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| Wolfgang Weingart |
Wolfgang Weingart, one of the most influential
graphic artists of all time,is mostly known for his experimental typography
which inspired artists around the world. Furthermore, his approach to
typography influenced the development of the new wave and deconstruction. In
1963 he received a request from Armin
Hoffman in order to teach typography at the Basel School of Design. Weingart was very much influenced by Emil Ruder and
Armin Hoffman however he had different principles. Unlike his mentors he
questioned absolute order and cleanness which was evident in his teachings.
Weingart stated “I was motivated to provoke this stodgy profession and to stretch
the typeshop`s capabilities to this breaking point, and finally, to prove once
again that typography is art”.
His work was full of energy and was very lively, spontaneous and experimental. In
addition he played around with weight, size, legibility and diagonals. He was
not constrained by the principles of Swiss modern typography. He liked to stretch
out and experiment with the spacing in between the letters. To him there were
endless possibilities. He even was innovative in the way he produced these
designs; He manipulated the metal typesetters along and pieces of photographic films
in the dark room in order to create an extraordinary design that engages the
viewers. He made use of overlaying of images, lettering and text.
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| Weingart`s typographic Experiments 1971 |
His overlaying
of images can be seen in his exhibition poster made in 1981. He also made halftone
marks bigger and made use of moire designs – patterns that are shaped when you overlay
and these halftone marks and then shift them. There is a great sense of
movement in this work. Although it has movement it is still quite somewhat
ordered.The artist used different shades of black and white instead of making
use of colour.In
contrast to this is his 1984 Das Schweizer Plakat exhibition poster were here,
he makes use of the colours red and yellow. The two colours are allowed to intermingle
by using overprinting producing dimensional layers. One again we have a sense
of movement in this poster. The composition is also somewhat similar were both
of these posters having an outside boarder with text and images in the middle.
The boarder seems to have a kind of pattern inside which is composed of lines
and geometrical shapes. Furthermore in both of these posters we can see the use
of a sans serif font.
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| Exhibition Poster 1981 |
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| Das Schweizer Plakat exhibition Poster 1984 |
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| 'My way to Typography' cover 2005 |
In
2005 he published his book called ‘ My Way To Typography’. This book has a very
interesting cover although quite simple, the way he uses typography is very
exciting and intriguing. He makes use of diagonals and cuts the words
diagonally in half. The word ‘Typography’ is not completely there although it
is still legible. One again he makes use of very limited colours; orange and
yellow. On the other hand, it is not simply the cover that makes this book so fascinating
but the content inside. The layout used is very interesting and the way he
placed text is not so conventional. He is once again playing around with text, images and shape whether to create the cover or the content inside the book.
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| Page spread from the book |
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| Page Spread from the book |
I
personally found Weingart`s work very interesting. The way he played around
with the letters was very unconventional then and still looks fresh and modern
now. It is interesting how he rebelled against the systematic rules of modern Swiss
typography.
References:
Philip B. Meggs, 2011. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. 5 Edition. Wiley
Steven
Heller, 2012. 100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design. 3.3.2012 Edition. Laurence King Publishing.
AIGA |
Wolfgang Weingart . 2015. AIGA | Wolfgang Weingart . [ONLINE]
Available at: http://www.aiga.org/medalist-wolfgang-weingart/. [Accessed 27 January 2015].
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