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The GreatBig Book of Typographic Treats
Aliaa El Kalyoubi
University of KansasSpring 2013
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Rules Check Sheet 4
Special Characters 6
Typographic Rules 12
Grids 24
Quotes, Apostrophes 40
Dashes 46
Small Caps 52
Numerals/Figures 58
X-Height 62
Column Width 76
Kerning 80
TABLE OFCONTENTS
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Alignments 84
Hyphenation 90
Justification 94
Combining Typefaces 104
Paragraph Breaks 118
Heads and Subheads 132
Captions and Notes 142
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Use only one space between sentences.
Use real quotation marks.
Use real apostrophes.
Make sure the apostrophes are where they belong.
Hang the punctuation off the aligned edge.
Use en or em dashes, use consistently.
Kern all headlines where necessary.
Never use the spacebar to align text, always set tabs and use the tab key.
Leave no widows or orphans.
Avoid more than 3 hyphenations in a row.
Avoid too many hyphenations in any paragraph.
Avoid hyphenating or line brakes of names and proper nouns.
Leave a least 2 characters on the line and 3 following.
Avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word.
Avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word.
RULES CHECK SHEET
The following is a compendium of the rules established in this
book. You might want to check through them each time you
complete a publication.
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Avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by..
Never hyphenate a words in a headline and avoid hyphenation in a callout.
Never justify the text on a short line.
Keep the word spacing consistent.
Tighten up the leading in lines with all caps or with few ascenders
and descenders.
Use a one-em first-line indent on all indented paragraphs.
Adjust the spacing between paragraphs.
Either indent the first line of paragraphs or add extra space between them –
not both.
Use a decimal or right-aligned tab for the numbers in
numbered paragraphs.
Never have one line in a paragraph in the column or following.
Never combine two serif fonts on one page.
Rarely combine two sans serif fonts on one page.
Rarely combine more than three typefaces on one page.
Use the special characters whenever necessary, including
super- and subscript.
Spend the time to create nice fraction or chose a font that has fractions.
If a correctly spelled word needs an accent mark, use it.
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SPECIALCHARACTERS
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The following is a list of the most often-used special
characters and accent marks.
On the following pages are the key combinations
for just about every accent you might need.
“
”
‘
’
–
—
…
•
fi
fl
©
Option [
Option Shift [
Option ]
Option Shift ]
Option Hyphen
Option Shift Hyphen
Option ;
Option 8
Option Shift 5
Option Shift 6
Option g
Opening double quote
Closing double quote
Opening single quote
Closing single quote; apostrophe
En dash
Em dash
Ellipsis
Bullet
Ligature of ‘f’ and ‘i’
Ligature of ‘f’ and ‘l’
Copyright symbol
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™
®
°
¢
€
⁄
¡
¿
£
ç
Ç
Option 2
Option r
Option Shift 8
Option $
Option Shift 2
Option Shift 1 (one)
Option 1 (one)
Option Shift ?
Option 3
Option c
Option Shift c
Trademark
Registered symbol
Degree symbol (e.g., 102°F)
Cent symbol
Euro symbol
Fraction bar
Upside down !
Upside down ?
Lira symbol
French c cedilla
Capital French c cedilla
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The copyright, register, and trademark characters need to be reduced to
work with body text. At times, depending on the typeface, you may need
to reduce the mark between 50% and 70%. The goal is to match the
x-height. The copyright mark should be approximately 70% of the
surrounding text.
Unlike the ™ symbol, the © should NOT be superscripted and should
remain on the baseline.™ is usually superscripted for the chosen font.
™ and ® are normally set higher then other marks. If you choose to
superscript ®, reduce it to about 60% of the size.
Use copyright, register, and trademark
marks properly
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Ellipsis Character
Use the ellipsis character and NOT three periods.
You can access the ellipsis by typing Option + : (colon).
Allow a small amount of space before and after. However if it is not crowd-
ing the text, leave no space at all.
Accent Marks
Remember, to set an accent mark over a letter, press the Option key and
the letter, then press the letter you want under it.
´ Option e
` Option ~ (upper-left or next to the Spacebar)
¨ Option u
˜ Option n
ˆ Option i
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TYPOGRAPHIC RULES
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Inserting two spaces after a period was common when using a typewriter.
Monospace typefaces were designed to occupy the same amount of space
no matter the width of the character. Therefore, two spaces were needed
to identify the end of a sentence and the beginning of another sentence.
With the introduction of the Mac and digital type, characters are designed
proportionately, which allows for the correct practice of using one space
after all punctuation.
An em is a unit of measure equal to the point size that you are using.
An em dash is a type of punctuation used to offset clauses in a sentence
or to indicate an abrupt change in thought. An en dash is equal to half the
length of an em dash. En dashes are used to denote duration (time.)
2 Use proper ‘em’ dashes, ‘en’ dashes, and hyphens
Insert only a single
space after punctuation1
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3 Use proper quote
and apostrophe marks
Use true quotation marks and apostrophes instead of using inch marks
and feet marks. Place all punctuations inside the quotation marks.
Use True Small Caps
When setting text that contains acronyms, select a typeface with small
caps as a family. Selecting small caps from the style menus is a poor choice
because the compute reduces the overall size of the type by 80%. This
changes the stroke weight and the feel of the font. Expert sets in the Adobe
Type Library have small caps options.
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Letterspacing is the amount of space between characters in a word. Some
software programs caller letterspacing tracking. Use positive number val-
ues (to about 2 or 3) to open up letterspacing to capitalized text and small
caps, except when periods are used between characters.
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Old style figures, also known as non-lining figures do not line up on the
baseline as regular or lining numerals do. They can be found in various
fonts. If the body text has a significant amount of numbers, research a font
family where they are included. If non-lining numerals are not available, use
a slightly smaller point size for the lining numbers.
Think of lining numbers as upper case numbers and non-lining numbers as
lower case numbers.
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Add letter spacing to
capitalized text and small caps
Use old style figures when appropriate
With options given to you by almost any type family (bold, point size, etc)
you will seldom need to use all caps to draw attention to your text. Not all
typefaces are legible when set in all caps; esp. true for script and decora-
tive typefaces. Short headlines may be the once exception to this rule.
7 Use caps properly
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The copyright, register, and trademark characters need to be reduced to
work with body text. At times, depending on the typeface, you may need
to reduce the mark between 50% and 70%. The goal is to match the x-
height. The copyright mark should be approximately 70% of the surround-
ing text. Unlike the ™ symbol, the © should NOT be superscripted and
should remain on the baseline. ™ is usually superscripted for the chosen
font. ™ and ® are normally set higher then other marks. If you choose to
superscript ®, reduce it to about 60% of the size.
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Use the ellipsis character and NOT three periods. You can access the ellip-
sis by typing Option + : (colon). Allow a small amount of space before and
after. However if it is not crowding the text, leave no space at all.
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Use copyright, register, and trademark marks properly
Ellipsis Character
10 Avoid underlined text
This was useful back in the days of the typewriter to draw attention to the
text. With digital type and their families, you should not need to use under-
lined text.
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Line spacing (aka leading) refers to the space between lines of text. It
is important for readability and appearance. Leading is measured from
baseline to baseline. As a rule of thumb, allow leading that is 120% of the
point size. For sans serif, you may need 130% or more. When setting head-
lines, solid leading (leading = point size, 12/12) or negative leading
(leading =< point size, 12/10) may be appropriate.
Body text is set anywhere from 9-12 points. When you print text, it is usu-
ally larger than what it looked like on the screen. So, print out your text
before finalizing your layout. Type studies will help you determine the
proper size before you proceed with your layout.
