Customer Reviews

The New Typography: A Handbook for Modern Designers (1st English translation)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't want to repeat what others have already said, so here's a word of additional advice. Avoid the paperback copy and spend a few extra dollars on the hardcover version. Part of what made "The New Typography" what it was when it was printed was not only the contents inside, but the outside of the book as well. In sharp contrast to the classical title boxes on the spine of most books, 'The New Typography' was released in black cloth with silver / metallic ink on the spine, with the sans serif title reversed. Looks rather normal now, but imagine the response in the late 1920s. I have seen both the paperback version and the hardcover, and there's no comparison. If you want the total package, outside of finding a long lost copy of the first edition, get the hardcover. It's worth it, especially for purists.

Jan Tschichold wrote this book while still a young man, in reaction to the horrible typographic styles of the late 19th and early 20th century. As such, it is more an expression of a revolutionary spirit than a guide to good typography. The author himself rejected most of the ideas in the book a decade or so later. But it remains greatly influential, particularly in the field of graphic design for periodicals. Definitely worth reading, as a balance to the conventionality of most typographic books.

Typographic history, at least. This book was first published in 1928, and seems to have been the founding manifesto of the "Swiss school" of typography. This is a must-read for all serious students of type, and for a few others as well.

First, the messages for typographers. The book itself is part of that message: sanserif body text, bright white paper, and geometric red and black graphics. Tschichold uses a few conventions that I quite like. Footnotes are indicated inline and at the end of the page by a heavy black mark. At first, it looked like a blot on the gray of the body type. After seeing it a few times, though, I realized that the heavy mark was very helpful for recovering my place in the reading after my eyes moved away to read the footnote. Emphasis is shown with heavy rules in the outer margins around text, much the way I mark books myself. My only complaint about the book as a whole has to do with indistinct paragraph breaks - there is clue from indentation or line spacing, so it is actually possible to miss a pragraph break altogether.

The second half of the book shows a number of examples, good, bad, and (today) historically interesting. Almost all examples are bold red and black - the first two colors to be used up in most sets of crayons. It is easy to forget that these examples were often designed for letterpress, since photocompostion barely existed as we understand the term. Despite Tschichold's passion for modernity, the style now looks as dated as Bauhaus, streamlined locomotives, and Art Deco.

The first half of the book is for typographers, but also for any modern student of polemic. Not many people have strong feelings about typography, so the ranting can be considered by itself. Tschichold's style is based on "the spirit of our age" somehow revealed to him alone, and on Germanic philosophical absolutes. It is ironic that, during the cultural purges of pre-WWII Germany, Tschichold was among those rounded up for politically incorrect artwork - another absolute in conflict with his own.

Happily, Tschichold was able to emigrate to Switzerland before war broke out. He had a long and influential career, and later regretted the strident excesses of youth that this book captures.

This is useful as a guide to typographic style, but beginners will probably get more from modern texts. It gives a very informative view of the DIN standards for paper and business correspondence. Most of all, however, it captures a time and a mentality that no longer exist, but that guided one strong school of typographic practice for over 80 years.

As other reviewers have written before me, this book surely has an historical value to it. It allows the reader to have a quick glance to a particular historical moment of typography in pre-WWII Germany, written in a Marxist tone. Also, the layout of the book is a beauty in itself, with its glossy paper and sans-serif Futura font. But that is pretty much it, unless you want to read it because you are a student in History of Typography. Do not expect to learn basic or advanced typographic elements here. If you want that, read "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst instead.

I'll confess I was expecting something more contemporary when bought this book. If you're not carefull the title will fool you. "New" in this case means early 20th century. Tschichold, as I came to learn, is one of the great names in typeface design. This book is reissued as his classic rant/manifesto on graphic design and type.

