Jan Tschihold

Somewhat related to The Bauhaus due to his visitation of a Bauhaus exhibition in the early 1920’s, Jan Tschihold was a modernist at heart from that time onwards. He switched to favour san serif typefaces over all else and other modernist design principles such as asymmetric layouts and the practical and functional use of hierarchy in design specifically in regards to type. In his manifest called ‘Die neue Typographie’ Tschihold advocated for a reform of sorts through design. In this publication is where he explained his applications of modernist typography and his rejection of the serif typefaces that pretty much were used exclusively at the time in Germany.

Looking at some of Tschiholds work, we can instantly see some similarities and influences to the previous movements and artists we have discussed. The first thing we notice is the use of predominantly geometric shapes in the design. The large circle takes the centre stage of this design.  Reminiscent of DeStijl and constructivism, this design has a very ‘minimal’ and abstracted feel as per the use of simple lines and shapes along with a large amount of negative space and a limited colour scheme. In this work we can also see the use of Tschiholds advocated typeface style of sans serif which was very unorthodox to the rest of the community in his early career as a modernist. Another modernist characteristic we can see in this work is the lack of any focus in the centre of the page. The designs have all been shifted to either the right or left side of the page which has also given the design an asymmetric element to it. The use of hierarchy is also evident in this work through the scaling of typefaces. The title placed on top of the only coloured element on the work instantly attracts the viewer tell them that that’s where they should start reading from. The eye then turns downwards to read the smaller type that is placed in a line to direct the eyes.  

Here we have another example of Tschiholds work. We do see similar modernist characteristics in this work that we have already touch upon when discussing the previous work. Things like the limited colour pallet, exclusive use of geometric shapes, off centre design layout and even the use of purely sans serif typography. Another thing that is worth mentioning with this work is the way the lines are created in this work. It seems like everything has been shifted and rotated on its axis to create this sense of dynamism.  This is something that became increasingly popular at the time. To me, this work seems to be more influenced by constructivist works than anything else due to the colour scheme of red, white and black used.

Tschihold has a very important place in history because of how much his work and his philosophies influenced the typography that came after him and even the typography we see today on a daily basis.

 References: 

·         Designhistory-designhistory.com-2014[ http://www.designishistory.com/1920/jan-tschichold/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]