standardized: many mistakes arising out of today's format chaos would be
avoided.
The two pages from the Japanese paper Osaka Asahi (pp. 203, 204) show
how beautiful a newspaper can look. Our newspapers naturally look differ
ent. but do not achieve the aesthetic effect of the Japanese paper. In any
case. the beauty of the paper of the future will meet the needs of our time
by striving towards better clarity and a far-sighted, consciously planned
design.THE ILLUSTRATED PAPER
In recent years the number of illustrated papers has increased enormously.
This impresses on us the need of modern man for pictures. because lack of
time makes reading the daily papers more troublesome. Besides satisfying
genuine curiosity, illustrated papers often give real pleasure from their
technically and visually excellent reporters' photographs. If the literary
level of most papers of this kind is low. it is probably due to the similarity
of the literary sources on which nearly all these papers depend. It is cer
tainly true that the lack of difference between these sources is more and
more evident. This problem however is not one for us to consider here.
It must be said that the optical appearance of these papers. although a
phenomenon of our time. does not fully express its spirit. Illustrated papers
are still comparatively young; as far as one can judge from their external
appearance. they are very little dependent on "traditional" concepts. Such
a dependence can be seen only in their actual typography; the arrange
ment and composition of their pictures is by and large contemporary.
Most of the article headings and all the picture captions are still in the old
centred typography, while on the contrary the picture arrangement is com
pletely asymmetric. Symmetry in the pictures nevertheless does sometimes
occur. and may even be originally always intended. but the dimensions and
sizes of the pictures make this hardly possible. The intrinsic asymmetric
form of the pictures is very much disturbed by centred captions. If a har
monious design is wanted, the captions too must be asymmetric. They
should be set flush left. but there are plenty of other possibilities.
For display faces (headings and captions). sanserif (bold or semi-bold) is
the most suitable type. Its clarity and precision make it the contemporary
type to be used above all in these documents of everyday use and activity.
A clever and imaginative typographer can find delightful solutions for every
kind of title by purely typographic means. The use of drawn headings must