Virtual Typography

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Glory to the New Born King and Imagine – Alan Kitching

Alan Kitching is not a futurist designer. He is a contemporary

letterpress artist whose approach to design transcends

any style. However, the work shown here refl ects some of

the characteristics of futurist typography. Type is placed at

dynamic angles; type sizes are varied to express a sense of

motion, growth and tension. Kitching printed Glory to the

New Born King (above left) with wood type on to translucent

Japanese paper. This poster belonged to a series that was

commissioned by a London music publisher for a Christmas

window display. Dante’s Inferno (above right) is part of a

series of personal works for which Kitching printed coloured

type onto black paper. What appears as white here was

in fact type printed in silver. Kitching’s use of colours and

overlapping letters goes well beyond what was seen in the

1920s, or in fact ever since.

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Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

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