A Few Basic Typefaces
This poster was created for an exhibition of Vignelli Associates work at the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1991. As computers became more prolific, so did the practice of manipulating typefaces by extending, compressing or distorting them “to order.” Massimo Vignelli called it “one of the worst forms of visual pollution ever experienced by mankind.” In response, he created this exhibition featuring work using only four typefaces: Bodoni, Garamond, Century Expanded, and Helvetica. The concept was to prove that a variety of strong designs over many years could be done using only a few typefaces. In the Vignelli Canon, Vignelli says: “In other words, is not the type, but what you do with it that counts. The accent was on structure rather than type.”