Reading Response 3 – SC

New Typography

Madeleine Morley; Master László Moholy-Nagy Saw Photoshop Coming, 90 Years Ahead of Time (2019), AIGA Eye on Design, László Moholy-Nagy; Typophoto (1925): Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field by Helen Armstrong on pages 32-34, Jan Tschichold, “The Principles of the New Typography” 1928: Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field by Helen Armstrong on pages 35-38.

Here are the questions to which you should respond in your reading response:

• According to these authors, what is their aesthetic approach, and why is it better than the traditional design/typography of the past?
• What role should typography, photography, and other media play in shaping a new kind of design? 
• How did technological advances influence aesthetic forms and theories in early 20th Century design?

According to both authors, the old typography is too decorative. Being centered on a main axis that was kept centered made messages confusing and unnecessarily busy. The use of highly decorative fonts combined with a complete disregard for uniformity or legibility betrayed the purpose of the typography’s communication. Both authors agreed that a new more uniform and economical approach would carry out the message in a much more successful way.

            Sans serif type was at the helm of this movement. The uniformity and legibility of sans serif type made it a perfect vehicle for the new typography to flow and become a part of what we call good design today. It was through the successful use of this type and through using a new axis to anchor the text that the standard flush left is preferred today. Designers also tasked themselves with introducing these new concepts to the world of advertising, in an expo, to create a new standard but also to convince the clients and the public that this new method was successful and indeed correct.

            I believe that type will have yet another revolution when the new preferred method of communication is invented. Given the history of how type has changed to meet the needs of the times it is only logical that type will exist in a much different form in the future as well.