The sans-serif typeface Franklin Gothic was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1902 and continues to be widely used in newspapers, books, billboards, and advertisements. This book tells the story of how typographic order triumphed over chaos.įrom the Publisher. We can see the results today in the white-on-black signs throughout the subway system, displaying station names, directions, and instructions in crisp Helvetica. Efforts to untangle this visual mess began in the mid-1960s, when the city transit authority hired the design firm Unimark International (co-founded by Massimo Vignelli) to create a clear and consistent sign system.
Over the years, enamel signs identifying stations and warning riders not to spit, smoke, or cross the tracks were added to the mix. The original mosaics (dating from as early as 1904), displaying a variety of serif and sans serif letters and decorative elements, were supplemented by signs in terracotta and cut stone. For years, the signs in the New York City subway system were a bewildering hodge-podge of lettering styles, sizes, shapes, materials, colors, and messages. Helvetica and the New York City Subway Systemįrom the Publisher.
Here is vintage Gill, as polemical as he is practical, as much concerned about the soul of man as the work of man as much obsessed by the ends as by the means. Here are the seeds of modern advertising: unjustified lines, tight word and letter spacing, ample leading. As Gill wrote later, it was his chief object "to describe two worlds - that of industrialism and that of the human workman - and to define their limits." His thinking about type is still provocative. It is his only major work on typography and remains indispensible for anyone interested in the art of letter forms and the presentation of graphic information. This manifesto, however, is not only about letters - their form, fit, and function - but also about man’s role in an industrial society. It represents Gill at his best: opinionated, fustian, and consistently humane. An Essay on Typography was first published in 1931, instantly recognized as a classic, and has long been unavailable.
The book includes a large number of works from well-known and lesser-known designers such as Emil Ruder, Helmut Schmid, Wolfgang Weingart, Hans-Rudolf Lutz, Jost Hochuli and many others.įrom the Publisher. 30 Years of Swiss Typographic Discourse in the Typografische Monatsblätter examines the years 1960–90, that correspond to a period of transition in which many factors such as technology, socio-political contexts and aesthetic ideologies profoundly affected and transformed the fields of typography and graphic design. With more than 70 years in existence, the journal witnessed significant moments in the history of typography and graphic design. The Typografische Monatsblätter is one of the most important journals to successfully disseminate the phenomenon of “Swiss typography” to an international audience. 30 Years of Swiss Typographic Discourse in the Typografische MonatsblätterĮCAL/University of Art & Design Lausanne Editor Roland Früh Editor Louise Paradis Editor François Rappo Editorįrom the Publisher.
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