Fonts & Logos

by Doyald Young
Delphi Press, 9.25x12.25, 388 pages, $65.00
ISBN 0-9673316-09

The talk of fonts and typefaces has been transformed over the last couple of decades from esoteric discussions by craftsmen in large, heavy equipment-laden rooms to everyday vernacular in every computerized office and home. This democratization has placed much pressure on logo designers and font developers to maintain standards formerly controlled by the skilled few, but now is accessed by anyone. Finally, we have a manual to understand not only the complexities of font design and logo design, but the creative process as well.

This volume, which is a follow-up to Logotypes and Letterforms, stands alone as a generous reference guide to fonts (377 showings), font design, logotype design and typographic history. Although the author describes Fonts & Logos as a foundation course, this book is really much more than that. Novices will benefit from Mr. Young's forty-five year association with the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, as this book describes every type classification with many generous examples. The brief chapter "How I Work" is worth far more than the cover price for anyone with an interest in drawing his or her own letters and logos. Professionals will find this a great source of typographic inspiration at the depth and level in which the design and drawing of both type and custom logos are covered. As one who prefers illustrations to endless copy this book is a joy in its concise text and many illustrative examples. Of particular note are the many pencil sketches showing the author's wonderful drawing skill, a dying art form which is much alive in this book. Good drawing skills are the basis of all logotypes and fonts and that is elegantly displayed in this rich and complete volume.

This book can be purchased at through:

Doyald Young, Delphi Press
13957 Valley Vista Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
E-mail: Doyald@pacbell.net

 

Typography:
An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History

Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott and Bernard Stein
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers New York, 1998

This has got to be the typographic bargain of the year! This massive book-nearly 600 pages, over 2,000 illustrations in a 9.5" x 12" format-costs only $39.95.

This is not a typography textbook. It is the beginning of a reference work which demonstrates the interaction between craft and technology, theory and practice, between functional and experimental ideas. Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott and Bernard Stein have not delivered the ultimate book on typography (despite the implications of their subtitle), but it is a book full of engrossing information.

Friedl, Ott and Stein consider typography as a key component of culture and have divided Typography into the chronology, the persons and the institutions, the tools, and typefaces. the chronology, is a 66-page breeze through the history of writing from Raygun to the Assyrians. The chronology actually goes backward from the present. It is very disconcerting since it breaks the usual threads of influence. Fortunately, the illustrations are excellent and the summary descriptions of each "movement" are succinct and often sharply observed.

the persons and the institutions is a conventionally alphabetical (from A to Z) survey of important individuals, institutions and companies in typographic history. It is filled with people familiar and unfamiliar. Each entry is accompanied by several full-color examples of work at a reduced size typical of a small paperback. Why such relatively small illustrations in such a large format book? Because Typography is written in German, French and English. The ingenious design has the German text running across the top of each spread, the English text running along the bottom and the French text split between the left and right sides-the images are gathered in the well created in the middle. The texts are short, thumbnail summaries of each individual's career or each institution's history. Information prevails over opinion. The authors deliberately chose to avoid "biased" copy and the result is a dry recitation of fact. Despite the lack of gossip or personal tidbits, Typography is an excellent resource.

I was surprised to see Erich Meyer and Max Bittrof, designers of so-called Schaftstiefelgrotesk or "Nazi" typefaces; pleased to see many German and East European figures barely known in the United States (such as Werner Schneider, Xanti Schawinsky, Ernst Hiestand and Carl Keidel). Calligraphers are given their fair place alongside the latest typographic rock stars. For instance, one spread has an amusing mix of philosopher Jacques Lacan, type designer Gunther Gerhard Lange and calligrapher/ letter designer Jean Larcher. Of course, there are many deserving people missing and, not surprisingly-given the background of the authors, many are American. Among the missing are George Salter, Otto Storch, Art Chantry, Joseph Phinney, Arthur Baker, Richard Eckersley, Arnold Bank, Binney & Ronaldson, and D.B. Updike. (Nicolete Gray is also a casualty). This is not meant as serious kvetching because any undertaking of this nature will run into problems of omission due to space or time. However, there are numerous individuals included who are more famous for their graphic design work or illustration rather than their typography per se. Yet, in the final analysis, any book that includes the diversity of Barbara Kruger, Max Kisman, Amphiareo Vespasiano and Rudolf Hell must be recommended highly.

The tools section is disappointing. It runs from the hand-axe to the computer and includes some surprising "tools," such as fishbone and light, but there are no illustrations.

