Designed Typography (1928)

Fig.2) Kurt Schwitters, Symbol for Pelikan. The designation "new typography" is historically accurate but illogical because it is absolutely nothing new and has nothing in particular to do with the concept of fashion or modernity, but it is effective because in the last decades people have totally neglected typography. Most contemporary advertising lacks strongly creative typography, in spite of the praise of so-called typographic arrangement by the Bund Deutscher Gebrauchsgraphiker in even their least important statements, which is of slight quality next to that of the type. The phrase "typographical arrangement" is very plausible in contrast to the concept of "typographic design." Then one clearly sees the fundamental difference; what is meant by "arrangement" is the accustomed intelligible imposition of order characteristic of the advertising expert, which annihilates the typographical order that he intends to produce. Of course, giving an intelligible pattern to the parts of an advertising project is considered necessary; yet, as a goal it is absurd because it is unimportant in terms of effect on the observer and it falls short of its target because, in the final analysis, all human beings perceive things with their senses and not with their intellect. Typographical design, however, strives for and produces impact on the senses by concentrating individual charms into a composition that can be grasped by the eye and not by the intellect. Advertising experts always assume that other people will think, if at all, exactly as they think, but here the experts are wrong. They are particularly wrong when they assume that others would privilege thought over sight. They construct a whole system on what they assume an observer is likely to think, and odd things result from this. Thus, for instance, one may read in the advertising literature that red is appropriate for clothing the elderly, that it fits the young, or that it is appropriate for all ages. Actually, the fact is that red, like any other color, suits or does not suit any age, condition, person, profession, or intellectual setting. As with all advertising wisdom, it can be good to follow this advice, but you can be just as successful just as quickly not doing so, and one should advise advertising experts to use a regular industrial designer in the formulation of their advertising plans rather than relying on this