Month: March 2021 (Page 4 of 7)
The importance of typography is for type to be readable and its value to be visible to the human eye. Typography takes part of a language that we can all communicate with on different platforms and the mix of art defines color, value and visibility. But what if print were to be invisible? It’s an odd question but it’s definitely experimental and a challenge for most typographers that overall designers tend to think outside the box. Typically print has color which is often white or a very light brown color for the type to be visible but if print were invisible, I think that type will still be visible. The best example to describe an invisible print would be glass and it’s a colorless platform (transparent). Imagine that having a bottle of wine is typically made out of glass, there’s text and it’s yet readable at instant. According to the article, ‘The Crystal Goblet, or Why Should Printing Should be Invisible’, Beatrice Warde states, “Again: the glass is colorless or at the most only faintly tinged in the bowl, because the connoisseur judges wine partly by its color and is impatient of anything that alters it.” Restating from Warde’s point about wine glass bottles, glass may be invisible but text will still be visible because of its color, value, contrast, alignments and more that isolates the background. A similar quote from Gyorgy Kepes, he says, “for example, I compose with a white and black and I arrange when the white has become a paper, and that black a shadow! I mean to say that I arrange the white to make it become a paper and the black to make it become a shadow.” Defining a separation of color for text (as the shadow) to be visible to the background (as the paper). Going back to color theory, this method is similar to the complementary color mode, both colors conflict one to another, creating a barrier between them, it’s no coincidence that a colorless print with text can still be readable.
-Daniel Rodriguez
After reading these articles I realized that the point of view of each artist had similarities when it comes to evolution and fundamentals of design. Moholy-Nagy, Walter Gropius, and Hebert Bayer were founders of theories that at some point could have been impactful but seemed to be more wishful thinking defying the logic of design. Moholy-Nagy at its current time concerns about what was missing from the past in art was the connection of human intuition and drive while interacting with technology and machinery. He also based his idea on the Typophoto, which consisted of the combination of typography and photography to deliver or explain a message like the magazines. However, he defines it as a visually most exact rendering of communication, having the idea that someday it could make photography could make typography obsolete. This can’t be possible because typography or text itself has been used for so long even before the printing press and it’s a language medium that complements others. This resonates with Herbert Bayer’s theory of redesigning the alphabet and the ways we read and write to make it simpler and easier to digest. The attempt of this simplistic but at the same time complex idea leads to different outcomes where eliminating capital letters and serif could lead to confusion for the sake of a new style. This doesn’t change the appreciation that he had for typography as he defines it as “a message conditioned by its visualization” and the fact that in the US it’s considered a minor art and is generally ignored.
Along with typography or design skills, Walter Gropius enhance the idea that visionaries artist needs to learn and need to be taught the concept of giving form to space. This can only be done by the knowledge and mastery of creative endeavors concepts that can be achieved collectively. His theory was that only talented people could make it as artists without even having to go to school. Only for the foundation and design theories can be useful for shaping the mind of the artist in the right way for its purposes. In the 21 century, these ideas can be controversial and might need to get updated as society has become extremely competitive, and being talented doesn’t always guarantee a successful pass to glory. However, with all the social media and technology that we have today, the chances to be a successful freelancer are higher than in that era. What changes is the type of designer or artist do you want to be. If the person is aspiring to be in a corporate environment then definitely schooling and having a career is the right way. Even if the talent and skills are there, a solid foundation is needed to become a successful artist executing the right language and communication for current society.
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