Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
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4001-184 01212_C1.indd 15001-184 01212_C1.indd 15 1/16/09 11:27:13 AM1/16/09 11:27:13 AMIl pleut – Guillaume Apollinaire
Il pleut is one of Apollinaire’s best-known poems. The letters
are arranged to refl ect the pattern of falling rain. A French
actress named Marguerite Autant-Lara was once asked to
read Il pleut to a group of friends. The actress was in despair
when she failed to read the poem. It had to be transcribed
into horizontal lines before it could be read aloud.Semiological systemAccording to Saussure, a sign
consists of a ‘signifi er’ and a
‘signifi ed’. The image of an
object, which we have in mind in
connotation with the object itself,
constitutes the fi rst-order signifying
system. The word that we attribute
to the object in connotation with
the image of the object constitutes
the second-order signifying system.‘A structure becomes
architectural, and not sculptural,
when its elements no longer have
their justifi cation in nature.’
Guillaume Apollinaire14—
Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
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