I read the translation by Ruri McLean
JT thinks the new 20th century tech has caused cultural chaos.
JT thinks that this generation is free of the previous prejudices against the new.
JT thinks their new creations are free of traditional aesthetics
JT thinks we are striving for a purity of form as an antidote to chaos. The goal is the unity of life.
Historical claims made by JT:
“The typography of the first period is limited almost entirely to the book”
“Between 1450 and 1500 there were only two letterforms in use”
“Centered layouts were hardly used and were confined to Italy”
“Aldus Manutius established the ideal of the silver grey page”
“Aldus Manutius was the first to recognise that printed books had a character of their own” JT says that pre-printing literature was spread orally?!
ANTIQUA type = Roman type
JT criticises WMorris for sentimental attachment to the handmade.
JT thinks typefaces should be designed by committee.
JT believes in the inevitable elimination of exclusivist typefaces, e.g. fraktur in Germany he thinks roman type is the type of the future
Grimm was anti-german Noun capitalisation
Advocates removal of capital letters from orthography for cost saving purposes.
There was an initial resistance to photography in fine printing. JT thinks it was because of contrast between graphic and plastic
A series of paper sizes are 1:square root of 2. French Revolution was responsible
Says that standard paper sizes will help focus on important things
What is 1 pica? He uses it as a basis for spacing
Try pulling list indentations into margins, looks good
Jan leans against the central axis
Look into old Japanese paper layouts, beautiful!
JT is pro-gravure
JT is anti old-style figures
JT thinks the novel was made obsolete
Create my own calligraphy software
Design my own newspaper
Look up John Heartfield’s book jackets
Look up Marinetti’s Les Mots…
Look up Pro Eto by Mayakovsky
JT is anti the grey page ideal, he likes contrast
Published April 17, 2019 in Reading notes