CAUSE I WOULD NEVER TREAT I WOULD NEVER EVER TREAT. HATING IS JUST AS GOOD AS LOVING YOU CAN NOT LOVE IF DONT YOU DONT HAVE QUETIONS TO HATE QUESTINING THINGS. I KNEW I WOULD REACH TO LOVE”
CONSISTENT TYPOGRAPHY N 째1