An original account of the life and work of legendary designer Jan Tschichold and his role in the movement in Weimar Germany to create modern graphic design Richly illustrated with images from Jan Tschichold's little-known private collection of design ephemera, this important book explores a legendary figure in the history of modern graphic design through the artists, ideas, and texts from the Bauhaus that most influenced him. Tschichold (1902-1974), a prolific designer, writer, and theorist, stood at the forefront of a revolution in visual culture that made printed material more elemental and dynamic. His designs were applied to everyday graphics, from billboard advertisements and business cards to book jackets and invoices. This handsome volume offers a new understanding of Tschichold's work, and of the underlying theories of the artistic movement he helped to form, by analyzing his collections: illustrations, advertisements, magazines, and books by well-known figures, such as Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and László Moholy-Nagy, and lesser-known artist-designers, including Willi Baumeister, Max Burchartz, Walter Dexel, and Piet Zwart. This book also charts the development of the New Typography, a broad-based movement across Central Europe that included "The Ring," a group formed by Schwitters in 1927. Tschichold played a crucial role in defining this movement, documenting the theory and practice in his most influential book, The New Typography (1928), still regarded as a seminal text of graphic design. Published in association with the Bard Graduate Center Exhibition Schedule: Bard Graduate Center, New York (02/15/19-07/07/19)

"Probably the most important work on typography and graphic design in the twentieth century."--Carl Zahn, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

"In 1929, ten years after the Bauhaus was founded, Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau launched the exhibition 'New Typography.' László Moholy-Nagy, who had left Dessau the previous year and had earned a reputation as a designer in Berlin, was invited to exhibit his work together with other artists. He designed a room--entitled 'Wohin geht die typografische Entwicklung?' ('Where is typography headed?')--where he presented 78 wall charts illustrating the development of the 'New Typography' since the turn of the century and extrapolating its possible future. To create these charts, he not only used his own designs, but also included advertising prints by colleagues associated with the Bauhaus. The functional graphic design, initiated by the 'New Typography' movement in the 1920s, broke with tradition and established a new advertising design based on artistic criteria. It aimed to achieve a modern look with standardized typefaces, industrial DIN norms, and adherence to such ideals as legibility, lucidity, and straightforwardness, in line with the key principles of constructivist art. For the first time, this comprehensive publication showcases Moholy-Nagy's wall charts which have recently been rediscovered in Berlin's Kunstbibliothek. Renowned authors provide insights into this treasure trove by each contributing to this alphabetized compilation starting with 'A' for 'Asymmetry' and ending with 'Z' for 'Zukunftsvision' ('vision of the future'). By perusing through the pages and allowing a free flow of association, the typographical world of ideas of the 1920s avant-garde is once again brought back to life." Exhibition: Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany (29.08. - 15.09.2019)

A visual guide to the best in contemporary typographic design, this book features examples and usages of modern typography from around the world.

Illustrated throughout, this book explores the modernist typographer Tschichold, and discusses the work seen in the context of his life and the times in which he lived. The book is introduced with a short essay by Robin Kinross, discussing Tschichold's present reputation.

The fourth edition, fully revised enlarged and reset in 2012, further updated in 2017. Version 4.3 of the 4th edition (2019) includes many updates; see title page verso for a list of pages.