Increase line spacing to
improve readability in body text
Body copy size
Don’t alter the original typeface by stretching or condensing the letters
improperly. Certain type families provide you with a lot of flexibility, so
you should not need to destroy/alter text.
Altering fonts
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Sans serif typefaces work well for headlines and to set text that is aligned
to vertical/horizontal lines. Certain sans serif typefaces which are not very
geometrical work well for body copy (i.e. Frutiger, Meta, Scala Sans, etc.)
Line length is a measure of text on one line. Any measure between 45 and
75 characters is comfortable for single column widths. The ideal measure
for body text length is 66 characters (counting both letters, punctuation,
and spaces.) For multiple columns, a measure between 40 and 50 charac-
ters is ideal.
Legibility of fonts
Decrease line length and increase margins
Avoid letterspacing
lowercase body copy
Don’t letterspace body copy as it really hampers legibility. Use letterspacing
when working with caps. small caps, numbers and display text where looser
type spacing may increase legibility.
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For text meant for extended reading, the amount of space between words
in a paragraph should be fairly close–about the width of a lowercase “i.” If
the word spacing is too close, it appears as one giant word and legibility
is decreased. Keep the spaces between words fairly thin, consistent
and even!
For single-column pages, 4.25 inches is ideal. For two-column width,
columns can be as narrow as 2 inches. Turning on the hyphenation feature
can improve word spacing.
Word spacing should be fairly close
Ideal column width
Justification can be appropriate in certain places. However, it can create
certain problems such as rivers and word spacing. Adjusting size of mar-
gins, decreasing body copy size, turning on auto hyphenatation and manu-
ally hyphenating the text are all examples of possible solutions.
Justification of text
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Make sure the alignment chosen for all areas of text are legible and consis-
tent with the design and guidelines. Left-aligned text is easier to read and
set. Justified text is harder to set w/o inevitable word spacing problems.
Right-aligned and centered are generally not used for body copy.
Don’t rely on the software to judge where hyphens should be placed. At
the end of lines, leave at least two characters behind and take at least
three forward. For example, “ele-gantly” is acceptable, but “elegant-ly” is
not because it takes too little of the word to the next line. Avoid leaving
the stub end of a hyphenated word or any word shorter then four letters
as the last line of a paragraph. Avoid more then 3 consecutive hyphenated
lines. Avoid hyphenating or breaking proper names and titles. Creating a
non-breaking space before and after the name will ensure that the name
will not break.
Choose the alignment that fits
Rules of hyphenation
Avoid beginning three consecutive
lines with the same word
Since software programs deal with line breaks automatically based upon
a number of variables, it is possible to have paragraphs with consecutive
lines beginning with the same word. When this happens simply adjust the
text to avoid/fix the problem.
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Once you are finished with your design, spell check the text using
both of the following:
a. Use spell=check option that comes with the software you are using for
the project.
b. Print the document and read it. The monitor and design of the docu-
ment will make text look perfect when it may not be. Even if text is given
to you by a client, check it. Never ever assume that it is correct. Keep a
dictionary close as well.
Widows are either single words alone on a line or single sentences
alone on a new page. Orphans are single lines of copy alone at the end
of a page.
Always spell check!
Avoid widows and orphans
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25Adjust the space between two particular letters to allow for more consis-
tent negative space.
In continuous text, mark all paragraphs after the first with an indent of at
least one “em” (3 spaces). Do NOT use three spaces but rather use the
tabs or indents option in your software.
Items in a series do not use a comma before the word “and.” (i.e., ‘peaches,
apples and oranges.’)
Kerning in headlines
Indents
Items in a series
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GRID STRUCTURES
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When designing a layout and working with text and/or images the use of
a grid is essential, as it is the basis on which information is organized and
clarified, ensuring legibility. The grid provides a framework were text, im-
age and space can be combined into a cohesive manner.
A grid subdivides a page vertically and horizontally into margins, columns,
inter-column spaces, lines of type, and spaces between blocks of type and
images. These subdivisions form the basis of a modular and systematic
approach to the layout, particularly for multi-page documents, making the
design process quicker, and ensuring visual consistency between pages.
At its most basic, the sizes of a grid’s component parts are determined by
ease of reading and handling. From the sizes of type to the overall page
or sheet size, decision-making is derived from physiology and the psy-
chology of perception as much as by aesthetics. Type sizes are generally
determined by hierarchy—captions smaller than body text and so on—col-
umn widths by optimum word counts of eight to ten words to the line, and
overall layout by the need to group related items. This all sounds rather
formulaic, and easy. But designers whose grids produce dynamic or very
subtle results take these rules as a starting point only, developing flexible
structures in which their sensibility can flourish.
Grids often need to be designed to give more flexibility than the single
column of text per page (Jan Tschichold's grid). This is due to to a change
in our reading patterns. Grid structures have to accommodate a greater
variety of material such as photographs, illustrations, headings, captions,
references, charts; they need to be more complicated than a grid using
only text and may utilize more modules. The design of the grid had to be
relevant to the purpose.
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“The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of pos-
sible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his
personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that
requires practice.” —Josef Müller-Brockmann
1) Tschichold's grid / symmetrical grid
2) Fibonacci's sequence: The golden section
3) Column grid
4) Modular grid
5) Asymmetrical grid
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1) Tschichold's grid / symmetrical grid
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Symmetric grids sit centrally on a single page (folio) so that the left and
right margins are equal. The term can also be applied to a grid system
used across facing pages where the position of the margins and text
areas are symmetrically reflected or mirrored. Margins are not necessar-
ily equal but run both left and right of the text area on single pages and
are mirrored across the spread.
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2) Fibonacci's sequence:
The golden section
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The golden section, a ratio (relationship between two numbers) that has
been used in Western art and architecture for more than two thousand
years. The formula for the golden section is a : b = b : (a+b). This means
that the smaller of two elements (such as the shorter side of a rect-
angle) relates to the larger element in the same way that the larger ele-
ment relates to the two parts combined. In other words, side a is to side
b as side b is to the sum of both sides. Expressed numerically, the ratio
for the golden section is 1 : 1.618.
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3) Column grid
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These may consist simply of a number of vertical columns used to
position text and image matter, and may include the space between
columns -- the gutters -- and the margins of the page, which must be
given consideration. It may be necessary to produce grids with nar-
rower subcolumns to enable a greater degree of flexibility in the design
and layout of pages. Text widths can be set to multiples of the narrower
columns, allowing the design to accommodate different matter thus al-
lowing for a change of pace, rhythm and style from one page or section
to the next, while still relating the content.
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4) Modular grid
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Modular grids are associated with Swiss typography or the 'Interna-
tional Style' of the 1950s and 60s. As well as a vertical division of space,
modular grids divide space horizontally too, creating units or cells. The
depth of the cell may depend upon the size of the text type and leading
being used. Multiples of the line depth (leading size) form a good basis
on which to construct the cells.
For example, ten lines of 10pt type type on 12pt leading could allow for
a cell height of 120pt within the grid. Again, each cell division is spaced
by the equivalent of a gutter both vertically and horizontally. Vertical
columns still appear, but further rationalization as to the position of text
and image in relation to the depth of the page can be made via the grid.
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5) Asymmetrical grid
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These grids may have an off-centre appearance either as single pages
or combined in spreads. If used in spreads, the grid is not mirrored from
one page to the next as in symmetrical grids, but is more likely to ap-
pear repeated in a single position from page to page.
Again, as with all grid systems, attention to the relationship of the
margins is important. It can be this element alone that determines the
success of the eventual layout.
