Undisciplined by Skyla Harris

Shuai Shao Chiarra Paton Dowling YuPei Chang Donxiao Chen Hiu Tung Michelle Chu Chenxu Gao Yilun Hu Courtney Bree Madelaine Thomas Arthur Ravenel Yixuan Song Mathilda Walley Cuiwen Xu Bhavyaa Kumar Rue Yue Quan Shiwen Skyla Harris Sishi Fu Ting-Li Chiang Randa Abdelkarim Jiarong Zheng Ruoyi Wang Shuwei Ren Chen Sang Xinyuan Li Chenchen Wang Peach Wipawan Witayathawornwong Yue Yang Jai Vyankatesh Mudgerikar Girivarshan Balasubramanian Undisciplined

Undisciplined

Content

Function (1) Shuai Shao

Chiarra Paton Dowling

Yupei Chang

Donxiao Chen

Hiu Tang Michelle Chu

Chenxu Gao

Yilun Hu

Invisible (2) Courtney Bree + Madelaine Thomas

Jai Vyankatesh Mudgerikar + Girivarshan Balasubramanian

Peach Wipawan Witayathawornwong

Arthur Ravenel

Yixuan Song

Content

Consequence (3) Mathilda Walley

Yue Yang

106

Cuiwen Xu

114

Bhavyaa Kumar

122

Rue Yue

130

Quan Shiwen

136

Effect (4) Skyla Harris

144

Sishi Fu

153

Ting-Li Chiang

161

Randa Abdelkarim

166

Jiarong Zheng + Ruoyi Wang + Shuwei Ren

176

Chen Sang

186

Xinyuan Li + Chenchen Wang

192

Undisciplined

Edited by Skyla Harris

The book Undisciplined is a collection of critical essays, reflections and conversations from students on the notions of typography that spans across both a modernist and postmodernist context and the ways in which it has affected composition, form and layout. In addition to the ways in which a modernist and postmodernist approach to typography assists in achieving its purpose and communicative objectives. Literary theories, concepts and ideas are drawn upon from the primary works of Beatrix Warde, Jan Tschichold, Brad Haylock. The design of the Undisciplined publication is based on the re-interpretation of popular Swiss style design. Swiss style, can be distinguished with its use of asymmetric layouts, with text aligned flush-left, ragged-right, sans serif typefaces. It is a style that is based on the ethos of designing within the parameters of being functional, objective and intelligible. Through layout, typography, colour and composition, Undisciplined inherently reflects the significance and effectiveness of a minimalistic grid layout and brutalist composition technique that is emulated in swiss design style. Undisciplined has been designed to induce a modernistic structure with a clean way of communicating. The use of a bold and strong sans-serif typeface, Monument Grotesk, and a major focus on negative high-contrasting, white space is a constant design theme throughout this publication. With the recent reinvention of Swiss design style and a preference for a subtle approach to layout and typography, this book is intended to explore and imply a reinterpret or rejuvenation of these modernist design notions.

Undisciplined

Shuai Shao

Chapter (01)

Function

From books to advertisements, street signs to shopping receipts, type is all around us. It is the medium that society uses for daily communications of ideas, thoughts, and knowledge. When it comes to typography in publications, its origin dates to the 15th century when Gutenburg invented the movable type printing press in Europe, which started the era of printed books.1 Since then, different typography has been designed to meet different printing needs. Typography throughout history has also played other roles in political campaigns, famous commercials, and brand logotypes and thus evolved into various forms and styles. In this essay, the different kinds of typography will be discussed - invisible typography, functional typography, and expressive typography' Their purposes, characteristics, and functions will be introduced, explained, and analysed with three readings. This magazine published by Uniqlo (figure 1-2) is an excellent example of invisible typography. Uniqlo is a worldwide clothing brand from Japan, famous for its timeless and minimal design. Their design aesthetic is extended to this monthly magazine too. This magazine is free for all customers at their stores. The magazine uses two typefaces for its body texts' both are sans serif font, TT commons for English and an unidentified font for Japanese. Even though the magazine is published in Australia, the designer still preserved the Japanese texts to complement English. Both typefaces are lightweight, which decreases their presence from the audience but instead letting them focus on what's the text is presenting. Most of the pages are divided into three columns to make it easier to read, but some longer paragraphs use a two-column layout. The overall contents of this magazine are interviews with artists with a similar minimalist view of design or art, people who enjoy wearing Uniqlo, and Uniqlo's ongoing event introductions. I think that the choice of typefaces perfectly matches Uniqlo's brand identity and conveys the minimalist aesthetic. Modernist typography, also called New Typography, is the typography movement born between 1900 to 1950. It follows the same rules as the International Style design that uses sans serif fonts, often designed asymmetrically and in structural layout. The Bauhaus school at the time was responsible for a lot of the significant development of modernist typography. When the Bauhaus school shut down in World War 2, the Swiss-style designers in Switzerland continued to develop this typography style with functionality as its priority. Therefore, Warde describes

modernist typography as the 'Crystal Goblet'.2 It is a metaphor of invisible typography. He thinks that using a crystal goblet to hold wines is like designers chose to use modernist typography. The underlying goal is 'What must it do?' Instead of 'how should it look?' This ideology is also the core of Uniqlo's brand value that most of its clothes are functionality and comfort first, rather than the appearance on the outside. In a way, Uniqlo is the 'crystal goblet' of modern clothing. Additionally, Warde states that it's wrong to call a printed text 'work of art' because it would imply that it's an expression of beauty rather than a means of conveying ideas. I think it's somewhat true that sometimes publishing designers can be unprofessional and set the text centre-aligned, fully justified or in tight serif fonts. In some cases, however, a printed typography poster or well-designed typography book cover can also be seen as a beautiful art piece first, then function as it is meant to be. There is no conflict between these two purposes. Functional typography is the way of using typography to achieve goals, which is communicating ideas. Its purpose is not to showcase the beauty of typography design, nor the symmetrical layout' Its existence is purely functional. Full scale False scale (Figure 3-4) is designed and published by the Dutch design studio Experimental Jetset. They are renowned for using one typeface only, that is Helvetica. The book is a documentation of the long-term installation they made for the Museum of Modern Art in New York back in 2019. Half texts half collage, the publication creates an archive of documentation, similar to the installation - 'a research project that took them from esoteric colour theories to dark political alliances, and from modernist diagonals to postmodern arches'.3 This publication is designed for people from design or art fields to read because it is only a documentation of an installation that Experimental Jetset has done' also, the price is 53 dollars-I don't think any casual readers would buy this. As mentioned before, the design studio is famous for exclusively using Helvetica, one of the most famous typefaces in the world, for its simplicity and legibility. Swiss designer Max Miedinger designed it in 1957 for the Haas Type Foundry in Switzerland.4 Its name was changed to Helvetica in 1960, the Latin version of 'Switzerland'. Today, Helvetica is the most famous Sans Serif5 typeface in the world. The typeface's origin also

Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg introduced the metal movable-type printing press in Europe, which drastically

OF THE FONT HELVETICA, 'https:''www.pixartprinting.

improved the speed of printing at the time. This change led to more printings being made, thus changing the

co.uk'blog'history-font-helvetica'' 5

number of prints a person reads in their daily life. 2 3

Experimental Jetset, Full Scale ' Roma, 'https:''www.

Sans serif means there is no serif in the font, that is the slight projections on the end of strokes. For example, This is Sans Serif font, and This is Serif font.

Beatrice Warde, the crystal goblet or printing should be invisible, British Typographers' Guild 1930.

Sarah Cantavalle, THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION

Jan Tschichold, The Principles of The New Typography (California, University of California Press, 1928)

experimentaljetset.nl'archive'full-scale-false-scale-roma.'

Undisciplined

Figure 1 + 2 Monthly Magazine by Uniqlo

Chapter (01)

Function

leads to the phrase Swiss-style - minimal, clean layouts with sans serif fonts like Helvetica. Full Scale False Scale is a documentation of the installation and its contexts, but the book design itself strongly represents what functional typography is. All the texts are left-aligned' that way, we as readers can read more easily' Helvetica provides simplicity and clearness' The vast empty spaces left out in the pages insinuates the feeling one may have when in an ample exhibition space. In The Principles of The New Typography, Jan Tschichold6 states that the old typography concerned itself more with so-called 'beauty' or 'art' than function. It is clear here that Experimental Jetset does not concern about any decorations or ornamentations at all. It almost felt like they want the text to be cold and non-organic, like concretes, to serve one goal, that is to be functional. Furthermore, Experimental Jetset uses blank pages in between texts and images to forcefully stop the reader's reading, to make them rest for a couple of seconds for more clarity. Tschichold argues later in the text that most sans serif typefaces do not meet the expectations of non-characteristic design and exceed what the old sans typefaces have achieved. This is referring to the classic sans serif fonts, such as Univers or Helvetica. The author thinks that only a group of designers can produce the 'type of our time'. The statement clearly sees Helvetica as the superior and better sans serif font in history. I understand the author on this one, but I don't truly agree with it. I think great sans serif fonts are being designed every day, and it is unnecessary to look for the so-called non-characteristics font in today's world. Furthermore, Tschichold also mentions that the lower cases of sans serif font still looks like their organic counterpart, that it is the only thing designers need to improve on sans serif fonts. This issue is caused by the rounded circular look of lowercase typeface, and if you try to straighten them, they will only look like capital letters. I don't think there is a solution for this, that we might as well accept it as a universal truth. Better: Book About Hacking by Vilde Men Hudson7 is a self-published book on hacking (Figure 5-6). It is published in 2016 in Norway. Judging by the descriptions from the Behance page, I would say that it's the only copy the author has made. The author made this book because she thinks that the word 'hacking' is often misused in the media and

represented wrongly in the public discourse. She wants the general audience to see hacking in its true form and why hackers hack. This book is a visual representation of hacking through the use of expressive imagery, typography and contrasts. Two typefaces are used in this book. The bold sans serif font often gives themes to the pages and are in large sizes' the monospaced font is often arranged across the spreads, without any specific layouts in a disorderly manner. Historically, monospaced fonts were used in computers early and other digital machinery for their particular characteristics. It is invented in the era of typewriters due to their limited mechanical properties.8 Monospaced fonts are also called fixed-width because each letter requires the same space to show on the screen' This means they are more accessible for the program to understand and requires little complexity in the system. The small monospaced font created a huge contrast with the sans serif typeface across the pages. There are images on almost every page of Better: Book About Hacking. They are always distorted or manipulated to have the look of being hacked or destroyed digitally. These distorted images make me feel that I'm a hacker swimming in the digital realms, and those graphics are like huge storms that I must conquer to get to what I want. This book is a clear demonstration of what expressive typography is. Firstly, it combines digitally manipulated pictures with monospaced texts to disorient audiences. Then it not only created huge numbers of abstract graphics but also made use of 3D spaces. The author made diets in some pages so that they can be poked into three-dimensional cubes. Some pages are also extendable' when you open both pages on the same spread, it becomes a widespread artwork about hacking and illegible texts. The overall typography is certainly expressive and experimental. The texts inside do more than deliver messages but are also graphic elements that contributed to the publication's aesthetic. It is what I proposed with Warde's view that 'typography should not be seen as a piece of art'. Furthermore, the disorientation that the audience may experience is a replication of what a non-hacker may feel when looking at a hacker's screen. The distance and unfamiliarity are what causes the misuse of 'hacking'. The author may also face criticism for making a 'poorly designed book' in the same way that a hacker may face judgement from others.

Vilde Men Hudson, Better: Book About Hacking, 'https://

María Ramos, Typewriter Typeface: The Legacy of the

www.behance.net/gallery/42129451/Better-Book-about-

Writing Machine in Type Design, 'https:''typographica.

Hacking' 2016.

org'on-typography'typewriter-typeface-the-legacy-ofthe-writing-machine-in-type-design''

Undisciplined

Figure 3 + 4 Full Scale False Scale by Experimental Jetset

Chapter (01)

Function

In Haylock's The Critical Goblet, he described the Antennae series by Valiz as an unorthodox design that, when first looked, may feel out of place, but upon second look, 'the typography does not compromise the transmission of author's ideas.9 I would say that the same result is apparent in Vilde Men Hudson's book. The layout and composition of monospaced typography do not decrease the conversation of the author's ideas to the audience. Altogether, these three designs demonstrated different principles and styles in Typography. Uniqlo's monthly magazine showed a great invisible typography design that allows audiences to ignore the typography to see what the content is. Its thorough execution of consistent style also contributed to the invisibility of typography. Full Scale False Scale's author Experimental Jetset utilises Helvetica to achieve the maximum functionality in their works. The publication has the highest legibility, in my opinion. When I hold it in my hand, the left-aligned texts, large Helvetica font with empty spaces are visually pleasing. At the same time, the soft touch of the paper stimulates my hands to enhance the legibility even further because I will enjoy holding on to it. In the end, the three readings and the 'first things first' manifesto10 helped me understand typography better and gave me valuable insights into typography designs that I could use in the future.

Brad Haylock, The Critical Goblet (Melbourne, 2013) 06-

Ken Garland, First Things First a manifesto (Britain, The

07. Guardian, 1964).

Undisciplined

Figure 5 + 6 Better - Book about Hacking by Vilde Moen Hudson

Chapter (01)

Function

Chiarra Paton Dowling

Undisciplined

It would be incredibly difficult to communicate ideas efficiently without typography, print and publication, the message would be altered as it travelled through the grapevine, society would regress without any tangible form of communication. Luckily, visual communication in the form of typography isn't disappearing and continues to evolve with humanity and its needs. It has progressed so far already from exclusive hand written scripts, from ridiculing of specific forms and structures of typography and back to inclusivity of past, present and future. Designers and typographers take note of past learnings and fundamentals to create typographical publications and projects that can be understood, influence and convey messages to the masses, ideally for the better. With typography being one of the most important elements of graphic design, it is understandable that the typography style used should relate to the intent of the publication. Whether that be to stand out for advertising, avant-garde to display creative or experimental thinking or informative persuasion to convey an idea or guide the reader. Informative and instructive texts can often be associated with invisible typography, this is the sentiment that what is being said is louder than then how it is displayed. The typography is simply the means of the 'vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas' (Warde, 1955). However, to those who are aware of invisible typography' the typographers and designers of the world, this term then becomes oxymoronic as they can be hyper-aware and constantly observing the platform on which the typographic forms are presented in. As with every form of typography it has an associated context, as for invisible typography, its content should be aligned with textbooks, signage, instruction manuals and other informative media. Designers that work with these forms of instructional media should aspire to have their typography viewed as 'invisible', or in this case, barely noticed. Type and its layout should not overwhelm the message and it should not distract the reader at all. It should go without saying that invisible typography should not be eye-catching and could often be associated as 'boring', but definitely should not be determined as difficult to read. Even the most tedious and monotonous of texts should have typography that is legible and readable, but often if care is not placed into the writing of the text is self it cannot be saved by the use of decent typesetting. Both these components should work in tandem. Though it is rare to have an individual responsible for the copywriting and the design of an informative publication, both parties should be aware of the other's capabilities to create a

seamless, undetectable transference of thoughts via typography forms and elements. Informative information via invisible typography is everywhere, it is often incorporated into service design, government media and social design as those are the sectors that have the most diversity in their target market and user audience. Public transportation branding, systems and signage fit into the same category of finding a suitable format and typography for clear and almost 'instantaneous' communication. Individuals using public transport need to know where to go and how to get there fast, they don't want to be questioning themselves or the transport signage any longer than they have to. Therefore the typography, the design system and visual language used to display information such as platform changes and different train lines needs to be succinct, simple and intuitive1. A famous example of a design system that uses invisible typography to create order out of chaos is the New York City Transit Authority Design System'IMG 1' created by Massimo Vignelli in 1970. Before this update of the NYC transit navigation, the system or lack of it' was chaotic, to say the least. Wayfinding and signs varied from station to station and there was virtually no hierarchy to guide the reader where to look and where to travel to. Most signs were in exclusively black uppercase letters varying in serif2, 3 and block letters on a white sign. With the 1970s overhaul, it saw the use of a singular sans serif typeface known as 'Standard Medium' or 'Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Medium', which in this project's context was often confused for Helvetica4 as they are incredibly similar. Adaptation of standardised symbols, colours and layout of signage allowed a cohesive visual language to spread between the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and everywhere else in between allowing users to quickly read and navigate the subway system. Each train line had its own system and series of letters that coincided with said train line which allowed for a quickly interpretable route with interchanging platforms and translations. The map of the NYC transit was updated with Vignelli's visual language system and continues to be used to this day. 'The Principles of the New Typography' by the younger Tschichold5 set up the standard for the grid, type and colour theory that the design world knows well today. Before the appearance of sans serifs in tandem with primary colours and strong grid structures' typography in the use of publication was primarily concerned with beauty and artistic values, not functionality. Scripts and serifs were used in exclusivity as sans serifs had not risen in popularity, despite the

Intuitive design is a relative term, no form of design can truly be instantly intuitive it is a matter of nature vs

ornamentation and is considered the most contemporary

nurture. Intuitive design is often used in relativity to user interface and experience design (UX'UI) which works with 2

Chapter (01)

Sans-serif means 'without-serif', therefore lacks typographic form.

Helvetica is a sans-serif typeface and is considered the

the creation of apps and technology.

most famous type in the world, it was created in 1957 by

Serif typefaces have letters that have short strokes at the

typeface designer Max Miedinger. Companies such as

endings of each letter and were used long before sans-

BMW, Microsoft, The North Face and Target all use this

serif typefaces were invented.

type family in their logos.

Function

Figure 1 [IMG1] New York City Transit Authority Design System

Undisciplined

first sans serif font being released in 1816. The height of modernism was between the 1920s - 1970s which was directly influenced by Tschichold's 1928 writing of 'the Principles of the New Typography'. Despite many of his opinions being outdated and outright racist in some areas, the design principles he created influenced an almost universal modern aesthetic. Exceedingly so, it is difficult to tell the age of early Swiss style6 media from today's creations. He sought after overthrowing traditional publication styles of layout and type and wanted to create a perfect design system with 'greater clarity and purity of appearance'(Tschichold, 1928). In essence, he wanted to remove all flourishes, decorations and distractions so that the design could not hide behind them. Therefore, the design could be honest and raw and stand out from the 'manifold claims for our attention made by the extraordinary amount of print, which demands the greatest economy of expression'(Tschichold, 1928). Old typographical page layouts were symmetrical and followed the system a sole central axis that was the book spine, exterior large margins allowed readers to hold heavier books with ease without covering letters. Whereas the New Typography style has an expressive temperament in the form of asymmetrical multi-row and column grid structure, a hierarchical nature that guides the viewer around the page in order of importance and only uses colours to create emphasis. This style of the grid allows for flexibility and customisation depending on the purpose of the print, which is a concept that was never possible with rigid margins. Major elements of the New Typography style include: a significant variation on font-weight7, negative and white space, non-existent or minuscule page margins, high contrast between tones and the incorporation of pure red, yellow or blue for emphasis. In Tschichold's text, he discusses that the sans-serifs of 1928 is still not satisfactory to the 'all-purpose' typography movement. This was to say that all sans-serif typography was neutral, free from personal influence and could be used in any context, which is not something that is believed in the 20th century. Since Tschichold's 'The Principles of the New Typography' was published, its design disciplines spread throughout the world adapting and changing with the times and creating sub-genres that are more relevant today. One of the more well-known disciplines is Swiss design with its crisp, minimalist ethos, which was later known as the International Typographic Style. Like many influential designers and creators of this time, modern and minimal elements spread

throughout architecture, interior design, product design, fashion design. While occasionally being apposed by anti-minimalism design movements like the Memphis design movement, however, many became outdated and never dug in their roots into society quite like modernism. While following principles set out by Tschichold and modernist mottos like 'form follows function',8 many design firms have been able to evolve their style to fit today's society such as the Stockholm Design Lab (SDL). Stockholm design lab is both a design firm and a product experiment and research company, they embody 'strong ideas that make a real difference', with aesthetic minimalist ' new 'type-esk' principles that let the brand that they create breathe and stand out through their created identities. SDL's website and 2020 publication 'IMG 2' both have strong gridded layouts with solely sans-serif typography, though this does not encompass every brand identity and strategy that they have created. They don't exclude serif and flourishes from their projects but invite them when deemed necessary. Their publication 'Stockholm Design Lab 1998-2019' reveals brand guidelines from hundreds of their projects all within a specific grid format that is adaptable to the written and visual material. The dust jacket of the publication is incredibly minimal with the image on of their client projects (Askul) front and centre. All in small sans serif text '1998-2019' is placed in the top left of the first column, 'A book about the creative process and design of' in the top middle column, with categories of their projects, blind embossed with a spot gloss running down the centre column. Below that 'Stockholm Design Lab' has been placed with all elements in the middle column left align. The grid structure is consistent from the front to the spine and the back of the publication. Publications whether digital or print have adopted and adapted the base principles of Tschichold's 'The Principles of the New Typography' as it is very much ingrained in today's society. There is a fine line between emphasis and distraction in the typography and publication industry and this is what Haylock's 'The critical goblet' discusses. As stated previously the designer's responsibility is to engage and make visual language legible. Today's designers are not as strict as Tschichold's new typography principles and don't shame elements of decorative flair, serif typography or traditional grid structure. With some current design styles only loosely inspired and guided by influential design rules, there is a lot of room for them to be

Font weight refers to the thickness of a character. e.g

'Form follows Function' is the backbone of modernist

Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) was an extremely influential German calligrapher, typography and designer who greatly impacted the way modern and contemporary

Chapter (01)

light, thin, regular, medium and bold

typography and design functions today.

design and architecture. Originally quoted from architect

Swiss-style design is not exclusive to Switzerland, it

Louis H. Sullivan in 1896, it stood the test of time and is

quickly spread throughout Europe and then the rest of

still relevant today. Essentially the form of what is being

the world. It follows many of the principles described in

created (a product, a building, a poster etc) should have a

Tschichold's 'New Typography', like an asymmetrical grid

direct relationship to what it is being used for. The form's

layout, sans serif typography and simplicity with added

purpose is to help achieve what the project is being

elements of abstract geometry and photography.

created for, nothing more nothing less.

Function

Figure 2 [IMG2] Stockholm Design Lab 1998-2019

Undisciplined

interpreted wrong and lead to in-cohesive and illegible publications. Haylock's concern of hard to identify italics and typography that run too close to the spine of the book are valid and are something every designer should learn from. The structure of typography should always be driven by the purpose of the publication and not for the sake of being unusual or creative (unless that is the motive of the project). In this text two topics were discussed the first being 'emphasis vs distraction' and the second being the role of the designer in a maximalist consumerist society. Designers help sell things, that's not up for discussion. Designers have always been an essential part of marketing and business, designers help amalgamate market research, products and creativity into one, but when does this become a problem. Is it when the business ask their marketing team and designers to make smoking appealing to children or is it when advertising becomes sexist and racist to become viral and boost profit margins? Designers should not become numb to what they're creating, they should have an understanding of the 'ethics of design that attempts to interrogate the capitalist status quo.'(Haylock, 2013) Meaning that designers have a responsibility to stand up against a consumerist society as they are fully aware and educated of what makes it appealing to the masses and not abide by it because of the paycheque. Designers should be constantly educating themselves to be aware of their surroundings and constantly questioning them, as designers are responsible for moulding the future. Haylock states that design is the 'science of the artificial', as artificial is the 'world as it could be'. With the world becoming more digital, populations increasing and the world becoming seemingly smaller and smaller it is easy to look at people as numbers forget that they're human. In a way creating publications that use legible expressive typography that experiments and breaks grid structures is opposed to defined 'new typographical' standards is indirectly standing up again the status quo and creating personal interactions and bring back humanity into a previously defined format. From one end of the spectrum of traditional publication and typography to the other end of strict sans-serif and guided layouts that encourage asymmetry and a 'form follows function' mentality, it gives the impression that there is little room left to move and so the creative are left to experiment and innovate. Designers learn the rules so they can bend, break or just remove them entirely to gain new perspectives or discover something new. Publications like Teasing Typography' by Nöst 'IMG 3' sole purpose is

intensely experimenting with typography and grid structures. Each page has it's own 'unnamed' and numbered InDesign file and uses German filler text9. Nöst begins her publication by using default settings InDesign settings to alter this text, experimenting with size, line height and basic grid layout. Throughout the publication, multiple patterns emerge from these type experiments. In particular, the page 'Untitled-13-14.indd' reveals a series of negative space in the form of rivers, created by Nöst shrinking down the type until its complete illegible, justifying and repeating the type. The purpose of this experiment is not to create an engaging page to read but rather a thought-provoking contrast between type as information vehicle and type as an abstract mark-making construct. Another perspective of pushing the boundaries of typography but retaining coherency is the practice of using type expressively. This allows an additional layer of depth as readers can look deeper into what is being communicated by the positioning, layout, colour, distortion of the customised type. Practices like this have been used in Angela Monteiro's photography zine 'Getting Lost''IMG 4', which uses type to enhance the ephemeral feeling of getting lost in foreign landscapes, that have yet to be explored. However, Monteiro doesn't entirely abandon grid structure but rather use type to curve and scatter type within a considered layout. Questions like 'should I go this way?' And 'or the other?' bend around the page and its imagery, which give the feeling of being disorientated and being cautiously indecisive while trying to navigate. If these were simply placed atop the page in a standard typesetting placement, it wouldn't portray the feeling of being lost and the viewer would simply move on to the next page. Bending the rules of modern typography allow monotonous typesetting to regain humanity and emotion, but should not be used without a proper connection to the concept of the publication. Typography and publication have evolved to adapt to a changing world. Reading was once highly exclusive to scholars, royalty and ranked religious members as they were the only individuals who were educated to write and read. Therefore publication and typographical innovations were non-existent until the technology was created that allowed information in the form of print and publication to be spread to the mass market, creating a desire to be educated to read. With this movement, designers and typographers explored and refined this craft and with it came a wave of new styles and rules that swept over the world. Today, designers take influence from the typographic design movements of the past, however, they don't perceive it 9

The filler text is often used to create a visual layout on a black page before the proper text is added, it's also known as Lorem Ipsum.

Chapter (01)

Function

as constrictive unless they desire to as part of their practice. It is often said that 'everything new has already been invented', however designers and typographers will continue to relate to the past to create something new.

Undisciplined

Figure 3 [IMG3] Teasing Typography

Chapter (01)

Function

YuPei Chang

Undisciplined

Some people say that the cover is the first face of the book, and the book spine1 is the second face of the book. Whether it is from a functional point of view or from an artistic visual point of view, the spine of the book should be emphasized as much as the cover. Now, although bookstores are working hard to expand their display space, they still can't keep up with the increase in the variety and number of books published. As a result, competition for the publication and distribution of books is fierce, and it is not easy for books to hit the shelves of bookstores. In particular, there are more and more books with the same subject matter, title, and quality, and the competition for display is self-evident. It is not easy for readers to find the books they need among the many complicated spine, especially in the library, even the books in the family collection are inserted in the bookshelf. According to these circumstances, it can be judged that the importance of the spine design will become more and more obvious, and it is a long-term practical problem. Compared with the Western design field, theories are obviously not that common in Eastern design, and the materials needed for researching theories are not complete. In this essay, I hope to use the theories I have learned in this class to explore the spine design in Chinese books, and to discuss whether the Western rules for functional typography2 can also be applied to Chinese books. And also put the focal point on the layout, font and space that need to be paid attention to when designing Chinese books. Through Beatrice Warde's The Crystal Goblet theory, we can know that invisible typography3 focuses on how to bring out the text with typography, so that readers can concentrate on enjoying the text. The best font should be born only for 'communication', that is, it should spread opinions, thoughts, images, etc., and it should not attract attention by itself, let alone be sought after. Compared with fashion designers or interior designers, book designers tend to be more low-key, but the challenges they have to overcome is often more than you think. They are innovators who want to sway inspiration in an extremely limited space, trying to find a delicate balance between breaking the limit and following the rules. At the same time, they are also excellent readers, attempting to re-interpret and reshape the text with a variety of visual languages. 美感努力運動 ' Efforts in Aesthetic Movement (https:''oddinstitute.tw') 'Efforts in Aesthetic Movement' is a book designed by '好氏研究室 ODD INSTITUTE'. The main purpose of this book is to help cultivate personal aesthetics. The author Van Chen believes that

the meaning of beauty is to adjust the state of people. It is not a form, accessory, or tool. It is like there are many people who live splendid because they have a great sense of what is happening in front of them. So whenever they are doing anything, their senses are particularly keen. At first, an editor came to Van's aesthetics class and proposed the idea of making a book for human aesthetics, Van also believed that aesthetics should be spread out. In this book, Regarding the arrangement of the chapters, the aesthetics tends to be systematized, which not only allows readers to follow the procedure in the chapters step by step, but also makes it easier to cultivate aesthetics, rather than a thing that is so distant and intangible. The font use on the book spine is called '冬青黑體 Hiragino Sans.' Which was designed by Japanese type designer Osamu Torinoumi. Hiragino Sans has neat and square lines, with a slightly trumpet-like design at the head and tail, and the arc is more round and soft. I personally feel that the whole design has a modern temperament and restrained but also has a neat stroke. Hiragino Sans is low in attractiveness, but has high legibility and readability4 , which is very suitable for use in the text. It is also popular to be used in wether on the screen display or printing, many online games use Hiragino Sans to be their the official font versions of simplified Chinese and Japanese. It's a pity that after I observed the font of this book more deeply, I found that it seems to be arranged in Japanese instead of the traditional Chinese characters commonly used in Taiwan. (Here is the difference of two types of 運, the left one is used on this book, but is the Japanese version of Hiragino Sans.) In the typography of the book spine, the noteworthy point is the use of a variety of different parts of text, however, there are still traces to follow. Regarding Chinese typography, it has always been read from right to left, but in recent years, the method of reading from left to right has become popular, and this can also be seen in this book. The reason that I think this book spine is the 'invisible design' is because, although these texts are scattered in different corners, due to the visual habit of reading from top to bottom, the typography becomes less confusing, instead, different messages can be easily distinguished. And this is exactly 'The Crystal Goblet' was saying, the typographic of this book spine will leading the readers to the next part of information, and make sure they wont be distracted by other superfluous elements. Functional typography is similar to invisible

Book spine : The Spine of a book refers to the outside

Invisible typography : When it comes to styling written

edge of the book where the pages are gathered and

content, designers are guided by an oft-cited principle -

bound. The back portion of a book's binding which is

'good typography is invisible.' What this means is that a

visible when a book is shelved in a bookcase.

designer's top priority must be to ensure that the reader's

2 Functional typography : Rejecting traditional

focus is on the content, and any distraction caused

arrangement of type in symmetrical columns, modernist

by the visual styling or arrangement of that content is

designers organized the printed page or poster as arranged in harmonious, strikingly asymmetrical compositions, and use sans serif typeface.

unwelcome. 4

Legibility and readability : legibility means the quality of typogrphy being clear enough to read ' readability means the quality of texts being easy or enjoyable to read.

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Figure 1美感努力運動 ' Efforts in Aesthetic Movement (https:''oddinstitute.tw') 'Efforts in Aesthetic Movement' is a book designed by '好氏研究室 ODD INSTITUTE'.

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typography, but not exactly the same. It is limited by many different rules, such as the text must start from the left side instead of being centered symmetrically in traditional way' it must use a sans serif font5 , and it need to only use one single font, or many other conditions. In English words, perhaps 'Functional typography' is a very common typography theory, but in Chinese it does not appear to be that professional, and there are not so many rules to follow. That is to say, any kind of typography that has something to do with 'function' will be named 'Functional typography'. But I think this is incorrect, so I want to analyze a case of Chinese typography based on the 'Functional typography theory' I have learned this semester. This research will help me learn more about the application of English theory into Chinese typography. 廖瓊枝歌仔戲經典劇目 ' Liao Chiung-Chih's Taiwanese Opera This project redesigned the album packaging and decoration for Taiwanese opera6 national treasure artist Ms. Liao Qiongzhi. Taiwanese opera comes from the folk and is the spiritual entertainment of the early agricultural society. The contrasting colors of red and green came from the traditional image of the theater and the bright traditional costumes. The overall vision has the details that have a delicate and classical atmosphere, which represents the locality and beauty of Taiwanese opera. It is also the personality of Ms. Liao who has experienced hardships and perseverance. The novel and traditional design symbolizes that the Taiwanese opera culture is still classic and continues to circulate as time goes by. In addition to the visual renovation, the purpose of this redesign is to simplify the packaging. The packaging structure is as neat as possible without unnecessary decoration. Moreover, they took inspiration from traditional scripts, to made the red string and exposed spine of the book, which is original and elegant, just like the binding method ofan ancient Chinese book7 . Also, this book and can be completely flattened to be read smoother. When we carefully look at the packaging of this album and compare it with the technical term 'functional typography,' you will surprisingly find that they are so strikingly similar on some levels. Although they are not hundred precent the same, such as aligning to the left, but there are still many details that are consistent with the original rules. For example, use

a single font and maintain proper text spacing, not only does it conform to what is advocated by functional typography, that allows readers to easily find the information they need. The text segmentation method and the arrangement of each sentences can also take into account the reading direction of people from different language background. Now let's keep our attention on fonts. Sans-serif fonts refer specifically to the professional terms of European languages. However, in recent years, Chinese have become more and more popular to use 'Sans-Serif font' for typography. As I mentioned, this book does not completely follow the rules of functional typography, it uses Chinese calligraphy fonts8 , but I think this is more in line with the atmosphere it wants to express than the rules. As Brad Haylock mentioned in the essay of Critical Goblet 'Despite the numerous unorthodox treatments, the whole thing coheres.' In the essay, he more accurately mentioned that such a design is certainly not a crystal goblet, But such typography will not affect the spread of the author's thoughts. I agree with this view, and I think it also applies to Chinese books. At some point, a design that does not follow the rules will develop special effects, which can bring new feelings to readers, and even accentuating the concepts that the author wants to convey. Indeed, The Crystal Goblet sometimes needs to be broken, or, from another perspective, good wine is suitable for crystal goblet, because wine itself is attractive, but the text is not. It needs better typography, or to bring more 'personality' to the text. I once read an interview with Matthew Butterick and he mentioned that he thought: Rather than wine in a goblet, a more apt parallel might be helium in a balloon: the balloon gives shape and visibility to something that otherwise cannot be seen. 字型散步 NEXT ' A Chinese Font Walk NEXT 'A Chinese Font Walk NEXT' is a book design by Taiwanese designer Zhi-Hong Wang, Contains samples and authorization methods of traditional Chinese characters that are commonly used in Taiwan, which are convenient for all font users to find and reference. Including Justfont, Dynafont, Arphic9 , Monotype, Morisawa, Adobe Fonts and other common sources, even free fonts, etc., a total of more than 360 kinds of fonts. This book continues the knowledge, practicality and fun of his previous works, takes readers to a walk-like way to cut through the following five themes. Within the most familiar life examples and

Sans serif font : In typography and lettering,a sans-serif,

It's plots are traditionally drawn from folk tales of the southern

sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that

Fujian region, though in recent years stories are increasingly

does not have extending features called 'serifs' at the end

set in Taiwan itself. Taiwanese opera is considered as the

of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke

embodiment of Taiwanese history and tradition because the

width variation than serif typefaces. They are often used to convey simplicity and modernity or minimalism. 6

Taiwanese opera : Taiwanese opera w) is a form of

political identity crisis of Taiwan shaped its development. 7

Ancient Chinese book : When binding Chinese ancient books, the characters are written on wider bamboo stems and

traditional drama originating in Taiwan. Taiwanese opera

wooden boards, which are called '牘’ (tablets). Combining the

uses a stylised combination of both the literary and

bamboo tablets or slips with silk, grass or rattan, it becomes

colloquial registers of Taiwanese Hokkien.

an article called '策’ (book). The strategy became the earliest book binding form in ancient Chinese.

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Figure 2 廖瓊枝歌仔戲經典劇目 ' Liao Chiung-Chih's Taiwanese Opera

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topics, readers can learn more about traditional Chinese fonts. Among them, 'Font Walk' is a major focus. One of the best ways to get close to text design is to go to the streets to look at signs. This book guide readers to understand the basics of Chinese fonts through examples that can be seen everywhere in daily life. At the same time also introduce several fonts that are quite Taiwanese-style and must be known to Taiwanese. Obviously, the design of this book spine does not conform to 'Invisible typography' and 'Functional typography,' it even uses the unique characteristics of Chinese fonts to disassemble and arrange each part of the font. But this is actually in line with Zhi-Hong Wang's usual design way of Japanese style that makes the entire book spine look like a Japanese book, but it arouses the curiosity of the audience, and more importantly, this approach still retains the legibility of the book spine. It's a clever way to distinguish different font parts by color, which is more suitable for the concept of what we say ‘說文解字’10 in Chinese, and also makes readers more realize of, 'what I'm going to talk about now is fonts! ' After studying three examples, what I want to express is that there are no wrong designs, only unsuitable designs. No design should be limited to a certain theory, and that theory should play its role only when the designer himself needs it.The reason that we are learning theories is to not use them wrongly, not to point out whether theories are right or wrong. Design should take into account multiple aspects, rather than applying theory without consider the consequence.

Chinese calligraphy fonts : Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. Chinese calligraphy and ink and wash painting are closely related: they are accomplished using similar tools and techniques, and have a long history of shared artistry. Distinguishing features of Chinese painting and calligraphy include an emphasis on motion charged with dynamic life. Calligraphy has also led to the development of many forms of art in China, including seal carving, ornate paperweights, and ink-stones.

Justfont, Dynafont, Arphic : Three common commercial font licensing companies in Taiwan, fonts they designed is popular in Taiwan, such as: Jin Xuan Latte (Justfont), Huakang New Variety Std W7 OpenType for Win (Dynafont).

說文解字 : A Chinese term, means, distinguish fonts into different parts, and discussing writing and explaining characters.

