Excerpt: Typography That Makes the Reader Work

Authors

  • Joel A. Roth

Abstract

Book typography today basically follows the same configurations on the page that it has since books have been printed with movable type. Except for relatively minor alterations, the reader of today’s book is confronted with page after unrelieved page of blocks of type. But that may be changing. As McLuhan notes, the works of artists are often far in advance of what later becomes common usage. If this is so, then the work of several novelists and designers today may presage a new use for typography on the book page in the future. This new use for typography is based on erratic type arrangement which pulls the reader in as an active participant, and makes reading a creative act rather than passive absorption of information.

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Published

1969-04-01

Issue

Section

Journal Article