Die Graphische, Vienna, Austria  
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Project. Self expressive design of three paragraphs from Jan Tschichold's Die Neue Typographie, 1928.

Purpose. To allow students to typographically explore the relationship of content and form, and to better understand their own limitations in both simple and complex designs... and to start dealing with it.

Assignment. This project is designed for students in the middle of their first year of typography. Set the paragraphs below from different pages of Jan Tschichold's Die Neue Typographie (New Typography) in three distinct typographic variations, each expressing typographically the content of the quotes. Set version one as simply as possible, version three as far out as possible, and version two as transitional. This is a black and white assignment, the typeface is Univers 55/65/75, and the format is A4-upright.

The text to be set is: "Neue Typographie layouts text by leading the eye of the viewer from one word, one group to the next. Thus we need to structure the text meaningfully, using differences in size, boldness, position in space, colour, etc. Neue Typographie uses the possible effects of the former background consciously and considers both the white background segments and the black type and shapes as design elements of equal value. With that, Neue Typographie has added a new element to the expressive potential of printing. It is exactly the use of large white areas that creates the startling impact of Neue Typographie." (Translation by Wolfgang Oertl)

Format. A4 Upright (or US 8 1/2 X 11)

Time. About 5 to 7 weeks, three hours per week

 
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Martin Tiefenthaler and Erich Monitzer are both instructors and freelancers,
working mainly as editorial and book designers. They are co-founders of the Typographic Society of Austria <www.typographischegesellschaft.at> and encourage their students to seriously consider ongoing studies in international schools and raising typographic awareness in Austria.

www.artbox.at/abteilung/index.php

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Martin Tiefenthaler and Erich Monitzer

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Martin Tiefenthaler
Erich Monitzer