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Figure 3 字型散步 NEXT ' A Chinese Font Walk NEXT 'A Chinese Font Walk NEXT' is a book design by Taiwanese designer Zhi-Hong Wang

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Donxiao Chen

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In the chapter 'The Crystal Goblet' or 'Why Printing Should be Invisible' (1955) by Beatrice Warde, the chapter 'The Principles Of the New Typography' (1928) by Jan Tschichold, and the chapter 'The Critical Goblet' (2013) by Brad Haylock, all of them discuss typography, but have very different perspectives about its intentions. While Warde argues that typography should be invisible or transparent as crystal glass to deliver the ideas to readers directly, Tschichold states that typography should be functional, as it can draw people's interest. On the other hand, Haylock analyses typography as being divided into two parts' commercial and non-commercial. One serves for capitalism while the other aims to reach ideal situations. Warde uses the example of crystal glass to illustrate that typography should be 'invisible' or 'transparent', which means there is no disruption and decoration in 'invisible' printing. Additionally, Warde states that 'all good typography is modernist', as the question the modernist asked was not 'How should it look?' but 'what must it do?'. This implies that modernist typography intends to illuminate the thoughts and coherent ideas straightaway without disruption through 'invisible' printing as opposed to personal preference. Warde points out that legibility is unselfconscious, spacing attributes without any confusing format and eyestrain in terms of typeface, font size, font style, layout, letter space, line space and colour. She takes an example of the excellent talking voice as legible typography, which makes the audience focus on the narratives rather than the voice of volume and rhythms. This is partially reasonable because less is more. Legible typography illuminates the language's meaning to clarify coherent ideas and is less exhausting for the reader. For instance, 'transparent' typography benefits some publications, including literature, religion, and academic journals. However, perhaps the main weakness in her argument is that she believes that it is sufficient only to have legibility in typography. Readers might lose interest in the contents at the beginning because of one basic form, which is merely the type lay-out on the pages. In addition, she takes window panes as a metaphor for typography and states that a stained-glass window is aesthetic, but it is hard to see the natural scenery, while plain transparent glass transfers the landscape directly. This metaphor implies the difference between invisible or transparent typography and fine art. This is partially true because transparent typography allows readers to look through the type to understand the

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contents instead of delightful decoration. There are many advantages to invisible or transparent typography. The genre of the book 'The elephant of surprise'1 is crime fiction written for adults, which describes the narrative by text. The publisher 'Mulholland Books'2 aims 'to publish books you can't stop reading'. In the pages of this book, the typeface is Rapid Normal3. There is the text, a page number, the book's title, and the author's name on its pages, which are aligned centre. In addition, the text is justified.4 In order to encourage readers to keep reading, the typography probably should be invisible or transparent. This design mainly applies space, type, and background to achieve this. Firstly, the line spacing5 is sufficient to distinguish each line, allowing readers to focus on the texts instead of the space. Then there are around 12 to 14 words in each line which is good for eyesight to read. Also, the size of the typeface is essential in content. To remain legible, the font size is set to a bigger than usual size, which is 13 points.6 The reason forthis is because the font of x-heights7 equals to its ascender8 and descender.9 Furthermore, the top, outer, and bottom margin10 are sufficiently wide, especially the inner margin which is keeping the printed words clear between two pages. In my view, this typography is mostly successful. The sufficient margin and space give the contents room to breathe. However, the typeface chosen might not be suitable for the publication because x-height equaling ascender and descender not only has to adjust the larger size of the font for legibility but also increases the pages for the book. Due to the explosion in the development of printing technology and printed information, people do not have much spare time to read each message line by line, therefore they focus on what they are intrigued by. The main principles of new typography are logical order (hierarchical elements) and asymmetrical compositions11 due to the intention of clarity of information, which reject the traditional typography that is one basic symmetrical form12. Tschichold states that the new typography is functional. Logical order applies contrasts in terms of colour, the type of weight as well as size, and space to organise the information logically in order to emphasise the key messages. In addition, asymmetry uses more flexible compositions and far more optical practicalities compared to symmetry. It applies intentional blank white spaces to reserve the balance of elements. The strengths of functional typography are the new definition of 4

Justified is left and right edges are both even.

Lansdale, JR 2019, The elephant of surprise, 1st edn,

Line spacing is the distance between each line of type.

Mulholland Books, USA.

13 points equal 455 millimetres.

Mulholland Books is managed by Hachette Book Group

X-height is the height of lowercase letters without

Ascender is portion of a lowercase letter that extends

Descender is portion of a lowercase letter that extends

Margin is the distance between the text and the edge of

in the U.S, https:''www.mulhollandbooks.com' 3

Rapid Normal is from Rapid family, including Rapid Bold,

ascenders and descenders.

Rapid Bold Italic and Rapid Italic. The font publisher is Altsys Corporation that was a software company in Texas

above the mean line.

and an early Apple Macintosh developer. The year of the font publish was 1994.

below the main baseline. the page

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aesthetics during the altered circumstances. While he compares to the former definition of an ornament, which is only for decoration, he strongly points out that in the new typography, 'ornament' emphasises contrast and applies it to create content hierarchy. It is no doubt that this is one of the primary intentions to draw people's interest in a fast-paced environment. Furthermore, he maintains that 'reading presupposes eye movement.' This is true because designers need to understand how people read and guide them to read the information logically. However, perhaps the main weakness in his argument is that he believes only san serif typeface is suitable for typography because he understates the value of 'art' typefaces such as Ebar and kabel. It is partially reasonable that these 'art' typefaces are not legible but readable.13 I believe that the definition of a good typeface is that the typeface used is in the right context and matches the intention. This is one of the pages of an annual report I designed for Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) based in Melbourne in 2019. The yearly report is mainly used for donors, volunteers, and supporters. I applied functional typography so the readers can find the information quickly. On this page, I used the Helvetica14 typeface and the asymmetrical layout. Due to the high amount of information required to put into each A4 page, and with an audience who are mostly of the 45 and over age group, Helvetica is perfect for this as its large x-height retains legibility at a small size. As there is a lot of content on each page, in order to emphasise the most critical information and show contrast, I have applied different colours, font size and geometrics. The strength of this design is that it clarifies the message logically so readers can glance at the page and know what this is about immediately. However, when I look back to this page, I personally do not think it is good to use flush left for the text as it falls into weird shapes on the right edge in the white space. In addition, the distance between the titles and text are too close, they do not have room to breathe, and they should display the relationship between the title and text. Moreover, the texts on the blue geometry has only a few words on each line, which confuses readers as the lines are too short. Haylock critics Warde's concept of transparent typography as he wants to find out why some typography breaks the rules of typeface and font size. While the First Things First (FTF)(1964) manifesto describes the definition of design as serving for consumption, Herbert Simon claims that design is not only for operations but also for a democratic society. In addition, he points out the drawbacks of the consequentialist perspective is a lack of improvement

and the restriction of the procedure. At the same time, design should be focused on 'cultural interventions such as exhibitions and social campaigns in FTF 2000. Furthermore, the benefit of the intervention typography reveals the content sympathetically through new visuals, which also retains readability. Also, the expressive typography relating to culture and political and social issues aims to alter the current situation to a democratic society. The magazine 'Play Van Abbe(n.d.)' is the collection of the exhibitions, projects, performances, lectures, and discussions for Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands, which Metahaven designed in 2011. The theme of this issue is negotiation. In addition, the primary audience is artists. The typeface is century,15 which is modern in typographic classification. Going on grid-based and asymmetry, the typography applied different sizes of circles in the background. The colours used in this typography are blue and orange and includes photography. This is interventional and expressive design. The contrast colour and geometry are illogical, reducing legibility. In contrast, it increases the readability and emphasises the characteristics of the theme. This expressive typography interprets the spirit of art. However, the contrast of colours powerfully interrupts the readers to concentrate on the texts. Tschichold and Warde have different perspectives about typography, but they still have things in common. Firstly, Tschichold states that it is functional typography in his article The Principles of the New Typography. One of the reasons is logical order. In my view, there is logical order in transparent typography as well. For instance, the relationship between subheadings, the page numbers, texts, the author's name, and the book title on the page. The readers are guided to read the contents logically through design. Secondly, transparent and functional typography mostly aims to increase capitalism's consumption. This is the same as Haylock who claims this typography focuses on the consequences of the works. On the other hand, expressive typography tends to lend itself to democratic society, which is noncommercial. Despite their different views, all of them have advantages and disadvantages in typography. There is legibility in transparent and functional typography, however, it is more precise to represent readability in functional typography. Expressive typography has more readability than other typography because it focuses on emotional intention and intervention to create dialogue and alter perception in society. In addition, expressive typography reveals the new definition of typography, which aims to alter

Readability is to hold the reader's interest in the type's

Helvetica is transitional sans serif, designed by Max

Century is a serif type designed by American Type

Asymmetrical composition is the inequality between halves of the layout

capacity.

Symmetrical form is the layout that is equal to each other on both sides

Miedinger in 1957, one popular typeface. Founder designer Linn Boyd Benton in 1894 for The Century Magazine.

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Figure 3 First Things First (FTF)(1964)

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current situations. In other words, it is possible to encourage designers to critique the existing design instead of transparent and functional typography, which merely followed the current rules. Despite the advantages and disadvantages of these three kinds of typography, they still can be used effectively. The reason for this is because it depends on the concept and intention of its contents. If the fiction publication is designed as expressive typography, it probably loses the meaning of the language. To use one particular typography properly, designers should be familiar with the content, the intention, the audience and the client.

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Hiu Tung Michelle Chu

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Typography is the method and art of making arrangements of the words to be written on clear material, be readable, and appealing when displayed for people to see and read. The type arrangement process includes selecting point sizes, selecting typefaces, line lengths, letter spacing and line spacing, as well as adjusting the distance between pairs of characters (Baines ' Haslam, 2005). Typography is the style used, arrangement, and look of the numerals, letters, and symbols created by the process. Typography and design of type are related closely as disciplines' nevertheless, a lot of typographers do not do interface creation or generation and some of the type designers do not do a consideration of themselves to be typographers (Ambrose ' Harris, 2006). Typographers, graphic designers, typsetters, art directors, comic book artists, manga artists, and more recently, anyone who arranges letters, words, symbols and numbers for publication, distribution or display, from newsletter writers to clerical workers and to self-publishing materials, are all involved in typography (Spencer, 2004). This paper will review three articles by Warde on the topic, 'The Printing Should be Invisible'. Another article is by Haylock, with the title, 'The Critical Goblet'. Lastly will be 'The Principles of the New Typography'. Tschichold. The last part will be my personal opinion on how I feel about designs in light of your typographic preferences. In the text, 'The Printing Should be Invisible', the author uses many keywords in the text. Some of the words include connoisseur of wine, typography, printing, art, and calligraphy (Warde, 1956). Some unknown words can be termed as terminology of the text. They are flagon of wine, favorite vintage, shimmering crimson, goblet, connoisseur of wine, fragrant metaphor, calligraphy, invisible typography, some of these words have meaning (Warde, 1956). A flagon is a large metal or ceramic pitcher used to store alcoholic beverages, particularly wine. Vintage translates to 'best of age'. Shimmering crimson is a deep, bright color of red that shines with a delicate, slightly wavy light. A goblet is a glass with a foot and a stem that is used for drinking. A wine connoisseur is someone well-versed in the subject of wine (Warde, 1956). Fragrant metaphor means the sweetness of using metaphors (Harding, 1981). Invincible typography means that a designer's first aim should be to keep the reader's attention on the text, and any distraction produced by the visual styling or arrangement of that material should be avoided. The piece by Warde talks about how printing should be invisible. The paper talks about typography. The author

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explains that the most significant aspect of conducting a printing exercise is that it transmits cognition, ideas, and images from a mind to another (Harding, 1981). This statement, according to the author, is the 'front door' to the science of typography. According to the author, printing is enjoyable for a variety of reasons, but it is most significant as a means of accomplishing something (Harding, 1981). Calligraphy, the author continues, can almost be described as a fine art nowadays because its primary educational and economic purpose has been removed' however, printing in English language will not qualify as an art until the current until printing itself passes its utility to some yet unimagined successor, the English language no longer conveys ideas to future generations (Harding, 1981). The author closes by stating that printing necessitates mental humility, without which many fine arts are currently mired in self-conscious and maudlin experiments. The writer supports her argument by giving examples and using metaphors which helps bring out the best of what the paper talks about. According to how the writer has brought the paper's topic, I agree with the argument of the paper because according to me printing transmits ideas and cognition from one person to another (Warde, 1999). The strength of the text is found in its usage of metaphors and bringing out the theme of the paper using these words which keeps the reader glued to just read it (Warde, 1999). To some extent, the text uses some hard metaphors which take the reader more time to understand them for example, deep shimmering crimson. The text uses symmetrical typography and specifically bilateral symmetry. It also uses postmodernism in its language of explaining how printing should be invisible (Hochuli ' Whitehouse, 2008). Typography, typefounding, with the invention of moveable type printing at the confluence of the medieval and Renaissance eras in mid-fifteenthcentury Europe, and typeface design became inextricably linked talents. The logical precedents for letterforms in systematized typography were handwritten letterforms from the mid-15th century, which embodied 3000 years of evolving letter design (Hochuli ' Whitehouse, 2008). The first symmetrical text forms were modeled after the texture or textual scribal letter, which was developed by the powerful gothic spirit of blackletter from the hands of German region scribes (Hochuli ' Whitehouse, 2008). Texture was accelerated into four distinct, structurally rich, and highly disciplined sub-styles in Italy (the second country where moveable type printing was done) by

the combined impact of humanist and neo-classical typography: Bastarda includes words like bastarda, fraktur, rotunda, and Schwabacher. Symmetry establishes balance, and design balance establishes harmony, order, and aesthetically beautiful results. When used in literature, ii enhances the text's beauty, attracting readers and encouraging them to read it (Hochuli ' Whitehouse, 2008). Thus, through the use of symmetry typography, readers are attracted to the text which makes the author's message be read and understood. Symmetrical typography assists in making a piece of writing look attractive to the readers and makes them think about how the author could have written the article (Hochuli ' Whitehouse, 2008). These thoughts help the author get more people to read his or her piece of writing because of the suspense created by the outlook of the article. Thus, the symmetrical arrangement helps the reader even read easily and thus helps the author in achieving the purpose of writing the article. In the text 'The Critical Goblet' by Haylock, some of the keywords used include typography and first things first manifestoes. The author recounts how the book's typeface 'The Archaeology of Knowledge' impeded his appreciation of the text. He notes that italic faces in modern serif families are not usually narrower than their roman equivalents (Warde, 1999). He goes on to say that the page's fluctuation in width creates a fascinating rhythm. The author describes the First Things First manifestoes, which were first published in 1964 and then republished in 2000. He discusses how the early manifestoes demanded that designers consider the repercussions of their work by condemning design's role in the maintenance of consumerism (Warde, 1999). The author notes that in the FTF manifesto, design is viewed as a profession, which is mercantile, and so an economic operation. He goes on to say that no visual ethics can be established as long as we have this idea of design. According to Haylock, while design can be defined as the processes by which we attempt to transform existing situations into preferred ones, the question of what criteria we use to determine which future situations are preferable, as well as how we evaluate the merits of various options and tailor our efforts accordingly, remains (Warde, 1999). However, Haylock claims that a consequentialist viewpoint is insufficient. He explains that because the repercussions of one's choices can never be fully known in advance, ethical thought might come to a halt, leading to inaction or, more commonly, nihilistic retention of the status quo, where it should guide action (Warde, 1999). Second,

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Haylock claims that this ethics is restricted in reality to a technique of selecting among available possibilities and does not recommend otherwise unimagined actions. Second, Haylock claims that the challenge of developing an ethics that will allow us to think past the FTF perspective's impasse is to unravel the ordering of our awareness (Warde, 1999). On this topic, he turns to Alain Badiou's work, in which Badiou says that ethics refers to a commitment to a truth process. Finally, the author poses a question on what then can be said of design and ethics and typography, and critical theory (Warde, 1999). Warde advocates for open transmission of ideas, whereas Badiou and Horkheimer advocate for the ex-communication of opaque ideologies. He wraps up with a study of Valiz's work 'The Recent Antennae Series.' He explains why he was skeptical of the designers' apparent affectations in the way typography is defined by stunts, not just in the heading, which Warde may allow. The text uses asymmetrical typography. The lack of symmetry or equality between the parts of your design is referred to as asymmetry. Both parts of the asymmetrical design are the same (or similar), whereas both halves of an asymmetrical design are distinct and hence not equal (Bringhurst ' Eckersley, 2000). The asymmetrical layout must adhere to certain rules. Asymmetrical designs may have unequal pieces, but high-quality compositions create visual equilibrium. This means that authors can use the visual weights of their composition to determine how evenly their composition appears on both sides of the given area (Bringhurst ' Eckersley, 2000). Another way using the asymmetrical layout in literature as the author has done is adding contrast. Contrast is important in asymmetrical layouts because it allows viewers to distinguish between distinct visual elements within a layout (Bringhurst ' Eckersley, 2000). An author can emphasize a specific area of the piece by using contrast in their writing, which can help their audience realize where to focus their attention. The author has more freedom of expression in his or her piece with an asymmetrical layout. Asymmetrical forms have more active space around them. Asymmetry creates unpredictable patterns, and you have greater flexibility of expression overall than symmetry (Bringhurst ' Eckersley, 2000). The article written by Haylock exemplifies this. Because of the freedom he has, the different pieces of writing and layouts seem different, which helps bring out the best of the author in his essay The Critical Goblet. The use of an asymmetrical layout aids in attracting readers'

attention (Bringhurst ' Eckersley, 2000). Because asymmetry produces more complicated interactions between parts, it is more intriguing than symmetry. It becomes more engaging as a result of this. As a result, viewers are drawn to the article, where they learn more about Brad Haylock's explanation of The Critical Goblet (Bringhurst ' Eckersley, 2000). The other advantage of using an asymmetrical layout is breaking monotony which helps the reader concentrate more. With more concentration, readers can understand more and in so doing, the author can achieve his intention of making more people read his piece of literature. In the text, 'The Principles of the New Typography'. Tschichold considered clarity to be the finest form of book arts, rather than beauty. The reader's attention would be redirected to the meaning of the text rather than arbitrary, as he viewed it, visual clutter if the focus was on clear communication (Tschichold, 2020). He had been schooled as traditional calligraphy and knew that traditional typesetting was based on a central axis and that every decision was frequently based on asymmetrical layout. He rapidly began to incorporate Constructivist and Bauhaus themes into his work after seeing the first Bauhaus show in Weimar (Tschichold, 2020). In his essay, he demonstrates why a new, more precise typesetting system is required. Because of the numerous demands for our attention made by the enormous volume of print, which necessitates the most economy of speech, today's highest clarity is required (Tschichold, 2020). The New Typography favors asymmetrical type that is ordered according to the type of content rather than rigid adherence to formalist typesetting tradition (Tschichold, 2020). To avoid detracting from pure speech, any sort of embellishment must be suppressed. Every part of a text has a clear, a rational relationship between importance and value that is dictated by the content. The typographer's job is to represent this link clearly and explicitly using type sizes and weights, line arrangement, color, photography, and other means (Tschichold, 2020). When these ideas are used to a text, the result is often a rhythm that is different from previous symmetrical typography. Asymmetry is a rhythmic expression of function design. Today, we see a naive need for decoration that our century must oppose (Tschichold, 2020). When adornment was utilized in the past, it just served to show how little the essence of typography, which is communication, was understood. Tschichold would later come to consider this absolutist viewpoint as indicative of the fascism that was sweeping Germany, and revert to his youth's classic typography

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(Tschichold, 2020). Although it's simple to understand Tschichold's antipathy, The New Typography's concepts are particularly required in today's mediasaturated society (Tschichold, 2020). Written content that is organized in a clear and orderly manner is more likely to be read. People disregard the most sophisticated websites that provide the same services as the most straightforward ones just because they are not straightforward. This article by Tschichold uses expressive typography to express and explain the article, 'The Principles of the New Typography'. The first word of the article is modern and the first letter M is amplified to attract the attention of the reader (Turgut, 2017). Expressive typography is the type that has a distinct graphic form that intensifies the message. Expressive typography combines type with visual communication in ways that go far beyond what we see in everyday typography. The typeface embraces its status as a highly visual medium. Readers are drawn to expressive typography (Turgut, 2017). The first step in adopting this sort of typography is to choose the right font. The typeface appears to be neat. It isn't too small or shabby. The usage of easy-to-read fonts is crucial to the presentation. The fonts contribute to the text's worth. It aids readers' comprehension of text material (Turgut, 2017). For appealing to the target audience, the right color, font, and text size are critical. Expressive typography also helps the paper look artistic which will make many people like the article and want to read it. This type of typography makes Tschichold bring out the best of him in artistry. The attention of the audience is held by the expressive typeface. It's simple to draw readers in with font, but keeping their interest demands more ingenuity. Tschichold adds interest to the content by engagingly highlighting texts (Turgut, 2017). It uses nice images to make the text look appealing. In the text 'The Principles of the New Typography,' expressive typography builds an information hierarchy. The term 'information hierarchy' refers to the classification of texts within a material based on their relevance. To distinguish the most significant texts, the author uses distinct font styles and sizes (Turgut, 2017). The author uses larger font sizes to emphasize essential points. This allows the audience to quickly select the information they should focus on. The text 'The Principles of the New Typography' uses expressive typography to develop and build recognition. The author follows a pattern when it comes to fonts and rhythmically presents his piece, which adds a lot to the paper's overall appearance (Turgut, 2017). The fonts

you pick to display the pictures are always remembered by the audience. The font identifies the article and assists the viewers in recognizing it. Thanks to expressive typography, each of the author's works has a sense of presence. The first article uses symmetrical typology and the central argument is about how printing should be invincible. The second article uses asymmetrical typography. The article's major point is a critique of Beatrice Warde's 'The Crystal Goblet,' which focuses on texts rather than designs (Warde, 1999). As a straightforward expression of concept, it is frequently assigned and used as a mainstay of typographic teaching and reference. In terms of nature and purpose, however, this piece maintains assumptions that frame typography's cultural culpability and social constraint (Warde, 1999). This study relates influential formulae to the material and cultural aspects that produced them, not merely to argue for them, but also to identify the terms on which argument and even comprehension takes place. In addition to typographic assistance, these themes echo notions of literary meaning, social reading, and historical importance (Turgut, 2017). This study examines the disputed boundaries of these conceptions in Warde's day, as well as their revision and resuscitation in modern typographic debate. When looking at the article by Jan Tschichold about the principles of the new typology, uses expressive typology and Tschichold considers clarity to be the finest form of book arts, rather than beauty (Turgut, 2017). The reader's attention is redirected to the meaning of the text rather than extraneous details by focusing on straightforward communication. Tschichold finally came to consider this absolutist viewpoint as a sign of the fascism that was sweeping Germany and returned to his youth's classic typography (Tschichold, 2020). Although it's simple to understand Tschichold's antipathy, The New Typography's concepts are particularly required in today's media-saturated society. Clear and orderly structuring of written text, according to Tschichold, ensures that it will be read (Tschichold, 2020). People disregard the most sophisticated articles that provide the same services as straightforward articles just because they are not straightforward. To conclude the paper, their different forms, and types of typography. Each has a different meaning and advantage and is used for different purposes. Some are used to make the audience concentrate, others are used to attract the audience while others are used to stress a particular point. This implies that different

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typologies have different uses and thus, using them where they are inappropriate would lead to a different translation and interpretation. This paper has done a description of three papers. Namely, The Crystal Goblet or the printing should be invincible, the Crystal Goblet by Brad Haylock, and lastly the Principles of the New Typology. It has explained the main ideas contained in the articles, the keywords used in the articles, how the writers support their argument, and the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments in these articles. Lastly, the paper has given a comparative analysis to these works by Haylock, Warde, and Tschichold.

Chenxu Gao

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Modern typography has received as many controversies as one can imagine. Typography and printing are ubiquitous in life. They promote the development of society and serve as the inheritance of human civilization. According to Warde, B. (1995), 'That the most important thing about printing is that it conveys thought, ideas, images, from one mind to other minds'. People invented printing and typesetting to record knowledge, experience, and history. This precious wealth is passed on from generation to generation. Since human beings have books, typesetting has been indispensable. The history of typography is very long. Whether it is ancient Asian or European books, typography is a crucial part. Ancient Chinese typography originated in Han Dynasty. Practical bamboo slips are used as carriers. Duo to the characteristics of bamboo slips, the layout order is vertical. The typesetting in ancient Europe and Persia was horizontal, and the carrier was cow and sheepskin. This is different from ancient Chinese typesetting, but it does not hinder its function. Modern typography has developed various forms due to the influence of technology. Although there are many styles to choose from, reading is still the main function. I will explain the impact of typography on the public design from three aspects: invisible, new and old, and expressive. According to Beatrice Warde, The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible author, she compares good typography to a goblet and windowpane. The purpose of typography is based on reading content, and a good typographic design help reader focuses on the text instead of being distracted by complicated decorations. Legibility and readability are two important concepts followed by typesetting designers. Is invisibility the standard for good typography? Is the visual effect first also the aesthetic standard for some readers? From the development perceptive, is Beatrice ward's thoughts too limited for typography? Whether the aesthetic and reading habits of the minority group of people are not satisfied and respected. An opposite voice appeared in Marinetti, writing in 1913, as he said 'The leaps and burst of style that run through the page. With this typographic revolution and this variety in letters, I mean to redouble the expressive force of words.' Some deconstructive critics suggested that Invisible typography is a restraint, an act imposed on others. It has only one way to read, and its losses the freedom to reading. However, deconstruction can free readers in a variety of ways. In my opinion, the theme of typography design should be text. When thinking about and imagining the context of the text, I suddenly paid attention to the

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questioned of why there is a gap or discoloration in this paragraph, is this the author deliberately? Overjumping and colorful text will disturb readers' attention. As Kinross, R. (2018) said, 'One sure thing was that the reader of printed texts that had been designed along 'deconstructed lines had no more freedom than the reader of a text designed to be transparent.' If the reader is unsure about whether to read across or down, that may be a loss of freedom.' Some Japanese typography designs conform to the standard of invisible. The typography in Japanese design is good at using graphic, white space, and hand-painted elements. They are demanding details and pay attention to the relationship with nature. White and invisible have a lot in common. White can set off the elements and make the layout look coordinated, unified, and consistent. Japanese design influenced by European and American design concepts' it still can show a unique aesthetic consciousness with its style. Kenya Hara is a representative figure in the field of Japanese design. 'The role of design is not to surprise or draw people's attention in with novelty,' said Hara. Seeing the essence of things through is the purpose of design. It corresponds to Beatrice Warde point of view invisible. In his book Designing design, there are many examples of excellent typography. Handbook for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Nagano Winter Olympics is one of them. The Handbook combines tradition and modernity, nationality, and internationality. The layout of the English part is horizontal, and the Japanese part uses the traditional vertical. The placement of the graphic allows the line of sight to focus on the middle of the text. Appropriate white space gives readers room to breathe. MUJI's advertisement 'Nature (2014)' was set and shot in Iceland. Using the characteristic of the local people live in the natural landscape to illustrate the integration of humans and nature. Ten Kanji characters were used in the layout of the entire advertisement image. They would not destroy the beauty in the picture, but fully convey the idea that the designer wants to express. Nature can also mean another form of transparency. Nature is not the product of human beings. It does not add any artificial feeling and designs. What you see is what it is like water. Reading habits of the reader are not all the same, so it is reasonable to argue about typography style and theory. Because of a different opinion, designers have more extensions and experiments in publication design. With the development of information technology, reading is no longer limited to books. As Tschichold J

(2001) said, 'the speed with which the modern consumer of printing has to absorb it means that the form of printing also must adapt itself to the conditions of modern life.' Books and text can be on any platform, such as screen, billboard. The high efficiency and low cost pursued by modern society have promoted economic development. People are unwilling to spend too much time receiving information. Modern typography pays attention to functions rather than focusing on the reader's needs. In ancient times, the meaning of typography was the opposite of modern. At that time, the efficiency of information transmission was low, and people only receive information from paper books or spoken. There was no massive of information that takes up the time. So, people can spend a lot of time reading the book, and its function is adapted to the needs of readers. The automobile has experienced a century of development history, and its derivative products such as advertisements, brochures, and books have also undergone innovation. Camry is a classic model for Toyota, there is a strong contrast between the format and layout in the 1983 ad and the 2021 ad. For the 1983 poster, the main body of the poster is divided into three parts. The text narrative occupies a lot of space in the entire advertisement. Except for the logo using sans-serif fonts, the rest of the text uses sans-serif fonts. A poster can clarify all the information for consumers. According to Tschichold J. (2001), 'Our age, with its very different aims, its often-different ways, and means, and highly developed techniques, must dictate new and different visual forms.' In contrast to the 2021 Camry ad, the entire high-definition picture and simple text are enough to convey the information. If you are interested in advertising, you can click on the hyperlink to learn more, for those who are not interested, ads did not take up too much time. This corresponds to the fast-paced modern life. Every era has its typography habits that are suitable for that time. The technology change publication design. Human reading habits and aesthetics always change with time. By the middle of the last century, two cruel world wars had killed millions of people, the use of nuclear weapons, the collapse of ideology after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Western world had a tremendous transformation. The modernist values that dominated the pre-war world and promote optimism seem outdated and doomed to end. Art flourishes in the new era of postwar capitalist revival in the United States. As people questioned Abstractionism that it could not express the status quo of the world and popular culture, Dadaism came into being,

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postmodernism began to prevail. In my opinion, Postmodernism revolves around more practical things, no matter elegant, full of irony and banter. It opposes authority and rules and truly brings art to daily life. Art can be expressed by various things, such as old clothes, scrap iron, bricks, and concrete. Wolfgang Weinger is an iconic figure in postmodern typography design. His fonts and other design elements are no longer a stereotyped font model, but to make it more interesting, thus enriching the form of the design and adding decoration. He believes that the text does not need to be constrained to a layout, so he shattered the text and reorganized it to form a new style. Elements of modern science can also find in his work. His design style is full of individualism. Using the camera to stretch the picture, abstraction in the poster became his unique style. The swiss poster 1900-1983 (1984) is a good example of photography and poster layout. He used strokes to draw clouds into mountains from the visual perception of view. The collage of color blocks combined into the moon and the sun. On the background, it has a fuzzy point texture. He uses offset printing to make the artwork look complex and chaotic but also playful. His poster design breaks traditional cognition. Although he uses a variety of design methods to decorate his artwork, he still emphasized the basic information transmission of the design. To sum up, the culture of various regions and different times have promoted the development of typographic design. As Muggeridge, F said, 'The patterns and forms that human worked to create illustrate the history of the practice. I am not trying to find the perfect typography form or arrangement, but I hope to continue to in life-long exploration of choreographing letters on changing.' The transparent goblet can reflect the essence of the wine, the nature can be seen from the glass window. The social turmoil and changes in people's ideology have spawned a variety of genres and ideas. Art is no longer a skill unique to few people, everyone can be an artist. The rapid development of technology has subverted many people's traditional cognition. Typography is not only on paper, but also on the screen, or even threedimensional. From the gorgeous and cumbersome typography that served the religious to the simplicity of modern times, Typography always follows the rules which conveying knowledge and culture.

Yilun Hu

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Typography is an indispensable skill for me as a graphic designer. In the past, the layout methods I used often changed with the different purposes of the project. The first type of typesetting project I want to say is a single product type. For example, to make a party poster, you need to extract the main information (theme, time, location, ticket price) and secondary information (sponsor, host, DJ, etc.), compared with the main information, the secondary information will be 'Obscure', some of the actual operation may be that the size of the main information will be larger than the secondary information, and the color will be more conspicuous. Such projects are often simple in purpose and easier to achieve. The second type of typesetting project is of complex purpose. For example, when making a book, the concept of primary or secondary information disappears in the content part of the book. I always think that the typesetting of large amounts of information should be visually comfortable. When the purpose of the project is to convey the content, the typesetting does not need to have too many magnificent parts. I want to take the more information layout as a 'sofa' Like the sofashaped personality1, it can accept all kinds of people. This kind of layout, like an invitation letter, invites the reader to calm down and take the time to read the content of the article. Typography, as a major category in communication design, exists in almost all types of design activities, but typography will not become the most important part and should be changed for different design purposes. Compared to Beatrice Warde's 'transparent typesetting', I think that the three-process2 of Robin Kinross's article about typesetting theory are indeed closer to the typesetting work in my life. The part about conveying information in Beatrice's article is what I agree with, typesetting It shouldn't bother the transmission of the article's information to achieve the purpose of being simple and easy to read, but I also think it depends on the content, purpose and carrier of the article. Especially in the current social environment, the fast pace of life makes people more inclined to read pictures and often ignore text, which requires communication designers not only to pay attention to the transmission of text information when typesetting, but also to care about the feelings released by entire book or entire article, and even the 'book' as a medium of information dissemination are gradually being ignored by the world, and people have turned to more convenient e-books or articles on streaming media. This phenomenon has challenged typesetting. In

China, I can say that the most mainstream article-type content sharing channel is 'Official Account'3, a media form based on WeChat, a social platform, in which articles no longer have 'page turning' but 'slide down'. Pictures dominate and text content becomes difficult to attract readers. In this case, I think typography needs to bear the responsibility of 'making text attractive'. The case I got is a booklet similar to the brand introduction published by the trendy brand Boot Boyz Biz. They use a grayish blue as the theme color of the entire book. From the text to the image, they use this blue. I printed them on a kind of pale-yellow paper. The first thing I saw was pages 8 and 9. There is no too much decorative typesetting on these two pages, only pure blue text. If you follow in my past habit, I felt that the word itself was slightly larger, but when I saw these two pages of text, I felt 'comfortable' and started to read the content subconsciously. I was first conveyed by the typesetting of these two pages. Feeling attracted, and then triggered my curiosity about the content. Then, I saw pages 2 and 3. In the text of these two pages, all the letters 'B' was replaced with a logo composed of the two letters 'B' frequently used by the brand. It should be said that this the way of replacing a single letter is often seen. I think this way will cause a little dyslexion for non-native English speakers. But in these two pages, as a non-native English speaker, I will not feel uncomfortable, but will make I thought 'What does this logo represent?' In other words, it also aroused my curiosity. While the brochure using a font similar to Helvetica in the text (I'm not sure, there seems to be a certain difference), another interesting font is used in the number part. I think these numbers are perfectly integrated into the text and added Created another kind of fun. Subsequently, the layout used on pages 16 and 17 is very interesting. The two adjacent pages are two completely different layout methods. Page 16 is a combination of graphics and small-sized text, and page 17 is the same way as the previous article. I think there will be a lack of integrity in the layout of these two pages. First of all, compared with the text size of 17 pages, the text of 16 pages is too small. There are no problems with pictures and graphics, but I think the method for the text on 16 is not advisable, and I will have the idea that I don't want to read it. (Ps. but if I change the angle, ignore the content of the 16 pages of text itself, and treat the entire text as a pattern, then the two pages are balanced in my opinion, although part of the readability is lost, but as an element to balance the picture, I think there is no

A person with a sofa personality refers to a person

An official account is a social media derived from

with tolerance, who can freely chat with people of

WeChat. Individuals, organizations, or companies can

different personalities, and it will make people feel very

comfortable to interact with him.

people can receive information through subscriptions.

It can be roughly summarized as preparation work, typesetting work and detail adjustment work. The preparation work that is not mentioned too much in Beatrice's article is proposed in Kinross's article. I think this is an indispensable part of typesetting. The designer needs to have a logical guide to the overall content in advance to make the follow-up work go smoothly.

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problem.) Overall, although I did not actually rea d this booklet in my hands, I think it is a very good work in terms of layout. Regarding Tschichold's functional typography, I very much agree with his examples of airplanes and cars in the article. In modern society, the maturity of technology makes typography infinite possibilities, and compared to the pursuit of 'appearance', 'Useful' has become something people really pursue. Here I want to give an example. China is in the 'post-brand era'4 for now, in the current market environment, if you want to create a brand-new brand, it will be much more difficult than in the past few years. The root of this is that the public's 'brand awareness' has become weaker, and now people are more pursuing practicality. As ong as this thing is useful and durable, it does not matter what company or brand it belongs to (I know the situation exists in the clothing industry I am serving and the daily necessities industry where my father works. The situation in these two industries is already very extensive. I am not familiar with other industries so I won't repeat them). Therefore, for typesetting, we need to think more about its purpose and how it becomes practical. In this era full of various media platforms, typesetting has various forms such as promotional posters for various online stores, and timeline poster for museum production and various brand information in fashion magazines, etc., although the purpose is different, the commonality is that they all hope to achieve the purpose of 'communication' and they hope that the audience to watch it, in other words, it is to attract the audience Go see. I think the meaning of 'form' in Tschichold's point of view must be created from function is that typography does not grow into a certain way by nature, but becomes a certain way because of the purpose behind the content. The second example I brought comes from a Japanese fashion magazine 'POPEYE'5. These pages are from the April 2021 issue of POPEYE. I selected a few pages that contain a lot of pictures and information. Unlike Chinese books, Japanese books turn pages from left to right, and unlike China, which changed the form of vertical typesetting, Japan also retains both horizontal and vertical typesetting. When I read POPEYE for the first time, this is simply magical to me. I always think that except for a small amount of content, it is a very dangerous way for vertical typesetting and horizontal typesetting to appear on the same page. It is almost equivalent to a person walking normally'then suddenly was asked to walk sideways. When I tried to analyze the feasibility of this approach,

one of my guesses was that maybe other elements in the entire page helped this approach. Take 38 pages for example. Although there are two types of layouts, they are not between them. It's irrelevant. First of all, the vertical typesetting text itself is larger than the horizontal text. This has a sequence, plus the integration of clothes, necklaces, rings, pens, etc., the gap between the two types of typesetting will not appear very abrupt. I think the visual orientation of this page be from various objects to vertical text to horizontal text. The various elements are properly placed in right positions without being abrupt. On the contrary, in pages 48 and 49, the content covers the entire page. Various elements are piled together and also contain vertical and horizontal text. Although I can see that the typesetting person has already try to place the content reasonably, you can see a lot of efforts have been made such as dividing blocks and using illustrations to increase the fun of reading, but the complexity and confusion of the content are still unavoidable. What I want to say most is that these two pages lack the focus of attention and appropriate white space. , Which made me feel tired from reading (of course, maybe the pages arranged for these contents are only two pages). In general, although there will be some typographic points in this magazine that I do not like, I am always surprised by the richness of the information contained in this monthly magazine and the overall presentation of interesting, modern and traditional feelings, I feel that it is hard to imagine the amount of information and various integration, selection, and typesetting tasks that people in the editorial department face every month. In my mind, it is a very good-looking magazine with the function of conveying information. I think the difference between Haylock's article and Beatrice's theory is that while retaining the information, creative design should be allowed. I think that regardless of the perspective, the typesetting is always important to the content, but It is never higher than the content itself. Designers can use their wisdom to design an exquisite layout, but the layout serves the content fundamentally. Reading Haylock's article reminded me that in HipHop music, Boombap6 as an old-school style has been loved by countless people so far. The unique rhythm of this music style can always make people move easily, but with the development of the times, Boombap is no longer the mainstream style of hip-hop music nowadays. Now the popular mumble rap, trap, etc. have been criticized by people who love old school music for a long time,

The term means that the public is no longer

Boombap is a subgenre and music production style that

psychologically dependent on the brand from the

was prominent in the East Coast during the golden age

present. I guess it may also be related to the "web live

of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

sales" that reached its peak during the Covid-19 period. People's enthusiasm for brand is gradually indifferent. 5

POPEYE is a men's fashion magazine founded by Japanese publishing house Magazine House in June 1976. It hits the shelves on the 10th of every month.

