Typography and composition: structure as the key to creativity
Interview with Martin Mosch
Martin Mosch, typographer, designer and lecturer, combines in his work ”The typographic composition“ his many years of expertise in design and teaching. With a deep understanding of the technical and aesthetic principles of typography, he provides a practical system that combines creativity and efficiency in the design process.
What was your motivation to write the book The Typographic Composition?
The driving force was clearly the idea of bundling the knowledge imparted to students over a long period of time and the didactic methodology used in my seminars in one book. I wanted to explain the topic of typography and composition in small steps as comprehensively as possible. Because: I noticed myself early on in practice that even in a creative discipline there are not only many rules, but also “recipes”, procedures and composition methods that raise every aspiring designer to a higher level. The much-cited fear of a blank sheet of paper (or the blank InDesign file) is therefore completely superfluous. There are traditional methods of “opening players” as well as new, very stringent approaches. And anyone who has mastered the keyboard of visual flavor enhancers will quickly come up with clever and innovative graphic solutions. Combined with the ability to look closely and recognize, the typographer/graphic designer is already very well positioned.
Which visual strategies help to guide readers in a targeted manner?
It is wise to always review and hierarchically structure the entire “material” to be processed. When the functions of the elements and content levels are clearly defined, navigation can be developed that determines how the eye should be guided. This navigation can then be implemented compositionally. That sounds very technical up to this point. By deliberately breaking up certain moments and skilful creative fine-tuning, the work ultimately becomes visually more sophisticated and elaborate. The result is a graphically strong, fresh composition that, however, always does justice to the specific content.
What role does the interplay of tradition and innovation play in typography?
I think they're interdependent. Only those who know the tradition can creatively “play” with it and develop it further. In the visual arts (in crafts too, by the way), this is quite similar: First basic training takes place, then letting go, applying and breaking out. Especially in typography, we have many rules that are needed to achieve great things with our material, the letters. However, this knowledge automatically leads to a level that requires new, innovative solutions. Designers such as Vaughan Oliver and David Carson added many aspects to typographic communication design in the 90s — and have therefore been copied over and over again. Design is always somewhat emotional and must act sensually.
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Ignite #10
On December 4, an evening full of inspiration and exciting insights on a hot topic awaits you:
Digital co-creation: inspiration in the age of data and AI
Look forward to an exciting deep dive with Cedric Kiefer, co-founder and creative lead of onformative. Together, we will explore how humans and machines can work together as partners in art and what new paths AI opens up in the creative sector.
(The event will be held in German)
