voice—a means of giving the written word character and nuance. This
was made possible by the shift toward phototypesetting, which, in turn,
encouraged typographic revivals. So by reintroducing passé commercial
art styles and reviving forgotten letterforms, Push Pin introduced an
individualistic typographic language rooted more in graphic ornament than
precisionist grids.
Late modern typography, distinguished by the clean and simple
compositions of both classical and modern typefaces, was changing the
look of advertising from chaotic to eloquent and at the same time was more
expressive too. Through Westvaco’s Inspirations,Bradbury Thompson
promoted “talking type.” By tweaking traditional letterforms into visual
puns, typeset words became both verbal and visual. This concept was
further pursued by Robert Brownjohn, who imbued letters with sound and
motion, making them visual components of a word or phrase. Ivan
Chermayeff made otherwise static type appear kinetic in a print
prefiguration of today’s on-screen typography. The letterform as pun was
further tested in advertising layout by Gene Federico, Lou Dorfsman, and
Herb Lubalin. With precision, Federico made type and image into total
compositions. Dorfsman used type not only to convey a message but also to
be part of rebuslike compositions. Lubalin exploited the type-as-sound idea
and further explored the sculptural eccentricities of letterforms to their
communicative advantage. He demonstrated that the shape of letters
signified as much as their content; he would set excruciatingly tight lines of
text, smashing bodies together as if to animate the forms. For these
designers, typography was, in fact, illustration, sometimes complementing
and often substituting for pure imagery.
As type directors and graphic designers were convinced to switch to
phototype, typography became more stylistically and compositionally eclectic.
The large variety of typefaces available on Typositor made typographic
experimentation more commonplace. Although the grid was still a sacrosanct
element of modern design, the liberties that designers were taking was
beginning to affect the dominant ways of working. And, with the advent of
psychedelic typography in the late 1960 s, characterized by radical optical
exaggerations in historical faces from the Victorian and secessionist periods,
it appeared that the language of typography was in for a reevaluation.
Typography in the 1960 s was transitional, a word that connotes
flux but not necessarily instability. The classical or orthodox moderns
established a true standard for “good typography,” but standards ultimately
beg to be challenged. The critical response of the revivalists and eclecticists
was an alternative that became yet another style. Bridging these groups
were those individuals who took from both extremes to create a design
language that became the quintessential expression of the times.
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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