The list of typefaces-set very tiny so that the pages look like a telephone directory-is actually an index to typefaces mentioned in the main section on people and institutions. Designers are mentioned, but nothing more since foundry and date are presumably in the designer's entry. One of the unfortunate consequences of the small images is that typefaces that are not shown as historical artifacts (as pages from specimen books or in text showings) tend to be too small to really appreciate their nuances.

The high quality of the illustrations, coupled with such a strong emphasis on graphic design, will make this book a useful resource for teachers of design history as well as those interested in typography and printing history. Since the authors indicate another edition is being contemplated, we should not only thank them for their enormous efforts, but point out their shortcomings. Typography unfortunately has a truly depressing cover design. This is definitely one time when you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Herbert Post: Schrift, Typographie, Graphik

Edited by Angela Dolgner
Hochschule für Kunst und Design
Halle, 1997

This book accompanies a traveling exhibition on the work of Herbert Post that was first shown in the Stadtmuseum Halle in the fall of 1997. It is a collection of essays -most of them by Angela Dolgner-on the life and career of the German designer and educator Herbert Post. Post is best known in the typographic world for the design of Post Fraktur, Post Medieval, Post Antiqua and Post Versals. All but the first of these fonts are available digitally.

Born in 1903, Post was a student of Rudolf Koch at the Offenbacher Werkstattin the early 1920s. From 1930 until the 1970s he taught design-before the war at Halle and after at the Akademie für das Graphische Gewerbe in Munich. Herbert Post looks at Post's entire life and his complete artistic œuvre. If there is any complaint to be lodged against it, it is that Post's calligraphic and typographic work are under-illustrated in relation to his painting and drawing. This is unfortunate since some intriguing sketches and drawings of typefaces are reproduced. The photographs of Post and his students during the second world war are also fascinating. For those who read German, the chapters on Post's life between the two wars are surely of the most interest.

It is good to see a book such as this one. We need more profiles of the lesser-known type designers of the twentieth century to balance those of Rudolf Koch, Frederic Goudy, Hermann Zapf and Adrian Frutiger.

British Modern: Graphic Design between the Wars

Steven Heller and Louise Fili
Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1998

This is the most recent title in the series of books by Heller and Fili chronicling Art Deco. Previously they have published surveys of Art Deco in Italy, France, Holland, Spain, Japan and the United States. British Modern follows the format established by those titles. It is divided into topical sections on such subjects as Culture, Communication and Fashion, each with a brief introduction by Heller followed by minimally annotated color reproductions of posters, advertisements, package designs and book covers. The work is not at the same level as that found in the books on Italy, France and Holland, but there is still much of interest. Along with familiar work by E. McKnight Kauffer and Tom Purvis, there are excellent posters by Austin Cooper, Aubrey Hammond and Abram Games. British Modern will serve as both a good swipebook for those looking for a period style and as an excellent source of images for those teaching graphic design history.

Printing on the Iron Handpress

Richard-Gabriel Rummonds
Oak Knoll Press & The British Library
New Castle, Delaware and London, 1998

Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, renowned in the world of fine printing and private presses for the books produced by his Plain Wrapper Press in Verona, Italy in the 1960s, has written the definitive book on printing with the iron handpress. Rummonds specifically avoids cylinder and windmill presses. But, despite the narrowness of the title, his book is incredibly thorough.

Rummonds begins by describing how to set up a handpress studio from floor plan to choosing equipment and tools. He goes on to discuss the various parts of the handpress, its installation and maintenance and the various stages of printing: preparing the tympan, positioning the chase, imposing and building a form, making register and makeready, preparing the frisket and paper, inking, and finally, printing itself. He describes printing in color (including split fountain and metallics), with gold leaf and on vellum. And he finishes with a summary of how to prepare books for the binder. In the midst of these steps Rummonds takes time to discuss typography and book design, though not in as thorough a manner.

Printing on the Iron Handpress is fleshed out with a checklist of Plain Wrapper Press and Ex Ophidia books, a list of letterpress supplies and suppliers, an annotated bibliography and a combination glossary/index. The thoroughness of the book extends to the numerous illustrations by George Laws and photographs of various printers in action. Rummonds has done a superb job of designing the book.

It is ironic that Printing on the Iron Handpress should appear at a time when computers and digital type have become ascendant and letterpress printing is appreciated principally for its antiquarian and tactile qualities. But the general demise of letterpress printing should not diminish the value of this book, even for those who do not own an iron handpress.