Product Description

Since its first publication in 1969, Pioneers of Modern Typography has been the standard guide to the avant-garde origins of modern graphic design and typography. In this essential reference, Herbert Spencer shows how new concepts in graphic design in the early decades of the twentieth century had their roots in the artistic movements of the time in painting, poetry, and architecture. Spencer examines the "heroic" period of modern design and typography, the beginning of which he traces to the publication in Le Figaro of the Italian artist Manetti's Futurist manifesto. He discusses the work of such "pioneers" as El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. He examines the artistic background of the new concepts in graphic design, and traces the influences of futurism, Dadaism, de Stijl, suprematism, constructivism, and the Bauhaus. His text is profusely illustrated with examples of the new typography, shown in genres that range from posters and magazine covers to Apollinaire's "figurative poetry." This revised edition, which follows the revised and redesigned edition of 1983, includes a foreword by design critic Rick Poyner that discusses the important contributions to the history of graphic design made by Herbert Spencer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #253575 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review


"Nothing could be more useful than this book to focus on all the brilliant personalities that contributed to the creation of a new language in typography.... This book is a must for students of design, as it is for us professionals to evaluate the origins of modern typography before we take the next step."
- Massimo Vignelli



"The name of Herbert Spencer, editor of The Penrose Annual, is in itself a guarantee of a thoughtful and thought-provoking approach to the problems of typography and art, and the revolution which overtook printing in the early years of this century is certainly a worthy subject for his closer examination."
- Graphis

About the Author
Herbert Spencer (1924-2002) was a typographer, graphic designer, teacher of graphic design, and art director of the Lund Humphries publishing house from 1969 to 1988. He was editor of the journal Typographia and the Penrose Annual and Professor of Graphic Arts at the Royal College of Art.

Customer Reviews

Door Opening
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.

Compact yet thorough survey
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.