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The article reports on the radical changes in children's book design in the Soviet Union. By 1924, two years after the Soviet Union was formed, the Central Committee of the Party announced its mission to develop a new kind of juvenile literature that rejected all of the bourgeois ornamentation and trivial fantasy that had characterized the pre-revolutionary period.

Focuses on the book designs and illustration of the German publishing company Die Gestalten Verlag. Description of the some of the books designed and illustrated by the company; Techniques of the company in design and illustration; Comments from Robert Klanten, publisher and editor-in-chief of the company; Samples of the company's designs.

Presents a parody of design books. Includes Masssimo Vanilli's `That's Obscene'; `Retro Confidential Designewsletter,' by Paul A. Sneer; `The Corporate Search for Visual Anonymity,' by Chewmeinoff, Gismo, Lippincutt, Margarine, Landfill, Seagull & Guile; `Secret Erotica of Norman Rockwall,' Introduction by Jesse Helms.

The article looks at dummy type, or sequences of unreadable or nonsense words used in the design process for books and other text materials to show how a layout will look. It notes that a sequence of Latin words beginning with "Lorem ipsum," taken from a text of the Roman philosopher Cicero, has been used for this purpose since the 16th century and cites other forms of dummy text including upside-down text.

The article offers information on the Society of Publication Designers and its contributions to publication design. The magazine was founded in 1965, during the time when magazine art directors were not a very famous lot. The foundation of the society began four decades of tireless efforts to promote quality and innovation in publication design. In 1973, the society started an annual competition and the gold-medal winners are collected in Solid Gold: 40 Years of Award-Winning Magazine Design.

The author emphasizes the importance of printing to the publication design segment. Printing plays a role in design's contribution to communications, from letterpress printing to motion graphics. But in light of the accelerated efforts moving text from page to screen, the demands new media forms place on the present time and attention spans, and the need for evaluating this avalanche of information, individuals felt there was no better time to focus on design's alpha medium.

Reviews the web site Designing with Typography from Richmond Hill, Ontario-based design firm Leo Chan.