TYPOGRAPHY TODAY
Idea Special Issue, 1980
Helmut Schmid [Concept and Design]
Helmut Schmid [Concept and design]: IDEA [Special Issue]: TYPOGRAPHY TODAY. Tokyo: Seibundo Shinkosha Publishing Co Ltd, 1980. First edition. Parallel text in japanese and English. Quarto. Printed wrappers. 160 pp. 45 pages in color, otherwise fully illustrated in black and white. Innovative 20th century typography by 65 designers from 12 countries. Wrappers lightly worn with s small snag to lower edge of front panel and a small split at the spine crown juncture. Front wrapper starting to pull away from glue binding. Both corners lightly pushed, but a very good copy of this rarity in the true first edition.
8.85 x 11.69 (225 x 297 mm) special issue of “Idea” conceived, edited and designed by Helmut Schmid, featuring 160 pages of innovative 20th century typography by 65 designers from 12 countries, and text contributions by Wolfgang Weingart, Wim Crouwel, Kohei Sugiura, Franco Grignani, John Cage and a reprinted essay by Emil Ruder titled “Typography as Communication and Form.”
Includes work by Otl Aicher, Bauhaus, Herbert Bayer, Felix Bermann, Max Bill, Hans-Rudolf Bosshard, Braun design dept, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Robert Bücher, John Cage, Chermayeff and Geismar, Ivan Chermayeff, Ralph Coburn, Roy Cole, Cranbrooke Academy of Art, Crosby Fletcher Forbes, Wim Crouwel, Theo van Doesburg, Lou Dorfsman, Heinrich Fleischhacker, Anthony Froshaug, Adrian Frutiger, Bob Gill, Karl Gerstner, Fritz Gottschalk, Franco Grignani, Kurt Hauert, Raoul Hausmann, Dick Higgins, Jost Hochuli, Max Huber, William Klein, Alison Knowles, Ferdinand Kriwet, Willy Kunz, Sol Lewitt, Gunnar Lilleng, El Lissitzky, Herb Lubalin, Philipp Luidl, Hans-Rudolf Lutz, F.T. Marinetti, Rolf Müller, Marcel Nebel, Hans Neuberg, Åke Nilsson, Siegfried Odermatt, Francis Picabia, Ernst Roch, Emil Ruder, Nelly Rudin, Helmut Schmid, Joost Schmidt, Wolfgang Schmidt, Kurt Schwitters, Käte Steinitz, Kohei Sugiura, Tel design, Peter Teubner, Rosemarie Tissi, Jan Tschichold, Will van Sambeek, Carlo L. Vivarelli, Wolfgang Weingart, Tadanori Yokoo, Yves Zimmermann, and Piet Zwart.
Idea served as the Japanese equivalent of Graphis -- a magazine dedicating to promoting the Graphic Arts of a certain region to the rest of the world. IDEA offers the contemporary viewer a glimpse into Japanese Graphic Design Culture as it emerged from the ashes of World War II and made its influence felt on a global scale.
“Typography Today” was published in 1980 as a special edition of Idea magazine, and republished as a book in 1981. Though out of print for many years, international demand resulted in a largely expanded and revised edition in 2003. Since then, it has been reprinted several times, each with small improvements. In the 2nd edition of 2007, efforts have been made to create a volume worthy of the task of handing down 20th century modern typography to the 21st century. Don't let this publication history fool you—here is the true first edition of this much-revised work.