Customer Reviews

Pioneers of modern typography (Visual communication books)

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This book was one of the first windows for me into the world of modernism, especially in a typographically and visual graphic sense; it still has a huge impact on me. It documents the typographical works of many great minds who in many cases are more well known for their painting and sculpture, such as Werkman and van Doesburg, as well as demonstrating the material of the likes of Tschischold, Lissitzky and Schuitema.

Perfectly concise, it provides a very valuable and illuminating glimpse into the foundations of typographical Modernism, touching on Dada, Futurism, Constructivism and many other major movements which together contributed to forging a definite Modernist style and philosophy. Despite not being an exhaustive account of these movements, Spencer selects the most relevant information to provide a very solid basis of knowledge in one of the most important movements in graphic design, and it is still one of the books i turn to most for inspiration.

Picked up this book used just because it contained so many interesting examples of European graphic design from the first half of the 20th century. I wasn't disappointed by the text. Spencer paints a good picture of who influenced whom, who was meeting with whom, where, and when. What struck me was how seriously these individuals took typography and design. They thought they could fundamentally change society, change governments. I guess governments thought so too, as some were imprisoned by the Nazis and one, H.M. Werkman, was executed.