Does the Crystal Goblet apply?

I received a copy of the 1937 pamphlet of "Printing Should Be
Invisible" by Beatrice Warde [1] yesterday.  I got it to see how well
it lived up to the ideals of its text.  Based on the title alone, it
should have been 12 blank pages.  Based on what is says in the text, I
shouldn't be able to remember anything about the formatting, only the
words, but the placement of the page numbers struck me as odd on first
reading (though I've since come up with a rationalisation for their
position).  After several readings, I also thought to look for rivers,
but didn't find anything egregious.

So what?  I don't think that we should recast the 'CG' in 'PPL CG' as
'Crystal Gobletiers', but to what extent should we be about the
practice of typography rather than be just about the mechanics of
making it possible to practice typography?  Should be we aware of the
three types of window that Warde describes?

   The book typographer has the job of erecting a window between the
   reader inside the room and that landscape which is the author's
   words. He may put up a stained-glass window of marvellous beauty,
   but a failure as a window; that is, he may use some rich superb
   type like text gothic that is something to be looked at, not
   through. Or he may work in what I call transparent or invisible
   typography. I have a book at home, of which I have no visual
   recollection whatever as far as its typography goes; when I think
   of it, all I see is the Three Musketeers and their comrades
   swaggering up and down the streets of Paris. The third type of
   window is one in which the glass is broken into relatively small
   leaded panes; and this corresponds to what is called 'fine
   printing' today, in that you are at least conscious that there is a
   window there, and that someone has enjoyed building it. That is not
   objectionable, because of a very important fact which has to do
   with the psychology of the subconscious mind. That is that the
   mental eye focuses through type and not upon it. The type which,
   through any arbitrary warping of design or excess of 'colour', gets
   in the way of the mental picture to be conveyed, is a bad type. Our
   subconsciousness is always afraid of blunders (which illogical
   setting, tight spacing and too-wide unleaded lines can trick us
   into), of boredom, and of officiousness. The running headline that
   keeps shouting at us, the line that looks like one long word, the
   capitals jammed together without hair-spaces---these mean
   subconscious squinting and loss of mental focus.

Should we do what we can to help people make better windows rather
than leave them to "make more ludicrous mistakes out of an excessive
enthusiasm"?

Regards,


Tony.

[1]
http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/index.php/the-industrial-revolution/the-arts-and-crafts-movement/379-beatrice-warde
    See the last 1/4 of the page for the text of "Printing Should be
    Invisible".

Received on Wednesday, 1 January 2014 19:59:15 UTC