NEW TYPOGRAPHY AND STANDARDIZATION
The New Typography. in its concern to satisfy the needs of our own period
and to make sure that every single piece of printing is in harmony with the
present. has always taken the greatest interest in every move towards stan
dardization. The need for standardization. in whatever area. derives from
the problems of today. w�ich it aims to solve.
The use of standard practices in the book trade is therefore an integral
necessity in modern typography: no piece of printing can be called satis
factory if it ignores such an outstanding element in the organization of
book production. It is indeed an economic necessity.
This applies above all to formats. where for a long time the lack of stan
dardization has been conspicuous. Choice of format used to be made pri
marily on aesthetic grounds. but must now be revised and made on higher
grounds. because of the enormous increase -in the 19 th and especially
the 20th centuries -in the amount of printed matter. Until now the ratio
nalization of paper sizes played a minor role, since the number of pieces of
printing was so much less. Each document and piece of printing was indi
vidually planned: the result, to our eyes. often makes them appear to be
art-obj ects of their time. The personal taste of the author. and chance.
determined their format. Sheets of paper were made by hand singly in var
ious sizes; but parchment sheets depended entirely on the size of the skin
and could never be planned in advance.
The resulting chaos was recognized by forward-looking minds. Already in
1796 the German Lichtenberg recommended the introduction of some kind
of standardization. Lichtenberg proposed a basic rule that formats should
always be decided by successive halving of the original sheet size.
In the early years of the French Revolution the principle that he discovered
was given partial recognition. for the French authorities made a rule about
the formats of official documents and forms that, in mathematical terms.
every page size should be in the proportions of 1 :--J2 or 1: 1 .41. The French
linked this with the metric system they had just introduced, and by order
ing the original size of sheets to be 1 m^2 and the proportions to be 1 :--J2.
they arrived at exactly the same scheme as today's A-series in DIN for
mats.• But the French attempts to introduce standardization had no perma
nent result; it was not until the 20th century that the great research scien
tist Wilhelm Ostwald. through "Die Brucke" (The Bridge). the international
institute founded by him and K. W. Buhrer in 1912 in Munich. made a new
- DIN =Deutsche lndustne-Normen