Rajesh Punjabi GR616 - Making Ideas Visible Influences Jan Tschichold The son of Maria and Franz Tschichold,

a sign-writer by trade and skilled in calligraphy, gave birth to their son Jan Tschichold on April 2nd, 1902. In Leipzig, Germany Jan grew up helping his father and establishing a background in typography and calligraphy before realizing this would be the foundation for the rest of his career. Tschichold soon realized his desire to pursue a life as an artist. Fearful of the financial instability that was common among artists, his parents persuaded Jan to become an illustration teacher. This allowed him to maintain a creative outlet to develop his artistic ability and provide a steady source of income. He began to teach at the age of 14 in 1916 however, when he turned 17 Tschichold gave up teaching to study typography. Engraving, wood cutting, and book binding were some of the interests that led him to further his studies. In 1924, Tschichold attended a Bauhaus exhibition which displayed types and layouts with straight edges and a clear simplicity. Accustomed to black letter forms, scripts, and calligraphy, the young artist was intrigued by this method of presentation. This influenced him to create his own typefaces including Iwan Stencil in 1929 (Figure 6.1). He soon began to push the boundaries of this style by avoiding symmetry and standard layouts and margins. Designs such as his cover for an edition of the typographische mitteilungen entitled elementare typographie, established his controversial reputation (Figure 6.2); simultaneously developing a following and notoriety within the artistic community. Tschichold accepted an invitation from Paul Renner to teach typography and calligraphy at the School of Applied Arts in Frankfurt. During this time, in 1928, he published Die neue Typographie or The New Typography (Figure 6.3). A guide for modern typography detailing new presentations of layouts, it is still being published today. However, it also conveyed his distaste for the type designs of Nazi publications. 1933 brought about the reign of the Nazi party in Germany, who saw Tschicholds work as a form of un-German design. His house was raided and he was imprisoned for several weeks until a police officer helped him escape to Switzerland with his family. In Switzerland the demand for designers was low, due to the ongoing war in Germany, but his reputation provided him with a few jobs. He was then offered a position with Penguin Books in 1946. The designer moved to London where he would create the company standards for the layouts of their publications (Figure 6.5). His revisions included selecting the typefaces, a new logo, the size of the books, and the tone of iconic orange stripes found on Penguin publications. Before resigning in 1949, his work resulted in the redesign of 500 books before returning to Switzerland (Figure 6.6). In 1954, he won the AIGA medal in recognition for his contributions to the fields of graphic design and visual communication. His most renowned publications, Arbitrary Measurement Relations of the Book Page, and Master Book of Typefaces, were both released in 1962. He relased his own version of the Claude Garamond font, Sabon, in 1966 (Figure 6.7). Sabon was used by Bradbury Thompson in the Washburn College Bible. On August 11th, 1974 Tschichold died in Locarno, Switzerland as a former typographer, book designer, teacher, and author.

Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2

[Pg 2, Top Left] Iwan Stencil. 1929. Jan Tschichold. [Pg 2, Top Right] Typographische Mitteilungen Magazine (Cover) entitled elementare typographie. October 1925. Jan Tschichold. [Pg 2, Bottom Left] Adolf, the Superman, Swallows Gold and Spouts Tin. July 1932. John Heartfield. Copper-plate photomontage. From AIZ Magazine. Research Library, The Getty Research Institute [Pg 2, Bottom Middle] Penguin Books Layout Design. 1947. Jan Tschichold. Penguin Books Publishing. [Pg 3, Right] The Great Gatsby (Cover). 1950. Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Designed by Jan Tshcichold. Penguin Books Publishing. [Pg 3, Above] Sabon. 1929. Jan Tschichold. Used by Bradbury Thompson in the Washburn College Bible.

Figure 6.3

Figure 6.4 Figure 6.5 Figure 6.6