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Figure 1 Boot Boyz Biz

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saying that they are deviant, but the irony is that after these different styles appeared, it attracted a lot of new listeners. I must admit that I prefer the old-school style for hip-hop music, but I don't hate new music forms. Even I think this era needs new things. The same is true for typography. Designers must pay attention to the various changes of the times. At the same time, keep exploring new things, keep thinking and keep learning. The third example is a set of visual images for the graduation design exhibition of Guangzhou Academy of Arts, China in 2021, created by Chinese designer Tian Bo and Chinese visual design team Another Design. I saw this work earlier this year and I was deeply shocked. My feelings at the time were hard to explain in words, but I think the 'power of information' shocked me. They adopted the current popular 'dynamic poster'7 method and used some of the existing operating logic on an open source website to create, combined with the current popular 'barrage'8 in China, and finally created a set of dynamic posters and visual identity. First of all, the typesetting work of dynamic posters is very different from traditional static typesetting, and this work is different from ordinary dynamic posters in dynamic typesetting. The meaning of 'ordinary' dynamic typesetting is that making dynamic effects on fixed information without the emergence of new information, much like the traditional static typesetting, and their work this time is based on a situation where new information is constantly appearing, just like a 'barrage'. In the case of retaining the purpose of communicating information, I think they actually added a feeling of 'information overload' to the work, and my brain was 'frozen'when I first watched it. Although in an interview, they said that this project did not add a 'well-designed' vision, but I was able to clearly grasp the beauty in this work. I think it should be one of my favorite works in 2021. In conclusion, the designer's typesetting work should focus on the information dissemination itself, and explore and innovate forms with the characteristics of the times based on the information dissemination. In addition, the audience is also a very important factor at present. Like the fashion magazine POPEYE I mentioned above, POPEYE has a wide audience worldwide, mainly for young people who are concerned about fashion and those engaged in fashion-related work. 'fashion', 'Modern' is the hallmark of this magazine, so while disseminating information, showing these signs to readers is also a very important part, in other words, it is also a means to attract them.

What I want to say is that 'serving the readers' is also an important part of the typesetting work. Turn the good into the better, and turn the existing into the first choice. Addition 1: Recently I heard an elder of mine who likes to read said: 'Now books are only suitable for reading in the morning, not at night. The words are good words, and the paper is also good paper.' There are now a large number of well-made books on the market' one problem is that the high-quality paper they choose has a serious reflection problem. This is especially obvious when the reading environment is under local light at night, which makes reading a little more obstructive, and of course it also affects the dissemination of information. This is a carrier issue and it is worth thinking about. Addition 2: You can check the third case in this website: <https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3c8vIiaiwvSGqQssnqk_w> It is an interview, include both Tian Bo and Another Design and more works from them.

Using video as a carrier to display with any equipment

It usually appears in videos and live broadcasts. Viewers

that can play video. The size is the same as usual posters.

can post their current thoughts or comments on the

The difference is that the words or objects on the poster

screen in real time to interact with other viewers or

will be given dynamic effects to make them move.

anchors. Tian Bo and Another Design use the classic way of "drifting" on their work.

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Figure 2 You can check the third case in this website: <https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3c8vIiaiwvSGqQssnqk_w>

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Courtney Bree Madelaine Thomas

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Week 1 // 'The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible' Beatrice Ward Communication Designers, Courtney Bree and Madelaine Thomas, will be discussing three artefacts of publishing design. The focus is centred on typographic methodology and theory, and compares each artefact against a series of renowned academic typographic articles. First up we have a 2017 book design by Croatian designer, Tomislav Vlainic. The book is a collection of interviews from Croatian Artists from 1962 to 2001 authored by journalist and art critic Elena Cvetkova. We'll be comparing Vlainics work against an article written by Beatrice Warde in 1955, titled 'The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible'. Warde was a European typographic theorist who preached readability as the epitome of successful typography, that type is only a window for the reader to look through, not to be noticed. The book layout repeats the question and answer form of the journalist's conversation with the artist with typographic solutions enabling the reader to always be aware who is on which side. Even if you didn't know this was a book of interviews, do you think you could tell based on the typographic styling alone? The chosen artefact is a functional, clean and direct means to dictate two thought processes. Despite the language barrier, the layout and choice of font, various weighting1 and alignments2 signifies variable stances within the 'idea transfer'. Questions that direct discussion are unwaveringly more pronounced in the body, perhaps acting as a heuristic reminder of the discussion directions. Based on westernised normative design rules, the typographic styling signifies that the publication's goal is for the reader to feel as though they're part of the discussion. I think Vlainić has found a good balance of designerly aesthetic choices and readability. For me, I find the formatting difficult to read, however very aesthetic to look at. It's hard to say whether I am motivated to read the book because the layout is an aesthetic I've grown used to through

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The weight of a font is the thickness of the character outlines relative to their height. A typeface may come in many weights, from ultra-light to extra-bold.

Alignment refers to the positioning of text on a page layout in correspondence to a right, left or centred axis.

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design education, or if the actual readability is successful for my personal neural pathways and abilities. I would agree with the motivation factor, I'm not particularly interested in reading this material based on the typographic layout alone. Beatrice Warde claims that good typography can make even the most boring subject enjoyable to read. Do you think this design is readable? Warde highlights to variables when it comes to the 'invisibility' of words' readability and legibility. What makes something pleasant to read? This dictates readability whereas the level at which the reader is able to interpret and subconsciously translate the words into meaning outlines legibility. A successful combination of these makes the words somewhat invisible, and rather conveys intangible thought-processes for direct interpretation, allowing the reader to then act rather than dwell in confusion and irritation. The text outlines that our subconscious mind is constantly focusing on any 'blunders', whether it be incorrect spacing, alignment or colour. The observant nature of our subconscious means mental clarity, focus and bandwidth is directed toward shortcomings, rather than what the words mean to portray. I think you're on the money there. Maybe it's just our typographically trained minds, but 'blunders' in a text can completely throw me off! Really removes me from the flow of thoughts and ideas. I think Warde would be happy to hear that. Despite the language barrier, when observing this text, are you aware of any mental 'blunders'? Hmm' Looking over it again, I can't find anything in Vlainic's work that I would consider a 'blunder'. Despit having a justified alignment, I can't see any 'rivers3', 'widows' or 'orphans4'. Attention to detail there. Sometimes the page's grid layout jumps from single column to double column. Do you think this was necessary to enhance readability, or just an aesthetic choice? I believe this is a layout choice that aims to enhance balance, hierarchy and contrast. The white space also allows for some mental breaks in between large blocks of information processing. Mental breaks would definitely be a must for a book like this. Keeping the audience's attention is a struggle for

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Rivers are gaps between words which appear to run and wind vertically through a paragraph of text. Rivers are more

noticeable in text with full justification or monospaced font for both aesthetic and readability reasons. 4

Widows and orphans are terms that refer to a lone line or word of text that jumps to the next page'column or starts a page'column. They create unnecessary focus on one element and are typically avoided for both aesthetic and readability reasons.

We refer to modernist Western typography ideals as a strict set of rules constructed by prolific European typographic designers during the Modernist design period of the 1920's - 1960's. These rules condemn decorative and expressive typography styling in favour of optimal readability and functionality above all else. Also known as International style, standardised.

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contemporary designers. What do you think of the aesthetic styling? Is it appropriate for a collection of historical interviews? Historically interviews reign from a variety of contexts. If this were an interview that dissected the biological breakdown of a beetle abdomen, then perhaps it would be too aesthetically driven. However, this is a publication that appeals to a visually driven audience and the aesthetic styling caters to that. That's a great point, the readers are assumed to be visually driven people if they're reading a book of artist interviews. Designing appropriately for your audience is make or break in the industry. I like the diagonal styling consistent throughout both type and image, from the diagonal lines as an aesthetic element, to the alternating indents in the headings and questions. I enjoy the variable layouts. It's more stimulating and differentiates the text from a publication that is aimed for a general and non-specified audience to a publication that is developed for artists and visual thinkers. This design won Bronze in the 2017 European Design Awards. I don't think it breaks any barriers, or challenges the modernist, Western typography ideals5. I tend to agree. Heteronormative6 rules that dictate design education and perceptions of 'good' design are based on eurocentric derivatives. I suppose it's fitting it was acclaimed in a European Awards competition then! Do you think Beatrice Warde would approve of Vlainic's typographic choices? I think given the context, audience and content, yes. I agree. She touches on her approval of aesthetic elements if they improve the enjoyable experience of the reader.

Denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation. It has a role to play upholding the status-quo of design norms.

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Figure 1 Cvetkova, E 2017, . Four Decades with Artists of the Croatian Art Scene, Croatian Society of Art Historians

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Week 2 // 'The Principles of the New Typography' Jan Tschichold The second artefact is the Bystander Anthology' by Kadak Collective. The book is currently in the process of being published, and is comprised of 34 graphic narratives created by 41 Indian, queer, nonbinary or female artists. The publication is 'about geography and gender, identity and self, boundary and exclusion through the lens of the experience of the 'other'' the bystander' (Kadak Collective, 2020). We will be analysing this work comparatively against key themes in Jan Tsischold's 'The Principles of New Typography'. The artefact publication was specifically chosen in dissension to morally corrupt themes present throughout Jan Tschichold's text. Jan Tschichold is a historically renowned designer who's recognised for developing guiding principles for typographic modernism and fundamentalist typographic structures. Alongside analysis of the provided artefact, we will be critiquing 'Die Neue Typography', design canons, revitalism and their implications. When searching for an artefact, we made it a goal for it to abide by the following criteria: One: developed by an Indian publication designer. Two: not developed by a Cis-Male, and an optional and ideal third was to find a publication with traditional indian influence. Although seemingly simple, placing these objectives on the task highlighted how inaccessible or invisible design from these minorities is. We were presented with a meagre few options to analyse, most of which had not made it to publication. However if the narrative was switched, and the criteria were to find a white cis-male publication designer, we would be presented with a myriad of options to interpret and analyse. How do you think historical design texts, such as Jan Tschichold's New Typography impact this outcome? The colonisation by the English and, in turn, European ideologies such as New Typography, has drastically stunted the growth of culturally focused design in India (and every other colonised peoples). Tschichold references Adolf Loos, claiming 'the Indian' is of 'lower culture and primitive, and their desire to decorate must be overcome'. Traditional Indian stylings of ornamentation and expressive typography didn't fit into the rulebook of New Typography, and therefore must be stamped out of society. No wonder we found it difficult to find an artefact that met our criteria, when Indian designers have been conditioned to abandon their culture in the sake of 'purity'. Tschichold preached that all ornamentation, everything unnecessary, must be banished to achieve 'pure design'.

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Figure 2 'Bystandwer Anthology' by Kadak Collective

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I agree, I believe it's problematic that the repetitive idolisation of white, straight, cis-male academics in the design industry contributes to an unintentionally narrow and descriminative canon. Work that falls outside these authoritarian checklists are often excluded from the discussion, however work that reinforces and aligns to societally engrained canons remains mainstream. Martha Scotford outlines how design education's inherent reliance on these canon's stems from giving a platform to those who perpetuate it, whilst removing the platform from those who don't (1996). The problem with this canon is it idolises a certain demographic of designers, whilst ignoring the range of communication and expression that represents the totality of the human race. This existing canon reduces the complex, rich and diverse history of design, which has led to a narrow field of expression, gate-keeping, understanding and inaccessibility. Tchischold's text is rife with personal injecture, not allowing space for the variety of human experience and expression in design. What is incredibly successful about the artefact publication is the variety present, and the ability to have each artist's personal style injected into the narrative outlining the true breadth of design styles. What do you think Tschichold would have to say about this artefact? I think he would perhaps not even open the cover, considering the intent of the book and the identity of its authors. Perhaps he would balk at the wide diversity of typefaces, design stylings and the reclamation of a trodden history. Its intention is to be expressive, something Tschichold believed to be obsolete. Although, I think 'Bystander Anthology' still has driving influences of Modernist typography. There are clear hierarchies, distinct point size separation in headings, subheadings and body text. Asymmetrical layouts, even use of a san-serif7 typeface as body text, which, despite tschichold's teachings, didn't become standard practice. I think we would see that as his ideologies successfully infiltrated across the world. When you think about the term clarity in design, what comes to mind? Do you believe that these notions are an evolution of key concepts (supposedly) coined by Tschichold? What strength does this artefact have in creating clarity, or is its strength in not doing so? My immediate thoughts of clarity would be close to the practices of Modernist design, but that's just the first thing that pops into my head. I have been educated by a Western-centred University and

A serif is a decorative stroke that finishes off the end of a letters stem, sometimes called the 'feet' of the letters.cA serif typeface has these strokes, while a sans-serif does not.

Describing a typeface as Gothic, is basically a synonym for sans-serif, and comes from grotesk or grotesque. It is a movement that originated in Scandinavia around the 1900's and was widely applied by the Bauhaus and modernist designers.

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education system which taught Modernist design as 'good' design, who indeed put Tschichold on a pedestal. Clarity is ambiguous' it can be defined differently in many cultures, many theologies, not to mention the variety in cognitive processing. However, there is a traditional clarity across the book, each author and work is introduced via a consistent theme, those vibrant purple pages. The diversity of styles from each author is a feature, not a negative. Even the introduction pages make the conscious decision to mix serif and san serif, uppercase and lowercase, to prove that diversity is indeed desirable. While Tschichold did reevaluate his stance on san serif type later in life, in 'The Principles of New Typography' he makes a very firm statement that serif's are an ornamentation that has no place in modern design. Tschiholds text outlines a key transition between gothic-style8 traditional text toward what we know as modernist text. What is interesting, and highlighted within this artefact, is we are seeing an almost revolt against some of the key notions Tchischold believes defines good typography. The cyclical nature of trends and phases mean that styles inevitably have a resurgence in popularity. This is heavily evident through the resurgence of serif fonts, decorative and ornate fonts, and a combination. Do you believe that type design should explore the ebbs and flows of human creativity and expression, or should its primary function always remain on modernist clarity themes discussed by Tschichold? Tschichold would disagree about the cycle of trends, he would insist that type and printing must evolve to the conditions of modern life, never looking back. To me, human expression is the driving nature behind all communication. To stifle it is to stifle the spirit. If an expressive, decorative typeface instantly communicates the feeling and message the designer intended, how is that worth less? You could argue it is more successful than reading a page of modernist styled text to come to the same conclusion. Tchischold's text outlines a series of arrogant and morally corrupt views. He denigrates non-westernised forms of design as impure and primitive. Furthermore, he analogies different typography by sexually objectifying women and their personal style choices... Championing a diverse range of designers and styles assists in corroding the steadfast and damaging structures that academics such as Tschichold have enshrined within design education and industry. It's hard reading these types of texts, knowing that

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Nazi Totalitarianism can be broadly summarised as the non-democratic, Nazi political system that the used the mass media, alongside a political police, to coordinate all aspects of life among the entire German population.

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this was not only acceptable at the time, but considered revolutionary! We have to teach the next generation of designers that these texts are products of their time, that, yes, we can see them as a pivotal movement in design history, but they are equally open to criticism. Although 'pioneers' such as Tshischold instigate change, it is important to note social drivers and cultural functions that placed them in the position to do so. Aggie Toppins (2020) notes that 'Graphic design emerges from social, technological, economic and political contexts'. In the case of Jan Tschichold, the era and his demographic meant his work was automatically favoured. Furthermore, Nazi Totalitarianism9 was ubiquitious and has obvious influence on themes within his text. Applying this same perspective to the artefact, underlying cultural movements are increasingly present. For instance, there is a movement away from connoisseurship in design toward a more individualised practice. This is demonstrated by the variety of design styles and applications. This is beneficial as it allows for an expanded perspective and encourages designers to explore outside the current design canons. That's why I'm so excited to see works like 'Bystander Anthology' being published and celebrated around the world. If I may have my own personal injecture on why Tschischold is problematic? Of course. Canons are continually evolving and responding to modern demands. An increased availability of information is driving more educated, multi-faceted and diversely skilled designers. Similarly to how Jan Tschischold outlines 'new typography' as needing to respond to the modern human, so too does design education. Jan Tschihold's reading has now devolved to equate to what he terms as 'old typography'. It hasn't aged well and has become somewhat obsolete in a world saturated with information that is more consciously, responsibly, and intentionally delivered. He has become the very thing he slandered. As much as we place 'The New Principles of Typography' into a realm of inaccessible, dichotomous and problematic, Tschichold would agree that demands of the now are constantly evolving, that we should criticise the outdated teachings of the past.

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Week 3 '' 'The Critical Goblet' Brad Haylock // The third artefact we'll be analysing is a fiction novel written by Jonathan Safran Foer called 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'. The novel integrates typographic interventions as a narrative device that challenges the invisible and modernist theologies that we've discussed. The use of unorthodox typography to enhance the reader's experience can be compared to the beliefs of Brad Haylock, and his article: 'The Critical Goblet'. While a practitioner of invisible typography himself, Haylock could see the value in unconventional typographic choices when it heightened readability Let's start off by looking at the modernist, or international styling that Safran Foer uses as the standard throughout the novel, when he's not trying to convey a voice through typography. The serif typeface, Tyrnavia, while not typically popular, shares many of the readability qualities of the common Baskerville or Garamond. A single column of justified text, paragraph indents and medium-wide margins. All typical invisible typography practice for printed novels. I think it's important to have the invisible, to justify the visible. Without the 'good', you wouldn't notice the 'bad'. Having this juxtaposition in place allows for the intentional cues to be recognised without being obtrusive. It is enough to allow the reader to register a difference, make potentially subconscious mental enquiry as to why, and connect the change to the context within the storyline. Definitely! While I agree that there is plenty of room for a standardised typographic methodology, I also believe that we should always be experimenting, testing, and discovering to expand diversity and accessibility. I believe Haylock's critical design theories align with this, looking at our practice critically, and envisioning new ideas that move us into preferable futures. This is a key difference to Warde's text: room for critical thinking and openness to change. I think 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is an example of exploring psychology in design' many people are visual learners, many can't engage in the traditional layouts of text. Engaging the reader through visual cues and semiotics, opens up the novel's desirability to new demographics. Safran Foer manipulates typography with two intentions' to differentiate between the characters narrating, and to disturb pace and rhythm. Typography has a voice, and I think the author took that literally. It's almost like it is its own character. Do you think typography should play that role? Typography, like expression, inflections, tone, and body language, has the ability to enhance a narrative. It

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adds a multidimensional means for the reader to identify changes, providing a subtle divide that can drive character development and plots. Safran Foer has strategically used the type to emanate emotion and conversation, gently coercing readers in a manner that brings them deeper into the story. In this context, the type is a driving catalyst in intensifying the storyline, and is an imperative contributor to what makes the book so hard to put down. Interesting that Warde suggests the greatest achievement a typography designer can aspire to is making the most boring texts enjoyable through typographic choices alone, yet she would disapprove of this novel, even though, as you say, it's so hard to put down. I think that 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is an example of how the word 'readability' can take on more than simply absorbing words effectively. As Haylock notices, breaking the standardised rules can boost reader engagement, when it's used in the appropriate context. This intentional diversion from convention represents the exact opposite in readability and legibility in some parts. However the manner in which it is done enhances communication of the key messaging. There are quite a few layout and composition changes throughout, each change is supposed to communicate a specific feeling or experience to the reader. When one of the characters is deep in despair, the typography loses all indentation and paragraph breaks, just a solid, symmetrical, justified block of text. The weight of the typeface slowly becomes heavier and heavier as the character's anxiety and claustrophobia becomes overwhelming until the words are no longer legible. Haylock suggests that traditional typographic interventions should only be broken when it enhances readability, and in this case, the author's intention was to make the text unreadable. Yet, it adds tremendous value to the emotion and communication of the page. Do you think he'd approve in this scenario? Successful novelists endeavour to achieve a sense of verisimilitude' or a believable and enthralling world for readers to become immersed in. Any supporting injectures, such as typographic interventions, can contribute toward this goal. The unorthodox yet intentional interventions in 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' do not detract from the communication, rather support and enhance it. Straying from the conventions of 'invisible type' can be incredibly successful in the right context. Similarly to Haylocks views on The Fall of the Studio, I believe he'd view the unconventional typographic interventions as cohering.

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Not having read the book myself, I feel compelled to, just to experience these interventions for myself and discover how it would entrance me and connect my emotions to the character on a deeper level. What about you? I have the book, and firmly believe the use of unorthodox typographic interventions to emanate certain contexts within the novel enhanced the story incredibly. The conscious use of spacing to narrate pauses in conversation, or the use of tight text to emulate anxiety, and the changes in text becoming identifiers for certain characters, strengthens the storyline incredibly. In a way, it still remained invisible because it fit into the storyline in which I was so immersed that I forgot to apply my trained design mind to question it. Some critics label the typographic devices as 'tricks' or 'gimmicks'. I think Safran Foer could easily have overdone it, if he chose to implement them too often, or at inappropriate times. Do you get the feeling that they border on 'gimmicky'? I think the word 'gimmicky' can often have a negative connotation, often used to describe crap knick knacks in stores etc. However, in this case,the type is developed specifically to the definition of gimmicky. It is created to grab attention and increase narrative appeal in an incredibly thoughtful way. I agree. Haylock doesn't just make a blanket statement and insist it is true, like Warde or Tchichold, he deliberates the amorphousness of 'good' and 'bad' design. He brings in prominent design ideologies from his peers, is self-reflective, reconsiders his bias and is open to change, which, when speaking about how our future could be, is something that a designer needs to do often. I respect his ability to change ideology when presented with new material. It aligns with my own design philosophy, and I'm sure it does yours as well? Readings from Brad Haylcok give a platform to multiple trains of thought. For instance, he dissects the pros and cons of numerous views surrounding the FTF Manifesto, and encourages the reader to develop their own critical conclusions. This way of writing and thinking corrodes binary dogmatic canons that dictate the design world, and encourage alternative schools of thought and practice.

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Figure 3 Safran Foer, J 2005, Extremely loud and incredibly close

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Jai Vyankatesh Mudgerikar

Girivarshan Balasubramanian

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Typography is such a complex subject. For ages, we have been arguing over its utilisation. I for one, have always felt that we as designers, will always be extra sensitive to the subject. Even when it shouldn't be noticed, we notice it and try to find positives and negatives with it. From the beginning, we have been contemplating a variety of questions in regards to typography, for instance should it be such a scene stealer, should it stay true to its task and deliver its context or should it go out of its way to express the context itself. What are your thoughts on the subject? This question has more depth than it seems. I feel that it can't be answered with a simple 'Yes' or 'No'. Design and typography are fragile concepts and very subjective. How typography is expressed depends upon the nature of the content itself, don't you think? Perhaps we should look to our more educated seniors of the industry. Have you ever heard of 'The Crystal Goblet' by Beatrice Warde?1 2 It showcased an interesting take on the subject of whether typography should be invisible or visible. In this essay, Warde elaborates on the belief that typography should be transparent, that is, it should fade into the background without drawing attention to itself. She firmly believes that typography should hero its content. Yes, I have read that text. I believe that her views are very much narrow. She places the role of designer as an ethical one and asks the designer to function like a machine.3 Don't you think? It is hard to say really. As you have pointed out, it really depends on the context. Now if we were to design a poster then the typography could and should be more expressive by itself. But what about books and textbooks? What about subjects and publications where it is crucial to highlight the material itself? Say a medical textbook for instance, like Nelson's Textbook of Paediatrics.4 It would be quite foolish to use extravagant typography in what is a purely intellectual tome of information.

'The Crystal Goblet' is a typography essay by Beatrice Ward, first delivered as a speech, called 'Printing Should Be Invisible,' at the British Typographers' Guild at the St Bride Institutew in London, on October 7, 1930.

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Beatrice Warde was a twentieth Century British writer, typography scholar and marketing manager at Monotype Corporation. She was recognized at the time as ‘[o]ne of the few women typographers in the world'.

Ethics in design means considering the context of the product being created. It requires designers to question

the morality of their actions and the consequences of their art long-term.

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I honestly agree with your judgement. Look at the points Warde suggests through her text about how she differentiates between a designer and artist. Giving coherent reason behind a piece of work. That is thinking about the intention behind communicating a specific work or painting. She wants the content to be readable and not just legible to the reader thus communicating the author's message without any hindrances. She is more focused on function than form. In your example, imagine the layout of Nelson's Textbook of Paediatrics being designed like a novel, without the use of any colour, contrast in type or visual examples. That is actually a really good point. Now that I think about it, Nelson's Textbook of Paediatrics does have design elements hidden in places, and isn't that the whole point of transparent typography? That the design elements aid in the delivery of the material while remaining so subtle and inconspicuous that it is, effectively rendered invisible? For instance, consider how the background color is a soft white, with serif black text that makes it so easy on the eyes. And then how the titles are set in bold and colored sans serif, making it easier and more convenient to locate sections? All without standing out and hardly drawing any attention. Yes, but I don't think that is what Warde was talking about when she mentioned invisible. This textbook's layout and typography is indeed invisible. Invisible in terms of the new typographic principles written by Tschichold.5 This textbook has contrast elements, colour and variation in font weights such as bold for sub-headers and regular for the content. Which is exactly what he suggested in his text 'The New Typography'.6 That is actually a pretty interesting take. Are you suggesting perhaps, that 'invisible' typography can also be considered 'functional' if looked at in a specific way? Because if we think about it, the 'function' of this textbook is 'delivery of information' which it is doing quite satisfactorily. It has a very restricted and targeted audience, whose only intention in reading the textbook is its content.7 And it is so big and vast that including any fancy typography would quite simply be burdensome. It is also structured and laid out in such a way that maximum information is divulged efficiently and practically. The layout of the textbook is simple and precise. Like you said it is designed in a specific way to maintain it's function as a book which delivers information to its target audience. The designers has avoided the use of

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Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics has been the world's most trusted source for pediatrics for nearly 75 years. For the

context of this report, the Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics Volume 1 (First South Asia Version) published in 2015 has been considered. 5

Jan Tschichold was a calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in the development of graphic design in the 20th century.

Jan Tschichold's The New Typography, published in 1928 has been recognized as the definitive treatise on book and graphic design in the machine age.

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any fancy fonts to avoid getting distracted from the content. A two column grid is followed throughout the book; which helps to lay the content in two columns, like in newspapers. Doing this makes it easy for the reader to go over the text, as the paragraphs appear short and there are less words in a sentence, which makes reading faster. I do enjoy how it so simple, concise and precise. The edges are diligent, and the text is set quite small, once again prioritizing content over aesthetics. The contrast of black and white serves another purpose in making it easy to read this small type, though those with troubled eyesight might have to squint a bit. I would call this textbook an 'easy read' because of how sufficiently the eyes can glide over the content, an essential element towards any communication delivery system. Have you noticed the color scheme, by the way? Soft, minimal color only at the Chapter Heads and Sub-Headings. This textbook follows an aesthetic, but in it's own way. Like I mentioned earlier style is subjective. But I agree with the points you are making. The textbook is divided into Parts, which are highlighted at the top of the page with bold sans serif text on colored backdrops. This is followed by the Chapter Headings at the top of the column with the chapter number in regular type, followed by the Name of the chapter in bold and finally the names of the writers/ compilers in regular italics, all in sans serif. The subheadings are capitalised bold sans serif font with colour to help differentiate them from the body copy. Adequate space is left between each subheading and its information which helps to communicate as separate points. The typeface used for headers are sans serif, which is a good simple font, easily to read.8 Three different versions of the typeface are used in chapter openings. Condensed weight is used for the name of the chapter, Light is used for secondary information and Bold is used to highlight the chapter number. All this information is comfortably placed inside a coloured box making the whole thing stand out clearly. Speaking of boxes, I do have some issues with the tables, which utilise a pastel green backdrop and dark grey text, with the headlines in sans serif white on the same dark grey backdrop. The tables are a combination of bold and regular sans serif text, with column headlines in capitals and the rest in sentence case. It is my observation that the black text on green is not completely legible, though it is very much readable. The green background dominates over the 7

Audience restricted to those who practice medicine I.e practicing pediatricians, family medicine practitioners,

meds-peds physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, medical residents and fellows etc. 8

A sans serif font is a font without serifs. In typographic terms, serifs are the small strokes or extensions at the end of a longer stroke, such as the leg of a 'K' or 'R.' There are several styles of sans serif fonts. Sans serif fonts are popular with brands, and are usually easier to read on screens because they have a simpler design than serif fonts. As quoted from https:www.myfonts.comsans-seriffonts

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Figure 1 Graphic Brutalism Kyle Lamond (2021)

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content and the text seems to be fading into the color. It is not an 'easy read' as the rest of the textbook is perceived to be. That is a valid observation, but perhaps that observation differs from person to person. Have you noticed the headers by the way?9 The part name, chapter name and page number are all highlighted at the top in sans serif. The Part Number is highlighted at the top of the left page on the left and the chapter number at the top left corner of the left page. Interestingly, these headers have a font size larger than the actual content with the Part and Chapter Nos. in Bold color, most likely with the intention of making it easy to locate precise information in a vast collection of material. Referencing back to the text, Warde suggests that all good typographers are modernists. A modernist is someone who gives importance to the function instead of form. In my opinion the designer who designed this book is modernist too. The information is given importance with a balance of form and function. Making it not boring to read for its target audience. I agree that this publication designer is sneakily intelligent. He has done a very good job of making a big, enormous and, at least to the uneducated eye, boring textbook into something that might actually be a pleasure to read. And yes, I do agree with your view that this designer is a modernist, who places function over form. It is clear in the simplicity and clear structure throughout the publication that clarity and clean delivery have been prioritized. It is functional, but very subtly and smartly so. And on that note, what is your opinion on functional typography? How about you elaborate on Tschichold's 'The New Typography' that you mentioned earlier? The purpose of Tschichold's principles is to obtain clarity in typography instead of beauty. The use of ornamentation is very clearly stated as a 'decorative' feature which has no function. A clear typographic hierarchy should be expressed by the designer through different type sizes, weight and arrangement of lines using colour and visual supplements.10 The layouts should be asymmetrical as he feels that symmetrical layout or arrangement of type don't follow a rhythmic expression of functional design. Unlike in old typography (according to Warde's principles), Tschichold suggests that the margins in new typography are not given any significance. He does suggest that certain minimum point size margins are required for function but has the freedom to overcome it. What do you think about his conventions on colour

Headers: A page header is a separate text that appears

Typographical hierarchy aims to create simplification and

throughout the publication at the top of the printed page. set an order to a set of data

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and other things mentioned in his publication? He seems to have some very strict ideas about color and typefaces, most of which I honestly find to be quite restrictive. Tschichold clearly states that colour should be used only in accordance to the work, to help explain its purpose and not to address fancy aesthetics. He has shared a clear preference for Yellow, Pure Red, Blue and Black in terms of color because of their intensity, though he does not expressly state limiting to them. He also daringly proclaims that no ornamented typeface should be acceptable as they do not provide any clarity or purpose. Only Grotesque (Sans serif) or Block Letters should be used, which Tschichold suggests is relevant for our time.11 Sans serif typefaces are classified as all purpose faces. I frankly find this too restrictive and un-exciting. How is a designer supposed to be creative if she is forced to follow such strict guidelines? A good and valid observation. Even in the case of layouting, he tries to justify the strict use of grids by stating that it can be asymmetric, but that doesn't seem to help to be any more creative, in my opinion. Perhaps we should consider an example. I came across an interesting publication 'Graphic Brutalism' by Kyle Lamond.12 13 This designer's work seems like an ideal candidate to examine Tschichold's principles of typography. The designer says he wants to display a clear use of grids and a profound understanding of balance and hierarchy in this book. Interestingly, the cover of this work mimics the texture and colour of concrete and the indents also help to serve this purpose. The book is plain white with minimal ornamentation, with strictly structured paragraphs in grids and columns, which reflects Tschichold principles quite accurately. Now that you mention it, I do recall Lamond's work as extremely functional and practical. I believe he is inspired by concrete architectural structures, which makes the book cover quite an interesting idea and he has managed to replicate that dull, cement-like texture quite nicely. He claims to be inspired by the 'austere yet audacious form and structure that brutalism imposes'. and has tried to 'mould this aesthetic into my (Lamond's) work directly, with attention to Swiss-style techniques, by building a solid structural foundation that can successfully display a clear use of grids and a profound understanding of balance and hierarchy'. When we examine the book itself, I can see how he has applied all these philosophies and observations to his publication, and I must say, Tschichold principles make a lot of sense in this context. Like the layout, for

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Monotype Grotesque is a family of sans-serif typefaces released by the Monotype Corporation for its hot metal typesetting system.

Graphic Brutalism is the final year dissertation of Kyle

Kyle Lamond is a graphic designer currently based in

Lamond that explores brutalism within graphic design. Dundee, Scotland. His work is focused on mainly editorial and identity design.

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example. Have you noticed it? Yes I have. Lamond clearly has been hugely influenced by Tschichold's principles, though we do not know if they actually played a part in the design of this publication. The Chapter Number and Chapter Name are sized twice that of the text and interestingly, a serif typeface is used below the chapter name to create subsections. The text is set in grids, with titular pages having a single wider column and the rest having two equal columns. However, this grid does appear to keep undergoing changes throughout the publication. The typefaces he has used are Editorial New for sub-heads (he has also used this for title in the cover page) and Pier Sans for everything else' designed by Pangram Pangram Foundry.14 15 16 Though 'Editorial New' is a serif typeface it falls under Tschichold's rules of bringing contrast to a layout. Did you look at the way Lamond structured the grid of the page numbers and subheaders by the way? I did actually, it's quite hard not to, considering their attention seeking size. Interestingly, the page numbers, placed centrally at the footer are larger than the actual text body, and the Chapter Numbers, Headlines and Sub-Headlines are placed mostly at the top, aligned to the left and half the size of the content.17 At certain points, the text lines are numbered as well, which I interpret as an element derived from the designer's architecturally centred inspiration. The whole publication is so diligently set into its layout that even images and illustrations have been fitted into it, which is surprising considering Lamond has clearly taken liberties with the placement of some Chapter Heads throughout the publication. I also find it interesting that he has combined the use of serif and sans serif typefaces in these Headlines. Perhaps it is done so, with the intention of drawing attention? His use of serif are very limited throughout his publications. Seems like he didn't want to draw much attention to that and focus more on the main content. However, the publication does have a note of expressiveness to it i.e the artist's inspiration which is derived from concrete architectural structures. Keeping this in mind, we are forced to compare it with Tschichold principles, which require the subtraction of all elements deemed ornamental and is thus conflicting with the principles outlined in 'The New Typography'. Adding to that, we are, in this case, not concerned with the delivery of the text so much as the accomplishment of Lamond's intentions, in which case we can appropriately consider this system as functional. Lamond intended to replicate the 14

Editorial New is a precise and elegant narrow serif that was designed for the long-form copy with a big enough personality to make a statement as a title.

Pier is a modern and structured typogaphy. The idea was to create a slightly off geometric font that would look as good big or very small.

The Pangram Pangram Foundry was founded by designer Mathieu Desjardins 3 years ago. They provide quality fonts for personal use in order to facilitate experimentation for designers.

