locate information in newspapers, books, and catalogues.... There is an
urgent need for communication based upon precision and clarity. This is
the area in which Ladislav Sutnar excels.” If written today, this statement
might seem like a critique of current design trends, but in 1961 , it was a
testament to progressivism. Sutnar introduced the theoretical constructs
that for him defined “good design” in the 1940 s, when such definitions were
rare in American commercial art. Design was one-third instinct and two-
thirds market convention, and the result was eclectic at best, confused at
worst. Such ad hoc practice was anathema to Sutnar, who was stern about
matters of order and logic, fervently seeking to alter visual standards by
introducing both American businessmen and commercial artists to “the
sound basis for modern graphic design and typography,” which he asserts in
his book Visual Design in Action(Hasting House, 1961 ) is “... a direct
heritage of the avant-garde pioneering of the 1920 s and 1930 s in Europe. It
represents a basic change that is revolutionary.”
Sutnar synthesized European avant-gardisms, which he says
“provided the base for further extension of new design vocabulary and new
design means” into a functional commercial lexicon that eschews
“formalistic rules or art for art’s sake.” While he modified aspects of the
New Typography, he did not compromise its integrity in the same way that
elements of the international style became mediocre through rote usage
over time. “He made Constructivism playful and used geometry to create
the dynamics of organization,” observes designer Noel Martin, who in the
1950 s was a member of Sutnar’s small circle of friends. Despite a strict
belief in the absolute rightness of geometric form, Sutnar allowed variety
within his strictures to avoid standardizing his clients’ different messages.
Consistency reigned within an established framework, such as limited type
and color choices as well as strict layout preferences, but within those
parameters a variety of options existed in relation to different kinds of
projects, including catalogs, books, magazines, and exhibitions as well as
the Bell System’s instructional materials.
In the field of information design, it is arguable that contemporary
missionaries Edward Tufte and Richard Saul Wurman are really just
carrying the torch that Sutnar lit decades before. Many design students,
either knowingly or not, have borrowed and applied his signature graphics
to a postmodern style. Nevertheless, Sutnar would loathe being admired
only as a nostalgic figure. “There is just one lesson from the past that
should be learned for the benefit of the present,” he wrote in 1959 , as if
preempting this kind of superficial epitaph. “It is that of the painstaking,
refined craftsmanship which appears to be dying out.”
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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