Essay plan

Theme: typography as a visual art or serving a functional purpose?

Title: The visibility of typography (undecided as of yet)? Or: Typography – a slave to content, or a visual artist?

I plan to begin my essay with a brief introduction, wherein I outline the points that I intend to cover – introducing the topic and the question as to what extent typography can be viewed as a visual art. I will then begin by exploring the concept of typography serving a functional purpose; looking at Beatrice Warde’s viewpoint that type should be “invisible” and unobtrusive to the written content, and how legibility and function should be superior to appearance. I will also make reference to the Modernist point of view of “form follows function” (Louis Sullivan), which ties in with the idea of typography serving a purpose. The Wall Street Journal is an example of how type is used provide information in an efficient and appropriate way, and I will look at the related quotation from Peter Kann (1999): “text is content, visuals are entertainment”.

Secondly, I will look into the concept of typography acting more as a visual art, rather than merely serving a functional purpose. The experimental approaches of the early 20^th century are something that I will explore (Dadaism, Bauhaus, Futurism), and I plan to pay particular attention to the pioneer of Futurist typography, Marinetti; in the ways that he redefined typography, began to break traditional rules of legibility, etc., and generally began a typographic revolution based on the ‘setting free’ of type (as a reaction to the chaos and massacre of the First World War) – “The Futurist will begin by brutally destroying the syntax of speech” (Marinetti, 1913 manifesto).

Continuing this exploration into the visual developments of typography, I plan to look at developments within the discipline after the 1984 release of the Apple Mac, which introduced a whole new focus on the creative potential open to typography. I plan to examine the typographic works of Wolfgang Weingart, as an alternative approach to the Swiss Style – focusing on his emphasis of the visual importance of type, rather than the issues of functionality and legibility (as focused on by Beatrice Warde – “Graphic designers may be the greatest culprits in the obscuring of Warde’s goblet”; G.Swanson). Furthermore, I will look at the works and attitudes of David Carson (particularly ‘Ray Gun’ magazine), and his emphasis on the notion of “deconstruction” to create his work - focusing on typography as a visual element, rather than solely functional.

A further aspect of this theme that I plan to discuss is the relationship between calligraphy and modern typography. I will look at the extent to which calligraphy can be seen as more of a visual art, and as a form of “writing that values its own formal and expressionistic traits but not necessarily legibility” (Steven Skagg). This will also raise the question as to whether time and culture can change our perception of whether type is functional or decorative (“It seems curious that blackletter typestyles, which we find illegible today, were actually preferred over more humanistic designs during the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Similarly, typestyles that we perceive as illegible today may well become tomorrow’s classic choices”, Z.Licko, 1990). This is something that I plan to mention in the final conclusions of my essay; as well as drawing other ideas from different aspects that I have covered.

Mini Bibliography:

Warde, B. 1955. The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should be Invisible - The Crystal Goblet, Sixteen Essays on Typography. Cleveland.

Swanson, G. 2000. Graphic Design and Reading: explorations of an uneasy relationship. Canada, Allworth Press.

Bartram, A. 2005. Futurist typography and the liberated text. London, The British Library.

Skaggs, S. The New Calligraphy Renaissance.

Spencer, H. 1982. Pioneers of Modern Typography. USA, MIT Press Paperback.

Weingart, W. 2000. My Way to Typography. Lars Muller Publishers.