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Figure 2 Amalgam Pouya Ahmadi (n.d)

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systematic structuring of concrete architectural structures, and at least in that context, this example has succeeded in its purpose, if you would ask me. That is an interesting observation and one that I too, have noticed. The main function of this text was the communication of Lamond's concrete inspiration, which has effectively been shared. But now this brings us to an even more complex and confusing question: was this functional text, in sticking to its function, expressive as well? And in deleting all unessential elements, did it stay so true to its original purpose, that it became invisible and expressed its content by itself? This is interesting because it now links back to invisible typography too, don't you think? The text was so functionally oriented, that it was invisible sometimes and in fulfilling its purpose, it was also expressive? His work does seem to bring in the concept we had discussed earlier, linking Warde's essay and Tschichold principles for effective communication and design. Speaking about his work fulfilling its purpose, it does bring me to another question. I recently read a text by Brad Haylock, 'The Critical Goblet' in which he addresses the ethical responsibilities of a designer and the possible impacts their work could create in a society.18 I agree that designers do have responsibilities up to an extent, but this doesn't mean that they should be working only on such projects, don't you think? No, they shouldn't be so restricted. In fact, as designers, I have often felt it is our job to test limitations and break boundaries and we know that a lot of great designers take pride in having done so. There are magazines, journals and so many other publications that play around with these guidelines quite brazenly and yet do not jeopardize their morality. There is one publication that really identifies with this debate about expression and morality, and that is Pouya Ahmadi's journal 'Amalgam'.19 20 He has designed, directed and published Amalgam intending to 'develop how typographies intersect every discipline and their effect on communication, making graphic design borders blur even more'. 'As a graphic designer, he understands the logic behind being influenced by the context in which every project is born. In a black and white project where the relevant thing is the message rather than the aesthetic or trends, Ahmadi's configuration depends on the interest and urgency of the content and how it's best to explain it. Let's say, generally randomly'.21 Have you ever come across this journal? I have, I think you have shared this with me before.

Footer: Similar to the header, except located at the

Brad Haylock is a designer, publisher and academic. He

Pouya Ahmadi is a Chicago based graphic designer

bottom of the printed page of the publication is an Associate Professor of Design at RMIT University and art director focusing on brand, identity, publication design, book design. She has published and directed the design journal Amalgam.

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This is an interesting piece of design work. It is hard to identify a decided layout or format other than the lack of one throughout these publications, which is something I adore. This system is continuously being disrupted by its content, it somehow appears as a loop of continuous building and dismantling, not allowing for a single system to be identified or recognised before it has been replaced. There is extreme variety in the size and typeface in every single publication and no two pages appear alike. The journal is also strictly monochromatic, with the usage of black and white only and a limited grid that remains unidentifiable. It is quite interesting, isn't it? And what I find even more fascinating is that some sources have stated that the typefaces used are limited, restricting to Dinamo Standards and Nemesis by Baptiste Bernazeau in particular22 23 24. However, other sources state that the typefaces and fonts keep changing, evolving and adapting. While certain typefaces have been identified as loyal to the publication it also defers itself at times by using others, the latest issue including typefaces like Roba, Kaligari, Nikolaij, Sanzi, and Gig. 25 26 27 28 29. The text is also not set to a specific alignment or symmetry, this appears to be commanded mostly by the purpose of expression of the content. What is equally interesting is the placement of page numbers, side-aligned at the footer for the most part; but the lack of any whatsoever on some layouts. I have tried and disastrously failed to make sense of why certain things have been done a certain way and I think the writer has very successfully shaken my belief system as a designer to the core. But wasn't that the purpose of it? I feel that the designer's approach to this journal was honest which in turn speaks about the purpose of it as well. In his own words, 'This is much like the design process,'Pouya remarks, 'chaotic, never-ending revisions, rash decisions, happy accidents and so forth'.30 In regards to Haylock's text, he suggests that design conventions can be broken as long as the transmission of author's ideas are not compromised. These rules can be bent and altered or even broken according to the nature of the content. In his example of the series 'Antennae by Valiz', designed by Metahaven' he explains how following an unorthodox design style can help to 'pinpoint certain phenomena or new lines of thought in the arts' which is ultimately the concept of the series.31 32 If we compare this to the idea of functional typography, it must be noted that at the end of the day, the typography of Amalgam serves its purpose, which

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Amalgam is an ad-hoc transdisciplinary journal that explores the intersection of type, language and the visual arts: a perfect combination of subjects for anyone who, like us, obsesses over design and typography.

As quoted from https:mindsparklemag. comdesignamalgam-3

Dinamo Standards is a display for internal research, revivals and interpretations.

Nemesis is designed by Baptiste Bernazeau in 2017 as part of a long-term multi-disciplinary project called Chimera.

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is to create discord and chaos within its pages. It is functional in this case, though not so much from a design perspective. We are thus faced with an interesting reflection: what is the function of a specific typography? Is it to deliver its content or to express it? And aren't these two terms interchangeable, to deliver is to express, to express is to deliver. And in delivering' expressing its content, is not the typography functional too? Overall, throughout our conversation we have discussed few examples which argue about the 'function and form' of design and typography. Any given typographic layout of the content or context is a form of expression to an extent. For example in the Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics we came across a kind of typographic expression which was best suited for that context and its audience. We both understood that the publication successfully expressed as well as delivered the contents of it. I agree with your point about the two terms expression and function being interchangeable on occasion, it makes sense when you think about it. Perhaps we as designers will always be inclined to think of typography as something more than a means of communication and delivery. What might be nothing more than a textbook of medicine after all, has managed to become a subject of such keen study between you and me. So in my opinion, typography isn't just subject to its context, but also to its audience. Lamond's work is an expression of concrete structures from his point of view, but we have categorized it as a functional mode of communication. Amalgam is functional from the perspective of its publisher as it creates the intended chaos, but we have interpreted this as expressive. Perspective plays a key role in typography after observing these contexts, and what might appear as one thing to me, might just appear another way to you. In this regard, perhaps there is no point in segregating types of typography because in reality, they are a jumbled and interchangeable quantity. What do you think? As I mentioned earlier during our conversation, Typography is such a fragile concept as much as it is a variable one. I think we have to agree that up to a certain degree there is some kind of division in typography. The function of typography is instinctive, the only role of the designer must be to mould a form which is appropriate to the context of the publication. So, putting a pin on only a specific kind of typographic and labelling it as 'Functional' does not rationalise our roles as creative professionals, which is ultimately to 24

The names of these typefaces are unverified and the information is sourced through interview with ItsNiceThat.com. https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/ pouya-ahmadi-amalgam-publication-110518

Roba is a font generated in the 1920s by Franziska Weitgruber

Kaligari typeface is inspired by expressionist techniques, the roots of its letter shapes lie in different experiments of analogue form finding

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be intuitive. In the end, we come back to the points you had made earlier, about how we keep finding pieces of each type of typography in each of these references. But perhaps we have been overthinking this a bit. After all, the general audience never even looks beyond the page of the book long enough to analyse its layout, typography, form or function. In fact, maybe Warde was onto something when she said typography should be invisible. We, and our efforts after all, have been invisible all along.

Nikolai is a contemporary serif display typeface which roots in an admiration for italian foundry Nebiolo's Jenson.

This information is not verified and replicated directly from the original source: https:www.facebook. comAmalgam-Journal-1965605540177982

As quoted in interview with Its Nice That. https:www. itsnicethat.comarticlespouya-ahmadi-amalgampublication-110518

As interpreted from source: https://valiz.nl/en/ publications/antennae-series.html

Metahaven is a strategic design studio operating on the cutting blade between communication, aesthetics, and politics.

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Figure 3 Amalgam Pouya Ahmadi (n.d)

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Peach Wipawan Witayathawornwong

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As part of a publication design course, I was introduced to 3 really interesting texts related to typography. Each text explores and outlines different approaches with this publication design context. In the first week, we were asked to read a text called 'The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should Be Invisible' by Beatrice Warde. This famous text introduces me to the idea of 'Invisible Typography'. Warde suggests typography should be kept simple and let the content shine through. In the next week, we discussed the text called 'The Principle of New Typography' written by Jan Tschichold. This approach is moving away from Warde's approach by implementing hierarchy to the overall layout as people started to have less and less time to spend on each page they should be able to have a general idea about the text within the first few seconds. And in the third week, we got to read an essay called 'The Critical Goblet' by Brad Haylock which is a direct reference to Beatrice Warde's text. In the essay, Haylock introduces us to the expressive approach of publication design. In this essay, I would like to share and analyze typographic works that correspond to these 3 approaches. 'The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should Be Invisible' by Beatrice Warde is an introduction to 'Invisible Typography'. Warde starts the text by using types of wine glasses as metaphors for typography. On one hand, there is a crystal clear goblet and on another, there is a gold wine glass with exquisite patterns. People who choose an extravagant choice are not wine experts as real connoisseurs would want to see the colour of the wine. This analogy can also be used in typography. Typographers who care about 'What must it do?' rather than 'How should it look?' are modernists and also good typographers in Wardes's opinion. Warde then explains how the point of typography is forms of 'thought transference' as well as ideas and images. A good typography job shouldn't be about typography but rather the message behind it. Warde gives a nice explanation for this as 'Type well used is invisible as type, just as the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas. Then, the author talks about the difference between art and design which can be summarized as artists use

Warde, B. (1955). 'The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible,' The crystal goblet: sixteen essays on typography. London, Sylvan Press.

Meehan, P. (2016). Lucky Peach Presents Power Vegetables!: Turbocharged Recipes For Vegetarbles With Guts. 1st ed. United States: Clarkson Potter, pp.122-123.

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feeling as one of their primary tools while designers spend most of their time thinking and problem-solving. Now I would like to talk about work that embodies Warde's approach. The first work I would like to talk about is a page from a book called 'Lucky Peach Presents Power Vegetables! Turbocharged'by Peter Meehan. This is a cookbook from Lucky Peach magazine. Lucky Peach is one of those magazines that embrace fun and exciting layout design in their publications but with their cookbook. The layout is clean and simple. From the first glance, the layout falls easily into Warde's approach. There are 2 typefaces used in this layout: Univers and Garamond. Univers is used for heading, numbers, and ingredient list and the rest of the text is in Garamond. Garamond is an Old-Style serif typeface that is used a lot in printing, especially in body text, a typeface that allows the reader to read through it without distractions. Univers is a Neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface notable for its wide range of weights and widths in the family. The typeface was designed to be devoid of artistic expression and meant to blend in seamlessly. Let's take a deeper look at this page design. Why did the designer do what they did? In terms of layout, the flow of the page is logical. The page starts with the name of the dish, a short introduction to the dish, ingredient lists, and lastly instructions. These sections are divided into 4 distinct sections. The readers which I assume are 1. Someone who wants to cook the dish and 2. Someone who wants to learn about the dish. The design of the book is not in favor of any of the groups. People who want to cook can go to the ingredient list right away without having to spend too much time on the page and people in the latter group can also spend more time with it. In terms of typography choice, I think the reason why the designer chose Garamond for longer texts and Univers for shorter texts is that the serif typeface is way more comfortable to read thanks to the serif lines that help with guiding the eyes along with the page. Univers is distinct from Garamond and comfortable with shorter words or numbers. I think the designer of the book definitely thought about 'What must it do?' while designing this look. Type in the page is not the main focus of the page but rather a vessel that carries content for the readers to consume. The next text is 'The Principles of the New Typography' by Jan Tschichold. Tschichold starts the text by saying that in the modern era people have less and less, which changes the reading habit. Modern people look at the text as a whole not carefully line by

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Tschichold J. (2001), 'The Principles of the New Typography', Texts on type: critical writings on typography. New York, Allworth Press.

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line and if they are interested they would pay deeper attention to the text. Next, he states that 'the essence of the New Typography is clarity'. He further explains that in the past the ultimate goal for typographic work was 'beauty' and using central-axis arrangement which can be seen from the text in the Renaissance and Baroque. This type of page arrangement is not completely suitable with modern men where most countries start reading from left to right. Jan then introduces the idea that form must be created out of function. The whole page layout should be functional and serve the main purpose of typography which is communication, emphasis, and logical sequence of the content. The principles of the new typography are 1. Asymmetrical balance helps reading more effectively than symmetrical like in the old times. 2. Contrast which can be done in so many ways such as large' small, light' dark, vertical' square, etc. 3. A large area of white space and 4. Sans serif fonts The work that I think embodies Tschichold's principles perfectly is a page from the book 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design'by Josef MülllerBrockmann. The typeface on the page is Helvetica which is a Neo-grotesque sans-serif font. The reasons why I think this is a perfect example of this approach are 1. The use of contrast between font sizes in the heading and in the body text. The contrasting image color. Red makes the pictures stand out on the page filled with white and black. 2. The page uses sans serif typeface. 3. The text is left-aligned 4. The use of white space to help draw attention to the rest of the page and lastly, the utilization of grids helps with the logical flow of the page and looks organized. One last thing I would like to point out from this page is the placement of page numbers which are usually placed at the bottom of each page but not the case of this publication. The page numbers are placed towards the end of the page, a quarter up from the bottom to be exact. I think the reason for his decision is that the book is quite big and if the page is at the usual spot the readers need to move their eyes to see the page they're on but with the new placement, the readers can comfortable read the page number without moving their eyes which I think is a nice subtle decision from the designer. The last text is an essay called 'Critical Goblet' by Brad Haylock. The 'goblet' in this is a reference to Beatrice Warde's 'Invisible Goblet'. In this essay, Haylock analyzes the text of Beatrice Warde and discusses the responsibility of graphic designers by using the First Thing First (FTF) manifestoes as a starting point. Then, introduces us to the critical design 4

Haylock, B. (2013), 'The Critical Goblet', Process Journal:

Müller-Brockmann, Josef. Grid Systems in Graphic Design :

Edition Eight, pp.6-7. a Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers - Raster Systeme Für Die Visuelle Gestaltung: Ein Handbuch Für Grafiker, Typografen Und

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Figure 1 Müller-Brockmann, Josef. Grid Systems in Graphic Design : a Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers

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where designers have the power to change the existing situations into preferred ones. The typographic approach in this text is leaning towards an expressive type with attention and meaning behind artistic choices. The work that I would like to use as an example for this approach is the work of Craig Ward who collected his work under the domain name 'wordsarepictures' which judging from the name alone is the opposite practice from Beatrice Warde's 'Invisible Goblet'. Ward's whole practice is making expressive typography works for various brands, companies, and publications. This custom typography is an editorial illustration for WIRED magazine. The typography is made out of many Twitter avatar pictures and spelled out 'HOW DO I FIGURE OUT HOW MANY ACTUAL NON-BOT TWITTER FOLLOWER I HAVE' which I think the designer is trying to critique the online space that we are all participating in it is impossible to tell bot profiles from non-bot which this work of word capture this part really well. After reading all these texts, I've gained a lot of knowledge about typography and publication design and not only the practical part but also the critical one as well. I've talked about the transparent typography from Beatrice Warde, logical and practical typography from Jantschichold, and lastly critical typography design or expressive design from Brad Haylock. I don't think any approach is better than the other. Each approach is suitable for a different outcome. It is in the hands of designers to design which approach is perfect for each work.

Ward, C. (n.d.). Wired Twitter. wordsarepictures. Available at: http://wordsarepictures.co.uk/#/wired/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2021].

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Figure 2 Ward, C. (n.d.). Wired Twitter. wordsarepictures. Available at: http://wordsarepictures.co.uk/#/wired/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2021].

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Arthur Ravenel

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This analysis is an overview and typographic research of some historic notions that make evolved the cultural baggage of design. I decided to take three main works to base my essay and lead it through a design journey. I chose by purpose famous works that left a significative mark on the typographic history. But I will also compare it to additional bibliographical references that will be highlight in orange. The additional commentary on ideas and terminology will be highlight in blue. The first main work is by Reid Miles in 1965, Blue Note Records, an album covers for Lee Morgan called 'The Rumproller'. Then the second work is the IBM logo-image by Paul Rand in 1981, and finally one of the many magazine covers by David Carson, coming from Ray Gun. Those three typographic publications are heavy in history so I will have to focus on precise part to follow a precise analysis path. Those works are leading to notions like transparent typography, functional typography, or modernism. I will base the analysis on those notions to understand what the value are carried by each designer and each style. Reid Miles is a famous and innovative designer who mainly design music album covers of vinyl. He is known to be one of the first to translate sound with typography. He thought about how to articulate the image with sounds. His final objective is to make the reader feel and heard the music before playing it. It is a kind of preview, or generic of the album. He worked mainly for jazz artists, on this one it is for Lee Morgan, a famous trumpeter. There is a funny anecdote about Miles and Jazz music. He is known today as one of the biggest figures of Jazz in graphic design, but he didn't like it. He was a fan of classic music, and he was reselling his jazz album. It is showing that a graphic designer must be adaptable and put apart his own value and preferences to produce good design. Reid Miles uses three different font styles, or more precisely two with one transformed in a second time. On the top left we can see the name of the artist, Lee Morgan, with the name of the album, The Rumproller.

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Figure 1 Reid Miles - Blue Notes Lee Morgan (1965)

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This is a geometric font, clear and readable. He is also adding the partners with another font, lighter than the first one, to read it in a second time. And the main part of the cover is based on the same font as the left corner one, but he distorts it to express sound. So, the deformation of the title expresses more than just the words after this transformation, it now has a double function. It is still readable, and expressing a higher note, we can almost imagine the trumpet sound. I like to compare Reid Miles work with Saul Bass generics. They are working in two different fields, cinema, and music but they are joining on many points. First, as I said, Miles is doing a preview of the album and the universe of the artist. His objective is to make feel the music before hearing it. In the same way, Bass's role in all the generics he did, for Alfred Hitchcock or Martin Scorsese for example, he must introduce the movie with image and typography, to put his audience into the best position to watch the movie. It is interesting to notice the similarities in the shape use to translate sound, with the association of a sans serif font on both works. Here, the feeling mentioned with those shapes are different from the Lee Morgan one. It seems to be more about steps and melodic style. I would like also to link it with Muller Brockman posters. He is joining Reid Miles in his objective of translating music with shapes and typography, but he was more influenced by the swiss style. He produced strict and modern poster, following a very strict grid, and using geometry for all his posters. On the 'Beethoven' poster he is introducing a symphonic concert with round shapes. Once again, this poster is an immersion before the real event, introducing the type of music. I would like also to link it with Muller Brockmann posters. He is joining Reid Miles in his objective of translating music with shapes and typography, but he was more influenced by the swiss style. He produced strict and modern poster, following a very strict grid, and using geometry for all his posters. On the 'Beethoven' poster he is introducing a symphonic concert with round shapes. Once again, this poster is an immersion before the real event, introducing the type of music. Swiss style: It is a style mainly impacting the page layout and typography. Switzerland is a neutral country, and the objective is to create international style. It is based on geometry with the use of grid and of simple typography, the most famous one, Helvetica (Helvetia

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swiss) by Max Miedinger. Readability: Readability is more about paragraph and layout page. Readability is a hard process and some specific rules have been set in the design history. Mostly about the space between lines, between letters, using the margins...etc. Legibility: Legibility must be separated of readability. It is more about the typeface. For example, the Garamond font is known to be one of the most legible in small size. In a book in 8pts, Garamond is legible because it is adapted for small size font. Each character must be distinguished from each other. The font also must adapt to the message. David Carson is an American designer and graphic artist. I personally consider him more as an artist than as a designer. He is the director of the famous 'Ray Gun' magazine. He created an innovative style in his magazine where the readability is not an important factor. This style continued even after Carson left the magazine. He is a surfer since his young age, so he will embody an important face of the rock'n'roll style then the surf music movement. This movement is gathering young people who are feeling oppressed in the society. So, David Carson is in opposition to the swiss style, against the economy. It is possible to find those value in his style. He seems to play with the rules, and not following the basics of readability by playing with typography and with picture. He is using collage and he is one of those artists of like to use 'mistakes' in his works. All the typographic publications of Carson seem to be chaotic, and not organized. It looks like a superposition of a lot of separated elements, and it can be considered as a typographic exploration. But by looking in details, it is an organized chaos. He is aware of the message sent, and even if the readability is compromised, the legibility is challenged but the result is still coherent. The use of font is adapted to the message and to the audience. The only readable word here is the title of the magazine 'Ray Gun'. The surf can be felt in his style, he is using the off-camera, blurry effect, and a lot of different movement inside a single publication. Many sensations are express in this work, it is not following any symmetric grid, the feeling of instability can be felt, but also a sensation of freedom, with no rules or criterions to follow. In this publication, letters seemed to have been print with stamp, and not with a traditional printer. As a result, all letters are not perfect, it can be compared as the famous typewriter font that have different version

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(more or less damaged) that make it look less industrial. The notion of transparency can be mentioned, here, except the name of the magazine, the rest of the text is not attractive for the eye, so we are not spending time trying to figure out what is written on it, the font is disappearing by taking the role of a shape more than a word. Grid: The grid is theorized by Muller Brockman in his book, but it already existed in the past in different forms, for example grid based on the golden number in the 15th century in books. It is link with the swiss style, allowing a strict and geometric layout structure. Transparency: Transparency in typography is perfectly express by Beatrice Ward in the 'The crystal Goblet'. She compares it with a glass of wine. Someone who like with will not choose a golden glass with beautiful patterns on it, but the simple one made of crystal. It is the same with typography for Ward, the font must be adapted to the message. It is possible to compare it with different other works. First, I want to compare, and oppose it at the same time with the Baskerville publication in 1757. The period is different, but they are joining in term of poor readability, and they are both playing with typography to create another message. The global visual look like a superposition of elements, but the message created by the whole publication is going further than the words and letters. They are both using typography as a shape, more than as a letter. But John Baskerville is using letters to create an image, his face, compare to Carson who is using letter to express sensation and feelings. I would like also to oppose it with the 'Grid System' (1981) book by Josef Muller-Brockman. In this book he is explaining all the rules that graphic design should follow to have a clear and a good readability. This grid, the systems and rules explained by Brockman are exactly what Carson is contrasting and what he wants to escape in his style. He is also in opposition with the functional typography that must express the message as clear as possible. Functional Typography: It is coming in opposition with the ornamental typography, as it was famous during the art and crafts period for example. The main objective of functional typography is to deliver the message rather than anything else. Is joining the idea of transparent typography. Paul Rand started to work for IBM in 1955. It was an important step in graphic design because, at this time, most of the designer were working for publicity, it was

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not current for designer to work for companies' identity. So, in 1955, Paul Rand starts to work for IBM to separate the company from the concurrence by improving the company image. Rand was associated with Eliot Noyes, together they worked for some important companies like Westinghouse. At this period, for companies like IBM, the readability was primordial. This logo-image is the most famous one, but the logo was not accepted by all, it has been forbidden later by the new manager. But as we can see in the evolution of the logo, Rand start to work in 1955 with IBM, and the famous poster was created in 1981. So even with his innovative mind, the society was not ready yet to accept a logo-image for an international company like IBM. First, this logo is apart in his colorful aspect. The use of yellow, pink, green and orange could be surprising for an international informatic company. There is a big gap between the previous (and the next) logos and this one. The 'eye-bee-' logo is playful and colorful, he wants to make smile to sell. At the period of 'less is more', the hyper-functionalism is the main design style, Rand is taking another path. He asked for an intellectual effort from the reader, just the read the logo. But by doing this, he is creating a game that will attract the audience and could create a link between the company and the client. Someone guessing this easy word game, will automatically feel attached to it. 'Less is more': This expression could almost be considered as a style by itself. It cames out with Mies Van Der Rohe, a famous architect considered as a pioneer of the minimalism. This movement became famous and touch all the field of design. It means that the simple it is, the more powerful the message is. Those three last typographic publications are similar is some points, but also differ in others. I would like to point out those similarities and differences to understand what the purpose of the designer was. Blue Notes (R. Miles) and Ray Gun (D. Carson) First, I wanted to point out a difference of engagement from the two designers. Carson develops this style in adequation with his personal's values and convictions. Reid Miles, work for mainly jazz music even if he didn't like. It is one of the reasons I am personally considering Miles more as a designer and Carson more as an artist. In a second time, they are both using typography not for the words but for their shapes. Transparency can be seen in two different ways. The first, as I said

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before, we are not taking attention on the words, so the typography is seen as way to express sensation. But, as Tschichold said in 'The principles of new Typography', if the artist is putting his identity in the creation, is it disturbing and unsuitable, so not transparent. I understand the writing of Tschichold, and it is coherent with his argument, but I feel transparent typography is more about coherence and not identity. I don't see those typographic publication as disturbing or unsuitable because, as a part of the audience, it allows me to enter the universe of the magazine and the album. Ray Gun (D. Carson) and IBM (P. Rand) The main factor of comparison of those two publications are their relationship toward technologies. Even if Ray Gun is more recent (1992), he is using manual technics like collage and his printing looks artisanal. Paul Rand is using vectorial pictograms made with computer. The audience is justifying this choice. Carson is targeting young 'rebel', Rand audience is way more formal and corporate. So, it is not a question of medium but of choices. I found myself more in Rand style, with this simplicity of design but with a playful way in the message. IBM (P. Rand) and Blue Notes (R. Miles) Rand with the 'Eye-Bee-M' logo is doing the opposite as the two others. The others a using letters and words as shapes, Rand is using shapes with pictogram to create letters. It is the same method with the opposite approach. I personally found Rand's process more interesting and probably more 'timeless' because it still seems in the actual trend compares to Bluenote's covers for example. But they are joining on the simplicity of their composition, the main design in the center, with a one-color background to highlight the main element of their design. This essay highlights some important notions of graphic design and typography through three mains design work. It allows me to contextualize each designer and compare it to others important publications in the design history. We could see that the design is linking different fields (architecture, design, music, cinema, typography). It is possible to see in the history of design different movement that oppose, contradict, inspire, or complement each other. Each designer is bringing to the cultural baggage of design of a certain point of view, most of the time justify by lifetime research. Those three examples have a big cultural baggage and had an important impact on their time, but still influencing today's designers.

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Yixuan Song

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The purpose of this report is to study the relationship between design and typesetting and visual effect theory, publish personal critical views and discussions on three reading paragraphs selected by oneself, and explain the importance of personal to visual color and typesetting design for readers. The results show that the eye, as the beginning of vision, rarely focuses on a certain point in the design for a long time. The eyeball will quickly select the area they want to see in a short time, so how to arrange the design and typesetting skillfully will be a very important key point to attract readers to maintain their interest in reading for a long time. Otherwise, one element will be arranged in a disorderly order to another element, which will not bring a strong reading feeling to readers in an orderly manner. It is an important part of the whole reading process. The designer's first job is to ensure that the eye sees the first thing first, and that it is a new product that can be sufficiently attracted by the reader, so that the reader can stay in a particularly important field for as long as possible. In addition, a popular book is composed of a series of pages of different colors, which will make it easier for the public to keep reading continuously. Lack of visual design and typesetting is one of the most important reasons affecting readers' reading continuity and attraction. Herbert Bayer (1967) believes that a good visual typesetting effect can enable readers to quickly find the area they want to see on popular books and collect information. Since readers usually read the more common and normal typesetting mode for a long time, and they gradually get used to the typesetting mode designed by the public, they are likely to feel tired of reading and can't read the contents of the author's chapter and the next chapter continuously for a long time, more is to directly select the paragraphs with more interesting design and typesetting and more eye-catching combination of color and color. According to Herbert Bayer (1967), printing is a service art, not an art, and readers have long been exhausted. The speed of our times needs to be accelerated and the desire for new design stimulation. Designers need to get a new visual experience from the new development of typesetting

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Figure 1 Thomas Houseago Modern Art Oxford Hardback

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Figure 2 William Cobbing Transactions of The Duddo Field Club

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materials themselves. Be clear, concise and accurate; For clarity, the color of the typesetting page and the tension of the typesetting black-and-white value. Research shows that in the United States, the aesthetic standards of printing art, book design and visual communication have declined. Although we read too much, the practice of reading must be activated, and new design, typesetting and colors are needed to regain and maintain freshness. In fact, the behavior of reading through the eyes is work, and trying to see things will lead to physical fatigue. Therefore, I believe that in the future, we need to have a new understanding of visual design and typesetting in order to reduce the weakening of readers' interest in reading. According to the book works of tatty Devine misshapes: the making of tatty Devine, as readers, we can see what Herbert Bayer (1967) wants to express in reading: if a book is composed of a series of pages of different colors and printed and superimposed with various colors, which color follows the other color, and the tone is roughly the same, It can maintain the continuity of readers' reading. Readers can clearly see the difference between pink, gray and yellow. They perform very well in visual impact, which can always maintain a strong impact for readers. According to Modern Art Oxford by Thomas houseago, as readers, we can also see that exaggerated color contrast and the form of font symbols of paper-cut are used on this page to highlight the content to be expressed by the author, which is the same as Fraser Muggeridge's meaning in the book: simplify the font and make all printing clear. The font is clearly visible without any exaggerated form of expression. The font size and color remain unified, and people do not feel any abruptness at all. It is simpler and clearer to express the theme from different font presentation methods, which will not lead to any reading fatigue of readers. This work is one of the three works that I personally appreciate most. From the picture, we can see that a large area of black-and-white gray overlap, coupled with the matching of pink geometric figures, is very interesting. This feeling of attracting readers to read is a very good place for the designer. Combined with Fraser Muggeridge's opinion: know when to break the rules, Try to overlay the typography and photo colors from different perspectives. Consciously making some new creations that have not been tried can produce new typesetting styles. From these three different styles of works, we can feel completely different typesetting forms, the use of color matching and visual effects. The three authors embody completely different three styles in different book themes. When to apply them to their own design is something we need to learn. According to their own ideas, flexible use and bold to make some changes are also what we need to strive to do. In a word, presenting the best reading experience to readers is our first consideration.

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Mathilda Walley

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Typographic design offers broad possibilities for exploring ideas of readability, adornment and functionality. Typography is viewed by Warde as being at its best when it is invisible to the reader and allows the text to be the primary focus of the page, rather than the appearance of the text (1955). A pioneer of contemporary, functional typography design, Tschichold contends that the best typography is in direct opposition to traditional conventions, such as a central axis and ornamentation, and instead should seek to adapt to contemporary media consumption practices and reflect text with clarity and purpose (2001). Seeking to create an ethical framework with which to design typography, Haylock suggests that critical theory surrounding typography such as Warde’s conception of the crystal goblet (1955) - only addresses functionality and excludes consideration of striking a balance between aesthetics and intention (2013). Examining each of these approaches and how they can be observed in various works allows typographical theory to become evident in all works of design, and thus shed light on the opportunities and limitations within each approach. Warde distils the idea of 'good' typography into that which is invisible, framing her argument through the metaphor of a crystal goblet (1955). She claims that a crystal glass is the ideal vessel for drinking, just as invisible typography is the most functional and that there is, in fact, a distinct parallel between the '...virtues of the perfect wine-glass...' (Warde 1955, p. 11) and typography.1 Warde sets out to explain the applicability of her metaphor to the discipline, firstly defining the purpose of typography as solely a transfer of ideas from the page to the mind of the reader. Type used successfully must, therefore, be invisible in its form, '...just as

'Are not the margins on book pages similarly meant to obviate the necessity of fingering the type-page?' (Warde 1955, p. 11). This reference to page layout explains the tradition of wider bottom and side margins in book publication, as they serve to provide a holding point that does not obscure the text itself.

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the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas.' (Warde 1955, p. 13). Although type can undoubtedly refuse invisibility through decoration and disruption of convention, such examples can still be seen as adhering to Warde's theory. Typography that seeks to upend convention, or be ornamented so as to be art, is not necessarily solely interested in the transmission of ideas. Typography that seeks only to display information needs to be invisible, but typography that seeks to do more or to exist only as an exercise in aesthetics requires visibility. Warde speaks of a balance between these two binaries, describing '...a third type of window is one in which the glass is broken into relatively small leaded panes...you are at least conscious that there is a window there, and that someone has enjoyed building it.' (1955, p. 16). This suggests that recognition of the 'work' or of meaning beyond the actual written text does not deem more visible type a failure, but rather something with a plurality of function. Writing on the progression of typographic convention across the 20th century, Tschichold highlights how modes of consumption have challenged traditional typesetting, suggesting that '... the speed with which the modern consumer of printing has to absorb it means that the form of printing also must adapt itself to the conditions of modern life. As a rule we no longer read quietly line by line, but glance quickly over the whole, and only if our interest is awakened do we study it in detail.' (2001, p. 115). This position is evidenced in contemporary media consumption practices, as people gravitate towards short and accessible texts2 and generally avoid time-consuming literature or media. Abandoning old typographic conventions, Tschichold presents the concept of New Typography, writing that ''its' essence...is clarity' (2001, p.'" 116) and that it offers the possibility of both flexible and standardised typesetting. To arrive at this 'New' framework there is first a condemnation of 'Old' typographic principles, particularly those regarding

form and layout. Tschichold contends that 'Every piece of typography which originates in a preconceived idea of form, of whatever kinds is wrong.' (2001, p. 117), suggesting that a convention such as the central axis is a pretentious feature of typesetting that restricts the possibilities of page layout and design.3 In keeping with the ideas of Warde, Tschichold suggests that 'The need for clarity in communication raises the question of how to achieve clear and unambiguous form.' (2001, p. 117), a claim that highlights the need for invisible typography that functions primarily as a vehicle for information. Tschichold often speaks in binary terms, without acknowledgement of typography beyond the 'Old' and the 'New', and without offering compromise in adapting to new principles, instead claiming that 'The old ideas of design must be discarded and new ideas developed.' (Tschichold 2001, p. 118). Tschichold condemns ideas of ornamental, and perhaps playful, typography in favour of rigid, structured work, which leaves a glaring gap in the industry for designers who find grids and guides limiting, in addition to excluding any cultural traditions of ornamentation. Tschichold's standardisation of typography certainly provides a thorough framework for the majority of contemporary typography and layout design, yet in its Eurocentric and binary approach also serves to exclude certain design from the mainstream lexicon. Haylock works to pinpoint what distinguishes invisible, functional typography from the obvious, and often ineffective. Citing two key reference points, in the form of Warde's seminal text The Crystal Goblet (1955) and the First Things First manifesto (in Haylock 2013) Haylock speaks to the complexities of typographic ideologies under capitalism. Haylock sets out to offer '...a partial perspective of an ethics of graphic design...' (2013, p. 6), using the ethics laid out by Warde as a starting point. He highlights how her writing provides a '...nascent ethics of typography that holds communication as good, and unnecessary artifice as evil.' (2013, p. 6),

Think '1-minute read' taglines visible in online articles.

A feature of typesetting '...as pretentious as the tall white collars of Victorian gentlemen.' (Tschichold 2001, p. 116)

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Figure 1 Page from In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, 2000.

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that is to say, decoration and visible adornment of a page serves only to detract from the printed subject matter. Contrasting this concept of invisible typography with the case-study of the First Things First manifesto (in Haylock 2013), Haylock contends that understanding graphic design as purely an economic entity cannot be reconciled with conceiving of design as ethical, claiming instead that there is an inherent clash of ethics and capitalism. Attempting to imagine a world in which graphic design exists without compromise brings Haylock to the critical theory of consequentialism, suggesting that this type of theory '...may be understood to underpin the FTF perspective...' (Haylock 2013, p. 7), yet remains entirely inadequate as an ethical framework. Such an attempt to remain mindful of potential futures and the impact of one's design, is '...limited to a procedure of selection between given options' it does not suggest otherwise unimagined courses of action.' (Haylock 2013, p. 7). An effort to craft an ethical framework for graphic design is halted by capitalist power structures and the very existence of consumerism, a problem defined by Andrew Howard as '...not just consumption but the ordering of our consciousness to become consumers in the first place.' (in Haylock 2013, p. 7). Despite not reaching a concrete definition or explanation of ethical design, Haylock speaks to the potential of experimental, contemporary approaches to typography to counter capitalist ideology and mindless consumption. Texts and publications that strike the perfect balance between 'crystal clear', as in Warde's supposition of ideal typography, and 'unorthodox treatments' (Haylock 2013, p. 7), are perhaps the closest graphic design that we have to an ethical practice. Arriving at a vague conclusion, Haylock claims that despite certain texts' apparent disregard of convention, 'A closer reading... reveals readability...the whole thing coheres...' (2013, p. 7), highlighting that

typography can function both in terms of a presentation of ideas and a dismantling of capitalist convention, existing as a typographic ideology for an ethical future. Figure 1 is a page from the Penguin Modern Classics 2000 edition of In Cold Blood.4 (Capote 2000). This text targets readers of reportage writing and existing readers of the author Truman Capote.5 The Penguin Modern Classic formatting has been variously redesigned, with this particular issue matching the design introduced by the Penguin Classics Art Director Jim Stoddart in September of 2007 (Eliot 2017). The white and silver colour scheme is accompanied by the typeface Avant Garde, which has a bizarre history in the logo of the short-lived magazine Avant Garde, where the typeface gets its name.6 The designer of the typeface, Herb Lubalin, developed the magazine's logo into the current typeface in 1970 (Eliot 2017). The body text of the book, however, appears to be Times New Roman, due to its standard letter sizing and legibility at relatively small sizes. The design of this page attempts to be invisible, in keeping with both Warde (1955) and Tschichold's (2001) definitions of functional typography. Its invisibility serves to herald the content of the page over its actual form. The text is left-justified, with a small line indent at the commencement of each new paragraph, which serves to differentiate paragraphs without the need for a line break or excessive empty space on the page. Left-justified text often requires hyphenation in order to ensure appropriate spacing of both letters and words across a line, however this page contains no hyphenation.7 This lack means that rivers are visible within paragraphs, as the blank gaps between words unluckily align to create discernible diagonal patterns. The positioning of the text on the page itself is in keeping with publishing conventions of wide margins and even wider footers that allow the book to be easily held.

In Cold Blood is 'A true account of a

For a brief explanation of this bizarre

multiple murder and its consequences'

history, see the following line from the

(Capote 2000) that caused much public

Penguin website: '...New York magazine

controversy upon its release.

called Avant Garde, which was famous

Capote had already written his novel

for sexual imagery, crude language

Breakfast at Tiffany's at the original time

and strikingly beautiful graphics. The

of publication, and at the time of the

magazine folded after just three years,

2000 re-issue had six notable published

when it printed an alphabet spelled out

works across his lifetime

by nude models and the editor went to prison.' (Eliot 2017). 7

The entire book is very minimally hyphenated, allowing for a seamless reading experience.

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Figure 2 Monochrome poster, Parallel Practice, 2015

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Figure 3 Easter Poster, Gulitov Design, 2017.