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Modular grids are created by positioning horizontal guidelines in rela-
tion to a baseline grid that governs the whole document. Baseline grids
serve to anchor all (or nearly all) layout elements to a common rhythm.
Create a baseline grid by choosing the type size and leading of your
text, such as 10-pt Scala Pro with 12 pts leading (10/12). Avoid auto lead-
ing so that you can work with whole numbers that multiply and divide
cleanly. Use this line space increment to set the baseline grid in your
document preferences.
Adjust the top or bottom page margin to absorb any space left over
by the baseline grid. Determine the number of horizontal page units in
relation to the number of lines in your baseline grid. Count how many
lines fit in a full column of text and then choose a number that divides
evenly into the line count to create horizontal page divisions. A column
with forty-two lines of text divides neatly into seven horizontal modules
with six lines each. If your line count is not neatly divisible, adjust the
top and/or bottom page margins to absorb the leftover lines. Illustrate a
baseline grid.
Baseline grid
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Use true quotation marks and apostrophes instead
of using inch marks and feet marks.
Place all punctuations inside the quotation marks.
Use real quotation marks – never those grotesque generic marks that
actually symbolize ditto/inch or foot marks: use "and" – not “and”. Most
software applications will convert the typewriter quotes to the real quotes
for you automatically as you type. Check the preferences for your applica-
tion – you’ll find a check box to tell your application to automatically set
something like “typographer’s quotes,” “smart quotes,” or “curly quotes.”
Then as you type using the standard ditto key (“), the software will set the
correct quotation marks for you. It is necessary to know how to set smart
quotes/real quotes yourself because sometimes the software doesn't do it
or does it wrong.
Opening double quote: “ Type: Option [
Closing double quote: ” Type: Option Shift [
Opening single quote: ‘ Type: Option ]
Closing single quote: ’ Type: Option Shift ]
Bridge Clearance: 16'7"
The young man stood 6'2"
The length of the wall is 153'9".
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Apostrophe: ’ option shift ]
As as aside, people often are confused about where the apostrophe be-
longs. There are a couple of rules that work very well.
For possessives:
Turn the phrase around. The apostrophe will be placed after whatever
word you end up with. For example, in the phrase the boys’ camp, to know
where to place the apostrophe say to yourself, “The camp belongs to the
boys.” The phrase the boy’s camp says “The camp belongs to the boy.”
“The big exception to this is “its.” “Its” used as a possessive never has an
apostrophe! The word it only has an apostrophe as a contraction — “it’s”
always means “it is” or “it has.” Always.
It may be easier to remember if you recall that yours, hers, and his don’t
use apostrophes — and neither should its.
For contractions:
The apostrophe replaces the missing letter. For example: your’re always
means you are; the apostrophe is replacing the a from are. That’s an easy
way to distinguish it from your as in your house and to make sure you
don’t say: Your going to the store.
As previously noted, it’s means “it is”; the apostrophe is indicating where
the i is left out. Don’t means “do not”; the apostrophe is indicating where
the o is left out.
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For omission of letters:
In a phrase such as Rock ’n’ Roll, there should be an apostrophe before and
after the n, because the a and the d are both left out. And don’t turn the
first apostrophe around—just because it appears in front of the letter does
not mean you need to use the opposite single quote. An apostrophe is still
the appropriate mark (not ‘n’).
In a phrase such as House o’ Fashion, the apostrophe takes the place of
the f. There is not earthly reason for an apostrophe to be set before the o.
In a phrase such as Gone Fishin’ the same pattern is followed—the g
is missing.
In a date when part of the year is left out, an apostrophe needs to indi-
cate the missing year. In the 80s would mean the temperature; In the ’80s
would mean the decade.
Notice there is no apostrophe before the s! Why would there be? It is not
possessive, nor is it a contraction—it is simply plural.
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Use proper ‘em’ dashes, ‘en’ dashes, and
hyphens. Never use two hyphens instead
of a dash.
Everyone knows what a hyphens is—that tiny little dash that belongs in
some words, like mother-in-law, or in phone numbers. It’s also used to
break a word at the end of a line, of course.
You might have been taught to use or given text that uses a double hy-
phen—to indicate a dash. This is a typewriter convention because typewrit-
ers didn’t have the real dash used in professional typesetting. On a Mac, no
one needs to use the double hyphen—we have a professional em dash, the
long one, such as you see in this sentence. We also have an en dash, which
is a little shorter than the em dash.
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An em is a unit of measure equal to the point size that you are using.
An em dash is a type of
punctuation used to offset clauses
in a sentence or to indicate an
abrupt change in thought.
An en dash is equal to half
the length of an em dash.
En dashes are used to denote
duration (time.)
Hyphen -
En dash –
Em dash —
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Hyphen -
A hyphen is one third of the em rule and is used to link words. It serves as
a compound modifier where two words become one, such as x-height. A
hyphen is also used to break works at syllables in text blocks.
En dash –
To type an en dash
en dash – Option Hyphen
hold the Option key down, then tap the hyphen key
An en dash is half of the em rule (the width of a capital N) and is used
between words that indicate a duration, such as time or months or years.
Use it where you might otherwise use the word “to.”
In a page layout application, the en dash can be used with a thin space
on either side of it. If you want you can kern it so it is not a full space.
October – December6:30 – 8:45 A.M.4 – 6 years of age
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Em dash —
To type an em dash
em dash — Shift Option Hyphen
Hold the Shift and Option keys down, then tap the hyphen key.
The em dash is twice as long as the en dash—it’s about the size of a
capital letter M in whatever size and typeface you’re using at the mo-
ment. This dash is often used in place of a colon or parentheses, or it
might indicate an abrupt change in thought, or it’s used in a spot where
a period is too strong and a comma is too weak.
It is also used for attribution of text. —Mac is not a Typewriter
Our equivalent on the typewriter was the double hyphen, but now we
have a real em dash. Using two hyphens (or worse, one) where there
should be an em dash makes your look very unprofessional.
When using an—no space is used on either side.
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Small caps are uppercase (capital) letters that are about the size of nor-
mal lowercase letters in any given typeface. Small caps are less intrusive
when all uppercase appears within normal text or can be used for special
emphasis. Computer programs can generate small caps for a any typeface,
but those are not the same as true small caps. True small caps have line
weights that are proportionally correct for the typeface, which me and that
they can be used within a body of copy without looking noticeably wrong.
When setting text that contains acronyms, select a typeface with small
caps as a family. Selecting small caps from the style menus is a poor
choice because the compute reduces the overall size of the type by 80%.
This changes the stroke weight and the feel of the font. Expert sets in the
Adobe Type Library have small caps options.
Use small caps for acronyms. Set acronyms such as nasa or nasdaq in small
caps when they appear in body text or headlines.
Use small caps for common abbreviations. Set common abbreviations such
as am or pm in small caps so they don't overpower the accompanying text.
Use small caps for a.m. and p.m.; space once after the number, and use peri-
ods. (if the font does not have small caps reduce the font
size slightly)
Use true small caps fonts. Avoid simply resizing capital letters or using the
small caps feature in some programs. Instead use typefaces that have been
specifically created as small caps.
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Harriet, and FBI agent, turned on CNN to get the
dirt on the CIA before going to bed at 9:30 P.M.
Harriet, and fbi agent, turned on cnn to get the
dirt on the cia before going to bed at 9:30 p.m.
The capital letters in the middle of the sentence call too much attention
to themselves. Notice how the small caps blend in with the text.
The capital letters for ‘P.M.’ are much too large—the abbreviation is not
that important.
.
