Typography Fundamental

Typographic Dresign

Typographische Gestaltung

Jan Tschichold (Author)

Ahn Jin-su (Translator)

2014. 2. 7. 152 pages 163x243 mm Hardcover 9788970597232 KRW 20,000

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Typographic Design: A Fundamental Guide to Typography

This book, Typographic Design, is a theoretical work written by Jan Tschichold in 1935, after he moved from Germany to Switzerland following Nazi persecution. It serves as a significant follow-up to his influential 1928 book, The New Typography.

While The New Typography was bold, radical, and somewhat dogmatic, sparking intense debates about modern typography, this later work reflects a more refined and mature perspective. Here, Tschichold further develops his views on justified typesetting, decorative typography, and design principles, questioning and re-evaluating his own earlier arguments.

The book systematically examines both micro-typography (letters, words, lines, paragraphs, grids) and macro-typography (page composition, paper formats, tables, lines, and color usage). Tschichold does not simply lay out rules—he critically questions and answers them himself, adapting his ideas to a modern reader’s perspective. Even today, his insights on book design remain highly relevant, not only for designers but also for anyone who reads and appreciates well-crafted books.

The Return of the ‘Yellow Book’ – The Only Official Korean Translation of Jan Tschichold’s Work

The first formal introduction of Jan Tschichold to Korean readers came with the 1990 publication of Typographic Design. Prior to this, his theories were only referenced through citations in typography books.

This book, often called the ‘Yellow Book’ due to its distinctive cover, became a quiet legend among graphic designers, editors, and publishing professionals, serving as a fundamental typography textbook.

With the 2006 revised edition now out of print, Tschichold’s words have long existed only in footnotes and citations. However, this new faithful Korean translation, by typography expert Ahn Jin-soo of Basel School of Design (Switzerland), brings back Tschichold’s voice in its original clarity, offering readers a fresh opportunity to engage with the wisdom of one of typography’s greatest pioneers.

Jan Tschichold

Jan Tschichold also known as Iwan Tschichold or Ivan Tschichold, was a German calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in the development of graphic design in the 20th century – first, by developing and promoting principles of typographic modernism, and subsequently idealizing conservative typographic structures. His direction of the visual identity of Penguin Books in the decade following World War II served as a model for the burgeoning design practice of planning corporate identity programs. He also designed the typeface Sabon.

Ahn Jin-su

After graduating from the Department of Visual Information Design at Kyungpook National University, he majored in typography at the Department of Visual Communication (now Institute Digital Communication Environments, IDCE) of the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst (HGK FHNW) in Basel, Switzerland. He received his master’s degree from the same school and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the United States. He began teaching as a research assistant at the Basel University of Art and Design in 2009, and was officially hired in 2014 to teach typography major classes and concept classes for the bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He translated Jan Tschichold’s Typographische Gestaltung (2014), On the Form of Books and Typography (2021), and Emil Ruder’s Typography (2023) into Korean.

Ahn Graphics