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Figure 2: Monochrome poster, Parallel Practice, 2015. Designed by Prague's design duo Parallel Practice, Figure 2 (2015) exemplifies a shift away from 'old' typographic convention towards gridbased design that makes good use of the negative space on a page. Although this poster forgoes many of the conventions that Tschichold highlights (2001), it certainly distinguishes itself from previous principles such as the central axis and use of decorative typefaces that Tschichold condemns (2001). Parallel Practice, comprised of Jan Brož and Michel Landa,8 mainly work for 'cultural clients' (Gosling 2016), suggesting that their work is often artistic in style, or tied to cultural institutions such as contemporary galleries and museums. As shown in Figure 2 (Parallel Practice 2015), the poster attempts to upend conventional layout design, yet its use of almost symmetrical paragraphs, and the subsequent visibility of a large 'X' in the negative space of the page indicates subtle reference to older typographic conventions. Figure 3 (Gulitov Design 2017) shows a poster advertisement for the Golden Bee Global Biennale of Graphic Design in 2017. The poster is designed by Gulitov Design and serves to advertise the biennale to the general public. Utilising a sans serif typeface that is similar in appearance to Helvetica in the background of the poster juxtaposes the chaotic layout and colours of the foregrounding sketch. The poster intends to be eye-catching through its bold use of bright, primary colours and the poor legibility of the typed text. The swirling scrawl of coloured pencils acts as a whirlpool that draws the attention of the reader, which then allows for eventual comprehension of the titular text "Easter Poster ". As shown in Figure 3, the design of the poster exemplifies Haylock's suggestion that typography can flout convention and yet still retain its readability, as at first glance it appears to be a childish mess but then reveals itself to be largely legible. This poster achieves a difficult balance between invisibility and visibility that contemporary design often strives to strike. Typography design has a history of

oscillating between the binaries of form and function. Warde suggests that typography should always be 'invisible' to the reader (1955), serving only as a vessel for the transfer of information. This sentiment is echoed by Tschichold, who declares the need for a 'new' typography that abandons centred layouts and ornamental type in favour of gridded formatting and non-decorative typefaces (2001). Writing 12 years after Tschichold, Haylock (2013) hopes to map out a framework for ethical design, despite the limitations that capitalism often presents to designers. Each of these approaches to design theory allow for an understanding of typography as a way in which to transmit text, whether that be in a more artistic manner, or in a purely functional state

8 See https://parallelpractice.tumblr.com/ for more of their work.

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Yue Yang

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In the book Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond (1997) states that the authors from Nineteenth-century define history as the progression from savagery to civilisation, and one of the most vital transitions includes the development of writing. 'Knowledge brings power.' Diamond (1997) continues as he elaborated that writing stimulates power in modern society by transferring knowledge with accuracy, quantity and detail. Diamond (1997) describes the development of the early writing system to address the development of the society, and he concludes that 'The spread of writing has occurred by either of two contrasting methods, which find parallels throughout the history of technology and ideas'. Diamond's book however, does not directly address the origin and disambiguation of typography. However, typography is a type of writing that is developed into different forms on various platforms. In the ancient era, illustrative words are carved on the stones inside dark caves. Nowadays, words are digitalised and ever-present. Such a long progression in the development of writing evolved due to dramatic changes in society. Typography, just like texts of which is creates, is chameleonic in their tendecny to change their style according to social contexts. Warde(1955) states that the only thing in the world that can stir and alter men's minds is through a coherent expression of thought. This can be interpreted as logical, readable content comprehendable to mankind. The understanding towards content enable people to think about the logic of the contexts instead of looking at contents that lines of words do not make sense. Typography is most effective when all elements of a design coalesce into a form that is invisible - that meanging the effort and micro design elements are concealed once viewed by the audience. Ikea is well known for its Do-it-yourself, easy assembled rang of aesthetically pleasing Scandinavian furniture. The brand typeface has recently stopped using Verdana after using it for a decade. Before

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using Verdana, Ikea used Ikea sans, a typeface adapted from Futura, a typeface developed in the 1920's (The Guardian, 2009) The change from Ikea sans to Verdana is because the brand font did not include Asian characters. Such change and adaption to society is an exciting example of how the choice of typography change according to social needs and development. Siebert(cited by Brewer, 2019) showcases out the differences between the different typefaces Ikea chose to use since 2009 and after 2019. The typeface(Noto1) Ikea adapted since 2019 (Figure 1) shows that both typefaces used for the title appeared as san serif fonts without drastic changes. However, looking closely, each letter in Noto is thinner than Verdana, and in this way, the gap between each letter seems slightly more exaggerated than Verdana.When shifting focus to the numerals, the thickness differences of the numbers remain the same, but the number 1 seems a lot different. The no.1 using Verdana appearedwith a strange serif-like titled angle on the left with a circular arch. Personally speaking, the circular cut defeats the purpose of minimalistic approach while referencing the negative space.The combination of straight lines and negative circular areas are reflected through Ikea's products design as well. There is not enough evidence to elaborate the idea behind choosing this typeface, but it might be relating to the abstract shape of the numbers. On the right side, the number 1 appeared as a clean-cut straight number without any 'decorations' as Tschitold would describe. A better silhouette expressed through typography represents the simple aesthetic of Ikea's designs. More interestingly, the choice of changing its typeface to Noto is also an economical choice. Moving to Noto is progress of Ikea's expansion into global markets as the Noto family contains every written language globally. This is not a surprise as Ikea has a local store in most countries. My family and friends live across

different cities globally, and they all shop at Ikea, from Dalian( Nothern city in China), Beijing, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, London and Paris. According to Warde(1955), the choice of typography design carries economic and educational purposes. Otherwise, it would be considered fine art like calligraphy. Therefore, Ikea's choice of Noto as its new typography is one example of erasing the artistic appearance but focusing on the deliverable of contents. Except for using native american culture(Tschichold, 2001) as a context to explain the dreadfulness of decorative design, Tschichold's texts were inspiring. The texts present the evolution of new typography by making the rules visible to the reader and offered extensive explanations behind and beyond the rules. Tschichod (2001) criticised the lack of functionality in old typography while simultaneously praising the beauty and decorative flair of it.The old typography was designed according to the reading habits of reading line by line in a leisurely way. Tschichold pointed out people do not have plenty of time to spend on reading word by word, line by line. This applies to the current contexts we are at ' the overloading of information in both digital and non digital spaces that overlapping each other. Tschichold (2001) wrote things long before we became totally mesmerised by fragmented information, scattered texts and overloading of images. Therefore, his concepts still make sense when applied in contemporary context. He concluded that we learned that forms are grown from function/purpose, materials, and use through nature and technology. Therefore, I interpret Tschichod's ideas as the evolution of beauty comes from the development of functionality. Such functionality is shaped by the social change - the invention of cars, the emergence of Apple, the need for design. In this way, I see new typography evolved through social changes. Also, how Tschichod described the evolution of new typography reminds us of

Noto: Noto is a typeface developed by

Google has been developing a font

Google. According to Google: When text

family called Noto, which aims to support

is rendered by a computer, sometimes

all languages with a harmonious look

characters are displayed as 'tofu'. They

and feel. Noto is Google's answer to tofu.

are little boxes to indicate your device

The name noto is to convey the idea that

doesn't have a font to display the text

Google's goal is to see 'no more tofu'. Noto has multiple styles and weights'

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the revolution of art and design. In art history, art style gradually evolved from extreme realism with exquisite details with precisely the same colour references. For example, moving from the renaissance to juxtaposing prime colours directly on canvas mimics the realism shouters of objects -- impressionism, to the complete distortion of the thing with bold, bright colours without any mixed techniques. In design history, the styles evolved from decorative objects to simplicity across decades. One example that I am inspired by is 0mm Photographic Hours. The project description was written as followed: structured into four sections in selected prominent photographers. Each of the selected artists has represented their individual perspective of the cultural identity of a city, and it has construed as another relationship between their aesthetic implications and the city connection. Capture the moment of a city, a life of living, documenting or documented by exposure moment.' (Kirstine Kawakubo) The functionality of this book is explored both contextually and conceptually Contextually, it fully extends the usage of different forms of publication design - paper, layout, flipping sides, typefaces and binding technologies. Conceptually, it is an effective way to deliver the cultural identity contexts of the cities as everyone would not feel the same. Some photos are accompanied by overlaying of bold and small, thin texts on the photos of the books. An audience can immediately associate the text with the images. The small, much thinner texts act like a frame and a picture under this context. (figure 2) This book cannot be said as addressing to the functionality of text in a traditionnel sense. Traditionally speaking, functionality existed as a necessity of design. However, the needs are differed according to social contexts. In the society we are living in now, Many can experience the once rare privilege of enjoying arts, designs and leisure's as we live in a era of relative worldwide peace. As art and

design started evolved into what is contemporary in current society, artists and designers can address issues previously ignored through an visual and interpretive approach. For example, this example explores cultural identities from a different perspective. In this way, these artworks' design pieces are functional as they can address the sensitive contents, pose questions to, and elicit an emotional response from the audience Haylock (2013) mentions the primary ethics of design. He used First Things First Manifesto (shortened for FTF Manifesto) 2 as an example to elaborate his point. Through re-reading of Haylock's texts, I put typography into the context of critical theories. If my previous arguments towards how typography reflects the environment, i.e. social changes, are presumptions and a little bit presumptuous. Haylock's texts are evidence that proves the existence of my point of view. The FTF manifesto argues the purpose of design. It points out that designers are designated to non-essentials things for the sake of economic needs (Ken Garland et al, 1964) . The FTF manifesto requests that designers should make their skills worthwhile and make the design more meaningful (Ken Garland et al, 1964). Meaningful refers to the lasting and positive contribution to the world. However, Haylock(2013) argues that such a point is misplaced as he believes that the manifesto puts design in a commercial platform. The purpose of design will only lead to an impasse and clash of design ideologies. Although I understand Haylocks's arguments when thinking about design as 'economic operations'(Ken Garland et al, 1964) , the purpose of design is commercialised, and the ideologies are somehow built upon the commercial base. However, the manifesto can be scrutinised from a different perspective. Even if the purpose of design is built upon the capitalistic status quo, it can also engage and absorb the civic elements when designing for commercial projects. For example, under the current circumstances of the pandemic, designs are not the 2

First Things First Manifesto: According to Design is History, FTF Manifesto is written and published in 1963 and 1964 respectively by Ken Garland and 20 other designers, photograhers and students. It is requesting the return to a humanist aspect of design.

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priority as the economic situation is not idealistic enough to afford leisure. Some of the designers, both in China and in Australia complains about laying off design departments in some companies due to the financial crisis. The question of ethics might be: how visual designers can contribute to society and somehow become essential?The reading of Guns Germs Steels about how words are closely associated with the development of the world makes me thinking about the responsibilities of typography designers. How typography designers are then, carries the responsibilities to deliver the messages. Those messages, in the contemporary contexts, would often carry out ethical issues. Therefore, I can understand the questions of design ethics that the manifesto is trying to raise Moreover, Haylock(2013) dives deep into civic ethics with a skeptical criticism 'the ethics of citizenship is 'thinkable' (not defined), but the ethics of design citizenship is not transferable directly from the ethics of citizenship. Nonetheless, Haylock recognizes the possibilities of design ethics by quoting Herbert Simon, 'Everyone who designs devises courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones.' According to Haylocks' references, the philosophical definition of happiness or the measure of good and bad. Again, Haylock argues that when thinking about concepts such consequentialism, the FTF manifesto is inadequate as such a designed guide cannot be predicted. The greater good or the preferred one (of the future) is instead a metaphysical ideology. It can be contextualised in different scenarios, whether it is based on capitalism or utopia. The interpretation is always up for the audience. As Muggeridge(2010) points out, typography can be hypocritical: you need to know the rules before breaking them. Such intentions that go against the

practice will generate new possibilities with new directions of work. By linking to Haylock's texts, the new possibilities and guidance can be considered the result of using typography to guide the future into a preferred one. In this way, typography becomes an expression of views. It is still functional but not as a tool for reading. It can be thought to be an expression that leads to specific unknown outputs that audiences can digest however they want. One example I believe is persuasive and the above theory is artist Zhang Huan’s3 work' Family tree(figure 3). He uses his own typography (writings) on faces to reflect the identities of the Chinese. He said(‘Zhang Huan Shanghai Family Tree 2001', NGV), 'The body is the only direct way through which I come to know society, and society comes to know me. The body is proof of identity. The body is language.' Here, the typography is still existing as its apparent function as a language but at the same time becomes the expression of identity. According to Public Delivery (2021), the writings are personal stories, names, learnt tales and random thoughts and produced by three calligraphers. The layout of the writings is referencing ancient Chinese physiognomy. Also as accordance to Jared Diamond, the Chinese language is considered a logogram which the letter alone stands for a meaning(refence). The layout of the ancient metaphysical fortune-telling system plus the unknown meaning. Although, to Chinese speakers, the writings are hard to tell, to non-Chinese speakers, those individual words become graphics. Those unknown meanings or graphics on faces are platforms that integrate the thoughts and expression from the artist. Through this, audiences might want to know what is going on with the work. Family Tree totally breaks the original rules of typography(books, publishing, website and etc.) but is used as an art. However, it is still a form of

Zhang Huan: Artist based in Shanghai and New York. More information is available at http://www.zhanghuan.com/ index_en.aspx

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Figure 2: 0mm Photographic Hours by Kristine Kawakubo

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'publication' when presented on the website, as prints, with comprehensive texts accompanying it. In the end, the outputs of the texts become graphics with explanations. In this way, it changes the artwork to a preferred one — an artwork that can be understood, typography that can comprehend. Just like the curator , Christopher Philips(cited by Public Delivery, 2021) concludes that, 'As you see his face slowly disappearing beneath the blackness, you come to feel the elaborate web of social and cultural relations smothering any sense of the individual.' In here, the feelings of 'smothering' senses of individual is depicted by the coverage of the blackness. The Chinese calligraphies, under this contexts, are seen as blocks of graphics instead of words with meanings. Although I have not been living in China for a decade, I still identify myself as a Chinese. Therefore, the way I interpret the disappearance of the texts is the disappearance of identities. My interpretation is slightly differ from the curator which made me think about the integration of languages through typography to close the gap of cultural bridge and facilitate the cultural understanding. Personally, it inspires me to think about the integration of one language into another. Also, the functionality between expressive typography and functional typography. The family tree allows me to compare the three texts and examples as a whole in terms of invisible, functional and expressive type. I have this scenario in mind: An expressive calligraphy art piece in Chinese but explained with light san-serif texts in English and Chinese texts through an asymmetrical layout that emphasizes the contents of the artwork explanation. This scenario shows that the typography of the artwork concept statement is designed carefully to make the design itself disappear but to facilitate the understanding of Chinese Calligraphy art.

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The layout and typography become functional as they can explain the art without standing in as a design piece. At the same time, it is still a design piece. The overall combination makes it relevant and refers to contemporary cultural norms — the understanding of diverse cultures. Especially the fear of the unknown, cultural ignorance and racism issues across the globe. Conceptually, Warde's texts that talk about how typography becomes invisible is to consider the reading methods, whereas Haylock talks about the intimate links among typography and critical theory. These concepts draw a fine line that links typography - a design terminology to the socioeconomics in the contemporary settings. That is to say, the structure of society is shaping typography or typography is reflecting on the structure of society. Just as how Tchitold indicated that no matter how typography evolved, the evolution cannot degenerate into unrest and chaos. This applies both to typography as well as in the current context.

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Figure 2 Family Tree by Zhang Huan, Photography, 2000)

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Cuiwen Xu

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Typography is an incredibly important design element for designers to deliver their purposes in various ways, which influences the way readers read and interpret the content. Typography can be transparent, functional and expressive or a mix of all. Transparent typography focuses on content without any typographic distraction. Functional or modernist typography allows more flexibility and conveys the information in a more functional way. Expressive typography usually breaks the rules and conventions set by traditions. It is often used as a visual element for communicating the content while some articulates an ethical position. In this essay, it will analyse three graphic works: Rand McNally Road Atlas maps, Emil Rudner's exhibition poster and David Carson's new book Nu Collage, respectively reflecting each typographic style in terms of type, layout and meanings. Transparent typography theory encourages the humble use of typography to communicate the text rather than decorativeness. Warde (1955) believe that good typography invisibly connects author's words to readers without the intervene of subjective and decorative elements.1 A very contemporary publication design, Rand McNally 2021 Road Atlas, is good example using transparent typography, which makes readers focus on the content of the text because of its clear arrangement of content and the right choice of typeface. An atlas or map book is a specific type of book, which contains facts about certain places and complex information both visually and textually. The primary purpose of an atlas is to deliver location information to the map users. Typography holds a considerable amount of power to influence how users read and how effective they could capture the information they want. When I look at Rand McNally Road Atlas, I can clearly read any street name and easily find a place on its busy backgrounds. The ease of finding the right locations makes me have no time to think about what typeface it is using. The typeface used to label this atlas doesn't call attention to itself. It is invisible but 1

Warde, B 1955, The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible, The crystal goblet: sixteen essays on typography, Sylvan Press, London, pp.11-17.

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incredibly legible. The text in this map including labels, title and legend entries, as an important component is suited the best for the purpose of guiding people find a location. This typeface used here is neutral without any expression. The arrangement of content, such as label placement, doesn't cause any distraction for users' focus on the content. On-the-road resources and sights to see for Washington, D.C. conveniently located at the top of the map. Below the map, it highlights central Washington, D.C. with key points-of-interest. When we take a closer look at the map, labels are carefully placed and there are no labels overlap each other. Locations are labelled by perfect priorities in order to distinguish different places. Not all labels are placed horizontally. For example, the name of a river flows upward in this map. All these placements of content are invisible as we naturally accept them. Texts on a map book are unique to words in other publications, they are usually short and placed with extreme space constraints. Text is displayed in a small size. Thus, it is crucial to decide what font suits the best in a map. Compared to a location map2 (also a Christmas greeting card) designed and cut by Warde's close friend Eric Gill in 1934, Rand McNally's map, as a very contemporary example, uses a highly legible font. Rand McNally adopted the font Frutiger as their primary typeface since 2004. This font, known to be a humanist sans serif typeface3 was created by German type designer: Adrian Frutiger. It was specifically designed for signage in order to be legible and easily recognized from various distances and angles. Frutiger now is a popular choice for smaller-scale text in magazines and books since its characters are clear and readable at small text sizes. In this map, this font has its advantages in contrast to busy backgrounds, and its wide range of weights and styles gives a visual hierarchy in an unnoticeable way. Rand McNally maps used Univers before 2004, which was also designed by Adrian Frutiger. The image

below shows the differences between these two fonts. It is not hard to see that Frutiger has wide-open apertures4 and tall x-height, in contrast to the more folded-up feature of Univers. In the word 'Washington', letters like a double-story 'a' and single-story 'g' can be easily distinguished and do not appear like dots at small text sizes. The spaces around the type and the shapes created by the background are wisely designed. These characteristics make locations and streets easier to be read and recognized. Overall, for users, a map is already complicated. Transparent typography in this example supports the author's intent instead of acting as a decorative role and silently helps users to find the information they want easier. The New Typography advocated by Jan Tschichold purses clarity and favours asymmetrical typography instead of strictly following traditional typesetting. Asymmetric typography was created through the necessity to include various language translations in the same design. Using grids and hierarchy come from necessity5. Besides, asymmetric typography gives liveness and expression. An example of good asymmetric typography is an exhibition poster designed by Emil Ruder in 1964. This poster is featured by the adoption of asymmetrical layout and san serif letterforms, which expresses a new and modern sensibility. This piece is called 'Moderne französische knüpfteppiche' for an exhibition at the Gewerbemuseum Basel. The exhibition theme 'Moderne französische knüpfteppiche' means modern French knotted carpets in English. 'Asymmetry is the rhythmic expression of functional design6 (Tschichold 2001, p.117). As a commercial poster, its asymmetrical layout makes the poster highly dynamic. The very simplicity and clarity of Ruder's typographic composition also well responses to the essence of the New Typography7. The use of a single red colour and devoid of any unnecessary illustration make a harmonious impression.

Gill, E 1934, Location map of Beatrice

white aera in letterforms such as capital

on 10 August 2021 https:farm8.staticflickr.

letters 'C', 'S', lower case 'a' and 'e'.

com728187433921519f69a7e6e4.jpg. 3

An aperture is the partially enclosed

Warde's Pimlico Wharf address, viewed

Osterer, H - Stamm, P 2021, Adrian

com728187433921519f69a7e6e4.jpg. Müller-Brockmann, J 2015, Grid

Frutiger Typefaces: Complete Works.

systems in graphic design: a visual

Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Germany,

communication manual for graphic

p.412.

designers, typographers and three dimensional designers, 9ed. viewed on 10 August 2021

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Figure 1 Rand McNally 2021 Road Atlas - National Park Guide

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Through using the grid system, it makes the composition simultaneously playful and straightforward. This work also reflected a fine example of Swiss style8. Ruder (1967) asserted that the primary purpose of typography is the communication with type. Precision, proportions and legibility are the most important things in type design, instead of 'subjective and style-driven typography'.9 In this poster, the legible exhibition theme in German is clearly placed just below the centerline in a lowercase sans-serif font and end at the very right margin of the poster. Details about the exhibition at bottom of the poster is shown in the same typeface but a smaller size, aligned with the left edge of the exhibition title. In the upper half of the poster, two text block (same as the text block that appears below) intertwine and overlap but are set left-justified. One text block is upside down and superimposed over the other. Well deployment of negative space here thus imitates the craft of carpet knotting, that is the theme and content of the exhibition. As both the tracking and leading are too close together in the upper half of the poster, the three words (moderne französische knüpfteppiche) below hold the most visual hierarchy. The red text against a white background helps the theme text stand out. Typographic hierarchy behind the size, colour and the placement of each word helps navigate the reader's eyes and emphasise which part is more important and greatly assists the total effect. The Font used in this poster is Helvetica (Neue Haas Grotesk), a sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger. This font has extremely tight spacing, great x-height and horizontal stroke terminals, and its main function is to provide legibility. In this poster, these features of the font and the bold manipulation the typography conveys a sense of tension and rigor. Overall, in this work, he placed a high importance on the design of typography. It is nicely response to the New Typography's

principles such as asymmetrical layout, the use of san serif fonts, functionality and negative spaces. Typography can be incredibly powerful with the ability to evoke a reaction even before the readers understand the meaning of the text. Expressive typography is highly visual and often is used as a visual element10, such as typographic illustrations formed by letters and illustrative sizing compositions of letters. Letters are not just abstract shapes, but also carriers of meanings. Haylock (2013) suggest that designers should break rules and conventions. There are many contemporary works to advocate for changes using typography to act as an invisible carrier of information. David Carlson is a good example of this. He used typography to explicitly state his opinion of rule-breaking and being experimental through different mediums. David Carson's recent new book nu collage.001 explores his latest collage work and offers us rich personal insight into his radical approach to typography and layout. The reason I am analysing this book is because these collages is out of the constraints of commercial clients or requirements, not like his previous works such as Ray Gun Magazine and other branding projects. Unlike his seminal books like The End of Print and 2nd Sight which took a professional look at design through his work, nu collage.001 is more personal and intimate. This book demonstrates his talented ability to break conventional norms for publications by experimenting with different mediums. He applied handmade works into his collages, instead of formatted and perfect digitalized works. This book has open and lay-flat binding. The layout is resolutely grid-free, providing a space for Carson's work at its freeform best. On the page of this book I chose, it used materials and things around him. The pieces are collected from all his travels, offering snaps of his personal life. They are bits of posters in the

Tschichold, J 2001, The Principles of the

origins and growth of an international style,

writings on typography, Allworth Press,

1920-1965, Yale University Press, United

New York, p.117. 7

Hollis, R 2006, Swiss graphic design: the

New Typography, Texts on type: critical

Tschichold, J 2001, The Principles of the

Kingdom, pp.200-227. 9

Ruder, E 1967, Typographic: A Manual for

Turgut, O. P 2017, Expressive typography as a

New Typography, Texts on type: critical writings on typography, Allworth Press, New York, p.116.

Design, Verlag Niggli AG, Sulgen. visualisation of ideas. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(11), pp.164-170, viewed on 10

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Figure 2 Poster, modern French knotted carpets by Emil Ruder, 1964

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cities he has been to, or a cardboard box on the streets. This page doesn't stick to the rules around image placement and consistent typography. After folding, bending, cutting, and stretching those collected pieces, this page embodies chaotic typography and patterns, including mixed uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and some ligatures. We can only recognize a few letters like 'O', 'S' and 'D'. Some parts of the type seem to have some watermarks. The disarray of pieces of alphabets and his use of illegal font zapf dingbat11 overlapped each other, seemingly meaningless at the surface. In fact, this racial approach creates a lot of emotion and reaction just based on the way he arranged things, showing that typographic design is such a powerful language. Messy collages of overlapping alphabets and word cut-outs are communicating his philosophy of rule-breaking. Instead of communicating information and messages through an understandable language, it carries expressive styles, personality, and visual language. To summarize the above, these three examples I am analysing obviously adopted different approaches to typography and layout for different purposes. Rand McNally map is totally neutral without styling, aiming to present facts accurately. Typography acts as an invisible carrier of content in this case. Ruder's Swiss style poster shows its clarity and functionality fostered by the grid system. The expressive typography in Carson's new book articulates his philosophy of rule breaking and expresses the power of visual form inherent in letters and words. Typography is such an integral part to the success of publication design and graphic design. It is carried out as a visual communication tool not only in the function of reading but also in form. The choice of typeface, colors, layout and even every detail work as a whole influence the way we read. As a

designer, I should be more thoughtful to make typographic decisions in future practices.

'Zapf dingbat' is a illegal font that you can found in another famous example in Ray Gun Magazine 1994, David Carson's Zapf Dingbats Spread, viewed on 10 August 2021

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Figure 3 David Carson's recent new book nu collage.001

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Bhavyaa Kumar

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The author starts the text with a metaphor that beautifully explains Modernist typography. She elaborates how 'modernist' has more to do with 'What it must do?' Rather than 'How should it look?'. To establish the role of printing, Warde explains 'front door of the typography'.1 She says that the most crucial aspect of printing is communication. From conveying coherent ideas to images from one person to another halfway across the world is the primary goal of printing. And to optimize the message, it is important to distinguish readability from legibility. Readability is more inclined towards the arrangement of the words to make it easier and simple to read, whereas, legibility has more to do with the characteristics of the type to make them easily distinguishable from one another. She further says that a type should not be looked at but see-through which means, the text should convey the message and the ideas, rather than be visually pleasing. According to Warde, any printed material should not be called fine art as it will imply that its first purpose is artistic expression than communication. To establish a concrete difference between art and design, Warde recalls an incident where questioned the typographer and he simply said that 'Ah, madam, we artists do no think- we feel!' Peter, she happened to quote the same to another type designer to which he replied 'I'm not feeling very well today, I think'. It is after this particular incident that she felt that the latter designer may not become a great artist but will become a better type designer because - he thinks! Warde feels that type requires function more than form. A book typographer, according to Warde should be able to provide the reader a window to the outside world. But at the same time, the window shouldn't be tainted as it then becomes an object to look at and not through. Translating the example to typography - a reader should be able to clearly understand and comprehend the text or the message being conveyed without being distracted by the typeface. And this according to Warde is invisible typography. 1

Warde, B. (1955). 'The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible,' The crystal goblet: sixteen essays on typography. London, Sylvan Press.

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In conclusion, the author reiterates how printing demands humility of mind and that there is nothing dull or simple about achieving a transparent page. On the contrary, Warde feels that attaining vulgar ostentation2 comes more naturally. After reading the above essay, I feel Warde's approach to typography is relevant in today's time but at the same time I feel it's a very extremist approach. Due to the advent of technology, a person's average attention span has relatively reduced which becomes a major limitation for the 'modernist' approach to typography. In order to capture a readers' attention, I feel it is important to strike the correct balance between maintaining readability, legibility, and visual appeal. I feel Warde makes some really strong arguments through relevant metaphors to increase the understandability of the concept of modern-invisible typography. Though it would have been interesting to read Warde's take on 'minimalism' - since in the current time some may even call it invisible typography. Despite making a very compelling case, I still believe in maintaining a fine balance between typography as text and typography as fine art. Based on the text above, the two precedents that I have selected are a page from the book 'Glossary of Undisciplined Design' (Published on May 2021)3 and another page from the book 'Les Rêves et la Vie (Dreams - Life)' by M Payre.4 The first spread is meant for a more creative yet mature audience, whereas the second example is a page from a French Book aimed at a mature audience. The font used in the first book is very similar to Signika Negative Designed by Anna Giedryś. Whereas, the font used in the second book is a serif font called Merriweather, designed by Sorkin Type. The first book is a classic representation of stunt typography. As Warde mentioned, typography in this case is more visually aesthetic than contextual. It is also noteworthy that the message being communicated is a lot more serious in nature, whereas, the design suggests

otherwise. Hence, the first book is a well-suited example of a 'tainted' window for a reader. On the other hand, the second example is what we call 'invisible' Typography. It has consistent typesetting, with no distractions or fine art elements. In this case, the reader will simply be able to understand and retain the message contrary to the first example. Jan Tschichold in 'The Principles of the New Typography' further elaborates on modern typographic approach. Contrary to Warde, Tschichold talks about how the reading pattern and habits of people have evolved over the years. He says that people no longer read line to line quietly, but first glance through the text and examine whether the text is interesting enough for them to invest their time in. The change in behaviour is a consequence of a steep rise in people's consumption of printed information. Tschichold talks about how old typography was less concerned with function, and more with 'art' and 'beauty'. Although, today, form is not independent, but it grows out of function (purpose). The author feels that the principal purpose of New Typography is clarity. Keeping in mind Warde's approach, Tschichold debates that old typography was majorly designed keeping in mind the 'beautiful' appearance and adornments, but now we must attain clarity more than the before-mentioned elements. As discussed, clarity is a crucial element to retain a readers' attention amidst the manifold of information available to an individual. Like Warde, Jan also believes that form follows function. This means that, typography should not originate from a pre-conceived notion of 'how it should look'. The objective is to make sure that function should maintain it's authenticity. This will enable the designer to give pure context and direct expression to the contents. The author also highlights the rules and relationship various aspects of typography share with each other. He draws a comparison between symmetrical and asymmetrical typography using the various principals of typography. According

Ostentation noun: the pretentious or

M. Payre, Les Rêves et la Vie CM1-CM2,

showy display of wealth and luxury,

8e-7e, Librairie classique Eugène Belin,

designed to impress.

1967.

Glossary of Undisciplined Design. (n.d.). Germany: Dreen, Markus, Anne König u. Jan Wenzel. Spectormag GbR.

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Figure 1 envatotuts+

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to Tschichold, it is asymmetrical typography that creates a beautiful rhythmic expression of functional design. Hence, New Typography is predominantly inspired by asymmetrical typography. To sum up the the rules and principals of New Typography-New typography presupposes5 eye movement. Therefore, encouraging usage of different type-sizes, weights, spacing, colour, etc. It stimulates the use of contrasts to make the content more functional. 'It also offers many possibilities of effective design'6as Jan says. The new approach to typography also encourages using different type weights and sizes to make the content more emphatic. It enables a user to clearly understand the hierarchy of the text. In asymmetrical design, the white space has become an important design element. But reiterating the functional characteristic of design - the white space should follow the hierarchy of the content and the flow of the design - rather than the other way round. The New approach also practises typography with minimum margins as opposed to prominent margins. As opposed to the old typography where font and colour were adornments7, in New typography they play a more functional role. Colours hold an emotive value, whereas the fonts dictate functionalism. Tschichold talks about how the current typefaces are artistic in nature and requires a team to develop it to avoid personal touch and make them more universal. He feels that a good letter speaks with the utmost clarity and a good typeface stands true to the functionality clarity. According to Jan, no other category other than Sans Serif holds the potential to grow in the future. He believe that the rest of the categories do no abide by the rules of typography, therefore hindering its main and foremost purpose - clear communication. To conclude, typeface shouldn't divert the reader's attention into certain emotional and intellectual spheres but maintain its position as an effective tool of

communication and idea sharing. In my opinion, this reading is an extension of Warde's 'The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should Be Invisible'. She talks about the properties of the content, whereas Jan elaborates further on its several properties and characteristics. According to me, Jan introduces a very stable and effective ways to create and establish content hierarchy. This will enable the reader's to segregate information and effectively 'glance' through the text. In case of Warde's approach8, there is a chance that the reader mayn't glance through thoroughly as it is visually 'dull'. Introduction of principles like contrast, different size-weights, size, colors, etc paves way to not only create hierarchy but also 'strategize' how a reader should perceive, read your information. This not only makes your piece more efficient, but also helps you to understand the psyche of your customers. But just like Warde, Jan also looks down upon 'ornamentalism' of text. However, I do not agree on Tschichold's view on how just Sans Serif fonts holds the potential to grow. Serif fonts, Script fonts, etc have been known to add emotive value to the content like personalisation, credibility, etc. For ex. Handwritten fonts have particularly gained a lot of traction due to its eclectic, fun, and creative nature.9 These emotive values makes a person more receptive to the content as opposed to unresponsive or resistant. Based on the text above, the two precedents that I have selected is a poster called 'Design is contrast'10 and my academic project for the client - D.E.R.C 'The Co.D.E'. These precedents are post-modern yet functional in their nature. They represent the content in a hierarchy that will enable the reader to comprehend and perceive it better. The reasons I've chosen these examples for this reading are: The poster and the magazine showcases the New Typography principles likeContrast- The dramatic background split plus a high energy monochromatic red colour has been implemented to achieve contrast. Apart from the background, the font color is also adding to

Adornment noun:a thing which adorns or

Warde, B. (1955). 'The Crystal Goblet or

Presuppose verb: tacitly assume atthebeginning of a line of argument or course of action that something is the

decorates an ornament.

case.

Why Printing Should be Invisible,' The

Tschichold J. (2001), 'The Principles of

crystal goblet: sixteen essays on

the New Typography', Texts on type:

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typography. London, Sylvan Press.

critical writings on typography. New York,

Source: envatotuts+

Allworth Press.

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the contrast thereby making this poster captivating. Typography Hierarchy and formatting (different typeface sizes and weights) Brad Haylock in 'The Critical Goblet' explores the 'ethics of graphic design, with the Typography of the book as a touchstone and critical theory as a waypoint.'11 He starts by critically analysing the typography of Routledge Classics edition of Michel Foucault's 'The Archaeology of Knowledge' and Gill's book 'An Essay on Typography.' Through the above examples, Haylock sets a precedent on how typography can not only distract but also forces the reader to pause for the wrong reasons. To further highlight typography and its impact (negative -positive), Haylock proposes a relation between Typography and the critical theory. He explains how his typographic dogmatism12 is similar to Beatrice Warde's as explained in 'The Crystal Goblet', aka 'Printing Should Be Invisible.' Haylock states that the responsibility in graphic design and the impact a designers' work holds has been an active debate amongst the designers in relation to the critical theory. The release of the 'First Things First' manifesto in 1964 shone a spotlight on the consequences of a designers' work and spoke about how consumerism is being further promulgated in society through designers and their work - labeling them morally bankrupt. He further argues how some may suggest a midpoint, but the frame of reference the FTF is based on is in reality misplaced. To support his argument, Haylock talks about how the manifestoes understand design as a profession, therefore adding an economic value to the same. On the other hand, ethics of graphic design will take an interrogative approach to design that counters and questions the reality and the status quo built by the existing structures, systems, and norms - often leading to a clash in ideologies and so to an impasse.13 According to Herbert Simon (1969), design is concerned with the 'Realm of the Artificial'. 'Simon (1996) proposed that, in

contrast with the natural sciences, which are concerned with studying the world as it is, a science of design would be a science of the artificial', but also a discipline that would be concerned with the world as it ought to be'..Simon, in turn, infamously wrote that everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones' (1996: 111). 14 In conclusion, Haylock highlights the key differences in understanding and interpreting ethical responsibility in design. By stating the typographic characteristics of 'Antennae Series by Valiz, designed by Metahaven' he successfully establishes how unorthodox, 'stunt' typography can also reveal readability and how inconsistent text face, type size, and measure can also do nothing to compromise the transmission of authors' ideas but in fact, enhance the content. Thereby reiterating how design can change the existing situations into preferred ones. After the first two texts, I felt this was the aptest reading to bind the three typographic approaches together. Like the author, I too, find the concept of FTF misplaced. But at the same time, I feel it is our responsibility to reflect on the consequences of our work. I feel Haylock has made some convincing arguments while establishing a relationship between design and critical theory. Apart from this current reading, Haylock in his 'What is Critical Design' highlights how design is the promulgator of consumerism in our society and has played a crucial role in establishing societal norms and regulations. But yet, the text did not have a definitive conclusion. Though, after reading this text, I feel it perfectly connects the various elements of design, critical theory, and typography. Therefore, I find this text very powerful and cohesive. It provides a very compelling argument as to why design is based on critical theory and how is it course-correcting to become a catalyst for changing the existing situations into the preferred ones. Based on the text above, the two

Haylock, B. (2013), 'The Critical Goblet', Process Journal: Edition Eight,

progress is possible, especially because

pp.6-7 12

Dogmatism noun: the tendency to lay

Impasse noun: a situation in which no of disagreement a deadlock.

Undesign: Critical Practices at the

down principles as undeniably true,

Intersection of Art and Design, (1), pp.9-

without consideration of evidence or the

23'Routledge, 1st(2018)

opinions of others.