Where to use small caps:
If you set acronyms in regular all caps, their visual presence is unneces-
sarily overwhelming. One standard and practical place to use caps is in
acronyms such as fbi, nrc, cbs, or simm.
Traditionally, “a.m.” and “p.m.” are set with small caps. If you were taught to
type on a typewriter (or if you were taught on a keyboard by someone
who was taught on a typewriter), you probably learned to set these abbre-
viations in all caps because there were no small caps on typewriters. But
now that you have the capability, you can and should set them properly.
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Fonts that have small caps
3 Sans Serif Helvetica cnn
FUTURA cnn
CLICKER Cnn
6 SerifMrsEaves cnn
Baskerville cnn
Caslon cnn
Swift cnn
Bembo cnn
Clarendon cnn
The Wicked ARe VeRy WeARy.The weight of the computer-drawn small caps is thin-
ner than the weight of the regular initial first letter
caps. Typeface is Futura.
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True-drawn small caps:
There are quite a few font families that include “true-drawn” small
caps—letterforms that have been redesigned to match the proportions
and thickness of the uppercase. These families are often called “expert”
sets or perhaps “small cap” sets. The result is a smooth, uniform, undis-
turbing tone throughout the text.
There Is No Rest For The Wicked.
The Wicked Are Very Weary.
True-drawn small caps are specially drawn to match the weight of the
capital letters in the same face. Typefaces are Adobe Caslon Pro regular
and semibold.
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NUMERALS/FIGURES
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Oldstyle figures, also known as non-lining figures do not line up on the
baseline as regular or lining numerals do.
They can be found in various fonts.
Oldstyle figures are a style of numeral which approximate lowercase let-
terforms by having an x-height and varying ascenders and descenders.
They are considerably different from the more common “lining” (or
“aligning”) figures which are all-cap height and typically monospaced in
text faces so that they line up vertically on charts. Oldstyle figures have
more of a traditional, classic look and are very useful and quite beauti-
ful when set within text. They are only available for certain typefaces,
sometimes as the regular numerals in a font, but more often within a
supplementary or expert font. The figures are proportionately spaced,
eliminating the white spaces that result from monospaced lining figures,
especially around the numeral one.
Unlike lining figures, Oldstyle figures blend in without disturbing the
color of the body copy. They also work well in headlines since they’re
not as intrusive as lining figures. In fact, many people prefer them overall
for most uses except charts and tables. It’s well worth the extra effort
to track down and obtain typefaces with oldstyle figures; the fonts that
contain them might well become some of your favorites. If the body
text has a significant amount of numbers, research a font family where
they are included. If non-lining numerals are not available, use a slightly
smaller point size for the lining numbers. Think of lining numbers as up-
per case numbers and non-lining numbers as lower case numbers.
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Fonts that have old style numbers
3 Sans Serif Meta 1234567890
Platelet 1234567890
Bodoni 1234567890
3 SerifMrsEaves 1234567890
swift 1234567890
Big caslon 1234567890
12 12.5 Rockwell134 134.0 17 17.81023 1023.4323 323.0
Aligning numerals
Notice how large and chunky these
numbers appear:Dear John, please call me at 438-9762 at 3:00 to discuss
marriage. Or write to me at Route 916, zip code 87505.
Notice how these numbers blend beautifully right
into the text:Dear John, please call me at 438-9762 at 3:00 to discuss mar-
riage. Or write to me at Route 916, zip code 87505.
62
63
64
ag ag ag agag ag ag ag
ag ag ag agag ag ag agag ag ag ag
65
Readability and legibility are two key elements of printed text that
typographer strive to maximize. Readability extended amount of text
– such as an article, book, or annual report – is easy to read. Legibility
refers to whether an refers to whether a short burst of text – such as a
headline catalog listing, or stop sign – is instantly recognizable.
There are several factors that determine whether a text is readable.
When deciding what typeface should be used for a job, consideration
should be given to the typeface and its x-height. It is important to
understand how a block of text can express a message through its
texture/color, therefore suiting a particular design solution. Fonts set
in the same size, same leading and column width will produce varying
degrees of “color”.
In typography, color can also describe the balance between black and
white on the page of text. A typeface’s color is determined by stroke
width, x-height, character width and serif styles.
As a designer, if you are only asked to make the text
readable on the page the following questions should
be asked...
Who is to read it?Someone that wants to read it? Someone that has to read it?
How will it be read? Quickly. In passing. Focused. Near. Far.
66
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pub-lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified con-temporary life, mainly by emphasizing two domi-nant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technol-ogy of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
BelizioDavid Berlow
9/12 x-height: average character width: widecolor: dark
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futur-ism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Mari-netti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
9/12x-height: small character width: narrowcolor: light
XxhgXxhgAdobe CaslonWilliam Caslon and Carol Twombly
67
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futur-ism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Mrs Eaves Zuzana Licko
9/12 x-height: small character width: narrowcolor: dark
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasiz-ing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Adobe Garamond ProClaude Garamond and Robert Slimbach
9/12 x-height: average character width: average color: dark
Xxhg Xxhg72 point
68
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a mani-festo by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, re-flected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
FuturaPaul Renner
9/12 x-height: large character width: average color: dark
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as muse-ums and libraries.
GothamTobias Frere-Jones
9/12x-height: large character width: wide color: light
Xxhg Xxhg
69
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Mari-netti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Gill SansEric Gill
9/12 x-height: average character width: average color: dark
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tom-maso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Mari-netti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the auto-mobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and move-ment. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
FrutigerAdrian Frutiger
9/12x-height: large character width: average color: dark
Xxhg Xxhg
70
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futur-ism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contem-porary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Goudy Old StyleFrederic W. Goudy
9/12 x-height: average character width: narrowcolor: light
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his em-phasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institu-tions as museums and libraries.
Helvetica NeueMax Miedinger and Linotype staff
9/12 x-height: large character width: average color: dark.
Xxhg Xxhg
71
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his empha-sis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by empha-sizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several suc-cessive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweep-ing repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
TradeGothic
9/12 x-height: large character width: narrow color: light
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a mani-festo by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, re-flected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and soci-ety. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contempo-rary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
MeliorHermann Zapf
9/12 x-height: large character width: narrow color: light
Xxhg Xxhg
72
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Berthold Akzidenz-GroteskGünter Gerhard Lange
9/12 x-height: large character width:average color: light
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
InterstateTobias Frere-Jones
9/12 x-height: large character width: narrow color: dark
Xxhg Xxhg
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Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when
the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by
the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his em-
phasis on discarding what he conceived to be static and
irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, origi-
nality, and innovation in culture and society. Futur-
ism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life,
mainly by emphasizing dominant themes, the machine and
motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of
several successive actions of a subject at the same time.
Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the
automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and move-
ment. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the
sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and
political values and the destruction of such cultural in-
stitutions as museums and libraries.
PlateletConor Mangat
9/12 x-height: average character width: narrow color: dark
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrel-evant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected tradi-tions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s mani-festo glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudia-tion of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
DINAlbert-Jan Pool
9/12x-height: average character width: narrow color: light
Xxhg Xxhg
74
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tom-maso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and cel-ebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were char-acterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
MemphisRudolf Wolf
9/12x-height: average character width: average color: light
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futur-ism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified con-temporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
MetaErik Spiekermann
9/12x-height: average character width: average color: dark
Xxhg Xxhg
75
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pub-lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contem-porary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-sive actions of a subject at the same time. Mari-netti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of tradi-tional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as muse-ums and libraries.
