designing programmes karl gerstner typeface

“It is precisely in typography that the difficulty of setting theoretical boundaries is plain. After the adventurers of the 1910s and the 20s we are the settlers, the colonizers.” The times of both, pioneers and isms, are over. “ a new label? The typographical aspect of a new ism? No, this is just what is not meant. “Style is the adaptation of the forms of function and display to the spirit (and hence to the taste) of the times.” So without further preface, I give you Designing Programmes, digested: “Dear Reader” (Introduction for third edition) - 2006 Personally, I was amazed by how many of his critiques transcend their times and context, for example: calling out the tendency towards grandiosity that must plague designers of all generations. But there are some true gems of copy-and-pastable wisdom scattered throughout, and I have spent a bit of time collecting them for you here. The words contained within the now scarce pages are largely irrelevant without their accompanying imagery, so I still recommend grabbing a copy of the physical book if you can. In fact this third edition is set entirely in kg privata, an evolution of the whacky little typeface Gerstner designed for IBM in the early 80s. The 2007 edition adds a couple more prefaces, a few more examples, and an enjoyable case study on designing a new typeface for IBM (“A new beginning: the IBM original”).

“To describe the problem is part of the solution.” In 1967, Gerstner expanded the second edition out to include quite a few more examples, and this appears to be the first time he included what has become one of my favorite design quotes of all time: The original, 1964 edition appears to have been a collection of four essays.

Designing programmes karl gerstner typeface