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precedents that I have selected is an article that was published in the New York Times titled 'Wondering About Social Distancing?' (Published on March 16th, 2020)15 And a book cover of the book 'The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory' by Jesse Walker (20 August 2013).116 Both the designs are aimed towards a more mature target audience. Based on the nature of the newspaper, the fonts used by NYTimes are NYT Imperial as their sans serif font and NYT Cheltenham as their Serif Font. Whereas, the font used on the book cover is a Sans Serif font, very similar to Proxima Nova. The reasons I've chosen these examples for this reading are: Talking about the article published in the NYT, I feel it is one of the best-suited examples of how the design can amplify the message being communicated by the author. It represents the importance of maintaining social distance to flatten the Covid-19 curve. The overall design aesthetic supports the message rather than overpower the text. Coming to the book cover - as Haylock mentioned how typographic inconsistencies can, at times, not detract from its readability but support and sympathize with the text, in my opinion, this book cover is a well-suited example for the same. Despite a lot of characters placed in the background, the designer has been successful in highlighting and communicating the prime message in his / her design through the use of colors, spacing, and kerning between the characters. The typography in these precedents are expressive yet functional in their nature. The book cover not only represents the title and author's name but also amplifies the theme and gives you an impression of redacted information. The readings have satiated my thirst to learn and gain theoretical typographic knowledge. Initially, even though the readings were very interesting, I wondered how will I be able to approach the complexities attached to different typographic approaches. It is after I

Source: New York Times

Walker, J. (2014) .The United States of

finished the readings that I realized how interconnected they are in nature. Stating with the basics, Warde helped me understand the importance and relevance of invisible typography. Even though I may not have agreed with her point of view, it enables me to comprehend Tschichold's approach a lot better. The main difference that lies between Warde's approach and Tschichold's approach is wards talks about the basic fundamentals of typography. She doesn't get into the details or the intricacies of each characteristic of different elements in typography. Moving ahead to the third reading, Haylock has the most advanced and holistic approach to typography. The third reading was the perfect culmination of the three texts together. Where Tschichold focuses on the characteristics of typography, Haylock enabled and helped me look at typography from a broader perspective too. Haylock (personally for me) was able to help me establish a much more concrete relationship between critical theory and typography-design. Moreover, I felt amongst the 3, Haylock's approach to expressive Typography is the most relevant in today's world. It is the perfect amalgamation of how to retain the core functionality of typography meanwhile making it visually appealing to actually enhance the meaning and the communication!

Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory. United States: Harper Perennial.

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Figure 2 New York Times

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Rue Yue

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In modern times, good typography design pays the most attention to economy of expression. However, the audience will not refuse the typography fulfill with decorative while it already achieves high legibility and readability. On this layout, the designer is divided into three parts vertically - a column catalog in the upper part, a large headline article in the middle, and a short article in the bottom part, which mostly applys to all New York Times Sunday review layout. About the choices of fonts, The New York Time changed the main font from Times New Roman to Georgia, which is a little wider and which many people find easier to read. At the same time they continue to use Arial as sans serif font. It can be seen from the structure division of the figure below that the text layout of the entire layout is centered as much as possible, and there is a clear expression of the sections. The first thing that catches the eye is the illustration in the middle, the illustration itself is a structure with the surrounding background with the visual center in the middle of the picture. The articles are dividing into 3 columns. The decision on the number of columns should be a combination of many factors, such as legibility, text content and quantity. First, through the column design, influence and control the line length in the layout to adjust the amplitude and frequency of the reader's eyes and even head swinging back and forth, so as to 'effectively reduce the reader's reading fatigue and improve reading efficiency’; second, active beautification of the page, 'column design can increase the layout changes', to avoid monotony and create a comfortable and even pleasing reading experience' third, 'column design can increase the capacity of the layout, making full use of the layout space', in the limited layout space to do a good job of layout planning and integration work. On the illustration, the typeset used a translucent white layer to frame a part of the background tree area to place the article on the bottom. In addition to the three equally divided column of the article

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Figure 1 The first example is from the ront page of Sunday of the New York Times, on July 4, 2014, SUNDAY REVIEW, and the dimensions of New York Times size is 30.5 x 55.9 cm.

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itself, the introduction content on both sides of the article (the introduction of the article on the left, and the author and classification information on the right) is also made into a symmetrical effect, visually looks like two small squares, which shares the same length of height and width. It is worth mentioning that there is a dividing line between the top section and the middle section, while the middle section and the lower section do not have. The reason is actually very simple - there is less blank space between the top and middle section, once the dividing line was created, the designer were free to place more information on the left, right coner of the section, as well as places the headline right under the line. A dividing line can very effectively integrate the information that appears in the eyes of the reader. The space between the bottom article and the middle column is relatively large, and the information itself does not require too many tedious and scattered arrangements. Every Sunday review of the New York Times has the typographic design using this layout a template, which also played a normative meaning for their newspapers. This design is for Arrangement: Basic Skills of Graphic Designers-Zero-Basic Introductory Lectures May 8, 2018, the School of Art and Design, Zhejiang Gongshang University. Usually in a picture with both image and texts coexisting, due to the natural attribute of the image, the image is more attractive and easily get focused on. In this case, the text is more responsible for accurately conveying information. However, when the material only has text, the layout is easy to appear monotonous. To avoid that, one of the idea is to let part of the text assume the functional attributes of the picture, and let it be the visual subject to enrich the picture. This poster is a clever use of these ideas. The large Chinese characters of the title have been pictorially manipulated so that circles, triangles, and rectangles can be seen. This enhances the overall interest of the image, and it doesn't look too fancy if

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you use basic graphics. This design chose Song font, and the font for both the body and title of the selected page was Japanese Tsukiji Ming Dynasty style, focusing on the whole, the use of Japanese characters is due to the excellent Chinese typography at that time The use of Japanese characters was due to the lack of good Chinese typesetting at the time. Ming Dynasty style, also known as Song style in mainland China. In fact, in the history of Chinese printing, the recognized and still used today a There are a total of four body printing fonts, in order of appearance, namely Regular, Song, Imitation Song and Black. Nowadays, Song and Black are the mainstream fonts, and Song's performance and status as a body font is obvious to all. Whether it is the study of previous generations or the choice of history Song is undoubtedly the best typeface for body text. Since the human visual field has a certain limit, attention should be paid to the number of words and the choice of font size in the line when arranging the article. If the text is arranged too long, so that the reader in reading constantly shaking his head left and right, it will produce boredom, causing a sense of psychological urgency. Similarly, if the arrangement is too short, will cause frequent branches, will also make the reader two eyes from time to time to turn back and forth, and easy to serial, will also cause inconvenience to read. This design separates two paragraphs of information by using the large headline in the middle as the visual center after being visualized. The top half of the text is laid out vertically, while the bottom half is separated into two columns, the symmetry of the upper and lower parts is also very beautiful and comfortable. As a poster that introduces typography, it is very inspiring. Aesthetics is a very subjective thing, but in order to fight for space to discuss beauty, there are some simple laws that can be found in popular aesthetics. The human eye will always unconsciously look for an invisible line, which is why one of the

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most important laws when it comes to typography - alignment. The negative space of this design is very clear and neat, representing the rigor of alignment relationships in typography. From an aesthetic standpoint, I think this design piece is passable, but there are relatively a few too many branches in the reading process. The strong and weak relationships of the elements in that image are relatively not particularly clear, and there is actually some strain in reading it. The part I personally don't appreciate is the big word 'tarantion' on the left side. In my understanding, the main reason for this design is to meet the overall sense of long and thin stripes. But after doing so, the recognition of tarantion as a big title is seriously damaged. If hopes to increase the sense of form by weaken the part, I think a better way is to split the word, but then display the text in a different way. (e.g. find a suitable place next to it and highlight it again) The compact arrangement of the text, dense and impermeable, on the one hand, shows the huge amount of information, creating a full visual experience for the reader' on the other hand, it also generates a certain degree of visual pressure, which makes it easier to increase the sense of visual fatigue when reading for a long time.I think this is very typical of a typography that destroys recognition and readability for the sake of aesthetics. But the most important point of the text itself is to convey information, and it's exhausting to read. The design will eventually be printed as a magazine-sized book, and the font on the right side is also relatively a bit too small for the reader .

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Figure 2 This design is for Arrangement: Basic Skills of Graphic Designers-Zero-Basic Introductory Lectures May 8, 2018, the School of Art and Design, Zhejiang Gongshang University.

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Quan Shiwen

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The main purpose of typography is to give a personalized image of the layout1 and to arouse the interest of the viewer. This article introduces three different types of typography2 and their characteristics and provides a more detailed explanation and analysis of each type of typography with examples. Layout design is inseparable from text, especially book layout design, which is built on the basis of text, and therefore text layout becomes an important part of layout design. Fonts3, glyphs4, spacing5 and colors between texts are all basic elements of text. This article analyses the different types of layout design and their examples mentioned in the three articles from a number of perspectives, including fonts, graphics6 and layouts. According to the first article, this type of typography is a design style that differs significantly from traditional or classical design styles. Through the analysis of the article, it is concluded that the characteristics of this type of typography are mainly in the points, lines and surfaces as well as in the use of regular arrangement and the pursuit of orderly beauty in color processing. At the same time, it uses rational and simple geometric forms7 to constitute the theme of the picture. In addition, it focuses more on the beauty of form, rhythm8 and abstraction. This kind of layout design is an artistic technique that tends to be rational and logical. On this basis, this typographic design method places more emphasis on the function of layout design, and its design principles lie in the bold innovation of traditional design techniques, the pursuit of asymmetry in the layout, the emphasis on strong contrast between light and dark and the bold use of blocks and thick lines, the abandonment of complicated decorative patterns, the use of no ornamental lines in the typeface9, i.e., the use of appropriate forms, the use of blocks and more lines that highlight the theme. The close relationship between the layout and content, both the designer and reader are further sought. This design idea has to

Layout: the way in which the parts of sth

Typography: the art or work of preparing

Font(s): the particular size and style of a

Glyph(s): a symbol figure or a character

such as the page of a book is arranged books set of letters that are used in printing, etc usually incised or carved in relief.

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some extent improved the design quality of advertising print, magazines and popular science books. Using different colors of text can make the part you want to emphasize more eye-catching, but it should be noted that only a small amount of color should be used for text. On the contrary, the use of too many colors on a page can affect the efficiency of the reader in reading the content. The use of color can play a role in emphasizing particular parts of the overall text, but also can have an impact on the emotional expression of the entire text. Another thing to pay attention to is the contrast of text color, which includes contrast in brightness, contrast in purity10 and contrast in warm and cold hues11. These not only have an effect on the readability of the text, but more importantly, the typography can achieve the desired design effect, design emotion and design idea through the use of text color. For example, from the application of font color in the above image, there are two main font colors applied to the page, black and light grey. The black font stands out against the light grey font. In addition, the designer has chosen a variety of different font types to make the text content more readable and achieve a clear separation of priorities. From the perspective of the graphic color scheme, the designer has chosen a warm orange color to set off the text, and the shape of the graphic is irregular, but the overall visual effect gives a very harmonious feeling and emphasises the 'invisible typography' advocated in the first article. Moreover, from the layout of the above image, the layout design does not constrain and limit the overall layout design as the grid design does, using a more casual typographic approach. For instance, Grid design, a method of layout design in which text and images are assigned according to a predetermined grid on the pages of a book. The grid design obituary style cannot be formed without the profound influence of architecture on it. Its style is characterized by the use of numerical proportional relationships and the division of the plate center into numerous uniformly sized grids

through rigorous calculations. Grid design, or grid system, is also called by some people as standard size system, procedural layout design, proportional layout design. Dividing the layout into one, two, three and more columns arranges the text and images in them, giving the layout a certain rhythmical change and a beautiful rhythmic relationship. Grid design is based on completely different design principles compared to more traditional layout design. Grid design is characterized by a sense of proportion, order, clarity, period, standardization and rigor. In contrast to the 'expressive typography' mentioned in the third article, grid design is more rational, while 'expressive typography' is more emotional and based on sensibility, thus creating a stark contrast between the two. In addition, grid design uses a fixed grid structure to divide the use of the layout. In practice, grid design is scientific and serious, but it also has a negative impact on the layout. Therefore, while using grid design, the constraints of the grid should be broken appropriately in order to make the picture lively and vivid. When the three factors of design technique and skill, subjective feeling and grid are integrated together, the functional, logical and aesthetic problems are better solved, and a beautiful, generous and impressive typography will appear. For example 'the images and text in the above image are laid out using a typical grid design, with the images and text in black and the colored lines dividing the pages. As can be seen, the two pages are divided into a total of 32 cells, each equally divided into 16 cells, using a symmetrical text layout12 which develops the outer form of the layout according to the function of the text. The background13 of the layout is also considered to be part of the design and is treated in the same way as other design elements in the image. In this clear, simple design, the illustrations and text are arranged in a visually regular way. This shows that grid design typography can make the design of a book, magazine or poster page look neater and more regular. Type is the most important factor in

Spacing: the amount of space that is left

Rhythm: a regular pattern of changes.

between things, especially between the

Typeface: a set of letters or numbers of a

Purity: the state or quality of being pure

Cold hue(s): have an undertone of either

A symmetrical text layout: centered text

words or lines printed on a page. 6

Graphics: designs, drawings or pictures,

particular design, used in printing.

that are used especially in the production of books, magazines, etc. 7

Geometric form(s): forms that can be constructed using geometry, such as

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Figure 1 Dennys Hess (https://dribbble.com)

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expressing the functional, aesthetic and psychological effects of print. In the typography process, using the correct font spacing, word spacing, line spacing as well as line lengths can make the text more readable, directly or indirectly, the impression of the work itself on the viewer is enhanced. Conversely, if the word spacing is too narrow or too empty, the text will become very difficult to read. For book typography, the design is based on the unique character of the text itself, which expresses a distinctive design personality and at the same time conveys a message to the reader that is adapted to different contexts and uses. Moreover, different forms of typeface composition can give different experiences, from the delicate and gentle to the atmospheric and daring. 'Expressive typography' can be considered as a free-form design, which is a style of design without any restrictions and also a typical typographic style in book layout design. It breaks the constraints and limitations of grid design and presents itself in a free expression, highlighting the formal beauty and emphasising the artistic effect. Compared to the two types of typography mentioned above, this form of typography focuses more on highlighting serendipity. With the diversified development of science and technology and our increased awareness of the concept of space and time, it has led to a diversified and multi-layered aesthetic from two and three dimensions, making typography a diverse situation. According to the third reading, 'expressive typography' leans more towards a deconstructed and collaged visual approach, a more popular style of layout design. For example, the two images above are specific examples of the above typographic style collected from the Lea Taillefert website. Analyzed at the level of typographic structure, the typography of the book cover changes the traditional typographic structure and calligraphic regularity of the previous typeface by using a vertical typography, which elongates the

type model and gives the typeface a slender visual effect. Analyzed from the perspective of color matching, the font color is striking, with light pink lines interspersed among the black type, making the font more prominent and readable. Relatively speaking, the text has a more formal aesthetic, highlighting the typeface and creating a visual impression that is both simple and generous, yet casual and jumpy. In addition, from the perspective of overall layout and structure design, this typographic design breaks the constraints and limitations of grid layout design and people's original understanding of typographic design, transcending the boundaries of traditional board design, and is an innovative design concept. After comparing and studying three different types of typography from various aspects, we can find that typeface typography is the most basic, direct and effective design method in the application of layout design. A detailed analysis and thorough study of the relationship between typeface typography, layout design and typeface design can clarify the precise positioning of typeface typography in book layout design. The study of other people's application of typeface typography is not to promote 'fetishism', nor to put a fixed way of thinking on layout design, but to study various design elements in other people's works, analyze, study, understand and master these elements, interpret their understanding of typeface typography, extract the essence of the design, and learn from these excellent design concepts. In the application of font typography in layout design, it is necessary to follow the principle of using the characteristics of fonts as modeling elements to highlight the theme, the principle of harmony and unity of the inner connection between fonts, the principle of virtual reality in the use of font space, the principle of innovative thinking in the application of font typography in layout design, etc., in order to do the specific design To achieve the harmony

Background: refers to the white space in the layout

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and unity of typographic elements, and have a strong visual impact, full aesthetic emotion and high interest In order to meet the needs of people, the design should be innovative design consciousness, and strive to create a beautiful, harmonious, modern, pleasant fashionable, modern and pleasant visual space, bring people the enjoyment of beauty, conform to the trend and advocate the trend, always guide The new perspective of the trend.

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Figure 2 Designed by AR Design Studio

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Skyla Harris

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Modernism refers to

a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment

with the experience and values of modern industrial life. 2

Minimalism describes

movements in various forms of art and design that made no attempt to imitate the reality 15

A critical examination on the applications of typographic-lead design according to its broader social and historical context will be discussed in the following essay. In conjunction with a series of academic readings that have become crucial frameworks in order to understand typography in the contemporary context that we currently design within. There will be a focus on typography that spams across both a modernist and post-modernist context and the ways in which it has affected composition, form and layout. In addition to the ways in which a modernist and postmodernist approach to typography assists in achieving its purpose and communicative objectives. Across all the literature analysed, a key idea that remains constant is the notion that the designer is at a service to the community of people to communicate. In which, translates today as that designers must think for themselves, thus, developing an authentic voice (Potter, 2002). It is evident across the selected academic sources that three significant typographic themes have emerged, invisible typography, modernist functional typography and expressive typography. These three approaches to typographic-lead design will be illustrated across a collection of publications and type-centric design concepts that will assist in informing a more detailed understanding of the typography discipline within our own post-modern context. The typographic works that will be discussed in this essay, provide an applied explanation of the alternative modes and approaches to typography that can be adopted by a designer but also will prompt readers to ask questions about the context of designed objects and applications of communication. An invisible approach to design be described as the design rule that typography, must be transparent or even 'invisible' in order to effectively communicate and convey the ideas, images and mode of thought that is being illustrated (Warde, 1955). This modernist1 approach that emerged during the 20th of century saw to typography-lead design changing in relation to both style and philosophy. It stems from the movement of designers rejecting the notion of ornamental design and the embracement of minimalism2. This invisible approach to typography design can be seen in the Zurich made publication, 'Aesthetics of Sustainability: Material Experiments in Product Design', a research project led by ECAL'Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne. Although not a publication that focuses specifically on the output of design, but the composition, layout and typographic decisions made aligns with Warde's concept of invisible and transparent design. The purpose of this publication is to explore and define the aesthetic potential of sustainable materials that are emerging with a new generation of product designers. It highlights the development of materials made from textile waste, recycled paper and vegetable fibres which will be illustrated in a visualisation of experiments and prototypes of products. This research project was published

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A Sans Serif font is a

font without serifs. Serifs are the small strokes or extensions at the end of a longer stroke. There are several styles of

sans serif fonts. They are popular and easy to read. 4

PIXymbols Boxkey Regular is a font made

by Roger Vershen and published by Page Studio Graphics 5

A grid layout helps align page elements based on

sequenced columns and rows 6

A space between your margin and your text 20

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in early 2021, with its primary audience being not only other academics in the product design field but also individuals and other research groups that are interested in the innovation surrounding sustainable materials and textiles. It is easily accessible and readable with its combination of images presented as well as clear explanation of experiments and prototypes. The typeface identified in this publication is one that is similar to the sans serif 3 collection that has been named, PIXymbols Boxkey Regular 4 designed by Roger Vershen. This publication has been designed with an overwhelmingly symmetrical grid layout5' however, some paragraphs have been placed in an asymmetrical manner to create distinction and separation of ideas. The photographs included in the publication have been printed in colour, but all text published have been printed in black on white paper creating a high contrast composition. The printed publication has minimal altering indentations6 and, on the occasion, has been utilised to further create distinction on a discussion of new ideas or concepts in the book. In addition to this, the publication is comprised of only a regular weight with headings used to identify hierarchy of text and ideas. The typographic design used in this publication can be described as functional and even neutral in tone as its composition and layout has created a balanced design that is easily read and communicated to the reading audience. It is evident that the design of the 'Aesthetics of Sustainability' (see appendix 1) publication effectively communicates its ideas and concepts to the reading audience. This is achieved through the adoption of design qualities and concepts that align with the notion of invisible typography design. It is clear with a combination of composition and typographic design decisions made that the 'mental eye focuses through the type not upon it' (Warde,1955). This is seen in the minimal use of colour and the application of only a black on white contrast, minimises the potential consequence of 'warping' or 'getting in the way of the mental picture conveyed' as argued by Warde. The typeface utilised is coherent with no decorative or artistic embellishments to detract from the readability or legibility of the text. The design has effectively focused on the text and has successfully communicate a tone of professionalism, authenticity and trust being a product of a detailed research project. Although the publication is a sound example of Warde's common approach to typographic-lead design. It has been criticised by radical designers and academics to be 'oppressive to the reader' and even a 'false theory' (Kinross, 2018). In addition to this, it is attested that in order for information to 'be seen', a combination of different sizes of type or typefaces are needed (Kinross, 2018). The assessed publication only utilises one type of typeface, however, different sizes of this typeface have been utilised to create distinction between ideas and information conveyed. It could be asserted that Warde's popular approach to typography-lead design is traditional and that new design rules need to be implemented for information to be engaging but still readable. Although two polarising oppositions for typography design have been presented, they have both been shaped by their own distinctively different historical contexts. Kinross designing within the current post-modernist7 time, has experienced the emergence of a radical fringe movement of vivid colour, theatricality and exaggeration. Hence, the movement away from Warde's popular modernist approach to typographic-lead design. Despite the two opposing typographic approaches, the publication has achieved its communicative objectives being to coherently inform the audience of the key ideas and concepts that emerged as a result of the conducted research project.

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Figure 1 ‘Aesthetics of Sustainability: Material Experiments in Product Design’, a research project led by ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne.

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1 7

Postmodernism is the reaction against the ideas and values of modernism. It embraces many different

approaches to art and design making. The term can be associated with scepticism, irony and

philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and reality. 8

Modernist typography can be described as

the reaction against the perceived decadence of ornamental and decorative typography. 9

The change experienced

in the modernist era was influenced and categorised by abstract thinking that deviated from the rejection of

history and conservative values. It focused on an ideal vision of progress. 10

Brutalism is an architectural style of the

1950s and 1960s that was characterised by the use of simple, block-like forms and raw concrete

material construction. 11

Akzidenz-Grotesk is a sans-serif typeface that was first published in 1898. It originates from

Royal Grotesk light by royal type-cutter Ferdinand Theinhardt 12

Brutalism was known for its monolithic

appearance as seen the use of concrete pouring as a material. It appeared with a rigid geometric style.

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The emergence of 'new' modernist typography8 inherently saw to a focus on the 'form' and in the functionality of form. With the modern age of the 20th century seeing to a change towards the mechanised, urban, faster and emphasis on the impersonal and factual, the approach to 'new' typography naturally reflected this as well (Kinross, 2001). 9 Tschichold argues that new typographic design must focus on the terms of use, need and function but are also 'infused with the idea that form must be created and that it must be the form of the new age' (Tschichold, 2001). In alignment with the views presented by Tschichold, Bayer states that typography is not self-expression within the parameters of predetermined aesthetics (Bayer, 1967). But rather is 'conditioned by the message' it is intended to visualise (Bayer, 1967). The principles of a 'new typography' approach to publication design can be seen in, 'The Christchurch Style' (see appendix 2) , a limited-edition hand-produced zine that visualises a snapshot of prominent brutalist 10 architecture built in Ōtautahi Christchurch between 1964-1984. The designer of this publication was by Daniel Shaskey in 2020 who utilised the sans serif font, Akzidenz-Grotesk,11 that emerged in the 1950s in Berlin. This font has been utilised to mirror the brutalism period that the book was intended to portray to its young design audience. The layout of the publication is a combination of symmetrical and asymmetrical with minimal blocks of text on each page. With a monochromatic colour scheme utilised in the book is high contrasting to also reflect the brutalist design style that it is illustrating to the reading audience.12 With the adoption of wide margins and left text alignment, the text printed looks isolated and barren similar to the brutalist architecture pictured in this publication. An alternation of bold and regular weighting of the typeface is utilised to distinguish hierarchy and headlines in the publication. Distinction between key ideas and headlines has also been apparent with the alternation between font size and placement of text on the page. The typography is intended to be highly functional and serious in tone and is overwhelmingly neutral to readers, which aligns with both the intention of 'new' typography and the brutalist contents of the book. Upon analysis of the publication, 'The Christchurch Style', it is clear that some typographic design decisions that have been made do align with the design principles of new typography. 'The Christchurch Style' has utilised large differences in weight to create a clear distinction in text hierarchy and to signify new content or ideas, as attested by Tschichold this is far more effective than minimal difference in weight. In addition to this a limited number of type sizes have been utilised which is also a recommendation to be followed by Tschichold that aligns with the approach to new and functional typography design. This is evident in the book as the headline is printed to be significantly larger and the remaining text smaller, which is attested to be emphatic and an advantage when designing and setting publications (Tschichold, 2001). This functional approach to typography can be critiqued as a type of formalism and 'straight jacket' style that will ultimately lead to a 'dead end' as our ways of communication and self-expression constantly evolve and change with the times. However, a functional approach to typography is still just one of the many successful ways in which designers can achieve their communication objectives. With the incorporation of a font from the sans serif collection, 'The Christchurch Style' again illustrates an aspect of new functional typography, as this typeface is according to Tschichold to be 'absolutely and always better' (Tschichold, 2001). It is understood that Tschichold's typographic beliefs surrounding functional typography were informed 'by the rationale of the

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In the time of modernist

Germany, National Socialists in the 1930s predominantly preferred black letter as the most 'German' of letterforms

along with a movement towards neoclassical architecture, this was also reflected in

typography. A Roman typeface became preferable as it fitted ideals of the period and saw to sans serif

becoming 'a special category of roman' of the historical context. 20

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zeitgeist'and not strictly typographic considerations' (Kinross, 2001).13 It could be criticised that Tschichold could not remove his emotional response to the social movement of his time from his own typographic design manifesto. Despite these critiques on new typography, it is clear that the design principles of functional design implemented into 'The Christchurch Style' allow it to be effective in communicating the brutalist architectural style that has evolved over time to the reading audience. The term, 'expressive typography', draws upon the notion of developing ones' own principles of typography in addition to design theories learnt and inherited. It has become known that overtime, the design decisions made, in this instance typographical' inherently become a part of a designer's personal expressive style. This is affirmed by Muggeridge, as he attests it is important to 'know when to break the rules'and do things that go against the grain of one's practice' (Muggeridge, 2010). This is an overwhelmingly contrasting approach to the typographic approaches and styles already discussed throughout this essay. It could be argued that this is because at the turn of the 21st century saw to the emergence of post-modernism which resulted in design again taking a completely new trajectory14. It became significantly important for designers practicing within the contemporary context to consider one's historical framework and perspective when reflecting on design principles and conventions as attested by Brad Haylock academic response, 'The Critical Goblet' (Haylock, 2013). A publication centred around typography that rejects functionality and the purpose of creating legible type forms is the work of Johan Elmehag. The publication 'Coast Shore to Shore' (see appendix 3), aims to visualise the geographic impact of climate change and rising sea levels through the design of each individual type-form and was developed with the aim to communicate the overwhelming change being experienced on our coastlines which can ultimately be difficult or uncomfortable to address. The publication is completed with ice blue highlights, detailed maps and a simple layout presentation allowing a formulation of work that is both accessible and a highly effective piece of communication. In conjunction with the Elmehag's coastline typeface, is a sans serif typeface, Muskamont Cond Masterfont15. The body of text is centrally aligned down the body of the page with alternating indentations in the paragraph. A full capital heading is used that is also underlined to distinguish hierarchy between the text and headline. The heading is centred on the measure which can be referred to as a crosshead which brings prominence and centrality to the page (Bringhurst, 1996). On the opposite page sits a single enlarged form of a letter from the coastline typeface. The inclusion of wide margins creates an immense amount of negative space but allows for the eye to be drawn to the abstract form of the coastline typeface. The book is highly contrasting in its monochromatic colour scheme but allows for pops of ice blue to highlight key aspects and ideas emerging from its contents. The decisions made in relation to the composition, layout and typography have been made with the intention to primarily illustrate the heavily affected areas across the globe rather than constructing the perfect letter form. This saw to Elmehag add strokes and shapes where it was needed in order to effectively communicate this message and concept. The intention behind this typographic based publication is one that aligns with the conventions of expressive typography. It is clear that Muggeridge's approach to design is one in the same as Elmehag's, 'I am not trying to find the perfect typographical form or arrangement' (Muggeridge, 2010). Warde would consider this approach

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Figure 2 ‘The Christchurch Style’ by Daniel Shaskey

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Postmodernism was

a reaction against the notions of modernism which saw to art and design take a completely new trajectory.

Postmodernism became an advocate to the individual experience and interpretation of our own

human experience and truths. Postmodernism embraced the complexities and layers of life. 15

Muskamont Cond Masterfont was published in 2014 by Masterfont 20

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to making as something that is distracting and unnecessary. However, Elmehag clearly still holds the value of communication in high regard when designing. As evident in his focus on effectively communicating his climate change message above the need to create a readable and legible letter form. The 'Coast Shore to Shore', publication and other bodies of work that approach design in an expressive manner are able to think beyond the impasse reached by Warde's 'The Crystal Goblet' and adopt a far more post-modern and critical approach to design as attested by Haylock's 'The Critical Goblet'. Furthermore, the layout and composition decisions made by Elmehag were based on the intent to create an intriguing artefact that also did not alienate the audience as seen in his application of an A-Z format. This further attests to the designer's significant consideration of creating a typeface and publication that communicated his key ideas and messages. Elmehag's publication not only invites readers into the text but also reveals the tenor and meaning of the text with the careful composition choices (Bringhurst, 1996). He successfully makes the reader comfortable and at ease reading information that is both shocking and devastating and effectively communicates the urgency for readers to take meaningful action on climate change. It can be argued that although expressive typography ultimately can discount all functional aspects of type design, it does not reject the notion of maintaining a clear and accessible mode communication to the reading audience. It is attested throughout this essay that the social and historical context of a designer's time holds a significant role on the approach one takes in their typographic practice. Upon analysis of a multitude of academic texts centred around the principles of effective typography it is clear that the notions of modernism and post-modernism particularly sway both the author's beliefs on what is effective typography but also any practicing designer. The notions and principles of typographic-lead design have inherently been shaped by a designer's respective context of the period. It is become clear that a drive for uncompromising innovation towards communication design has emerged at the turn of a new century with the incorporation of a more expressive typography in the era of postmodern pastiche that sees to a more fluid and mixed approach to making. In stark contrast to modernist counterparts, a more functional and invisible approach to design was adopted in the primary objective being to communicate information to the masses in a clear and accessible way. This essay has proposed a collection of publications and typographic-informed pieces of work to illustrate a multitude of typography theories and concepts have been utilised in order to effectively communicate key the authorial ideas and objectives.

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Figure 3 ‘Coast Shore to Shore’ by Johan Elmehag

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Jan Tschichold, (2 April

1902 ( 11 August 1974) was a calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in

the development of graphic design in the 20th century - first, by developing and

promoting principles of typographic modernism, and subsequently (and ironically) idealizing conservative typographic

structures. 2

Beatrice Warde, (20 September 1900 - 16 September 1969) was a twentieth century

writer and scholar of typography. 3

Robert Bringhurst, (born 16 October 1946) is a Canadian poet,

typographer and author. He wrote The Elements of Typographic Style, a reference book of typefaces, glyphs and

the visual and geometric arrangement of type. 4

Franklin Gothic, is a large family of sans-serif

typefaces in the industrial or grotesque style developed in the early years of the 20th century by the type foundry

American Type Founders (ATF) and credited to its head designer Morris Fuller Benton. 'Gothic' was a contemporary

term (now little-used except to describe period designs) meaning sansserif. 5

Verdana, is a humanist

sans-serif typeface designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft Corporation, with hand-hinting done by

Typography is everywhere. Whether on a phone, in a book ,or on a website, we are constantly seeing typography. Have you ever thought about what good typography is? Successful typography is measured by utilitarian standards. Typography that is aesthetically pleasing but does not reinforce the goal of the text is a failure. Therefore, good typography should have a clean and readable font, should not attract attention to itself, also It should make the reading experience enjoyable and not confusing for the reader. Jan Tschichold1 published a book called The New Typography in 1928, he believed that the essence of the new format was clarity, and opposed the old format with 'beauty' as its goal, he believed that the goal of every work should be to convey information most shortly and effectively. In his words, he was linking the new typography to the 'total complex of contemporary life'. The theme of this critical essay is that discuss the state of modern typography through the eyes of a contemporary graphic designer. This essay intends to discuss what makes typography good by analyzing invisible typography, modernist typography, and expressive typography. . The first week's keyword is 'invisible typography'. Invisible typography means that the designer's first priority must be to ensure that the reader's attention is focused on the content and not distracted by the visual style or arrangement of the content. In the essay 'The Crystal Goblet', Beatrice Warde2 aimed to convey the idea that printing should be invisible. Warde uses the metaphor of a solid gold and crystal goblet and combines it with typography techniques to infer the use of fonts and their impact on human communication. Warde compares typography to goblets and points out that those who know or want to know about wine would prefer clear crystal goblets, so they can observe the color, flavor, and aroma of the wine without care about the container that holds it. And those who value the look of the wine will prefer ornate goblets because they don't care about the wine itself. Warde also compares font legibility and readability to support her argument. The most important thing for a typographic designer is not to make the design looks good, but to make the reader want to read the content. Using invisible typography is a good way. 'Typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn', Robert Bringhurst3 once said. Dutch design studio Experimental Jetset created a set of graphic designs for Pioneers of Change, a festival of Dutch design, fashion, and architecture on New York's Governors Island. They used Franklin Gothic4 and Verdana5 as the typeface for the headline, subheads, and body copy. Franklin Gothic is a large family of sans-serif typefaces in the industrial or grotesque style developed by American Type Founders6 in the early 20th century. Experimental Jetset used a very bold design technique, exaggerating the font size of the title so that the headline and the body copy form a strong contrast, which is very attractive to the reader. This is functional typography that focuses on readability and emphasized every slogan. And the design used only two contrasting colors to create a stylish, uncluttered, and striking style. The invitation, which consisted of an A3-sized sheet, in such a way that the folded booklet, is asymmetrical. It used a scaled-up headline as the largest element that can attract the reader's attention and also can convey the most important information about the invitation. Furthermore, these projects designed layouts with grids. It used a column grid to create a balanced and clear layout that makes it easier for the reader to read, and also can direct the eye from left to right through the text. Pioneers of Change communicates a sustainable lifestyle, and this series of minimalist designs can support this concept. This is a series of very

Thomas Rickner, then at Monotype.

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Figure 1 Dutch design studio Experimental Jetset created a set of graphic designs for Pioneers of Change, a festival of Dutch design, fashion, and architecture on New York's Governors Island.

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American Type Founders,

was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type

manufactured in the United States. 7

Adolf Loos, (10 December 1870 - 23 August 1933)

was an Austrian architect and influential European theorist of modern architecture 8

Charles Saumarez Smith, (born 28 May 1954) is a British cultural historian specializing in the history of art, design and architecture.