ClickerGreg Thompson
9/12x-height: large character width: narrow color: dark
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and in-novation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
News GothicMorris Fuller Benton
9/12x-height: large character width: narrow color: dark
Xxhg Xxhg
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77
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Determining Line Length
A general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to
satisfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about
twice the point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12
point, the line length should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-
simply divide the number of picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch).
Thus 9-point type should be on an 18-pica line (3 inches) before you try
to justify it, and 18-point type should be on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The
rulers in most programs can be changed to picas, if you like.
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a man-ifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he con-ceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of sev-eral successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cul-tural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Type size: 12pt Line length: 26 picas
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Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and edi-
tor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti,
reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static
and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and
innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glori-
fied contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes,
the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depic-
tion of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Mari-
netti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and
the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and
conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural,
social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institu-
tions as museums and libraries.
Type size: 9pt Line length: 19 picas
80
K E R N I N G
K E R N I N G
81
K E R N I N GKERNING
K E R N I N G
82
Kerning is an adjustment of the space between two letters. The charac-
ters of the Latin alphabet emerged over time; they were never designed
with mechanical or automated spacing in mind. Thus some letter combi-
nations look awkward without special spacing considerations.
Gaps occur, for example, around letters whose forms angle outward or
frame an open space (W, Y, V, T). In metal type, a kerned letter extends
past the lead slug that supports it, allowing two letters to fit more close-
ly together. In digital fonts, the space between letter pairs is controlled
by a kerning table created by the type designer, which specifies spaces
between problematic letter combinations.
Working in a page layout program, a designer can choose to use metric
kerning or optical kerning as well as adjusting the space between letters
manually where desired. A well-designed typeface requires little or no
additional kerning, especially at text sizes.
83
Metric kerning
uses the kerning tables that are built into the typeface. When you select
metric kerning in your page layout program, you are using the spacing
that was intended by the type designer. Metric kerning usually looks
good, especially at small sizes. Cheap novelty fonts often have little or
no built-in kerning and will need to be optically kerned.
Optical kerning
is executed automatically by the page layout program. Rather than
using the pairs addressed in the font's kerning table, optical kerning
assesses the shapes of all characters and adjusts the spacing wherever
needed. Some graphic designers apply optical kerning to headlines
and metric kerning to text. You can make this process efficient and
consistent by setting kerning as part of your character styles.
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85
86
In unjustified text, the text block is set with
normal letter and word spacing.
Because of the even word spacing the text will have an even texture –
no large spaces between words. The lines will naturally vary in length. a
ragged text block can integrate with the layout and add visual interest
to the page. The difficulty is making the ragged edge have a pleasing
silhouette. When the first line in the text is longer than the second, it
becomes separate from the layout and creates a box-like shape. This de-
stroys one of the advantages of unjustified text. The ragged edge needs
to have a life, but a narrow column can be less active. Another advan-
tage to ragged text is less hyphenation is needed. Therefore, names,
dates or words which are normally read together can stay together.
If someone insists that fully justified text is better than left-aligned text,
tell them they are wrong. If someone else tells you that left-aligned text
is better than justified text, tell them they are wrong.
If they are both wrong, then what's right? Alignment is only a small
piece of the puzzle. What works for one design might be totally inap-
propriate for another layout. As with all layouts, it depends on the
purpose of the piece, the audience and its expectations, the fonts, the
margins and white space, and other elements on the page. The most
appropriate choice is the alignment that works for that particular design.
"Right and wrong do not exist in graphic design.
There is only effective and non-effective commu-
nication." — Peter Bilak - Illegibility
87
Justified Text
Often considered more formal, less friendly than left-aligned text.
Usually allows for more characters per line, packing more into the same
amount of space (than the same text set left-aligned).
May require extra attention to word and character spacing and
hyphenation to avoid unsightly rivers of white space running through
the text.
May be more familiar to readers in some types of publications, such as
books and newspapers.
Some people are naturally drawn to the "neatness" of text that lines up
perfectly on the left and right.
Left-Aligned, Ragged Right
Often considered more informal, friendlier than justified text.
The ragged right edge adds an element of white space.
May require extra attention to hyphenation to keep right margin from
being too ragged.
Generally type set left-aligned is easier to work with (i.e. requires less
time, attention, and tweaking from the designer to make it look good)
88
Centered
There is nothing inherently wrong with centered text. As with ragged
right or fully-justified text alignment, what works for one design might
be totally inappropriate for another layout. There are simply fewer situa-
tions where centered text is appropriate. When in doubt, don't center it.
As with all layouts, alignment depends on the purpose of the piece, the
audience and its expectations, the fonts, the margins and white space,
and other elements on the page. The most appropriate choice is the
alignment that works for that particular design.
No matter what alignment you use, remember to pay close attention to
hyphenation and word/character spacing as well to insure that your text
is as readable as possible.
There will undoubtedly be well-meaning friends, business associates, cli-
ents, and others who will question your choices. Be prepared to explain
why you chose the alignment you did and be prepared to change it
(and make necessary adjustments to keep it looking good) if the person
with final approval still insists on something different.
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90
91
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Don’t rely on the software to judge where hyphens should be placed. At
the end of lines, leave at least two characters behind and take at least
three forward. For example, “ele-gantly” is acceptable, but “elegant-ly” is
not because it takes too little of the word to the next line. Avoid leaving
the stub end of a hyphenated word or any word shorter then four let-
ters as the last line of a paragraph.
Avoid more then 3 consecutive hyphenated lines. Avoid hyphenating or
breaking proper names and titles. Creating a non-breaking space be-
fore and after the name will ensure that the name will not break. Avoid
beginning three consecutive lines with the same word. Since software
programs deal with line breaks automatically based upon a number of
variables, it is possible to have paragraphs with consecutive lines begin-
ning with the same word. When this happens simply adjust the text to
avoid/fix the problem.
93
Hyphenation rules pay attention to:
How the text is read avoid widows (one word on the last line of a paragraph).
Avoid hyphenating or line brakes of names and proper nouns.
Leave a least 2 characters on the line and 3 following.
Avoid beginning consecutive lines with the same word.
Avoid ending consecutive lines with the same word.
Avoid ending lines with the words: the, of, at, a, by..
Never hyphenate a words in a headline and avoid hyphenation in a callout.
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95
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Justify text only if the line is long enough to prevent awkward and inconsistent
word spacing. The only time you can safely justify text is if your type is small
enough and your line is long enough, as in books where the text goes all the
way across the page. If your line is shorter, as in newsletter, or if you don't have
many words on the line, than as the type aligns to the margins the words space
themselves to accommodate it. It usually looks awkward. You've seen newspa-
per columns where all text is justified, often with a word stretching all the way
across the column, or a little word on either side of the column with a big gap
in the middle. Gross. But that's what can happen with justified type. When you
do it, the effect might not be as radical as the newspaper column, but if your
lines are relatively short, you will inevitably end up with uncomfortable gaps in
some lines, while other lines will be all squished together.
When your work comes out of the printer, turn it upside down and squint at
it. The rivers will be very easy to spot. Get rid of them. Try squinting at the ex-
ample on the bottom of the previous page.
Reminder
A general guideline for determining if your line length is long enough to sat-
isfactorily justify the text: the line length in picas should be about twice the
point size of the type; that is, if the type you are using is 12 point, the line length
should be at least 24 picas (24 picas is 4 inches-simply divide the number of
picas by 6, as there are 6 picas per inch). Thus 9-point type should be on an
18-pica line (3 inches) before you try to justify it, and 18-point type should be
on a 36-pica line (6 inches). The rulers in most programs can be changed to
picas, if you like.
