LAWS OF THE LETTER AND LANGUAGE OF VISION
Ferdinand de Saussure, one of the
leaders of structuralist theory, charged that the meaning of a sign depends
heavily on the context in which it is presented. Saussure coined the term of
linguistic value, meaning that concepts are only identifiable in the presence
of other concepts. Furthermore, the authors write, “The meaning of a sign does
not reside within the sign itself, but is generated from the surrounding system”
(Lupton, Miller 53).
I was drawn to the font 1931 designed
by Wladyslav Strzeminski. I think this is a perfect example of meaning being
generated from a surrounding system. When they stand alone, the letters don’t
communicate as effectively (if at all) as when surrounded by their
counterparts. Lupton and Miller write, “The formal parameters of these
avant-garde typefaces suppress the individuality of letters by forcing
attention to the system—the discrete figures in Strzeminki’s font, for example,
are indecipherable apart from the surrounding code” (Lupton, Miller 58).
Structuralist typography took the approach that a system of letters should be
viewed as an entire language in and of itself. “By shifting the emphasis from
the individual letter to the overall series of characters, structuralist
typography exchanged the fixed identity of the letter for the relational system
of the font” (Lupton, Miller, 58).
Wladyslav Strzeminski's 1931 font
McLUHAN / FIORE
Fiore’s layout designs for The
Medium is the Massage (1967), War and Peace in the Global Village (1968), Do
It! Scenarios of the Revolution (1970), and I Seem to Be a Verb (1970) all have
a very pieced-together, collage-like aesthetic. Of The Medium is the Massage,
Lupton and Miller write, “Composed of commissioned photographs as well as stock
images of news events and personalities, the publication is a hybrid: part
book, part magazine, part storyboard” (Lupton, Miller 92). Borrowing from the
Swiss-Modern typography and Dadaist collage sensibilities (Lupton, Miller 93),
the book is a blend of classic and modern, sophistication and kitsch.
The authors commend the book’s
creators for their inventiveness and experimentation with the space of the
book. Lupton and Miller charge that the content and design of The Medium is the
Massage and War and Peace broke new ground in the publishing industry. The
authors write, “Massage and War and Peace are remarkable for blurring the
professional, commercial, and formal distinctions that constitute the
hierarchies of publishing” (Lupton, Miller 91). According to the authors of the
text, Fiore’s layouts went against the conventional hierarchy of images and
captions, text and illustrations (Lupton, Miller 93).
Both McLuhan and Fiore’s works were
concerned with America as a culture of reproduction. The authors write, “Common
to all of Fiore’s books is the deliberate repetition of images and text. This
technique seems partly inspired by the serial forms of Pop Art; more
fundamentally, repetition is an effect of the mass media which McLuhan sought
to explain” (Lupton, Miller 97). I think this is evidenced in Fiore’s layouts
with the faculty of recycled images: stock photos, newspaper clippings, popular
magazine covers. Fiore’s employment of these various products of American
culture feed into the ideas of mass production and consumption which McLuhan found so fascinating.
Spreads from The Medium is the Massage
GEOMETRIC DESIGN
DECONSTRUCTIVE
INTEGRATIVE
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