Quotes
A book has to dig through the wounds, more, it has cause a new one, a book it has to be dangerous.
–Emil Cioran
If our field is to advance, we must — without displacing creativity and æsthetics — make sure our terminology is clear.
–Jef Raskin
As we become more mature we will learn to master the interplay between the past and the present and not be so self-conscious of our rejection or acceptance of tradition. We will not make the mistake that both rigid modernists and conservatives make, of confusing the quality of form with the specific forms themselves.
–Alvin Lustig
I also wish there was more than one Wikipedia, as I recently examined a great PhD at the Oxford Internet Institute on the people who contribute to Wiki – they turn out to be mostly white men and so both women’s content and African content suffers.
–Judy Wajcman
There was a typographic explosion at the beginning of the nineteenth century… Sweeping changes occur red in printing as a result of the industrial revolution. With the diversification of manufactured goods, advertising and packaging raised their infant cries for attention. The press, geared to a full-scale consumer war, played a pivotal role in the purveying of goods and services to the populace. The devising, cutting and casting of new typefaces accelerated at a staggering rate. The book types that previously had sufficed for poster work were replaced by bolder versions for less-sophisticated readers. There were, in addition, new eye-catching inventions: the slab-serif, sans serif, and shaded and decorated types. Their introduction led, in turn, to changes in reading, not only in scale and pace, but in the readers’ understanding of emphasis through type weight & color. With the arrival of display types, the specimen books became the playground of the compositor.
–Alastair Johnston
The closure of the book is an illusion largely created by its materiality, its cover. Once the book is considered on the plane of its significance, it threatens infinity.
–Susan Stewart
I see graphic design as the organization of information that is semantically correct, syntactically consistent and pragmatically understandable. I like it to be usually powerful, intellectual elegant, and above all timeless.
There are three investigations in design. The first is the search for structure. Its reward is discipline. The second is the search for specificity. This yields appropriateness. Finally, we search for fun, and we create ambiguity.
Force and elegance: these are the characteristics of Italian graphics; ‘forza’ and ‘eleganza’ to express the contents, to let them speak clearly, straightforwardly, with grace and vigor. The minimum useful form — using what could be a formula — arises from the material, from its intrinsic constitution; it is up to the designer to discern its structure, delve into its complexity, listen in order to orchestrate, to organize the information responsibly and efficiently, rationally and functionally.
To learn from things, not to impose forms a priori. This takes time and passion, dedication and commitment — and let no one without them enter here! The rest can be left to the artists. Today the world of graphics is filled to overflowing with them: people who make magazines but not to be read (anyway, what you see/sell is the cover), posters to post themselves, books with trendy characters and superimposed images. Designers should be deliberate and rigorous, not arbitrary.
–Massimo Vignelli
Asymmetry is the rhythmic expression of functional design. In addition to being more logical, asymmetry has the advantage that its complete appearance is far more optically effective than symmetry.
–Jan Tschichold
For the first time in history it is now possible to take care of everybody at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. Only ten years ago the 'more with less' technology reached the point where this could be done. All humanity now has the option to become enduringly successful.
–Richard Buckminster Fuller