97
Rivers
In typography, rivers, or rivers of white, are visually unattractive gaps appear-
ing to run down a paragraph of text. They can occur with any spacing, though
they are most noticeable with wide word spaces caused by either full text jus-
tification or monospaced fonts.
Widows and Orphans
Never leave widows and orphans bereft on the page. Avoid both of these situ-
ations. If you have editing privileges, rewrite the copy, or at least add or delete
a word or two. Sometimes you can remove spacing from the letters, words, or
lines, depending on which program you’re working in. Sometimes widening
a margin just a hair will do it. But it must be done. Widows and orphans on a
page are wrong.
Widow
When a paragraph ends and leaves fewer than seven characters (not words,
characters) on the last line, that line is called a widow. Worse than leaving one
word at the end of a line is leaving part of a word, the other part being para-
phrased on the line above.
Orphan
When the last line of a paragraph, be it ever so long, won’t fit at the bottom of
a column and must end itself at the top of the next column, that is an orphan.
ALWAYS correct this.
98
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glori-fied contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and politi-cal values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
75%
60%
140%
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Mari-netti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discard-ing what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrat-ing change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glori-fied the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudia-tion of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
40%
50%
150%
Akzidenz Grotesk 9/12
Didot 9/12
Problems:This is a demonstration of the standard justification
that indesign applied on default. It’s clean but the
first line of the third paragraph is awkward.
Problems:
The wordspacing seems kind of tight and heavy.
99
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Fi-garo published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he con-ceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contem-porary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
75%
60%
140%
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pub-lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futur-ism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
40%
50%
150%
Helvetica Neue 9/12
Mrs Eaves 9/12
Problems:
The wordspacing is seems to be still too tight
with this setting.
Problems:
In this example, the justification seems
to be more tight than it is normal.
100
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s mani-festo glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institu-tions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
75%
60%
140%
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and in-novation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruc-tion of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
10%
50%
70%
Bembo 9/12
Frutiger 9/12
Problems:
The lines look properly spaced out as the words
are not too tight together.
Problems:
The line spacing is way too tight and hard to
read because the words seem squished.
101
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
75%
60%
130%
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and
editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by
Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to
be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change,
originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected
traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two
dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were charac-
terized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject
at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology
of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and move-
ment. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping
repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the
destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
100%
200%
300%
Interstate 9/12
Gotham 9/12
Problems:
This is better though the paragraph’s entirety
seems somewhat loose and uneven.
Problems:The excessive amount of spaing between words
makes the paragraph very loose and interrupts
its flow.
102
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and cel-ebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
55%
175%
200%
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Mari-netti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Minimum
Desired
Maximum
50%
50%
150%
Belizio 9/12
Melior 9/12
Problems:
The spacing still appears too frequently and
interrupts the flow of the text.
Problems:This probably is my most successful attempt
among all. The spacing between the words
have some decent consistency and flow quite
well together.
103
104
105
106
When combining serif and sans serif text fonts, one shroud try and match
the characteristics of form and type color: proportion, x-heights.
“There is not binding recipe for type combinations. It is a matter of typo-
graphic sensitivity and experience. Expert typographers, as well as careless
amateurs permit themselves combinations that would horrify colleagues
with more traditional sympathies.”
Although there is not recipe there is a place to start: keep an eye on the
characteristic shapes of the letterform. A well designed page contains no
more than two different typefaces or four different type variations such as
type size and bold or italic style. {Using 2 different serif fonts or 2 different
sans serifs fonts in the same composition is never a good idea}
107
1. Meta and Bembo
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pub-lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping re-pudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
These two fonts work very well toghether though they are both
very odd. Meta’s bold form works very well with Bembo’s severely
contrasting strokes. Meta also has a much higher x-height so it
works perfect for subheaders, while its very bold/rectangular all-
caps is perfect for a headline with astonishing hierarchy!
Meta 18pt : humanist and Bembo 9pt: old style
WORDS IN LIBERTY
108
2. Palatino and Franklin Gothic
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were char-acterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and con-flict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Both of these work pretty well together because they are
both very narrow and fine tuned fonts. Palatino has very
smooth contrasting stroke weights that contrast well with
Franklin Gothic’s solid structure with minor stroke weight
changes. Gothic has a higher x-height so I decided to use
Palatino as the header/subhead.
WORDS IN LIBERTY
Palatino 9pt : old style and Franklin Gothic 18pt: grotesque
109
3. Gotham and Melior
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Fi-garo published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
These are both just too odd to work well together.
Gotham’s odd descenders and stroke weight differs too
much from Melior’s regular stroke weights.
Gotham 18pt :geometric sans and Melior 9pt: transitional
WORDS IN LIBERTY
110
4. Mrs Eaves and Frutiger
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pub-lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudia-tion of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Mrs. Eaves is a solid serif body text that goes really well with
frutigers bold and defined header/subhead text. Frutiger is simple,
but effective because of its short descenders while Mrs. Eaves short
x-height allows for a wonderful heirarchy to be drawn.
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG gg
Mrs eaves 9pt : transitional and Frutiger 18pt: humanist sans
111
5. Futura and Didot
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudia-tion of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Again the serif and sans serif combination is a perfect
match. Futura’s very structural/geometric form contrasts
wonderfully with Didot’s severely contrasting stroke
weights and odd form all together. It’s like mixing cookies
and cream.
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG ggFutura 18pt : geometric sans and Didot 9pt: modern
112
6. News Gothic and Walbaum
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futur-ism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Fu-turism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
News Gothic is another very defining header that com-
pliments the Walbaum content text.
News gothic 18pt : modern and Walbaum 9pt: grotesque
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG gg
113
7. Mrs Eaves and Futura
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro pub-lished a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudia-tion of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Futura worked great for a header, but Mrs. Eaves doesn’t work well
with it as a serif. Futura should be placed with another sans serif in
my opinion. The small x-height of each creates a very unstable and
unappealing paragraph that seems too suffocated.
Mrs eaves 9pt : transitional and Futura 18pt: humanist
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG gg
114
8. Clarendon and Interstate
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discard-ing what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cul-tural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Interstate creates a bold headline demonstrating
great hierarchy to the elegant Clarendon.
Clarendon 9pt : new transitional and Interstate 18pt: geometric sans
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG gg
115
9. Futura and Memphis
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Fi-garo published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Honestly, I think that these two combined make a weird
match. Memphis’ bold and thick brackets create a very
firm headline that is very different from Futura’s geomet-
ric and bold form.
Futura 18pt : geometric sans and Memphis 9pt: slab
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG gg
116
10. Belizio and Helvetica
A Prologue to Futurism: Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism re-jected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by em-phasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti’s manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries.
Like Memphis, Belizio creates a very bold and interesting head-
line while Helvetica’s clean and plain form makes for a great body
text. Reversing these two would make it unsuccessful because
belizio’s thick slabs would create a body text too sporadic and
complicated to read.
Belizio 18pt : slab and Helvetica 9pt: humanist sans
WORDS IN LIBERTY
aa BB ee GG gg
117
118
119
120
Paragraph breaks set a rhythm for the reader. The breaks have a rela-
tionship with the column of text as well as the page margins. A break
may be introduced as an indentation, as a space or both. The over all
page feel will be influenced by your choice.
