20 | Graphic Design Theory
F. T. MarineTTi BroKe The syMMeTrical paGe. he cracKeD iT aparT anD Then puT iT
BacK ToGeTher usinG BiTs anD pieces oF Type, prinTers’ MarKs, anD aDs. First and
foremost, he was a poet, but when in 1909 he published the “Manifesto of Futurism” in Le Figaro, a Paris
newspaper, he embarked on a modern crusade that took him far beyond the realm of verse. In fact, it took
him into the middle of a fledgling discipline called “graphic design.” Marinetti was a showman, a scoundrel,
and a fascist, but he matters today. Mainly out of economy and convenience, he used print to communicate
with the masses—posters, books, flyers. He bent and twisted typography to better suit his poetry and his
overall message of noise, speed, and aggression. In the end, the concrete, visual nature of type stood at the
forefront of his work, exposed. He challenges us even now to embrace the future—in his words, to “exalt”
in the “punch and the slap,” to believe that entirely new forms are not only possible but imminent.
F. T. MarineTTi Foldout from
Les mots en liberté futuristes (The
Futurist Words-In-Freedom), 1919.