Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
4-28
The cover, an
interior page, and the
grid of Josef Müller-
Brockmann's classic
book,
Grid Systems
.
(Designer: Josef Müller-
Brockmann)
An excellent model for illustrating the
modular grid is the work of Josef Müller-
Brockmann, a major contributor to its wide
acceptance (Fig.
4-28
). A leader in the
development of the International Typographic
Style during the 1950s and 1960s, Müller-
Brockmann sought pure objectivity in
typography and graphic expression.
His work, including posters that
remain as fresh today as they were when
first designed, attest to the power and visual
impact of his work. This rational philosophy,
which he shared with other pioneers of the
movement, was assimilated throughout
Europe and the United States. In his 1981
book,
Grid Systems
, Müller-Brockmann
states, “The use of the grid as an ordering
system is the expression of a certain mental
attitude inasmuch as it shows that the
designer conceives his work in terms that are
constructive and oriented to the future.”
Typographic Design:
Form and Communication
The whole duty of typography, as with
calligraphy, is to communicate to the
imagination, without loss by the way, the
thought or image intended to be communicated
by the author. And the whole duty of beautiful
typography is not to substitute for the beauty or
interest of the thing thought and intended to be
conveyed by the symbol, a beauty or interest
of its own, but, on the one hand, to win access
for that communication by the clearness and
beauty of the vehicle, and on the other hand, to
take advantage of every pause or stage in that
communication to interpose some characteristic
& restful beauty in its own art. We thus have
a reason for the clearness and beauty of the
first and introductory page and of the title,
and for the especial beauty of the headings of
chapters, capital or initial letters, and so on,
and an opening for the illustrator as we shall
see by and by.The whole duty of typography,
as with calligraphy, is to communicate to the
imagination, without loss by the way, the
thought or image intended to be communicated
by the author. And the whole duty of beautiful
typography is not to substitute for the beauty or
interest in the thing thought and intended to be
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4-27
A thirty-six-module grid extracted from 4,096 individual square units
represents but one of an enormous range of grid constructions. In this example, the
smaller vertical divisions function as a baseline grid. The complexity of this system
offers a wide range of compositional choices. However, the goal remains to organize
a collection of elements into a cohesive whole.
