Description
Book SynopsisTrond Klevgaard is a design historian and graphic designer. He is Associate Professor of Design History at Kristiania University College, Norway, where he was previously head of the degree program in Graphic Design. He holds BA (Hons) and MA degrees in graphic design from London College of Communication, UK, and a PhD in History of Design from the Royal College of Art, UK.
Trade ReviewThe history of modernism in typography is too often told through a limited number of familiar pieces of work, with the emphasis on a small cast of central and eastern European characters. Through thorough research into contemporary accounts, and by not concentrating solely on the avant-garde, Trond Klevgaard opens our eyes to Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish designers whose work in the mid-20th century was international in inspiration but decidedly Scandinavian in application. This book brings a much-needed northern European perspective to the history of the ‘new typography’. -- Paul Luna, Emeritus Professor at the University of Reading, UK
Klevgaard explains the publishing environment in which New Typography took shape in Scandinavia. We come to understand the “domestication” of modernist typography not as a misunderstanding of its more well-known Central European prototypes, but rather as a sensible adaptation to the varying interests of publishers, tradespeople, readers, and organizations there. Well researched and clearly written, this study will open many eyes to typography rarely seen outside of the region. It also demonstrates how the histories of social organizations and of industrial structures, no less than the histories of ideas and of visual forms, are key to understanding the history of modernist design. -- Craig Eliason, Professor of Art History, University of St. Thomas, USA
Table of ContentsContents List of Figures List of Plates Acknowledgements Note on Translation Introduction
1. Origins and Networks Origins of the New Typography Scandinavian Nodes in the Avant-Garde Network
Section One: Printing and Advertising Cultures 2. Modification: The Printing Trade's Versions of the New Typography The New Typography from Avant-Garde Printing to Trade The New Typography in Scandinavian Printing Education
3. Compartmentalization: Cultures and Practices of Advertising Jobbing Print, Commercial Art and Lay-Out Discreet Professional Communication Networks Competing Cultures of Design and Production
Section Two: Printing and Society 4. Realignment: Functionalism as Ideology, Style and Resistance From Elementarism to Functionalism From Funkis to Functional Typography Towards the Functional Book
5. Isolation: Future-People and Rational Consumers The Swedish Cooperative Society: Adopter of 'Wild' New Typography Print Designs of the Avant-Garde Left Targeting the Young and Femaile Vote through 'Wild' Photomontage
6. Assimilation The New Typography Under Occupation A New Style in Neutral Sweden Conclusion Glossary
