Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design

work stands up not as nostalgia, but for its invention. Even the book
jackets, which are stylistically locked in time, could, with some typographic
modifications, be used today. By the 1950 s, however, with the advent of the
international style and the sweeping success of corporate modernism, Dwig
was virtually ignored. Moderns, who tended to disclaim as crass
commercial art anything that preceded modern design, eschewed Dwiggins
for being folksy, arts-and-craftsy, and, of course, passé.
Though he challenged tradition, he attempted to reform the old
school not abolish it. Curiously, his work, including the book jackets, is
gaining appreciation among makers of so-called distressed type; even
Emigre Fonts sells Dorothy Abbe’s book of Dwig’s stenciled ornaments,
the same decorations used in his book and book-jacket design.