In typography there are 4 rules regarding
paragraph breaks:
1. First line at the beginning of an article should be flush left (do not
indent first paragraph)
2. Block paragraphs are flush left and are separated by extra leading
not a full return
3. The amount indent is = to the leading (sometimes needs a bit more)
4. Never hit two returns between paragraphs
121
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and edi-
tor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti,
reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static
and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and
innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glori-
fied contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes,
the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was aggressive and
inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and
amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work
as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as
an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by
the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome
in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Ital-
ian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means
now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry
within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a
polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later
manifestos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical" ap-
proaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still reso-
nant today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become "an
uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analo-
gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-
of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image
juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive
typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by
forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists'
performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings,
indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves
and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa
1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
122
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le
Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what
he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change,
originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glori-
fied contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and
motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive
and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amaze-
ment, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But it is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets
and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of
which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first
radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on
both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its
means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within
them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical
stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist
poets and artists offered formal, "technical" approaches to the works then getting
under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry
was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or
analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-
world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully
explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of
language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive,
the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surround-
ings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and
those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa 1915), "Every-
thing of any value is theatrical."
123
FUTURISM WAS FIRST ANNOUNCED ON FEBRUARY 20, 1909, WHEN THE
paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his
emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the
past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futur-
ism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two
dominant themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately
bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to
inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract wide-
spread attention.
BUT IT IS THE MOVEMENTS WHICH SURVIVE, ODDLY, HERE WHERE WE LIVE
and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an
life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the
world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an
avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement
led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retro-
spect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
WHILE MARINETTI'S OPENING MANIFESTO FOR ITALIAN FUTURISM BRISTLED
with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifes-
tos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical" approaches to the works
then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta, by
which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet
of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This free-
dom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposi-
tion, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual
presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous
and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events
and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between
themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa
1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
124
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and edi-
tor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti,
reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the
static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, original-
ity, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions
and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant
themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was pas-
sionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was
purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse
controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as
poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an
life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the
start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in
the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian
sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now
sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within
them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemi-
cal stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifes-
tos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical" approaches
to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant
today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become "an
uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analo-
gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-
of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image
juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive
typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by
forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists'
performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surround-
ings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between
themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti
selbst (circa 1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
125
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the
Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet
and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by
Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be
the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, original-
ity, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions
and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant
themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was pas-
sionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was
purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse
controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we
live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their
sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply
into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life,
the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its
Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and
if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect,
they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled
with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the
later manifestos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical"
approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still res-
onant today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become "an
uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analo-
gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-
of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image
juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive
typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by
forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists'
performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings,
indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves
and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa
1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
126
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the
Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet
and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by
Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be
the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, original-
ity, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions
and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant
themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was pas-
sionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was
purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse
controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and
work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense
of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into
focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the
epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Rus-
sian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its
means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they
carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with
a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later
manifestos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical" ap-
proaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still reso-
nant today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become "an
uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analo-
gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-
of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image
juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive
typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by
forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists'
performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings,
indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves
and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa
1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
127
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro
published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.
The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding
what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrat-
ing change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected
traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant
themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bom-
bastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended
to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract
widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as po-
ets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All
of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a
first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde.
It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by
poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect,
they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical
stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist
poets and artists offered formal, "technical" approaches to the works then getting
under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta, by which
poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet
of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This
freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image
juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typogra-
phy in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like
Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed dec-
lamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement,
to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer
them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa 1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
128
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflect-
ed his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and ir-
relevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in
culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary
life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion.
The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately original; its tone was aggressive
and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and
amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and
work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art
as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the
start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the
poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides,
the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes
seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed
of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a
polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later mani-
festos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical" approaches to
the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was
parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted se-
quence of new images… strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the
mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resem-
bled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored
the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation
of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and
aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture,
events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barri-
ers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote
Marinetti selbst (circa 1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
129
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Itali
an poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism,
coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what
he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrat-
ing change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected
traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant
themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately
bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended
to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract wide-
spread attention.
But it is the movements which survive, oddly, here where w
live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their
sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply
into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life,
the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Rus-
sian & Italian sides, the great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now
sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the
seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism
bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present
(1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal,
"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key
term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry was to
become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analo-
gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world,
while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully
explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presenta-
tion of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and
aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events
and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between
themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst
(circa 1915), "Everything of any value is theatrical."
130
FUTURISM WAS FIRST ANNOUNCED on February 20, 1909,
when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian
poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by
Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the
static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and
innovation in culture and society. Futurism rejected traditions and glori-
fied contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the
machine and motion. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic;
its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to
inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract
widespread attention.
BUT IT IS THE MOVEMENTS WHICH SURVIVE, oddly,
here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements,
then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come
sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and
life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its
Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its
means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry
within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
WHILE MARINETTI'S OPENING MANIFESTO for Italian
Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed pres-
ent (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal,
"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term-
-still resonant today--was parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become
"an uninterrupted sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analo-
gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-
the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposi-
tion, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography
in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like
Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed
declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engage-
ment, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer
or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa 1915), "Everything of any value is
theatrical."
131
F u t u r i s m w a s f i r s t a n n o u n c e d on February 20, 1909, when the
Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected
his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant
art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and
society. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by
emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The manifesto's
rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory
and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse
controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
B u t i s i s t h e m o v e m e n t s w h i c h s u r v i v e , oddly, here where we
live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of
art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the
start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar
mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great
"art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exagger-
ated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were
later to become.
W h i l e M a r i n e t t i ' s o p e n i n g m a n i f e s t o for Italian Futurism bristled
with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later
manifestos of Futurist poets and artists offered formal, "technical" approaches
to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was
parole in liberta, by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence
of new images… strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious
sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms
of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innova-
tive and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in
motion by forerunners like Mallarme. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists'
performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indif-
ference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those
who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst (circa 1915), "Everything
of any value is theatrical."
132
133
134
Header:
The material which is separated from the main body of text and appears
at the top of a printed page.
Subheader:
A phrase, sentence, or several sentences near the title of the article
or story.
The main header or “headline” is essential to be bold and leap out as the
main title of the page or chapter start. If it does not, the reader may be
confused as to where the document actually starts. So I always think its
a good rule to ensure the reader knows where a section starts and make
it quite plain. The main header should also look like it belongs to the first
sentence. This can be achieved by ensuring that its paragraph spacing
(the space after a hard return) is smaller than the paragraph spacing
of the first sentence. Paragraph spacing is not commonly used - even
amongst designers, but it is an extremely useful tool.
Many people add spacing by hitting return but this does not give much
control and cannot be styled from style sheets. Introduction paragraphs
are a useful way to entice the reader to continue on reading. They also
help not to waste a readers time if they are not interested in reading
further. Typographically speaking these into paragraphs need to be easy
to read but moredistant than the body text below.
They are not the main article and need to be distinguished from it. The
purpose of a subheader is to split up body text so that a reader can find
their way around the document with ease. it also makes the document
more readable because the viewer is not faced with a page of block
text. Each subheader needs to be linked with the corresponding body
text underneath it. This should be achieved by using correct spacing
after and before the subheader (You find these settings in most “Para-
graph” tool pallets and the example below demonstrates how it looks
when executed.)
135
WORDS IN LIBERTYA Prologue to FuturismFuturism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innova-tion in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweep-ing repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bom-bastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
Radical mix of art and lifeBut is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on either and both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemi-cal stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta 2 , by which poetry was to become "an un-interrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expres-sive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indiffer-ence and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
136
WORDS IN LIBERTYA Prologue to Futurism
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Fi garo published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depic-tion of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural insti-tutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
Radical mix of art and life
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to works then getting . The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta 2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analo-gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happen-ings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
137
Words in LibertyF u t u r i s m w a s f i r s t a n n o u n c e d on February 20, 1909, when the Paris news-paper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to
attract widespread attention.
