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Project One: Elements of Typography

In this project one will learn so see typography in two ways: as visual elements in a two- dimensional composition and as information which represents hierarchical organization. Emphasis will be on establishing a clear visual hierarchy and exploring compositions that closely adhere to a given modular grid.

One will be creating a series of typographic compositions that closely adhere to a traditional grid form (a straightforward composition that stresses organization and legibility).

Famous Designers

Paul Rand’s career began at a very young age, allowing his work to become highly acclaimed and admired to this day. He is considered one of the greatest Graphic Designers of all time. Initially named Peretz Rosenbaum, Rand decided to shorten his name to ‘Paul Rand.’ This was one of his first identity brand decisions, which will be remembered for generations to come. Rand employed and supported the Swiss Style of graphics, and one can see this in many posters and logos. Paul Rand left his imprint on the world through the many logos and brand designs. He created logos for several high-end corporations like: IBM, UPS, abc, etc.

Massimo Vignelli was an Italian designer, who pursued much of his career in the United States. He studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano from 1950 to 1953 and later trained at the Universita di Architetttura, Venice. The Vignelli’s had many strong ties in Europe and in America, so they established designing firms in both countries but officially established their home in the United States after Massimo had designed a logo for the Container Corporation of America. While living here in America, the Vignelli’s focused on corporate identity. They successfully designed many identities for the following companies: Knoll, American Airlines, Bloomingdales, Xerox, Lancia, Cinzano, and Ford Motors.

Jan Tschichold had powerful influences on twentieth-century typography. He is admired for his support of sans-serif typography and the guidelines he created for typography hierarchy when employing type in design. However, he later returned to favoring roman typefaces, supporting the classicist theory. Tschichold is also known most for his career with the Penguin Book company, designing covers that remain classic to this day.

Max Bill was a Swiss graphic artist, industrial designer, architect, sculptor, and painter, primarily important for his sophisticated, disciplined advertising designs. He was truly a renaissance man, exploring areas that interested him. Not only did he explore these areas, he succeeded in them by creating abstract beauties either through painting, sculpting, or designing.

Robert Massin is a well-known French graphic artist. He began his career in book clubs, designing several hundred-book jackets from 1950 to the present. This career allowed Massin to create a unique take on the Eugene Ionesco play "The Bald Soprano" ("La Cantatrice Chauve"), first published in France by Gallimard in 1964. His groundbreaking typographic and visual treatment by using playful collages of posturized black-and-white photographs of the actors in silhouette, surrounded by sprays and cascades of type in varying sizes and styles, he created a juxtaposition of type and image in book form that became a classic of expressive typography.

Famous Designers

There are several designers who have dramatically influenced the world of typography. Although many differentiate in age and time periods, they all have contributed a strong desire to change and create beautiful typography that impact one’s daily life. These designers include: Matthew Carter, Stefan Sagmeister, Armin Hoffman, Wolfgang Weingart, and Neville Brody.

Matthew Carter has spent his entire life pursuing and creating new typefaces, which have grown to become prominent world-wide. His father was a typographer, and when Matthew Carter decided to forsake his three years at Oxford for experience in the working industry; his father was there to support him. This simple act allowed Carter to pursue and expand his career, it did not limit his creativity to create and embrace modern typefaces. One can easily discover Carter’s talent by reviewing his list of accomplishments but Carter also expresses his passion for type, always supporting and encouraging the younger generations to explore the possibilities.

            Famous Typefaces: Airport, Alisal, Auriga, Auriol, Bell Centennial, Big Caslon, Cascade Script, Century 725 (Boston Globe), Charter, Cochin, CRT Gothic, 
Durham (US News and World Report), Elephant, F DeFace (FUSE), Fenway (Sports Illustrated), Galliard, Gando Ronde, Georgia (Microsoft), Helvetica Compressed, etc.

Stefan Sagmeister is truly a unique Graphic Design artist, always willing to surprise and shock with his designs. At first, Sagmeister had no intention of pursuing design rather he studied engineering. But during his time at university, he began to explore design through poster layouts and designs for the company Alphorn. Sagmeister decided to pursue design and eventually came to the United States to study. Sagmeister has pursued many jobs (typographer, designer, photographer, etc.) but he always stays true to himself, in other words; if he needs to challenge or perhaps amuse himself he will refuse certain jobs to keep an open time frame.

Armin Hoffman spent much of his career designing posters. He believed that this was the best way of communication, visually communicating an idea through a print. Hoffman was a believer in the Swiss International Style, which stressed a belief in an absolute and universal style of graphic design. The style of design created a goal of communication, practicing new techniques of photo typesetting, photomontage and experimental composition and heavily favored sans-serif typography. Hoffman was a groundbreaker designer, introducing and teaching techniques that have influenced design to this very day. 

Wolfgang Weingart was most influential as a teacher and a design philosopher. Armin Hoffman appointed Weingart as a typography instructor at the Basel School of Design. Throughout his entire career he spent time traveling and lecturing throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia. In these lectures, he taught a new approach to typography that influenced the graphic design of the 1990s. 

Neville Brody is a London born designer, He was quite experimental in nature with his work at the University, and was sadly met with criticism due to his untraditional methods. After school, he received an art director job with The Face Magazine, which allowed his name to become well known. He later formed his own design studio, Research Studios, which has enjoyed much success and spread internationally. Not only is Brody a designer, he is a typographer, designing more than twenty typefaces which include: FF Gothic, FF Harlem, FF Meta Plus, FF Typeface Four, etc.

Carter Source: http://www.aiga.org/medalist-matthewcarter/

Sagmeister Source: http://designmuseum.org/design/stefan-sagmeister

Hoffman Source: http://designishistory.com/1940/armin-hofmann/

Weingart Source: http://www.aiga.org/medalist-wolfgang-weingart/

Brody Source: https://www.fontfont.com/designers/neville-brody