Wolfgang Weingart
Biograpghy :
(1941) German typographer and graphic designer who studied at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel and taught there and at many other universities and colleges. He is well known for his experimentation with type and for challenging preeminent conventions of modern Swiss typography.
Recognized for his typographic explorations and teaching at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel
Through the work of his students, created a more experimental and expressive approach to typography that was influential around the world
Graphic Design Practices
His innate understanding of the limitations of perpendicular composition in lead typesetting
Strict technical and aesthetic discipline of his apprenticeship
His inherently rebellious nature, drove him inexorably to pursue a more experimental approach.
Works
A dropped case of six-point type served as the basis for his round compositions. He scooped the type up from the floor and tied it up to form a disc.
By printing both the faces and the bottoms of the bodies of the metal type sorts, he achieved the illusion of depth. The discs became spheres.
He used curved metal rules, creating circular compositions embedded in plaster. He experimented with interwoven geometric text composing influenced by ancient stone construction in the Middle East, where he had first travelled in the early 1960s. His classes themselves became workshops to test and expand models for a new typography.
Quotes
“I was motivated to provoke this stodgy profession and to stretch the typeshop’s capabilities to the breaking point,” Weingart stated in the retrospective Weingart: Typography—My Way to Typography, published by Lars Müller in 2000. Link Title
“Accelerated by the social unrest of our generation, the force behind Swiss Typography and its philosophy of reduction was losing its international hold. My students were inspired, we were on to something different, and we knew it.”
The students that joined his project were April Greiman, Jim Faris, Franz Werner, Robert Probst, Jerry Kuyper and Emily Murphy. The design process he employed was deceptively simple: students were first asked to consider the appropriate size, weight and style of the letters they wanted to use. They set the type by picking the lead letters individually from the type case and placing them side-by-side in a composing stick, carefully determining the proper letterspacing, end-of-line spacing and leading. The finished composing was printed in a letterpress proofing press and dried with baby powder. Students then cut it apart and began to design. In order to eliminate the shadows of the cut paper and see their compositions as one plane, a piece of glass was gingerly lowered over the surface. If anything didn’t feel right—type size, weight, style—the whole composing and printing process had to be repeated.
He would come around and tell you the impression it was giving, so you were trying to figure out what that meant. It gives you the reason why it was better and that was a impactful way of learning.
Poster
His typographic vision embodies a similar vitality and richness.
His work is characterized as Swiss Typography.
Das Schweizer Plakat - 1984 Medium- Offset Lithography Dimension - 47 1/4 x 33 1/8 (120 x 84.1 cm)
A 1976 poster he designed and printed for photographer John Glagola includes wide silver bars printed across the artist’s name, heralding the decline of foundry type as a viable commercial means of printing.
Typographische Monatsblätter magazine, where he served on the editorial board from 1970 to 1988.
Typograpghic Process, Nr 4. Typographic Signs ( 1971 -1972 ) Medium - Lithograpgh
Dimension- 34 1/2 x 24 1/4 (87.6 x61.6cm)
"For me, typography is a triangular relationship between design idea, typographic elements, and printing technique."
"The simpler the assignment, the more difficult the solution."
Weingart began teaching at Basel, and broke new ground in the educational field.n 2013, his great tried in the exploration and teaching of design were recognized by receiving the AIGA medal, the highest honor of the design profession.