Pentagram, is a design firm. It was founded in 1972, by Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange,

and Mervyn Kurlansky at Needham Road, Notting Hill, London 10

Adrian Frutiger, (24 May 1928 - 10 September

2015) was a Swiss typeface designer who influenced the direction of type design in the

second half of the 20th century.

readable and organized designs. Used sans serif font is important to convey text content because it is greater legibility and readability. Personally, I feel it is good typography that makes me look and feel natural. They used great contrast, great fonts, and clear typography, which made me feel great. As a foreigner, I am afraid to read lots of English, but their designs allow me to clearly see the important information, see the slogan and understand what they want to express. In week 2, the keyword is 'modernist typography'. Modernist typography has eliminated the traditional arrangement of fonts in symmetrical columns, arranged fonts, and illustrations in an asymmetrical composition. Uses sans serif typefaces as its main font, intentional white space utilization and adheres to the virtues of functionality and minimalism are also key features. In the essay 'The Principles of the New Typography', Jan Tschichold believed that the essence of the new typography is clarity. To prove his point, Tschichold quotes Adolf Loos7 'the more primitive a people, the more extravagantly they use ornament and decoration'. While some of Tschichold's criticisms of the old typography are certainly justified for instance, the old format was less about function and more about beauty some of his views are radical and inaccurate. A representative example, he tried to standardize typography by demanding the use of san serif and non-central type. His early works were too authoritarian, perhaps influenced by his experience in Nazi Germany. Anyway, his essay gives us an idea of how early modern typographers thought, and I think it reflects a lot of architectural thinking at the time. Times and norms are completely different now, which makes me realize that good design is relative. Charles Saumarez Smith's8 Book The Art Museum in Modern Times, designed by Pentagram9 , explores the changes in art museums around the world over the past 80 years, appealing to Art lovers, Museum professionals and Museum lovers alike. The book was published in April 2021 by Thames Hudson. The typography reflects the forward-thinking theme of the book, with the classic geometry typeface Futura. Futura is a geometric sans serif typeface designed by Paul Renner and released in 1927 that has an appearance of efficiency and forward-looking. This book is a great example of the excellent layout of images and text, giving the images plenty of space to breathe. It used the new typographical principles that including asymmetric balance of elements, left alignment, sans serif fonts, and white space. This design is also more functional that focuses on readability, legibility and the purpose is to convey the information. The appropriate kerning is also important, this layout is dense but not crowded because good spacing makes reading easier and gives visual order. And the margins on the inside pages are the same, which makes them more coherent and logical. When readers open the book, the text looks like in the center of the page. The book design has a perfectly page layout that balanced contains a certain amount of white space to balance the text and images in the book and make the pages look good and well designed. As Adrian Frutiger10 said, 'Typography must be as beautiful as a forest, not like the concrete jungle of the tenements. It gives distance between the trees, the room to breathe and allow for life'. I strongly agree with what him that white space is an essential element of good typography. So I really like the design of the book, it creates sufficient visual breathing space between text and images, and the design even looks more stylish. The relationship between fonts is

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Figure 2 Charles Saumarez Smith's Book The Art Museum in Modern Times, designed by Pentagram

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Brad Haylock, is a

designer, publisher, and academic who lives and works on the unceded lands of the people of the Woi wurrung and

Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations. He is an Associate Professor in

the School of Design at RMIT University, where he is currently Coordinator of Higher Degrees by Research. 12

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, (20 July 1895 - 24 November 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in

the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology

and industry into the arts.

concordant, free of conflict and thrills. Because the designer chose the same font for the heading and the text, and then contrasted it with the font weight and size. And all text is aligned to the left, giving the page clean, consistent lines. Finally, the third week's keyword is 'expressive typography'. Expressive typography is an art form that combines the use of fonts with visual communication and creates appropriate reading conditions. It is a typography that can not only speak words but also convey concepts. It has a high visual expression. In fact, type becomes an image in expressive typography. In the essay 'The Critical Goblet' Brad Haylock11 wanted readers to understand that some of Ward's views are correct, but that typographers shouldn't just think about the transparent communication of ideas. Haylock believed that contemporary typographers should try new design ideas, and get rid of stereotypes. He used Metahaven's work as an example to prove his point. The Antennae series by Valiz, designed by Metahaven. Metahaven's design approach combines the visual with the thematic to create a concept of a universe that represents this ever-changing world. This is certainly not the transparent typography, but it's still very readable. I quite agree with Haylock. In contemporary society, it has become a trend for typographers to innovate while ensuring readability. People are visual creatures, if typographers can add interest or visual effects without compromising readability, the design can attract more readers. Pentagram created the visual identity and system for The Moholy-Nagy Foundation, which aims to promote, study and protect the life and heritage of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy12 . Moholy-Nagy was known for his experimental photographs using light, known as photograms, this directly influenced the thinking of the Pentagram team, so they used his work as inspiration to design the new brand identity. Pentagram team created a unique typographic logo that appears on all of the foundation's printed material, including letterhead, business cards, and other products. They also designed the foundation's website, which is a comprehensive resource for the artist's work and an archive of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's creations. By placing objects on photographic paper and exposing them to light, Pentagram created a set of hand-crafted typographic shapes using light and water projections that made the fonts look slim and fluent. It's wonderfully artistic and a fun fit for headline. The innovative font in this project is based on Riposte, which is provided by the Good Type Foundry. Riposte is a grotesque typeface that takes inspiration from mid-century typefaces and incorporates contemporary features. This expressive typography is center aligned and the composition is freeform. Center aligned tends to be the weakest text alignment, but it's also very readable because the cover and home page contain very little text. And although it's a creative expressive typography, it's still easy to understand. Increasing design effect while clearly readable can be more appealing to the audience. The color of the foundation's brand identity is mostly black and white, which was also influenced by Moholy-Nagy's work. The restrained color palette ensures it can be used for all applications and fits any artwork without clashing, and this color palette looks very calm and suits the Foundation. Michael Bierut13 has spoken of the 'Good typography, first, makes words readable. At its best, it does something more: it helps express the animating spirit of the ideas behind the words' In this project, it makes sense that this font conveys Moholy-Nagy's most influential work. I think, personally speaking, this is a very good design, but I think this design is more suitable for art galleries or

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Figure 3 Pentagram created the visual identity and system for The Moholy-Nagy Foundation, which aims to promote, study and protect the life and heritage of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Charles Saumarez Smith's Book The Art Museum in Modern Times

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Michael Bierut, (born

1957) is a graphic designer, design critic and educator. He designed the logo for Hillary Clinton's 2016

presidential campaign.

exhibitions. I appreciate the innovative spirit of the Pentagram team, and maybe I will try to light and shadow to create typeface in the future, but I'm not sure this elegant design is right for the Foundation. Perhaps based on Moholy-Nagy's identity as an artist, so the design is very artistic. In any case, however, it's a unique, bold and readable design that combines typography with light and shadow. Typography is the first impression. Good typography not only enhances characters but also adds a tone of voice, which subconsciously reinforces what the text is saying. In this essay, I present a comparative analysis of the typography in invisible typography, modernist typography and expressive typography. They special emphasized on their format, layout, typeface, white space and visual effects. The first and second examples are similar in that they are both left-aligned and leave breathable space between text. The last example is special because it used artistic fonts and is centered, but this does not affect readability. What these three examples have in common is that they all use sans serif typefaces and have strong readability and legibility. In conclusion, there are many definitions of good typography. Many contemporary people reject Warde and Tschichold's theories, but when we look at their words in the context of their time, we see that they are great. So combining their theories, we can learn that good typography is measured by the degree to which it reinforces the meaning of the text, not by abstract measures of value. Although good typography is relative, readability and legibility are essential.

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Visual communication

design can involve the use of color theory, typography, drawing, design software, data visualization, design

for web and print, branding and identity design, and intersects closely with other

disciplines including user experience, photography and illustration. 2

Microtypography is 15

the name given to a range of methods for improving the readability and appearance of text, especially justified text. The methods reduce

the appearance of large interword spaces and create edges to the text that appear more even. (Microtypography -

Wikipedia, 2021) 3 In typography, kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in

a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning adjusts

the space between individual letterforms, while tracking (letterspacing) adjusts spacing uniformly over a range

of characters. (Kerning Wikipedia, 2021) 4

Sans-serif letterform is one that does not have extending features

called 'serifs' at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than serif

typefaces. (Sans-serif Wikipedia, 2021) 5

Legibility is the ease with which a reader

can decode symbols. (Legibility - Wikipedia,

Typography is everywhere in our daily life, in the books we read, on the flyers we get, on billboards, and even in product packaging. I am a student who just got a Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication Design1 in Taiwan. Though I have learned primary typographic design rules and have developed a basic aesthetic in Chinese typography, I am not really getting used to English typography since I have not known it before. There is a vast difference between Chinese typography and English one due to the different forms of composition of these two languages. In the following essay, I would like to present my personal opinion toward the three selected texts, analyze the texts-related Chinese typographic design examples, and introduce the differences and the similarities that I found between Chinese typography and the English one. Beatrice Warde compares typography to goblets and states that those pro connoisseurs of wine will choose the clear crystal goblet because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain. Those who prefer gold, gilded, ornate goblets put more importance on outward appearance than in the wine itself. After I read the text, it reminds me of the words that Oliver Reichenstein says in an interview, 'Good design is invisible. Good screen design happens in the subatomic level of microtypography2 (the exact definition of a typeface), the invisible grid of macrotypography (how the typeface is used), and the invisible world of interaction design and information architecture. Minimum input, maximum output, with minimal conscious thought is what screen designers focus on.' Though the idea of these words is mainly focusing on the screen design, I believe that this design concept can either apply to other design fields, especially typographic design. The responsibility of a typographic designer is to find a balanced approach to making the work and layout more efficient to read and also more beautiful at the same time. Designers filter, organize, structure, and clarify it to make it readable, attractive, provocative, or inspirational (Huppatz 17). I would say that the ability to analyze data and arrange information is vital to typographic designers. When they can use this ability flexibly, the audience could get the correct information that designers want to express. The final output of the typographic design is not for designers themselves or other designers, but for the audience who do not understand (and not willing to understand) color theory, spacing, kerning3, and fonts. The only thing the audience concern about is whether what they are reading is easy to read or not. In conclusion, I believe that choosing a proper typeface for a typographic designer should be the first and vital step to learn to arrange the information. The example that I found for the text is the Sign design for Hsinchu Station(fig.1). The target audience of this design is mainly passengers in the station who want to find their direction, and they have no time and mood to absorb redundant information. Regardless of the background colors, the color used in this design only has three colors: black, white, and a brighter one -- yellow. There is no too much decoration, with only words, simple icons, and arrows on it. This is the perfect example of invisible typography in my mind. Personally, the key element to achieve this goal is the typeface chosen. Similar to the sans-serif4 styles in English typography, the font style used in this design is the East Asian gothic typefaces (黑體). The overall tone of the East Asian gothic typefaces and is simplicity and modernity or minimalism. It can say to be the most commonly used style in Chinese typography. Also, due to their high legibility5, they are a perfect style that is suitable for signs. The lifestyle has changed; either the reading habit has changed. Like what I have mentioned in the introduction, typography is everywhere nowadays. In this text, Jan Tschichold aims to liberate typography from the traditional

2021)

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Figure 3 Put Your Name Dry In The Sun (把你的

名字曬一曬), by Chang, Hsi, Sun Color Culture, 2016, pp.172-173.

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The written direction I

mention in this essay is how the words are written, such as left-toright and top-to-bottom, not an instrument in

writing signed by any one officer of the Company. 7

A typographic hierarchy is a system that uses

typography – the size, font and layout of different pieces of text – to create a hierarchical 15

division that can show users where to look for specific kinds of information. It is an organizing system for establishing order in

a set of data. (What is a TYPOGRAPHIC Hierarchy? - definition from Techopedia, 2016) 8

A stroke is a movement

of a writing instrument on a writing surface. (Stroke Oder - Wikipedia, 2021) 30

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conventions of book design and get close to the spirit of modern life. 'As the quantity increased, ......, the form of printing must adapt itself to the conditions of modern life'. (Tschichold 115) I totally agree with what the author said. In Chinese typography, compared with the past, the writing direction6 (which I am going to talk about in the next paragraph) has also undergone tremendous changes nowadays due to lifestyle changes and globalization. In this essay, I would like to focus the discussion on the 'blank white', which Tschichold regards as an important element in the new typography. The new typography rely on the use of large amounts of white. Strong contrasts between white and black, in the form of type or rules, emphasize the white areas and greatly assist the total effect. (Tschichold 119) The example that I thought is related to this concept is a book called You don't have a better destiny (你沒有更好的命運), written by Min-Hsin, Ren (fig. 2). The book is a collection of poems. In this book, applying amounts of white space seems to give the reader some breathing space to let the overall rhythm slow down. The more white spaces have been used, the more elegant and quiet the impression of the typography has given. In this case, I believed the white spaces in the book are not just the background but the part that the readers need to take into account to read at the same time, in order to feel the rhythm and feeling the author wants to convey Moreover, I would like to mention a mini spacing between characters in the English typography. Due to the different forms of composition of words, all the Chinese words consist mainly of disconnected logographic or syllabic units, each occupying a square block of space and are easy to arrange. In contrast, English words are usually composed of several alphabets, and every alphabet has a different size. So that this is the reason why there is 'kerning' in English typography but no in the Chinese one. At the beginning of the text, Brad Haylock points out some fatal mistakes in the other typographic works, then mentions 'The Crystal Goblet' in the essay. 'Only a typographer's wildest ingenuity can stop people from reading a really interesting text'. (Haylock 6) In my opinion, the typographic hierarchy7 is organized enough is the biggest key reason that affects readers stop reading or not. No matter in which language, the level of visual hierarchy should be strongly valued. Two key points of hierarchy I would like to point out in Chinese typography are 'fonts' and 'written direction'. In English, all the words are composed of those 26 letters. The font design of English is much simpler than that of Chinese. It is easy to find a good set of English fonts without the dilemma of not being able to spell out words. On the contrary, every single Chinese character needs to be designed separately. Each character is almost different, and some strokes8 are even highly complicated. The choice of fonts plays a vital role in Chinese typographic design. Typographers should avoid choosing the fonts that may cause missing words. Missing words may make it difficult to read, which in turn creates a bad level of the hierarchy. Turn to the written direction, in Chinese, scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. Traditionally, Chinese is written vertically in columns going from top to bottom and ordered from right to left, with each new column starting to the left of the preceding one. The stroke order and stroke direction of Chinese characters facilitate writing in this manner. In addition, writing in vertical columns from right to left facilitated writing with a brush in the right hand while continually unrolling the paper or scroll with the left. Since the nineteenth century, it has become increasingly common for these languages to be written

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horizontally, from left to right, with successive rows going from top to bottom, under the influence of European languages such as English. (Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts - Wikipedia, 2021) To create a good level of the hierarchy, it is better to remain the same written direction when designing. However, the example that I found related to the text violated this guideline (fig. 3). The typographer of this book uses horizontal and vertical writing at the same time. This would lead to the result that the readers would lose their way of reading and find it difficult to read. As an international student, it is difficult for me to be proficient in English typography. Though there are many similarities between Chinese and English typography, I still have a long journey to go. Fortunately, in this journey, I found that there are also many similarities between these two languages, and this really makes me feel satisfied and excited.

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Tyler, AC 1992, 'Shaping belief:

the role of audience in visual communication', Design Issues, Autumn, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 21-29. writing signed by any one officer of the Company. 2

A script is a graphic realization of a writing system of a natural language. It includes a set of conventions, contains a

set of predefined graphic symbols or characters, and is used to express thoughts and ideas that is otherwise conveyed through spoken

form of a language. For more information, see Pal, U & Dash, N.S. 2014, 'Language, script, and font recognition', in D Doermann - K Tombre (eds),

Handbook of Document Image Processing and Recognition, Springer, London. from Techopedia, 2016) 3

The word Nizwa is in reference

to the ancient city of Nizwa in Oman that was once a center of trade, religion, education, and art 4

The style of script used today

in physical and digital media is referred to as naskh script (naskh meaning 'to copy') that was developed in the 10th

century. Later complex and scripts were developed but the slightly rounded glyphs, strong legibility, clear baseline, and lack of ornamentation

in the naskh script makes it ideal for daily communication and large bodies of text. A later script called Riqa or Ruq'ah, developed and used

in the Ottoman Empire, is also used today for headings and signages. 5

A Swiss grid system is a structured ordering system

improved upon by Swiss graphic designers in the

All typographic design works have an intended purpose that is rooted in communication. Whether the purpose is personal, economical, navigational, educational, regulatory, or academic, as long as there is an audience, there will be a message to deliver through letterforms within a composition. The relationship of the audience to the communication process varies' the audience can be a mere spectator (to the designer's aesthetic expression), a passive reader (the audience only interprets and decodes the message), an active reader (in the formation of meaning), or a dynamic participant in argument.1 In this essay, I will be comparing three typographic works of design: a Nizwa magazine publication, a Wim Crouwel advertising poster for Van Abbemuseum, and a Bloomberg Businessweek's 'The How To' issue. These works differ in their target audience, function, time and place of publication, and script.2 I will be primarily looking at these three publications and their typography in light of the ideas and concepts discussed in three texts, respectively: Beatrice Warde's 'The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should be Invisible', Jan Tschichold's 'The Principles of the New Typography', and Brad Haylock's 'The Critical Goblet'. The Nizwa magazine issue referenced in this essay is issue #106 published in April of 2021.3 Nizwa magazine is an advertising and cultural magazine that aims to promote Omani and Arab culture, historical achievements, and innovations to the general public. It was established in November of 1994 and features poems, short stories, art, philosophical discussions, latest scientific studies, and biographies of individuals such as prominent historical figures and rising artists (figure 1.1 and 1.2). The typefaces used are in Arabic script4, a right-to-left cursive writing system rooted in calligraphy that is also used as the base typographic system for other languages such as Urdu and Farsi. The headlines, authors, image captions, footings, and page numbers are written in a typeface called Almarai, a contemporary geometric sans serif typeface (figure 2), created by The Boutros Group (headed by Mourad and Arlette Boutros) and consists of 4 weights available in both Arabic and Latin. Almarai typeface was originally developed in 2019 for Almarai company (figure 3), a regional dairy company based in Saudi Arabia, and the parent company for many other regionally recognized food brands. Looking closely at the typeface, I believe the angular forms of the glyphs are designed to reference Kufic script as well, which was a preferred script for transcriptions of the Holy Quran (figures 4.1 - 4.2). The layout of the work and magazine holds symmetrical balance and uses the Swiss grid system5 upon which the headings, subheadings, images, body, and notes are organized. It maintains a 1” margin throughout with justified text (leading to words with Kashida6) and ragged left notes. The way the magazine is organized means the text takes up most of the real estate, making sure to leave enough negative space surrounding the text, as well as between the lines of text (leading), so as to be legible and readable. I personally find the layout to be slightly exhausting to the reader because the primary text in the two columns generally goes on for multiple spreads and spans the whole length of the 8.5x11” page before being interrupted by an image. This is a result of a magazine that aims to be serious and as informative and functional as possible but with a faint humanist sensibility due to the nature of the content it promotes. In addition, the magazine is also published on behalf of Oman's Ministry of Information so professionalism is key. Nizwa magazine is an example of what Beatrice Warde refers to in her

mid 20th century to help in the meaningful, logical, and

consistent organization of information on a page. See Müller-Brockmann, J 1996, Grid systems in graphic design: a visual communication manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers, 4th ed., Verlag Niggli.

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The Kashida is a typographical

manipulation that allows the lengthening of letters along specifically selected connection points in a word. This is somewhat similar to modifying the horizontal scale of letters or tracking (the

space between them) in Latin script 7

The three-part process involves: the edit and preparation of text and images in the way it'll appear in print, the assembly and

configuration of parts such as type size and composition, and the details that are concerned with what happens within a line of text such as the kerning (the space 15

between letterforms). See Kinross, R 2018, 'For a typography of details', viewed 11 August 2021, Hyphen Press. 8

Akzidenz-Grotesk prompted the development of a typeface called Neue Haas Grotesk designed by Max

Miedinger. Miedinger was commissioned by Eduard Hoffman, the president of the Haas typefoundry, after Hoffman saw their designs were not as favored as Berthold's Akzidenz-Grotesk. Neue Haas

Grotesk later became what we now know today as Helvetica. Kupferschmid, I. n.d,. 'Neue haas grotesk', Font Bureau, viewed 12 August 2021, 9

Webflow. 2020. 'Graphic design archive:

swiss design-international typography style', Webflow, viewed 12 August 2021, <https://webflow.com/graphic-designarchive.swiss-design'Jan-Tschichold'. 10

Tschichold prefers the use of only red, yellow, blue, white, and black, colors found in Russian Constructivism. Constructivism is a Russian art and philosophy movement founded in 1915

that influenced Tschischold greatly. 11

Stedelijk. 'Wim Crouwe: Mr. Gridnik'. Stedelijk Museum 45

essay 'The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should be Invisible' as design work with invisible-transparent typography. With humility of mind, it utilizes only two typefaces and maintains the same composition regardless of genre (poetry vs scientific studies, for example) so that it only 'conveys thoughts, ideas, images, from one mind to other minds'. According to Warde, modernist (good) typography is concerned with function and not the aesthetics of type' here, the magazine's primary function is to document and educate readers on Omani and Arab culture, and it does so by using type that's invisible as type. In order for the print to act as a 'window between the reader inside the room and that landscape which is the author's words', Nizwa magazine uses just enough font sizes or scales and color differentiation – a dark green for the headings, black for the body, and gray for the notes – to distinguish between the primary text and the surrounding elements. This way, the reader looks through type and connects directly with the message because of the lack of ornamentation and varying elements. Warde equates the transparency of book typography with a crystalline wine goblet or window pane in which its content is clearly revealed. This metaphor does well to explain what Warde believes the relationship of the viewer and the content should be. What I believe Warde fails to consider, however, is the context of the typographic work. I agree that certain instances of book printing and advertising would call for transparent or neutral typography, but I would mostly agree with Robin Kinross who argues that Warde's theory ‘rushes to a highly simplified end-point'. Instead, he suggests a three-part process for preparing and presenting typographic material that would serve as a better approach.7The second typographic work for discussion is Wim Crouwel's poster advertisement for Van Abbemuseum ('Museum for Contemporary Art') in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Willem 'Wim' Crouwel was a Dutch typographer, type designer, and graphic designer responsible for the design of the museum's catalogues, posters, and invitations from 1956 until 1963. In a sans serif typeface called Akzidenz-Grotesk8 (figure 5), this poster was created in 1962, advertising works exhibited in the museum of various artists such as Picasso, Braque, and Kandinsky (figure 6). Akzidenz-Grotesk was designed by Hermann Berthold in 1898 in Germany. It was especially popular amongst graphic designers of the International Typographic Style in the 1950s whose style involved clean, rational compositions and sans serif typefaces. Jan Tschichold, the author of 'The Principles of New Typography' that I will be discussing the poster in reference to, was a great influence in the development of the International Typographic Style (though he was not officially a member). 9 The poster follows principles and modernist typographic ideas Tschichold establishes in his text like the use of a grid system (figure 7). In his text, he also calls for the use of asymmetrical layouts, sans serif typefaces in different weights and sizes to establish hierarchy, and harmony between image and type (figure 8). He supports approaching design with functionality in mind and so the work should be free of ornamentation. Negative space must be considered too, and color should only be used to 'help express the purpose of the work'.10 Here, we can see the application of most of these principles in the poster. Wim Crouwel's poster demonstrates his fervent advocacy of the grid system. A lecturer, organizer, professor, and spokesperson, Crouwel 'has always favored an analytical approach, believed in technology and progress, and promoted design as an independent profession'.11 This analytical approach

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Figure 2 Example piece, short story titled 'The Monthly Sleep' by Muhamed Al-Sama'na' Reproduced from: Nizwa 2021.

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A wordmark is when a

company's logo is the fontbased design of their name, such as Google. I believe the logomark of Bloomberg Businessweek is in Neue

Haas Grotesk Display Black, specifically. 13

032c 2015, 'Richard Turley: A lazy modernist in corporate

America', 032c, 22 June, viewed 18 August 2021 14

Kuang, C 2019, 'How a band of design misfits brought 15

anti-aesthetics to Bloomberg Businessweek', AIGA Eye on Design, 11 April, viewed 18 August 2021

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involves what Tschichold describes as giving pure and direct expression to the contents of the print so that the form is created out of function, just as it exists in nature and technology. According to Crouwel and Tschichold, typographic work should be ordered and free of personal characteristics. I believe there is something to be admired about the strive for natural order and the consideration of every element of a design work. It is undeniable that the poster achieves what it sets out to do' in engaging with the poster, the viewer's eyes are immediately drawn to the name and location of the museum, aided by the use of a larger font and black color, then moves slightly diagonally upward to the exhibitionists' names that are also prominent due to the number of entries sitting inside defined rectangles. The asymmetry then works well in creating balance between these two elements and the horizontal lines work well in defining the areas they sit in. Using functionalist type much like Akzidenz-Grotesk has the audience do what I previously mentioned Warde promoted as well and that is interacting with type that's invisible as type (i.e., looking through type and not at type). Overall, Crouwel and Tschichold's work is successful and continues to influence the practice of graphic design today which is why the poster design might seem familiar to viewers in its execution. The third and final design work discussed in this essay is Bloomberg Businessweek's 'The How To' issue cover from April 15, 2013 (figure 9). The wordmark12 and cover are typeset in Neue Haas Grotesk (figure 10), completed in 2010 by designer Christian Schwartz as a digital revival of the original 1957 metal Neue Haas Grotesk by Max Miedinger. Schwartz was commissioned by Bloomberg's creative director, Richard Turley, who went with this typeface for its clarity and because going for a generally corporate typeface 'felt like the wrong thing to do at the time'.13 He attributed the choice to his laziness, stating he used modernism 'just like everyone else' with its characteristics of clear lines, minimalism, and arguable averageness. For the inside pages, the magazine uses the font Publico Text Roman for the body, designed by Christian Schwartz in 2010 as well alongside Ross Milne and Paul Barnes. Publico Text is a sturdy, serif typeface with square forms, narrow proportions, and little contrast between thick and thin strokes, making it suitable for fast and easy reading (figure 11). It also uses a flexible grid to organize content with clear hierarchies in the typography and strong data visualizations (figure 12.1 - 12.2). This cover showcases the creative direction Bloomberg Businessweek took under the leadership of Richard Turley and BBW's editor-in-chief, Josh Tyrangiel. Roughly from 2010-2016, Bloomberg pushed out controversial cover designs following their purchase of the magazine Businessweek in 2009 from McGraw-Hill. They were able to freely experiment and take an unconventional approach because there was not much at stake at a time when the world was experiencing a global financial crisis. 'We had our shot and we didn't want to waste it' said Josh Tyrangiel.14 The way BBW viewed it, Businessweek afforded Bloomberg a chance to market the Bloomberg brand without having to spend money on advertisement and all while making Businessweek matter again in the eyes of the public. Their team consisted of designers and artists of various backgrounds and economic means, all working together to create something that didn't 'look like a business magazine'. In the years Turley and Tyrangiel worked at Bloomberg, the team worked to reflect the 'world's beautiful messiness' and do something truly subversive simply because they had 'never been labeled aesthetics in the first place'. Their photo editor, Emily Keegin, took inspiration from a Uline catalogue on industrial products, from science photography from the 1980s, and from DIS Magazine. The cover and typographic manipulation embody the corporate ethos of

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Figure 1 Almarai 2019, 'Almarai launches its new font in collaboration with google' image, Almarai, viewed 12 August 2021,

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See Bloomberg 2012, 'Bloomberg

Businessweek wins national magazine award' Bloomberg, 9 May, viewed 18 August 2021, Also see Dumenco, S 2012, 'Ad Age's magazine A-list: Josh Tyrangiel

is editor of the year', Ad Age, 15 October, viewed 18 August 2021 16

Haylock, B 2013, 'The critical goblet', Process Journal Eight, 1st

quarter, ed. 8, pp. 6-7. 17

Bayer, H 1967, "On Typography", in Arthur Cohen, Herben Bayer, MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 350-352. 15

Bloomberg Businessweek during those 6 years. It takes Neue Haas Grotesk, a pragmatic typeface, and flips, stretches, distorts, twists, and scales it. The cover is unapologetic, loud, and dynamic which is not something one would attribute to a business magazine. Certainly, combining anti-aestheticism with journalism was a move that took its original business and finance audience (prior to being purchased) some time getting used to. Even though the ultimate end goal was profit, BBW made headlines, influenced other magazines to follow a similar approach, and won several awards and titles.15 The cover also abandons principles concerned with readability, transparency, and composition, making the viewer's eyes move all across the front page. It provides no real functionalism as it does not describe the contents of the issue and features a couple awkward moments where the graphic choices are bizarre: the issue date in white set against the saturated green background renders it illegible, and the contrast between the flat illustrations and the three-dimensional figure of a man creates an inconsistent graphic language. For those 6 years before the magazine moved back to a sober, functional, and serious approach, there was a great focus on expressive typography and evoking an emotional response from the audience. I personally have a love-hate relationship with their provocative covers and ethos. On one hand, it is commendable how Turley and Tyrangiel managed to turn the magazine around and take risks in response to the climate at the time. On the other hand, one can't help but think of how the design may be considered an 'operation of capitalism', as Brad Haylock puts it in his text 'The Critical Goblet'.16 Haylock puts forth a strong argument about the difficulty of defining useful communication design and the relationship between typography and communication. He uses the example of Metahaven's The Fall of the Studio (figure 13) that followed a similar approach to Bloomberg Businessweek's with abandoning design conventions (though less dramatically). The book presents several peculiar design decisions such as large page numbers, a rounded rectangle on every page made like a printing error, and burnt-like edges. These small subversions create a dialogue around expectations in design' just as Haylock notes this work as being 'sympathetic to the content of 'the' series' by pinpointing 'new lines of thought in the arts', one could argue that Bloomberg's work does the same by generating a discussion around what it means to be a financial-information and media company. Metahaven is an experimental design studio founded in 2007 that combines communication, aesthetics, and politics in visual art and storytelling. Bloomberg Businessweek was also concerned with visuals and storytelling but people, myself included, are tempted to roll our eyes when it is multi-billion dollar companies trying to be rebellious. There are some similarities and differences across the three selected works. Although produced at different time periods by authors in different locations and cultures, the three share the objective of communicating information clearly to an audience through type. The invisible typography in Nizwa magazine is not 'self-expression within predetermined aesthetics' but is 'conditioned by the message it visualizes'17 and the same goes for the functional typography in Crouwel's poster. Functional typography and invisible typography share similar philosophies focused on legibility and rationality, but invisible typography shows further restraint and a continuation of the practice invented with the Gutenberg printing press. The two approaches and design pieces contrast with Businessweek magazine where self-expression is a primary focus. Regarding typeface choices, both Nizwa magazine and

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Figure 3 Van Abbemuseum poster) designed by Wim Crouwel, 1962, 61x88 cm" Reproduced from: The Memory, Collection, Dutch Graphic Designers Archives Foundation (NAGO).

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Their regression back

to the stereotypical, functional corporate design in 2017 and up until today made them still a topic of

controversy. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek's latest creative director Rob

Vargas, he states 'media companies have to evolve or die'. See Brewer, J 2017, 'Evolve or die': Bloomberg

businessweek creative director Rob Vargas on the magazine's redesign', It's Nice That, 16 June, viewed 18 August 2021

Bloomberg Businessweek magazine use typefaces that reflect the ethos of the magazines: Nizwa's choice of the typeface Almarai arguably connects Nizwa to the idea of multinational success and showcases Nizwa's support of Arabic type foundries (especially one that demonstrates strong inspiration from calligraphy in their work), while Bloomberg's choice of the typeface Neue Haas Grotesk is a statement of the acknowledged connection between Neue Haas Grotesk (and similarly Helvetica), corporations, and modernism. In terms of visual experience, both Wim Crouwel's Van Abbemuseum poster and Bloomberg's magazine developed their designs in response to the spirit of their time. Where the Swiss Style led Crouwel to adopt the same principles in his work, the economic crisis and the aesthetics of modernism led Bloomberg to follow an anti-aesthetic approach. I chose these typographic works because there is an element I admire about all three. I am drawn to the way Nizwa magazine effectively serves as a 'medium to make language visible' and is, like Warde writes, a literal form of thought transference (this essay is an example of invisible typography after all). It is also an opportunity for me to explore Arabic typography, especially in comparison to works set in Latin script. I am also drawn to the use of principles that focus on making a viewer's reading experience of a composition as intuitive as possible in the same manner that Crouwel does. Finally, I appreciate the dialogue created with Bloomberg's outlandish covers that makes me really reflect on corporate media and what Herbert Bayer describes as the ‘communication of selling' in his piece 'On Typography'. Much like advertising, Bloomberg was surely 'motivated by attention-getting-by-allmeans aggressiveness and provocation' through the 'twisting of unaesthetics into a function'18, which then brings up the question of ethics and style choices in connection to typography and graphic design. I wonder if I will find myself leaning towards one style of typography, or if I will end up creating work that has elements of all three styles, as I develop my practice and become more critical of my responsibilities as a designer.

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Figure 3 BBW's 'the How To' issue cover, April 15, 2013' Reproduced from: AIGA Eye on Design, Courtesy Bloomberg Businessweek

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Jiarong Zheng Ruoyi Wang Shuwei Ren

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1 Transparent & invisible

typography: a modernist typography idea from the early 1820s, the definition is from Ward's The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be

Invisible. 2

Functional: The design focuses on Readability, Legibility. Its object is to convey the

information. So, readability is that it looks organized, and the letters work according to the layers. 3

Expressive: an art form where

text is highly visual; actually, type becomes an image there. 4

Sans-serif font: There are two types of sans-serif fonts, Old Sans-Serif and New Sans-

Serif fonts. Old Sans-serif fonts include Grotesque or Royal Gothic and new sans serif fonts include Helvetica, Arial, and Univers. (Source

from Wikipedia) 5

Warde, B 1956. The crystal goblet, or printing should be invisible. The crystal goblet: Sixteen essays on typography,

pp.11-17. 6

Neue Grafik: are German words, meaning New Graphic Design.

Josef Müller-Brockmann: is a Swiss graphic designer, writer, and educator, head of the design firm MullerBrockmann & Co. advocates

an international typographic style known for its simplicity of design and clean use of typography, shapes, and colors. (Source from

Wikipedia) 8

Hans Neuburg: is a graphic designer who was born in Austria-Hungary, and grew up in Zurich, graduating from

the OrellFüssli Art Academy. After graduating, he worked as a designer in advertising and publishing, and in 1936

In the vast field of study of graphic design, typography is one of the most widely used, fastest spreading, and most promising parts of development. With the development of information and printing technology, the typeface presents a variety of styles and plays an important role in conveying information and rendering vision in typography. If typography is the soul of graphic design, then typefaces are the eyes of typographic design. Nowadays, typefaces are not simply confined to paper, but are also reflected in the digital world. If type is considered as a symbol, it directly influences the visual effect of the layout with its unique formal aesthetic factors in any visual medium. Therefore, as an indispensable part of typography, its design concept, means of expression and techniques directly influence communication. Many designers have proposed theories and principles for how type should be used in typography and how typography should be presented. Some believe that typography should be 'transparent' invisible'1 and 'functional'2, while others believe that typography needs to be 'expressive'3. Therefore, in this article, we analyze and summarize the transparent typography, functional typography, and expressive typography of 'The Crystal Goblet', 'The Principles of the New Typography' and 'The Critical Goblet'. After that, through the study of the design works, the three styles are further analyzed and discussed from the perspective of type design and typography, to summarize the connection and difference between the three typographic styles and the influence of type on typography. After reading this article by the author Warde, an initial understanding of modernist typography is gained. Using the crystal goblet as an example, the author states that transparent objects can better represent beautiful things, just as typography and printing should not be altered in any way. That is, good printing should be transparent and invisible. In terms of the printing principles, printing is for communicating the ideological content of words clearly to other people, so legibility is important. Secondly, the purpose of print is to allow the reader to understand the complete idea and to access all the textual information and images, so any creative elements and transitions guiding that detract from reading should be avoided. Nor should the emphasis on the visual effect of the typography be placed at the expense of overall readability. Finally, in the article, the author also expresses the need for printing to be sans-serif font4 and to achieve the ideal transparent, invisible typography5 through several attempts and experiments with simple typographic approaches. Neue Grafik6New Graphic Design Magazine (1958-1965) is a contemporary magazine responsible for the dissemination of philosophy and functional design in the style of Swiss history (Figure 1-2). Neue Grafik magazine began with a meeting and discussion between four famous Swiss designers, Josef Muller-Brockmann7, Hans Neuburg8, Carlo Vivarelli9, and Richard Paul Lohse10, they have similar design attitudes, a deep understanding of the logic in design and the evolution of systematic methods, and spread their ideas to more readers, design enthusiasts and professional designers through the magazine. Therefore, it can be said that the existence of the magazine not only provides design thinking and information, but also the dissemination of aesthetics and culture, which is extremely important.11 Neue Grafik magazine contains a variety of design topics related to international reviews (Figure 3). Its cover is structured and fully written, simple, transparent, and easy to read. Inside page layout does not divide the information in the form of columns, but through the combination of text and a

Neuburg opened his own studio in Zurich. In 1958 he became a founding member of the design quarterly Neue Grafik and was instrumental in the development of the international typographic style. (Source from Wikipedia)

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Carlo Vivarelli: is a Swiss artist and graphic designer working with international typography styles. He was born in

Zurich, Switzerland on March 8, 1919. In 1934 studied design education at the Zurich Institute

of the Arts. Follow with French poster artist Paul Collin, study in Paris. In 1946, moved to Milan to become art director

of graphic design firm Studio Boggeri.In 1958, Vivarelli became a founding member of the Swiss design publication Neue Grafik. (Source

from Wikipedia) 10

Richard Paul Lohse: was a Swiss painter and graphic artist, and one of the leading 25

representatives of the concrete and constructive art movement. Born in

SR 30

Zurich in 1902, he joined the advertising agency Max Dalang in 1918, where he trained as an

advertising designer. His work as a graphic artist and book designer in the 1930s made him one of the pioneers of modern Swiss graphic 11

Munari Design n.d., Neue Grafik/A milestone in the history of graphic design, Munari Design, <http:// 45

www.munaridesign. com/culture/neuegrafik. html/>. design. (Source from Wikipedia) 12

Munari Design n.d., Neue 50

Grafik/A milestone in the history of graphic design, Munari Design, <http:// www.munaridesign.

small number of pictures, the information is hidden typesetting classification, and let the blank space of the layout get the same attention as the text, the blank part in the layout is coherent combination, so the space is orderly, visual fluency. Also, different information is distinguished by font size and ink depth so that the information is clear and easy to read, and the overall style is neutral. There is an invisible correlation between white space and design elements, which will not be directly seen by readers but will subtly guide readers' reading line of sight.12 The magazine uses Helvetica font with no style characteristics, which is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed by Swiss type designer Max Miedinger13 in 1957 in Eduard Hoffmann. Heavily influenced by the earlier Berthold's14 Akzidenz-Grotesk typeface and the style of German and Swiss design, the typeface evolved at a later stage.15 Neue Grafik magazine and other difference are that it supports system, the design method of the graphic design simple, practical, and layout, functional and concise, comprehensive express logical, systematic, simple, and functional design, shows the essence of the plane design, marks based on the information structure rather than the emotional value of visual transmission of the arrival of the new era.16 The magazine 'Neue Grafik' uses a lot of white space and column breaks to make the typography look more rigorous and minimalist and transparent, making the overall layout more readable. Also, I think there is a certain functionality in this typography. By dividing the font level, readers can quickly understand the main content and the secondary content. However, I am pondering a question. Will this consistent typography and overly regular rhythm make the reader easily feel tired? Will the overall typeface not be able to attract readers to read and mobilize their interest well because of the lack of exaggeration and expressiveness? For me, I can clearly see the grid system being used in this layout. Of course, the allocation of text and white space is also very neat. Lead reading by highlighting headings and numbers. I believe this layout is an excellent case of mixing invisible typography and functional style, which not only leads to invisible reading in reading, but also achieves the effect of information class. In my opinion, this kind of hybrid application is very suitable for pages with heavy text and information content, which can achieve quick collation and information collection results. In any case, I personally think that this type of layout may lack autonomy. When the content is too small, does it seem that the class of design overlays the content? Neue Grafik is indeed one of the more classic examples' it is not difficult to analyze why it was an important publication at the time, or why it has an important role for promoting modernist typography. First, it covers several languages and plus the multiple varieties of pictures, are typographical objects with more elements and therefore does not lend themselves to overly complex typographic design. In addition, as the four editors have different typographic habits, ideas, or parts that they specialize in, these series of magazines advocates both the reader's appreciation of the parsed text of the book's design and the desire to quickly categorize key information, thus it combines both types of typography, which is perhaps why the magazine does not consider exaggerated and expressive elements. In Jan Tschichold's article 'Principles of the New Typography' (2001)17 the differences between the new typography and the old typography and the concept of the new typography are presented. Tschichold argues that the old

com/culture/neuegrafik. html/>. 13

Max Miedinger: Swisstype designer, best known for the Neue Haas Grotesk typeface created in 1957, which was renamed Helvetica in 1960. (Source from Wikipedia)

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Figure 1 Inside page layout design by Lars Müller Publishers, 2014

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H. Berthold: was founded

by Hermann Berthold in Berlin in 1858, initially to make rules for machined brass presses, and after 1893, moved to cast

metal type fonts. (Source from Wikipedia) 15

Wikipedia n.d., Helvetica, Wikipedia, <https://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Helvetica>. 16

Munari Design n.d., Neue Grafik/A milestone in the 15

history of graphic design, Munari Design, <http:// www.munaridesign. com/culture/neuegrafik. html/>. 17

Tschichold, J 2001, 'The

Principles of the New Typography', Texts on type: critical writings on typography, New York, Allworth Press. 18

Formal aesthetics: an aesthetic property that is entirely determined by 'narrow' non-aesthetic properties (these

include sensory and non-relational physical properties such as the lines and colours

on the surface of a painting). (Source from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) 19

Haikong Design

2018, The style and characteristics of Swiss graphic design, Sohu, <https://www.sohu. 20

Pentagram: Pentagram

is a multi-disciplinary, independently owned design studio. 21

Domenic, L 2013, The 10 best fonts. The Guardian,

The Guardian, <https:// www.theguardian. com/theobserver/ gallery/2013/sep/14/the-

typography focused less on function and took formal aesthetics18 as the main factor, while the new typography focuses more on function and emphasizes the direction of form from the inside out, adapting to the reading requirements of the new era. Later, the author proposes that 'the essence of the New Typography is clarity', which emphasizes pure form and asymmetry to increase the functionality of the text, i.e., communication, emphasis, and logical sequence of content. Asymmetry is the rhythmic expression of functional design. This contradicts the view of the old typography, whose purpose was 'beauty', and which was satisfied by adding ornamentation and emphasizing the principle of central axis alignment. Finally, the author asserts that the new typography requires objectivity and that old design ideas must be discarded, and new ones developed. Moreover, the ornamentation in the old typography was considered childish. Readability is the prerequisite for attracting readers. For example, the new typography emphasizes the size between typefaces, the strong contrast between black and white, sans-serif font and lowercase letters. The poster 'The Family of Man' (Figure 4) is in line with the core principles and concepts mentioned in Tschichold's article. It was designed by Swiss designer Josef Müller-Brockmann in 1958 as a propaganda poster to help the Museum of Modern Art in New York promote a photographic exhibition against the threat of nuclear war during the Cold War. This poster is a classic piece of rationalization and order in typical Swiss style. The Swiss style is to some extent aligned with the new typographic perspective. It emphasizes 'beauty in function'19, that is, form follows function. The poster uses the overall AkzidenzGrotesk typeface (Figure 5), which is a sans-serif typeface that places more emphasis on functionality and readability, allowing the audience to get the information faster. This typeface, known as the 'International' or 'Swiss' design style, was released by the Berthold Type Foundry in Berlin and originated in the late 19th century. Pentagram20 partner Domenic Lippa rated Akzidenz-Grotesk as 'probably the best typeface ever designed...it doesn't predominate when used, allowing the designer more freedom and versatility'21. In my opinion, this poster follows the principle of asymmetry by placing the main content on the top left, following the principle of reading from sitting on top to bottom right. The use of sans serif lowercase letters puts more emphasis on readability. The placement and size of the text reflects the level of communication of the poster message, i.e., the title in the upper left corner is large and the remaining text is small. The overall layout of the poster follows the grid system22 principle. The text elements are close to the left edge and the bottom edge, so that the blank space on both sides does not squeeze the text and images, thus making the overall visual stability. Moreover, Brockmann used large areas of black to set off the yellow and white type (Tschichold asserts that yellow is closer to red). The contrast between black and white enhances the overall effect of the poster, while the addition of yellow increases the strong contrast between black and white and meets the requirements of the new typography. The message of this poster is clear and easy to read, without meaningless embellishments, and conveys the exhibition's message accurately and unambiguously. I think this poster has a clear layout and a strong logical order. The Akzidenz-Grotesk font is also clear and strong, with sans serif fonts adding typographic functionality. The enlarged headings and scaled down body text highlight the class and emphasize the order of the content. All type design and typography are centered on the content of the image. As a photography poster for promotional purposes, I think this is a very good poster with functional typography. It clearly conveys the theme of photography, and although it uses

10-best-fonts>. 22

Grid system: It is a method and style of graphic design. The layout is designed using a fixed grid, and its style is neat and simple. (Source from Wikipedia)

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Figure 2 The Family of Man by Josef MüllerBrockmann, 1958, Photolithograph

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FTF: First thing first.

