Visible Language

On the occasion of the 550th year celebration of the invention of printing, the author has tried to find new arguments concerning time and place. Gutenberg could not have made his invention in Mainz in 1440, as is widely maintained, because he lived demonstrably in Strassburg from 1434 to 1444. Here, in 1439 there was a large lawsuit in whose records is noted that Gutenberg, as the head of a group, had worked on “aventur und kunst.” This term was quite likely the cover-up designation for the first printing. Additional historic evidence and political relationships lead to the conviction that the first printing took place around 1440, that, however, the master brought the invention to perfection in the 42-line bible that he printed after his return to his birthplace, Mainz.

Current computer technology and professional attitudes about design in general and typeface design in particular are examined with reference to design ethics, visual sensibility and the marketplace. Zapf answers the question posed in the title and recommends the organization of a practical reference tool, a central international type-face registry.

Several interpretations of human user interface are reviewed and a proposal is developed for understanding the new category of tools in the form of computer programs. The advantages of a graphical user interface is compared to that of a character based interface. The contribution of the designer to the articulation of the retinal space in which these tools appear is outlined. The theoretical part is accompanied by a detailed case history of the design of an electronic mail application. The relationship between an interface science and an interface design is commented on but the proper domain of interface design is distinct from both science and art.

Progress is increasingly defined as success in organizing, sharing, understanding and using information. Design-related project teams typically develop and pass complex information among many team members. Current communications media limit the amount and speed of information transfer. Increasingly sophisticated computing communications systems offer the potential to bridge long distances and cultural differences. The design professions can take a cue from Cable News Network (CNN), which shows that live electronic communications do help bridge cultures. By communicating in a broader bandwidth, live images convey information in a richer, more compelling fashion than simple audio or printed media. Design-related work can benefit from live computing/telecommunications media, by building stronger relationships among participants and improving the quality, depth, speed and facility with which information is shared. This paper discusses an image-intensive design communications network, its prospective benefits and possible pitfalls.

The pervasiveness of Herbert Bayer’s influence on every aspect of modern commercial book design and production has been significantly underestimated. Bayer’s contributions to type design, layout, book production methodology and technology have been until recently largely overlooked despite the extent to which his vision and example have influenced the design of contemporary textbooks, atlases and exhibition catalogs. Bayer’s influence extends beyond these specialized formats. It is in the area of type design that Bayer’s contribution has been most unfairly dismissed. Among the progenitors of functionalism in type design, Bayer was the first to design a type specifically for photo offset reproduction. His designs for universal and bayer-type served as models for such commonly used modern fonts as Univers and Bauhaus. He was an advocate of clear, systematic thought tempered by pragmatism, whose principles of type design were twofold: 1) type as visual language, and 2) the relationship of type to technology. He proposed that type should represent language in a clear and readable manner, with full attention to the characteristics of the reproductive medium. It is in the attempt to formulate a theoretics of type design, rather than in the design of any one type face, that Bayer’s importance lies. While many of his more practically-oriented colleagues considered his desire to reconcile linguistic, technical and aesthetic concerns eccentric, contemporary designers grappling with the problematics of digital typography and computer screen design will find his work provocative.

Graphic designers’ need for feedback is typically answered by other designers. They tend not to engage in the kinds of empirical evaluation which might yield feedback about readers’ performance. Graphic designers also need generous and informative models of readers and their various objectives. In the absence of such feedback and models, designers may set themselves goals which neglect readers’ needs. This article reports informal observation of one reader’s interaction with a series of texts—information displayed on the spines of a serial publication. The reader’s interaction, which led to remedial intervention by that reader to correct a design fault, offers both strong unsolicited feedback about performance and an informal model of one kind of reading objective.