Tschichold makes strong statements on what constitutes good typography, even going so far as to make philosophic natural law arguments in favor of san serif type. Serif fonts, particularly black letter styles, are the enemy. You have to take a historical leap in order to understand Tschichold's sour view of black letter. To us, black letter is a period typeface appearing outside pubs of the "Ye Olde Ale House" variety (or alternately to tattoo your back with gang symbols). But to Tschichold, black letter type was the Times New Roman of the day, plastered over every document and sign around. He argues correctly (in self-righteous, quasi-Marxist tones) about the unintelligibility of black letter type. He champions san serif styles, such as Futura.

Strictly speaking, Tschichold's arguments aren't of much practical use to contemporary designers now that the scourge of black letter has fallen aside and Helvetica/Arial rules the world, but I enjoyed the reproductions of Tschichold's own Weimar Republic era work. It reminds me of the possibility of using a strictly typographic solution to a design problem. I think if you were ever a fan of Emigre's type and design philosophy, you'll find things to like about this book.

This is a nice handbook for creating stark minimal layouts but the dogmatic, unwavering theory of 'objective' design is best taken with a grain of salt. Reading this reminds me of when I took painting with Modernist painter Guido Molinari and everyone around me ended painting squares out of fear of retribution. But even with his strict approach, I don't think he would have quoted a text that says "The more primitive a people, the more extravagantly they use ornamentation ... To insist on decoration is to put yourself on the same level as an Indian." While this book has some great tips on reducing clutter and improving readability, reading the 'ideals of Modern Man' stuff is like sitting through a fire and brimstone sermon. Nice diagrams.

Jan Tschichold was the one to explain the early 19th century's movement for clarity/purity of form and type (as practiced at the Bauhaus) to a wider audience of printers, typesetters and designers (who previously were entangled in the imitation of traditional styles of the past). This is a good choice if you wand to know more about why things are done today the way they are. He explains why photography was absorbed into design and the standardization of paper and much more. There is also sound device for designers, such as avoiding the substitution of tradition ornament with the modern visual language of geometric shapes. If it's useless it's useless no matter what trend/style the element is from. The content has philosophical/humanistic passages and so is not a strict how-to book. Pick up the Ambrose Harris books if you want cover to cover design info/advice/examples.

Ironically the book itself is poorly designed (I got the paperback). The glossy paper makes reading slightly difficult. The glossy full black page will chronicle your fingerprints. It leaves a few examples of compositions with white negative space to float on the pages' own white space. Images also show through the page adding grey tones to the images. Unnecessary vertical black rules randomly appear in the margins.

5 stars for spreading knowledge to help change the design world. 2 stars for the book's physical presentation.

When Tschichold wrote this text, the German foundation of typography was in upheaval, and Tschichold was clearly the first against the wall when the revolution came. As he was writing, the predominant typefaces in Germany were of the Fraktur type, which did not incorporate the advancements of transitional or modern typefaces. It is quite clear that Tschichold sought to completely do away with the old types and bring in the new sans serifs as a way of countering them.

The first half of the book is filled with bombastic rhetoric, which gets tiring very fast. Still, there is plenty of good advice and there are excellent examples to follow. The second half is more technical, but perhaps too technical, as most of the standards that Tschichold discusses are either now well accepted or superseded and thus any appeal to use them is now moot in either case. The second half again provides good advice, despite the mooted standards discussion, and it is certainly something that any designer, of any printed matter should be acquainted with.

Finally, the historical significance of this text makes it essential reading for designers. The various introductions and forewords give the reader a good idea of these circumstances, but at 60 pages (when Tschichold's introduction is taken into account), it occupies far too much of the text.

All in all, I may have overrated this book at four stars, but it definitely deserves more than 3.

A great book about new styles in typography design..really helpful to broaden your point of view if you are interested in creation of an unexpected effect with simple fonts

Este libro introduce en el estudio de las nuevas tipografias que surgen a principio de siglo en Alemania. Si bien el traductor reconoce que el autor esta equivocado en algunas de sus apreciaciones (tengan en cuenta que se escribio a principios de siglo) no deja de ser una forma de comprender los cambios mentales que surgen de las tipografias, y como estas interactuan con la sociedad.