(Souce from 'The Critical Goblet', p.6) 24

Haylock, B 2013, 'The

Critical Goblet', Process Journal: Edition Eight,

pp.6-7. 25

Émigré n.d., 'Émigré Fonts', Émigré font, Émigré, https://

www.emigre. comFontsTemplate-

Gothic. 26

Haylock, B 2013, 'The 15

Critical Goblet', Process Journal: Edition Eight, pp.6-7. 27

Haylock, B 2013, 'The Critical Goblet', Process Journal: Edition Eight,

pp.6-7. 28 Emancipatory procedure (see Badiou's philosophy), Haylock, B 2013, 'The Critical Goblet',

Process Journal: Edition Eight, p.7. 29

Haylock, B 2013, 'The Critical Goblet', Process Journal: Edition Eight, p.7.

'About Émigré', Émigré font, Émigré, <https:// www.emigre.com/About. 35

asymmetrical typography, it achieves a balance between the image content and the text. However, is functional typography only applicable when the content itself is very expressive, but not when the content is not dynamic? I think, according to Tschichold, functional typography is mainly about getting information to the reader quickly, so this 'New Typography' sets a strict hierarchy of text. This style of typography is not as emotionally charged as the 'New Style'. The New Typography is purer. But, as Tschichold says, 'the principle of asymmetry gives unlimited scope for variation in the New Typography. It also expresses the diversity of modern life'. Therefore, I believe that the new typography is not inapplicable to works whose content lacks vitality, but simply makes them look more orderly and more readable. Functional typography does place a lot of emphasis on readability. I think of functional typography as more of a regular, structured layout that presents the reader with clear textual content. The content of the photographic images in this poster is poignant and resonates with people's inner opposition and hatred of nuclear war. It is because the picture itself is very meaningful, so there is no need for overly complex typography that tends to spoil the overall picture. The Akzidenz-Grotesk font used is very appropriate and belongs to the classic Swiss Rational functional typographic style. This reading has discussed the relationship between ethics and critical theory in the field of typography. It has established the theory of Warde's Goblet to further open the ethical perspective of graphic design. The reading mentioned FTF23, aims to remind designers to care about the consequences of their works.24 However, this reading has criticized this FTF theory, which is a 'consequentialist ethics'25. This kind of consequences theory would make moral thinking stagnated, author argued that we should focusing on the nature of design and understand the design itself. In the debating reading, Andrew Howard has mentioned: 'The ordering of our consciousness to become consumers in the first place'26. As for the ordering, Alan Badiou mentioned 'a truth-process', which 'is a commitment to a course of action initiated by an event that disrupts a situation'.27 To be general, I believe this can be understood as a new perspective on the back of the rules, building a new order by breaking the rules, then achieving the new comprehensiveness of design and its content. Therefore, it is 'always an emancipatory procedure'28. Although Warde's Goblet invisible typography is inconsistent with Andrew's theory of a truth-process, the cases mentioned in the article also fully express that 'This is certainly no crystal goblet, but the typography here does nothing to compromise the transmission of the authors' ideas.29 In the final reading, the author did not judge or criticize any theories, but clarified the idea of the breaking rules and the criticised rules possibility will be more meaningful in challenging social issues etc., it fully verified the loyalty to the truth. Emigre is a graphic design magazine, which was published between 1984 and 2005.30 The magazine was created by Dutchmen Marc Susan, Menno Meyjes, and Rudy VanderLans, and in 1986 the Magazine 'began selling commercial licenses of its digital fonts under the name Emigre Fonts'. This is the cover of 'Émigré' 19, starting from Zero (1991' (Figure 6), designed and edited by Rudy VanderLans, and the typeface was designed by Barry Deck, which is Template Gothic. Template Gothic (Figure 7-8) was created by Barry Deck in 1990. This typeface has illustrated the passionate pursuit of imperfection by some designers during the postmodern period.31 Deck said about this idea of imperfection: 'I was inspired to design a face that looked as if it had suffered

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Postmodernism: An art

Movement. 32

Émigré n.d., 'Émigré Fonts', Émigré font, Émigré, <https://www. emigre.com/Fonts/

Template-Gothic>. 33

Haylock, B 2013, ‘The Critical Goblet’, Process Journal: Edition Eight,

pp.6-7.RW

RW 25

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the distortive ravages of photomechanical reproduction'.32 This typeface has expressed the idea of asymmetry and imperfect aesthetics. This is the introduction page of this issue (Figure 9). The page has a large double-spread style. The design of the layout is very interesting because the white space is used and the text spacing is extremely excessive, breaking the rules, but the text still has a hierarchy. Just like the reading says, 'Despite the numerous unorthodox treatments, the whole thing coheres: the text face, type size and measurement make for comfortable reading'.33 I think this magazine uses an asymmetrical style, bold use of space distribution and the combination of Template Gothic that shows imperfect aesthetics, perfectly expressing the editor's ideas, and very much in line with the content that this issue of the magazine wants to express. Therefore, it can be considered expressive typography. The big headline that surpasses expectations and the extremely small text create a big contrast, have a very strong expressive power, and strongly express the attitude of the magazine. I believe that the visual impact of post-modern typography can attract users to read books and increase their purchase of books, such as magazines and illustrated books will use this typography style. It is also used in a wide range of commercial channels, such as posters and advertisements, where the audience can get the basic information directly from it, and where users can communicate information to each other, the role is guiding audiences' thinking. These are the advantages of post-modernist typography. I think the emergence of this 'New Style' strongly conveys the designer's ideas and breaks the long-standing rules and order of printing. Like the previous transparent and functional typography, it has strict design rules and is not particularly concerned with formal beauty. In contrast, this 'New Style' uses exaggerated techniques and ornaments. Therefore, I am wondering whether this 'New Style' will be held back by aesthetics in the future, by which I mean only the pursuit of extremely exaggerated and expressive visual effects. As mentioned in the article, no matter how exaggerated the font size and typography are, their main purpose is the same: to make it easier to read. I think that no matter what style of typography is used, it will have its own overly distinctive features and be suitable for different types of content. There is no doubt that there is an over-exaggerated and expressive visual effect, but unlike invisible typography and functional typography, I believe that expressive typography is based on the attitude of the content one wants to express over the simple text itself, and if one balances the expressive attitude and the content, one will not be held back by aesthetics. A truth-process, as mentioned in the article, is a way to break or stand behind the rules to produce a new perspective on the truth. Transparent typography and functional typography can both use sans serif typefaces, so it looks more integral and standardized. They advocate no variability and attach great importance to readability, and you can see a combination of both in some of the typographic works, such as using sans serif typefaces and arranging them into neat block areas. Functional typography, on the other hand, will require a more systematic grid in terms of layout, with a clever mix of diagrams and text that will give the reader a comfortable visual experience. This will be different from transparent and invisible typography. Transparent typography and invisible typography are more focused on the expression of text information, and do not want excessive typographic finishing, so that the need for high-quality text information influences the reader to read deeply. Otherwise, compared to the new typography design, it will be easy to make people lack interesting reading

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ideas. Post-modern typography adds some visual aesthetics to modern typography. It is a break from the conventional typographic layout but does not mean 'clutter'. A closer look reveals that whether it is the thickness of lines, the boldness and size of fonts, and different color blocks, their asymmetrical placement is planned and creative. Its purpose is to attract users to read the book and let them grasp the key information through visual guidance, so it is different from transparent and functional typography. Typography is a highly versatile art. Its very existence is highly dependent on content, following the trends of the times and ideas, while producing multiple forms of results. From the 1920s onwards, the culture of the times created a variety of forms, including transparent typography, functional typography, and expressive typography. They are mutually contradictory and interdependent. As Haylock says, 'the purpose of typography is the same regardless of the form: to increase readability and reading comfort'. We believe that typography is not limited to the use of one style. The 'The Family of Man' poster is an example of how more than two typographic styles can be used to express the same work at the same time. However, we have also found that typography, regardless of the style used, needs to be based on content. We believe that how a designer understands the content and how he or she dictates the typographic style is an important factor in the success of a typographic design in terms of content. Typography itself is open to possibilities and should not be strictly differentiated or defined. The most critical factor is how it is used

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Figure 3 Emigre 19 Starting From Zero by Rudy VanderLans, 1991, Emigre.

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Chen Sang

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The original intention

of typography is always to convey the message clearly, it should be a transparent container, while excessive artistic

creation or shodiness. 2

'Good-looking' as the pursuit of book design: the first is easy to read

'good-looking'. The second is the beauty of 'good-looking', not only in the 'appearance level' more beautiful in

harmony.

With the continuous progress of The Times, people's demand for spiritual culture is getting higher and higher, and a variety of publications just fill this demand. Publication format is the link between appearance and connotation and is a window to show readers. In 'The Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible' (1955) Warde, B. said that the most important thing about printing is that it conveys thought, ideas, images, from one mind to other minds. The purpose of layout design is to present and disseminate the publication in perfect form. Layout design is an important part of the modern art design. On the surface, it is a kind of knowledge about layout. It is not only a skill but also a highly unified technique and art. As a container of information transmission, typographic design, however, has fallen into a situation of excessive formalization in the contemporary social environment of constantly refreshed technological levels and abundant materials. The excessive formalization is mainly reflected in the designers' pursuit of excessive personality or 'mediocre' layout performance, ignoring the functionality of the layout, and thus affecting the transmission of information and people's reading experience to varying degrees. According to Warde, B.(1955), The type which, through any arbitrary warping of design or excess of 'color', gets in the way of the mental picture to be conveyed, is a bad type. 1 The author of Fountain 1917 is French conceptual artist Saadane Afif, who in the summer of 2016 began collecting postcards depicting fountains that he wrote and sent in 1917 while working on the Fountain Archive project. This collection of 232 documents describes everyday life and public spaces in society. At a time when war was still raging in Europe, it provided a unique and remarkable moment in history. The book and its fascinating correspondence mementos become a keen reflection on the earliest stages of globalization as we know it today. The font used in the book is Times New Roman, which is the most classic and widely used Serif font in English. Having the characteristics of orthodoxy, norm, clarity and easy identification. Its high readability allows readers to forget about the font and focus on the content itself. The layout of the book is the traditional symmetrical typesetting. Symmetry creates balance, and balance creates the beauty of harmony and stability. Readers can obtain spiritual pleasure and satisfaction through the sense of visual balance in the picture. Books design master lu jingren have paraphrased: 'Germany is the most beautiful book' evaluation criteria content rendering of creative rhyme, rhythm and space structure, fonts used properly, text layout reasonable, printed material is excellent and reading five senses pleasure, edit the design ideas and text structure of the unexpected, as well as the overall performance of content and form.2 The typography of this book follows transparent typography, without too much decoration, and uses easy-to-recognize fonts, so that readers can focus their attention on the content of the book and get information in a relaxed and pleasant state. The layout should be designed to meet the functional needs first. The ultimate purpose of layout design is to convey information, and all artistic creation should be to meet the functional needs first. The author of this book is Josef Muller-Brockmann, a Swiss graphic design pioneer. He is a Swiss graphic designer and teacher who studied architecture, design and art history at the University and Art Business School in Zurich. The font used on the cover of this book is Calibri, a sans serif font. Without this extra decoration, sans serif is simple, beautiful and eye-catching. The cover of

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Grid typography

helps maintain logical and visual harmony between the elements on the page.However, compared with many

popular poster design cases today, it is indeed more orderly and stable, less bold innovation

and experimental breakthrough, which may also be some shortcomings under the 15

"rules". 4

Layout design is to convey information, to meet functional needs first. The old format often had a lot of decoration,

which would distract the reader. 5

I quite agree with his design philosophy that 'less is more' is the most

important purpose of book layout, providing readers with a simple reading experience. 6

Therefore, in addition to

durable classic books, there are also creative crossover book design, which will attract readers'

interest in reading.

the book is arranged asymmetrically, with the size of the font enlarged to highlight the point. The author proposes that the grid is regarded as an order system, the application method and functional structure of the grid are described in detail and completely, and the key steps in the grid design are analyzed step by step. Make the design more understandable, objective, functional, logical and visual aesthetic. The layout design with a grid system is very important in graphic design. According to Swiss graphic design pioneer Joseph Miller-Brockmann, 'the function and use of the grid aims to provide graphic and spatial designers with a practical tool to deal with and solve visual problems more effectively and confidently in terms of concept, organization and design'. 3 The grid ensures logical and visual harmony between the elements on the page. The grid design system proposed in the book seems to be a simple grid segmentation, layout, arrangement and combination, but every inch pays attention to the rules of the system and scientific mathematical principles. Seemingly simple grid system, however, in the practical application process is not simple, because the early need stylist to brainstorm, despite repeated experiment and operation, sketches, compared with another design method could be more time consuming, so exquisite will naturally lead to the high efficiency, high pressure working environment may not be widely used in the current era, however, many similar 'grid-scale' design principles have been derived. According to Tschichold J. (2001), 'The old typography both in feeling and in form was adapted to the needs of its reader, who had plenty of time to read line by line in a leisurely manner. For them, the function could not yet play any significant role.' 4 The creativity in typography design is divided into two kinds, one is the creativity of the theme idea' The other is creativity in layout design. The combination of the two creative performances has become the development trend of modern layout design. In the creative expression of arrangement, the configuration of words, graphics, and colors is no longer a simple combination of arrangement, but through the combination and arrangement of points, lines and planes, various artistic techniques are used to reflect the visual effect, beautify the layout, highlight the theme, improve the function of conveying information, so that readers can enjoy the beauty.The Typotorn Series, by typographer Jost Hochuli, summarizes his elegant and delicate work: 'I don't design books for beauty, I just design them for the reader'. 'Simplicity is not only timeless, it's special'. 5He innovated the use of the bright yellow letter A as the cover of the book, and the typeface used serif as the body of the text. Serif adds a visual reference to the letter when reading, and it is angular and comfortable to read long text. The layout of the book uses an asymmetric layout. Although asymmetrical, the white space is large to give readers a comfortable and interesting reading experience. Layout design most avoids too much messy and complex, and then wonderful local can not conflict with the whole. Excellent layout design should strive to simplify, concise text so that readers can get information in a relaxed and pleasant state. In a discussion on the death of book design, Kenya Hara said that 'The protagonist of today's era is no longer the paper medium. The paper needs to be liberated from its original responsibilities and restored to its original material dimension'. 6 Transparent typesetting, functional typesetting and expressive typesetting each have their advantages. Transparent typography helps readers focus on the text itself. Functional typography helps readers read quickly and efficiently. Expressive typesetting can improve readers' interest in reading and improve

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Figure 1 Saâdane Afif' Fountain 1917

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Everyone has their

own design principles, depending on the subject matter of the book to determine which is the most appropriate layout.

their reading ability. Good layout design should have good visual guidance, can highlight the appeal of the theme. The layout is clear and pleasing to the eye, which can achieve the best appeal effect. According to Haylock, B. (2013), 'Ward calls for a transparent exchange of ideas, while Badiou and Horkheimer call for the ex-communication of opaque ideologies'. 7 A good layout requires a clear understanding of the topic. Convey the goal, the real idea is clear, accurate communication. In front of the layout and the materials in hand, you can adopt appropriate design language, distinguish priorities, each has its emphasis. The layout design most avoids too much clutter and complexity, and then wonderful local also can't conflict with the whole. Good layout design should strive to concise, concise text so that the reader can obtain information in a relaxed and happy state. Layout design is to pay attention to the 'aesthetic feeling', whether the size of each text is appropriate, whether the use of color is coordinated, whether the illustration is suitable for the content, whether the connotation is profound, etc., will affect the mood of the viewer. A good layout is often in the hesitation of the viewer, quietly affecting his choice. Therefore, the layout design should make full use of silent language art to express the content, catch the reader's sight, make the reader have a rich association and strong aesthetic feeling. The format design function of the general principles for first, adhere to the theme, content, form and style of perfect and unified, reasonable design techniques are used to deal with the size of the layout between each factor and density, relevance, in limited space, with unlimited creativity to build on the design of publishing 'the beauty of artistic conception', complete the image on the expression of a specific image. In short, good typography is the perfect combination of content and form. As the 'carrier' of information transmission, the layout design must conform to the bearing of the theme content. Different theme content should have different layout designs to bear. For example, the layout of politics, religion, law and other contents was originally designed to be solemn, calm, rigorous and orderly' The design principles of a version expressing art, culture, etc., may be lively, interesting, entertaining'. When it comes to food, drink, entertainment, etc., design principles should be geared towards delicious, inviting, and colorful. The requirements of layout design for designers are: a good layout should be interesting, unique, can give people the enjoyment of beauty, can reduce reading fatigue, improve reading efficiency, accurate transmission of information. The general principles of format design function first, stick to the subject, content and form is perfect and unified, reasonable use of design skills to deal with space between each element size, density, its merits, such as relationship, between in limited space, with unlimited creativity build publication type design 'the beauty of artistic conception', in the expression of the specific image to complete the image.

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Figure 2 Typotorn series

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Xinyuan Li Chenchen Wang

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He, H 2015, A Designer’s

Decade of Contemporary Art in China, Baltimore, Maryland: Project Muse, viewed 12 August 2021, <https://muse.jhu.edu/

book/40455> 2

Ibid.

The Palace Museum Official Website,

Introduction of Kangxi Dictionary, viewed 15 August 2021, <https:// www.dpm.org.cn/ancient/ mingqing/148562.html> 4

Chapter 10: The evolution history of Chinese ancient bound books, viewed 15 August 2021, <https://

www2.pccu.edu.tw/ chineseprint/pdf/ch10. pdf> 5

Xu, B 1998, Book

from the Sky, Xu Bing Personal Website,

viewed 15 August 2021, <http://www.xubing.com/ en/work/ 6

Warde, B 1955, 'The

Crystal Goblet or Why Printing Should be Invisible', The crystal goblet: sixteen

essays on typography. London, Sylvan Press.

CW 50

Chinese contemporary graphic design has experienced drastic changes over the last century. Although Chinese designers have tried to adopt the design system of western modernism in response to new market forces and young culture, there is still a lack of mature system which integrates the western modern design techniques into Chinese historical and cultural contexts.1 This, as a result, led to misappropriation of western modern design and obfuscation about the interplay of both consumerism and formalism.2 Therefore, it is significant to contextualise western modernism by learning and understanding Chinese design techniques in history and until now. In this essay, Xinyuan and Chenchen will explore traditional Chinese typography style, analyse the designer He Hao's bilingual (Chinese-English) typography practices, and discuss ethical responsibilities Chinese designers value. By critically analysing three books, we want to better understand how Chinese traditional contemplation and typography techniques apply in contemporary publications. 'Kangxi Dictionary' is the first Chinese book which was named as a 'dictionary'. The emperor commanded civil officers to start producing the dictionary in 1622. There is a distinct difference between 'Kangxi Dictionary' and the present dictionary. Unlike the contemporary dictionary which we are familiar with, 'Kangxi Dictionary' was made for the stratum of intellectuals rather than to the public. Its functions are close to the functions of an archive. It is an authoritative publication that researchers would refer to before they explored other ancient Chinese books.3 I think the typography of these ancient books is beautiful. Do you know why Chinese ancient people use vertical typography? The main reason is the ancient writing instruments. The ancient Chinese recorded texts on the bamboo chips, which is the earliest Chinese book called 'Ordinary binding'.4 Since bamboo chips themselves are very narrow and loosely bound with spaces between chips, the ancient Chinese had to write vertically so that people can read more easily without jumping to different lines and paragraphs. Such writing and reading habits survived the popularisation of paper and printing technologies and the ancients continued to use vertical typography. In addition to the unique typography style, Chinese characters also play an important role in these books. In Xu Bing's artwork 'Book from the Sky',5 he made 4000 to 5000 fake Chinese characters with the glyph of Chinese characters. He also made books consisting of these fake Chinese characters. In his books, the Chinese characters are not information carriers anymore but graphics. In doing so, the audiences can capture the pure beauty of Chinese characters without interference of the connotations of words. That is right. Chinese characters are hieroglyphic and evolved from oracle bone inscriptions! The radicals, composed of basic elements such as water, fire, and wood, evolved from pictographs to represent nature. For example, the shape of fire is like a burning torch. This radical can further generate Chinese characters such as lamps, ashes, and flames. Water radical is composed of three dots just like water droplets. This radical can further generate ocean, rivers and tears. Unlike the Latin alphabets, each Chinese character is an image and connotes meaning. As Warde points out, a good typography is like Crystal Goblet that reveals rather than hide beautiful things.6 Is 'Kangxi Dictionary' relevant to invisible typography? It seems that ancient civil officers unconsciously became the modernist typography designer! 'Kangxi Dictionary' follows a range of rules of invisible

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Zhang, L 2013, 'The

Feature of Chinese Ancient Books: Research

of The Format of Chinese Ancient Book and its Influence on

Contemporary Books Design', viewed 15 August

2021, //https://kns.cnki. netKCMSdetaildetail.

8 Ibid. 9

Müller-Brockmann, J 1981, Grid Systems in Graphic Design: a Visual

Jilin Ancient Books

Protection Center 2021, Chinese Ancient Book typography, viewed 12 August 2021, <https:// www.jlplib.com.

cngjbhzxgjzs201711 11

Ma, W 2019, ‘When did the Chinese people start reading from right to left?’, viewed 15 August 2021, <https://kknews.

cc/zh-sg/history/2npnjge. html> 12

Minister of Education of the People- Public of

China, 2006. Important events in language work in the early days of New China, viewed 12 August

2021 13

He, H 2015, A Designer’s Decade of Contemporary Art in China, Baltimore, Maryland: Project Muse, viewed 12 August 2021,

<https://muse.jhu.edu/ book/40455> 45

typography including fonts, colours and decorations. The typeface is universal and readable. Also, there are few decorations. All decorations have a functional purpose. For example, the fishtail is only used at the top of the title to emphasise the title. The grid system is used for specifying reading orders. There are only two colours red and black. Black is used for normal texts and red is used to highlight key words (Picture 3). Chinese ancient books have a specific grid system, and it is embedded with Chinese traditional philosophy and contemplation. For example, the top margin is called 'sky head' and the bottom margin is called 'ground foot'. In setting the grid system, the top margin is twice wider than the bottom margin. The ratio is normally 10:5.7 This setting demonstrates Chinese traditional contemplation that 'the heaven has been high up and dignified, and the earth has been underneath and humble'.8 Additionally, I found there are 8 columns on each page. For each page, there is a maximum of 16 characters in each column. This is because number eight connotes the meaning of fortune in Chinese culture. In terms of the proportion of margins, the Chinese grid system and Latin grid system have different conventions. In Grid System in Graphic Design,9 Müller-Brockmann suggests that the ideal proportion of the top margin and the bottom margin should be 1.5:3. This proportion makes it convenient for readers to hold books and make notes without necessarily covering any words from the books. Although it seems that the ancient Chinese grid system follows a symmetrical layout,10 it places flexible blocks among columns to arrange complex information (Picture 5). It does not abandon functions for mere forms. I absolutely agree. We can see from the picture (Picture 4) that the relationship between images and texts is noticeable. The contrast between characters and images in ancient books is usually expressed by the strength of lines. The images are mostly in the form of traditional Chinese Gongbi paintings. Therefore, the lines are slender when compared with the weight of characters. To some extent, it makes people to pay more attention to the texts rather than images. On one hand, just as analysed earlier, the producers of 'Kangxi Dictionary' unintentionally implement the principle of invisible design. The invisible type, simple and clear layout, the relationship between texts and images, and other settings of typography create a space that effectively conveys information. On the other hand, we believe that some special Chinese elements such as the setting of layout and decorations can be used with a functional purpose in contemporary publications. Due to colonization, war and change of ideology, countries in the East particularly China and Japan have changed the format of writing from 'right to left' to 'left to right' and from 'vertical' to 'horizontal' to conform with the Euro-American writing and reading styles.11 In 1955, the Chinese government officially launched a document advising the public to use horizontal typography as the standard typography style.12 He Hao is a Chinese designer specialised in publication. To us, he is a believer in functional typography. He has always been 'searching for a precise relationship in design – it contains both the author and oneself'.13 In 2003, he started to cooperate with leading Chinese contemporary artists and design art publications. As shown in following paragraphs, our conversation focuses on the chosen publications 'who is Guo Fengyi' (2005) and 'XVI images of Beijing Hutong' (2008). We aim to analyse his design concepts and bilingual

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Tschichold, J 2001, ‘The

Principles of the New Typography’, Texts on type: critical writings on

typography. New York, Allworth Press. 15

Ibid.

Shaobo, L 2011,

‘Investigation on the Origination of Chinese

Heiti’, Art& Design, viewed 12 August, <http://www.izhsh.com. cn/doc/4/0_1609.html> 18

Kongque: Restore the

Mind set of Chinese Typesetting, viewed 9 August, < https://www. thetype.com/product/

collection-research/>

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typography skills. Artist Guo Fengyi and Xu Yong are clients of He Hao, who designed a medium that effectively and aesthetically presents artists' works to the audiences. Tschichold rejects the pursuit of mere beauty and forms, ignoring functions of typography.14 He also points out that 'new typography' pursues functions and delivers direct and pure expressions.15 We can see that He Hao extensively applied vertical typography in his publications. The public now has become used to the horizontal typography style. It seems that vertical typography is the rigid 'form'. Is He an 'old typography' designer? Is there a necessity to apply vertical typography? I believe that vertical typography is a significant part of Chinese cultural heritage. We cannot deny it because of the political and historical reasons at the time. While the horizontal typography is a canon, vertical typography can bring fun and fresh reading experience. Importantly, we need to find a balance between novel experience and functional purpose. Yes, I agree with you. Designers need to find specific contexts to apply vertical typography. Because of the horizontal typography reading habits, it can be difficult for the majority to adapt to reading a large amount of Chinese texts in vertical typography. The vertical typography might reduce the reading speed and mitigate efficiency of obtaining information from written texts. However, it can give readers more time to understand and echo with the words. Therefore, I think vertical typography might be well applied in poems and proses which do not require reading efficiency but audiences' resonance with the content. When ancient poets wrote those poems, they wrote them vertically on silks or bamboo slips. Therefore, it can also be said that the vertical layout contains a sense of nostalgia. Just like ink and calligraphy which are typical characteristics of poetry, the vertical typography can also become a symbol of poetic written piece. Based on our discussions, I think vertical typography can be applied for multiple purposes. It is not only a 'form of beauty' for contemporary publications but also a functional tool to raise nostalgia and resonance. The harmonious relationship between Latin letterform and Chinese characters is significant to achieve the goal of 'clarity'.16 How to reconcile the relationship between Chinese texts and English texts in bilingual typography? In this case, the selection of fonts matters. The unified glyph of fonts will help to create a harmonious style in bilingual typography. Both Latin letterform and Chinese characters are in serif and san-serif styles. It was found that the Chinese san-serif font Heiti is influenced by Japanese Gothic font, while the Japanese Gothic font is influenced by western san-serif fonts.17 Therefore, the ideal combination could be that Chinese san-serif fonts like Noto-Sans match Latin sans-serif fonts like Helvetica Neuneu and Chinese serif fonts like Kai Ti match Latin serif fonts like Garamond. He Hao chose a uniform font style to avoid distracting readers. Because the Chinese typeface is based on square character bounding boxes, every line is supposed to have a certain number of characters.18 It is entirely different from Latin typesetting. In this publication, He Hao justifies Latin paragraphs so that Chinese texts and Latin paragraphs can achieve visual harmony. In setting the layout, he uses asymmetrical typography which allows more variations and functional considerations. He also continues to use the setting in Chinese ancient books. For example, the ratio of the top margin and the

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Figure 1 Two publications from He Hao Cite from A Designer's Decades of Contemporary Art in China

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Chapter 10: The

evolution history of Chinese ancient bound books, viewed 15 August 2021, <https://

www2.pccu.edu.tw/

chineseprint/pdf/ch10. pdf> 20

Foundation, World Peace. “China: the

Cultural Revolution | Mass Atrocity Endings”. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. 21

Ibid.

Turgut, O. P. (2017).

Expressive typography as a visualisation of ideas. New Trends and

Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(11), 164170. 25

bottom margin is 2:1. This ratio can evoke the rustic feeling of ancient Chinese books. He arranges the folios at the top quarter of the page, which is the positioning of the decoration fishtail.19 As for the functions, this setting of layout will not cause any problems because of readers' habits to hold books. He Hao also uses Chinese traditional elements to make contrasts. In the publication of 'Who is Guo Fengyi', he uses Chinese traditional calligraphy for the tile on the left page and print fonts on the right page (Picture 2). This is not a simple pursuit of mere beauty but deliberations of the functions. He uses different forms and textures to create drastic contrasts to make a clear hierarchy in the spread. China experienced great changes in the last few decades. Between 1955 to 1976, there was a political movement called 'cultural movement'.20 It is a disaster for Chinese culture and social stability. A large number of writers, artists and intellectuals who were stigmatised as the recipients and disseminators of the 'old culture' were comprehensively eradicated.21 In 1978, Deng Xiaoping became the new paramount leader of China and started the 'Boluan Fanzheng' program and brought the country back to order. Since the 1980s, China has gradually become more open and inclusive. However, there still exists a rigid audit system and Chinese artists have to adapt themselves to the less creative environment. New Photo is a good representation. It is an independently published magazine devoted to conceptual photography published by Rong Rong and artist Liu Zheng between 1996 and 1998. It records conceptual photographic works by 15 Chinese artists. New Photo confronted a range of problems in publishing and printing because the works relate to sensitive topics. The number of copies of each issue mainly depended on how much money Rong Rong and Liu Zheng still had (Reference). Ten years later, conceptual photography was finally known to the wider public. In 2007, photography artists including Rong Rong decided to re-make a publication for the magazine for their first formal exhibition of the Three Shadow Photography Center. In this publication, He Hao applies expressive typography methods. Expressive typography refers to the delivery of information through shapes of words and letters, ignoring the conventions of readability and proportions of letterforms.22 I think this is also the reason that He Hao does not make fonts consistent. For example, he uses serif font, san-serif font, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese. Additionally, he uses bolder typeface, increases the size and adds dots below to emphasise key information (Picture 1). These typography skills are unconventional as they deliver playful vibes. In picture 2, photographers' names are not well right-aligned. The Latin name presents slanted and messy status. This might be caused by the behindhand printer at the time. Otherwise, it might be deliberately designed by He Hao to implicate conceptual photographers' free spirits to break the chains of the conservative environment. Chenchen: However, this work is not a typical expressive typography work. We can see that he does not use high saturation colours, novel fonts or too many text blocks. These different fonts and typography elements surprisingly achieve a uniformity, retaining the readability and functionality of the text at the same time. It allows readers to better enjoy the works of photographers. Haylock suggests that designers need to reflect on the consequences of

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Haylock, B. (2013), ‘The

Critical Goblet’, Process Journal: Edition Eight,

pp.6–7. 24

Muggeridge, F. (2010). ‘Typography special

section: Typography with words.’ Eye: the

International Review of Graphic Design, no. 19,

pp.24–37.

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their work and emphasise the identity as a citizen in First Thing First (FTF).23 What do you think? I personally want to highlight two responsibilities that Chinese designers value. One is that Chinese designers should actively explore Chinese graphic codes and seek a reasonable cultural heritage. The other is that designers should be socially responsible and bring social impact without being influenced by politics. Regarding the short history of Chinese contemporary typography, I think it is also essential to learn from Latin typography conventions and techniques. Just as Muggeridge mentioned in his article,24 understanding the history and contexts of typography is the first step to breaking rules. Through in-depth learning of scientific Latin typography techniques, Chinese designers can better discover and apply Chinese typography. Through the many conversations between Xinyuan and Chenchen, this essay aims to evoke discussions around traditional Chinese typography including the history, culture and social changes. The essay also analysed He Hao’s publications and touched upon ethical responsibilities Chinese designers value. Overall, the applications of traditional Chinese typography can be integrated into contemporary publications for embracing cultural heritage and bringing in different reading experiences.

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Figure 2 New Photo: 10 Year Cite from A Designer's Decades of Contemporary Art in China

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What is the role of the designer? What is the role of typography? Analysing the influence and impact of typography according to the crucial frameworks of design provided by Beatrix Warde, Jan Tschichold, Brad Haylock in order to understand typography in the contemporary context that we currently design within. This book provides insightful conversations, reflections and critical essays on how the typographic experiments of designers opened the opportunity to reconfigure traditional models and methods for layout, composition and form. This collection of work analyses the application of typography design concepts to English, Mandarin and Cantonese type forms. The reader is presented with an interesting comparison and reflection of typography design that expands across different languages and dialects. In the process, key typographic themes and notions are discussed, experimental typography, functional typography, invisible typography according to both a modernist and post-modernist era. The reader will be provided with unique typographic-centric works, publications and posters that will align with the conversations provided by the included authors. In the book, the reader will find new ideas and solutions for reinterpretation and connecting with the written word and its form in both the writings but also the composition of Undisciplined itself.

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