form und technik
I
One of Renner s great dislikes was period
typography. On that subject he expressed him-
self as follows: "The print shop is nof a costume
shop. It is not our task to clothe each literary
content in a period costume; we must see to it
that it receives a garment that suits the style of
our time. We want a living typography, not a
typographic theater or masquerade."
Period typography is, of course, partly a
matter of style and partly of type design. Since
we have considered the style in as much detail
as these pages will allow, some of Renner s
ideas on type design may be expressed at this
point. He feit very strongly that there was no
longer any valid reason why types should al-
ways resemble the early models, which were
based on broad-pen writing and produced by
hand-cut punches. Types, he maintained, were
reading Symbols and that we were gradually
leaving the older conception of written symbols
behind. Therefore, a new and beautiful type
style was only possible through the direct and
functional use of all our present mechanical
equipment for producing type.
It was not Renners idea to toss all period
types into the hell-box; he simply wanted a
reestimate taken of where we stood in typo-
graphical history; he did want a line drawn
under our two-thousand years of letter devel-
opment and wanted it summed up and then
reduced to its common denominator again. He
believed with Corbusier that we should start
again at zero if necessary in order to clear the
decks.
There are only these components to any
printed job as he saw it: the purpose, the raw
materials, and the techniques. Instead of using
our present-day components he feit we were
still playing around at being Jenson, or Simon
de Colines, or Bodoniwhen we should be
simply ourselves with a clear and simple ty
pography. There is much in his point of view
A recent cover of Form und Technik.
One of the most inferesting typographic
publications of the present.
1 Auftom
■*t Ihn.?»
of view,
on xi«nute cm
if- d«, htaxotkuns'ueüt »ich doc in den tnpem.r »<i, ib. py« hii«v.«!f otsn.
0*»*t «mer d-s ou* vnfwin» c> .om.cn» »s»«', ntttii.rr.
V.vi„ra ov»6«i?. M infeoM-dl* Zustimmung w '.A.n3 So period« th. ob»»»»-« te og,
Ubertowaun« auf ihm »««houei «beitragen proved »i.t.ieciir» ;ciw
Comm.rrlof an, how»-»r, bo»«» fa'hrr uoo
ob.. 0.V mth, «n tobwwobblvolb«, »ho«
»i-».v*r-»iooa!>e:\ rt. h. mhoM«h H gUmntuiy estobSiihad, «ohie» wh.ch 3c ro
festgelegt«-« Werten «u»,dw «huetHich ovdi m «Itogetber So». sbei «Boihto->c*
luli.'y «epbed. Or Jh. otber banrf wh.« -r.r,-
,«n* ver.,»<««, ond«r..»e. i ob*' durch trs-mof ed -.nie, form, «h«/ b.come foundobor
hoA,lebende W.djwng hMdooienuSem... »tooesonddemandWilyorrm mume»G««<> fv
werde« und de« Krofv»(b«owch d«, Se»chou..t of power on tn» of To u,„
und »KKilno «uf einM.ede.fmolS «Stühren Commercioi o.r 3il
is-», D,.C«b..,ucb»9..opn.k <MMWfw.b onee„,,.„f,Th„eto„
9'Und»o«».i,cben inNjü d;. iefrt«, J.und>üui«:ne .11. ebweus 'hot wti.revu? w« d»»i.e so p- »i»r>
Professor H. K. Frenzel, the editor of
Gebrauchsgraphik set his magazine in Futura
around 1930. Its influence in the U.S.A. was great.
o
o
Fachzeitschrift
der Industriegewerkschaft
Druck und Papier
für alle Berufssparten
des graphischen Gewerbes
und der Papier und Pcppe
verarbeitenden Industrie
Heftpreis 1,70 DM
Nummer VIII Drittes Jahr August 1952 Seiten 281 320
3 0
