After the fourteen years the Bauhaus school of design in Germany was open and where much of our modern-art movement was achieved, it was realized that these achievements were really only intercepted by a small portion of the world. That is where designer Jan Tschichold comes in. In 1923 he had actually attended the first Bauhaus exhibition in Weimar and that’s when his inspiration began. Tschichold gave birth to “die neue typographie” and as we know it, The new typography.
Tschichold began this new wave of how designers could be using type by designing a twenty-four-page spread explaining asymetrical typography. German printing up to this point has only seen medieval textura and symmetrical layout so this really was a whole new point of view for design. Tschichold was making moves by advocating this entirely different way of design altogether. He essentially wanted a fresh start that would better express the time they were in. To do this he saw that design needed to be stripped of any overly designed elements and simply stick to it’s purest form while maintaining functionality. Typographic design needed to be used in the most efficient manner possible.
The main argument Tschichold made for this new typography movement was that type should be set in motion rather than at rest; There should be a way to express the new age machine and all it can do. With this, he saw there needed to be a standard variety for sans-serif fonts that included a range of weights and proportions. Sans-serif type would become the standard for modern design due to its dynamic qualities. Because of these revelations, negative space was finally being seen as its own design element, other design elements such as bars and boxes were used to create emphasis and balance, and lastly, photography became the new favorite for imagery rather than illustration.
As time went on, typeface in the first half of the twentieth century began seeing many upgrades. Fonts such as Railway, Gill Sans, and Kabel were created during this time as well as Perpetua and Futura. Then in 1932 a very famous font created out of this time of passion for type hit the pages of Times in London; It was none other than Times New Roman. These fonts are still used by designers everywhere to do this day.
Although the classic sans serif fonts continue to be in constant use today, there has been a recent rebellion against this popular choice. With the rise of social media and everyone seeking uniqueness, it is predicted that we are going to see more alternatives being used to the classic fonts. Geometric sans have become very dominant in print and digital forms and even can be seen used for popular games such as Cards Against humanity. Some of these fonts include, Helvetica Now, Untitled Sans, Public Sans (used for Cards against Humanity), Goldplay, and Madera. All are very dynamic twists on classics such as the fonts discussed previously.
Another category of what we consider “modern” for fonts today is in hand written or more organic styles such as the trending Brush stroke styles. It appears through trends and the rise of people finding their roots outside of the digital space, there is a need for these kind of fonts. They evoke feelings of being out in nature and have organic qualities. These fonts also include textures like chalkboard, pencil, marker, paint, and more. It is because of this element of texture that people are attracted to them. With everything in the digital world, there has been a growing desire for tangibility and that’s exactly what these fonts do for people.
Bibliography:
Oliver (last name unkown). “Font Trends 2020: The 15 Best Fonts to Use This Year.” Looka, 12 Feb. 2020, looka.com/blog/font-trends-2020/.
“Top 5 Modern Font Styles to Use in Today’s Market.” Inspiration Hut, 29 June 2018, inspirationhut.net/articles/top-5-modern-font-styles-to-use-in-todays-market/.
Haley Locke 