The Ohio State University, Paul Nini, Instructor

I always have students prepare a written rationale state-

ment for their projects, along with a process document

(not shown). I find having them address these issues

-- and writing about them prior to making a presenta-

tion at the final critique -- helps them to better organize

their thoughts and explain their intentions. As well, I

assign a certain number of book reviews every term,

where the students can choose the readings from a list

that I supply.

Typeface Poster: Shaina Meyers (undergraduate)

Shaina Meyers

May 20, 2008

Review of Emil Ruder’s Typography: A Manual of Design

Arthur Niggli Ltd.

In Typography, Ruder uses historical and contemporary pieces of typographic work to

illustrate elements and principles of typography. Ruder’s introduction sets the tone for the

content of the entire book. Ruder rejects “the excessively modish and the whims and fancies

peculiar to our day and age” and argues that the single most important role of typography is to

convey information in writing. He explains that typography is concerned with satisfying,

formally and functionally, the everyday needs of a craft. According to Ruder, it is the restrictions

and practical aims that need to be fulfilled that make the typographer’s craft appealing. He states

that individuality and emotion have little place in the work of a typographer; a typographer must

be able to maintain a critical distance from his work and take the impersonal view. The job of a

typographer is to sort out and organize things that have little in common and present them in a

logical way to the reader. By the end of the introduction, Ruder’s ideas about typography and

typographers are quite clear. He finishes off his introduction by introducing the importance of

rhythm and the space between and within letterforms.

Ruder states that typography is synonymous with design. Just as design has elements and

principles, so does typography, and it is the elements and principles of typography that Ruder

explains and illustrates throughout his book. The topics he presents include function, form,

counter-form, and arrangements; geometrical, optical, and organic aspects; point, line, and

surface; color, contrasts, rhythm, spontaneity and fortuity; and kinetics, variation, and integral

design. The topics that Ruder presents are similar to those presented by Kane in A Type Primer.

However, Ruder’s images are larger and more numerous, and his explanations are less objective

than Kane’s. Ruder uses his examples and explanations to support his idea of good design. I

appreciate the insight into his way of thinking, which must also reflect the attitudes and beliefs of

Swiss designers in general. I’ve enjoyed reading this book because I respect the ideas central to

Swiss Design.

In addition to gaining deeper insight into the ideas behind Swiss Design, I also expanded

my understanding of typographic design in general. I learned about the different contrasts and

rhythms that can be achieved with type, and I realized the importance of the shapes created

between and within letterforms when it comes to letter recognition and legibility. This book is a

good resource for the elements and principles of good design.

Rationale StatementShaina MeyersTypeface Poster: Helvetica

Summary of Intent

My intended audience consists of adults with no prior background in typography or history of typography. My goal was to convey the aesthetic qualities and historical background of the typeface Helvetica. Because Helvetica is associated with Switzerland, I chose to make the Swiss Alps a major part of my design. I also incorporated elements of the Swiss Style, including photographic images (adjusted with a halftone filter of large dot size to match the printing technology of the time period), the color red, and unjustified, ragged right type. To convey Helvetica’s beautiful simplicity and legibility, I tried to organize the elements in my poster as cleanly as possible. The main text is restricted to the leftmost side of the poster. I used red to emphasize two elements: the title, “Helvetica,” and “schweiz” of “schweiz juheee.” I included an “a” large enough for its form to be easily seen in detail. The Alps in the background tie together all elements of the foreground. The red highlighting the title “Helvetica” is actually part of a poster created by Michael Baviera in 1968. The Alps in Baviera’s poster inspired me to include the Alps in the background of my poster, and I also borrowed from him “schweiz juheee,” which he placed below the Alps in his poster. Lastly, because Helvetica’s curved letterforms are unique in that their strokes terminate either horizontally or vertically, and not diagonally, as is the case for most other major sans serif letterforms, I composed all the elements in my poster either horizontally or vertically.

Overview of Design Development

The first step of my research involved finding styles, images, colors, forms and shapes, and compositional approaches associated with Helvetica. Two major sources for the information I found were Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style by Richard Hollis and Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface by Lars Müller. I found that Helvetica is associated with the Swiss Style, a revolutionary style in graphic design characterized by the use of sans serif type, asymmetrical layouts, layout grids, white space, areas of flat color, geometric shapes, and photographic images. I also found several images and pieces of information regarding Helvetica’s place in the more recent past and today, but I decided to concentrate on Helvetica as it was used in the 1950s and 60s because I felt that that period represents Helvetica at its best, when Helvetica was new and popular and as a result began to spread like wildfire across information graphics, corporate design, advertising, and more. Tempted by so many great resources on Helvetica, my first poster concepts included a lot of images and information. Feedback from my professor and classmates can be summarized as “less is more.” After several different approaches toward content and composition, I developed my final concept, which is explained in the above “Summary of Intent.”

Analysis of Efforts

I feel that I put forth a great amount of effort on this project. My research on Helvetica and the Swiss Style was very thorough. When I began to work on the design of the poster, I felt that I had a solid foundation of knowledge and aesthetic and compositional resources off of which to build. The development of the poster was a very slow process, but I feel that my final design was worth the time and effort. I used what Peter Megert refers to as the “potter’s method.” That is, I developed many very different concepts, chose one I liked, and made several slight variations on the one concept. I believe the “potter’s method” is the right method for me, and this project helped me realize that. Working on this project also reinforced my belief in the power of constant feedback during the design process! I feel that my final outcome is successful. An improvement that I would still make would be to increase the contrast between the white text and gray background. I think it would also be great to make the poster by hand, to more closely match the technology of the time period associated with the Swiss Style.