The New Typography (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism (Paperback))

Knowledge is most important. Very interesting and useful

Jan Tschichold was the one to explain the early 19th century's movement for clarity/purity of form and type (as practiced at the Bauhaus) to a wider audience of printers, typesetters and designers (who previously were entangled in the imitation of traditional styles of the past). This is a good choice if you wand to know more about why things are done today the way they are. He explains why photography was absorbed into design and the standardization of paper and much more. There is also sound device for designers, such as avoiding the substitution of tradition ornament with the modern visual language of geometric shapes. If it's useless it's useless no matter what trend/style the element is from. The content has philosophical/humanistic passages and so is not a strict how-to book. Pick up the Ambrose Harris books if you want cover to cover design info/advice/examples.Ironically the book itself is poorly designed (I got the paperback). The glossy paper makes reading slightly difficult. The glossy full black page will chronicle your fingerprints. It leaves a few examples of compositions with white negative space to float on the pages' own white space. Images also show through the page adding grey tones to the images. Unnecessary vertical black rules randomly appear in the margins.5 stars for spreading knowledge to help change the design world. 2 stars for the book's physical presentation.

A must read for designers. Gives a thurough understanding of modernist design principles and philosophy, with nice photographic reproductions. Whether you want to incorporate this principles into your practice or not, as a designer you should have a solid understanding of these seminal ideas and practices, as they permitted much of our current design culture.

As other reviewers have written before me, this book surely has an historical value to it. It allows the reader to have a quick glance to a particular historical moment of typography in pre-WWII Germany, written in a Marxist tone. Also, the layout of the book is a beauty in itself, with its glossy paper and sans-serif Futura font. But that is pretty much it, unless you want to read it because you are a student in History of Typography. Do not expect to learn basic or advanced typographic elements here. If you want that, read "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst instead.

Great insights into modern design, with good discussion of the social and historical impacts. This is one of the foundational documents of minimalist design, and worth reading for anyone doing or interested in design.

Good book, interesting for its historical perspective and takes the reader through the modernist design philosophy.

I mistakenly expected this book to "timeless" simply because it was classic. It is, however, very much of its time. It references trends and uses color plates which made it feel more dated than I expected. It's still a classic, I'm sure—but not for me.

A classic. Any serious graphic designer should own a copy.

If you like the album covers of Joy Division, New Order, Section 25, Durrutti Column and many bands of this period you will love this book. It is about typography, so the letters and the layout are the main focus.

great read

Very quick delivery and very useful in my work!

There is a reason this book is so well regarded as one of the key pieces of reading within design communities. Whilst some of the information may not be totally up to date with modern design ideas (as noted in the foreword), this is still a must read.Tschichold's writing is to the point no nonsense perfection.

Da leggere e rileggere, specialmente per i non grafici che si credono tali.Jan Tschichold scrive molto bene di grafica come pochi sono riusciti a fare.Da evitare se non si conosce la storia Europea o non si ha idea del contesto culturale in cui l'autore ha scritto e riveduto il suo capolavoro. Dovrebbe essere obbligatorio in tutte le scuole di progettazione italiane.