B u t i s i s t h e m o v e m e n t s w h i c h s u r v i v e , oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
W h i l e M a r i n e t t i ' s o p e n i n g m a n i f e s t o for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemi-cal stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta 2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerun-ners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
A
PROLOGUE
TO
FUTURISM
RADICAL
MIX OF
ART AND
LIFE
138
A prologue to Futurism
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the
Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet
and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined
by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he con-
ceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating
change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futur-
ism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by
emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The
works were characterized by the depiction of several successive ac-
tions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified
the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed,
power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called
for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and
political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as
museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately
bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was pur-
posely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse
controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
Radical mix of art and life
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live
and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their
sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come
sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix
of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It
was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" move-
ment led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exagger-
ated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all
that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism
bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed pres-
ent (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered
formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under
way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta 2 , by
which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new
images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the
mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while
it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition,
more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typog-
raphy in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by
forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with
the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a
poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Em-
mett Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a later
decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances
mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indiffer-
ence and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves
and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst
3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."WO
RD
S I
N L
IBE
RT
Y
139
WORDS IN LIBERTY
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris news-paper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural insti-tutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely in-tended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem ex-aggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later mani-festos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta 2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mys-terious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of lan-guage, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Wil-liams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Mari-netti selbst 3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
A Prologue to Futurism
Radical mix of art and life
140
WORDS IN LIBERTY
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, re-
flected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and
irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation
in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contem-
porary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and
motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-
sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified
the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power,
and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweep-
ing repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the
destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The
manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive
and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and
amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work
as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an
life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start
of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar
mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first
great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem
exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all
that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a po-
lemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later mani-
festos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to
the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was
parole in liberta 2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted
sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast
into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while
A Prologue To Futurism
Radical Mix Of Art And Life
141
142
143
144
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146
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris news-paper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discard-ing what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society1.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the ma-chine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted vio-lence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radi-cal mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a po-lemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Fu-turist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' per-formances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
A Prologue to Futurism
Radical mix of art and life
1 Philip Meggs, History of
Graphic Design,
Van Nostrand Reinhold,
1988
2 parole in liberta =
words set free (lib-
erty)
3 selbst = himselfWO
RD
S IN
LIB
ER
TY
147
WORDS IN LIBERTY
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris
newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, re-
flected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and
irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation
in culture and society.1 Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contem-
porary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and
motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several succes-
sive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified
the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power,
and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweep-
ing repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the
destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The
manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive
and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and
amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work
as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an
life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start
of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar
mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first
great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem
exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all
that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a po-
lemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later mani-
festos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches
to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today-
-was parole in liberta2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted
sequence of new images… strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast
into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while
it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully
explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual
presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme.
But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, to-
ward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in
all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language
happenings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists'
performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings,
indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves
and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa
1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
A Prologue To Futurism
Radical Mix Of Art And Life
1 Philip Meggs, History of Graphic Design,Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988
2 parole in liberta = words set free (liberty)
3 selbst = himself
148
WORDS IN LIBERTYA Prologue to Futurism
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Fi garo published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society1.
Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depic-tion of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural insti-tutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
Radical mix of art and life
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to works then getting . The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analo-gies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happen-ings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
1 Philip Meggs, History of
Graphic Design,
Van Nostrand Reinhold,
1988
2 parole in liberta = words
set free (liberty)
3 selbst = himself
149
WORDS IN LIBERTYA Prologue to FuturismFuturism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le
Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The
name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived
to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innova-
tion in culture and society1. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life,
mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were
characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time.
Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its
speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweep-
ing repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such
cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bom-
bastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public
anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
Radical mix of art and lifeBut is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets
and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as
futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of
art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on either and both
its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now
sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all
that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemi-
cal stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets
& artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key
term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta2 , by which poetry was to become "an unin-
terrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the
mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms
of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expres-
sive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like
Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new
performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett
Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a decade. Outrageous and aggressive,
the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indiffer-
ence and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer
or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
1 Ph
ilip M
eg
gs, H
istory
o
f Gra
ph
ic D
esig
n,
Van
No
stran
d R
ein
-h
old
, 198
8
2 p
aro
le in
liberta
=
wo
rds se
t free
(liberty
)
3 se
lbst =
him
self
150
Words in LibertyF u t u r i s m w a s f i r s t a n n o u n c e d on February 20, 1909, when the Paris news-paper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discarding what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society1. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the machine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted violence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to
attract widespread attention.
B u t i s i s t h e m o v e m e n t s w h i c h s u r v i v e , oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radical mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
W h i l e M a r i n e t t i ' s o p e n i n g m a n i f e s t o for Italian Futurism bristled with a polemi-cal stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Futurist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerun-ners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' performances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
A
PROLOGUE
TO
FUTURISM
RADICAL
MIX OF
ART AND
LIFE
1 Philip Meggs, History of Graphic Design,Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988
2 parole in liberta = words set free (liberty)
3 selbst = himself
151
WORDS IN LIBERTY
Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris news-paper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The name Futurism, coined by Marinetti, reflected his emphasis on discard-ing what he conceived to be the static and irrelevant art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society1. Futurism rejected traditions and glorified contemporary life, mainly by emphasizing two dominant themes, the ma-chine and motion. The works were characterized by the depiction of several successive actions of a subject at the same time. Marinetti's manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. He exalted vio-lence and conflict and called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional cultural, social, and political values and the destruction of such cultural institutions as museums and libraries. The manifesto's rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its tone was aggressive and inflammatory and was purposely intended to inspire public anger and amazement, to arouse controversy, and to attract widespread attention.
But is is the movements which survive, oddly, here where we live and work as poets and artists: or, if not the movements, then their sense of art as an life itself. All of which, as futurism, had come sharply into focus by the start of the world war: a first radi-cal mix of art and life, the epitome in the poplar mind of an avant-garde. It was, on both its Russian & Italian sides, the first great "art" movement led by poets; and if its means now sometimes seem exaggerated or unripe in retrospect, they carry within them the seed of all that we were later to become.
While Marinetti's opening manifesto for Italian Futurism bristled with a po-lemical stance in favor of the transformed present (1909), the later manifestos of Fu-turist poets & artists offered formal/"technical" approaches to the works then getting under way. The key term--still resonant today--was parole in liberta2 , by which poetry was to become "an uninterrupted sequence of new images… (a) strict bet of images or analogies, to be cast into the mysterious sea of phenomena." This freedom-of-the-world, while it resembled other forms of collage and of image juxtaposition, more fully explored the use of innovative and expressive typography in the visual presentation of language, as set in motion by forerunners like Mallarme. But the verbal liberation didn't end with the page; it moved, rather, toward a new performance art and a poetry that "scurried off the page in all directions at once," as Emmett Williams phrased it for the "language happenings" of a later decade. Outrageous and aggressive, the Futurists' per-formances mixed declamation and gesture, events and surroundings, indifference and engagement, to break the barriers between themselves and those who came to jeer or cheer them. Wrote Marinetti selbst3 (circa 1915): Everything of any value is theatrical."
A Prologue to Futurism
Radical mix of art and life
1 Philip Meggs, History of Graphic Design,Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988
2 parole in liberta = words set free (liberty)
3 selbst = himself