Jan Tschichold in The New Typography believes type itself is good design. Tschichold discusses how often designers today will focus on visuals, and adding ornaments to text or even arranging it differently or fitting it into a shape that may take focus of the text and pay more attention to the ‘visuals’. While some think that the design might look empty and simple the designer should not deny that clean text can be appealing. Tschichold believes that there should be an abolition of ornamentation, to remove anything to your design that is unnecessary, typography should not be neglected as it makes the designer focus on which information is important.
Karl Gerstner also brings up how design needs methods and focus on each element and to think about the importance and function of the elements. While not everything the designer plans is used or perfect, the layout and plans should be organized. Typography can be organized by weight, font, style, the direction in which it is read, and spacing. There is also an importance to grids, as they regulate the composition. Gerstner’s text shows the importance typography has to a design, and how the planning can affect the expression it has.
Josef Müller-Brockmann emphasizes the importance a grid has to design, similar to Gerstner he relates it to planning the components of the design. And like Tschihold he believes a design should integrate the components in a systematic, functional way. A grid assists designers into following functionality instead of going for more subjective work, to make the designer see what is essential to a design. According to these three texts a design needs to be extensively planned out with an organized rubric. Design should not be focused on adding ornamental details, the designer needs to think about what the purpose of the design is and to base the design on that. By organizing a layout with a grid or list, you can clarify which components are essential. Typography needs to be clear, its weight, direction and style carry an importance to the expression of your work and not be blocked by visuals or poor layout. Color and images needs to be rationally integrated.
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