The New Typography vs Penguin Cover System

ニュー・タイポグラフィ / ペンギン・ブックスの表紙

The New Typography comes from Experimental Typography and Penguin Cover System from Publishing and Editing. One is layout and the other style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

The New Typography

The New Typography — モホリ＝ナジのタイポグラフィック・コラージュ 1922（CC BY 3.0）The New Typography — モホリ＝ナジ『絵画・写真・映画』バウハウス叢書8 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainThe New Typography — バウハウス叢書の広告 1925 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Turned printed matter into rational information structure through asymmetry, sans-serifs, photography and functional hierarchy.

Penguin Cover System

Penguin Cover System — ペンギン・ブックス《The Tanker Derbent》1944年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainPenguin Cover System — ペリカン・ブックスの背表紙 40冊余 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0Penguin Cover System — ペンギン・ブックス版『1984年』の表紙 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

From the tripartite color bands of the first covers through Tschichold's composition rules to Marber's ruled grid, Penguin kept reinventing the cover as a design system. The paperback became a textbook of modern design.

The New TypographyPenguin Cover System
Era1920s–1930s1935–
FamilyExperimental TypographyPublishing and Editing
KindLayoutStyle
CuesAsymmetry / Sans-serif type / Photography / Functional white spaceColor-coded bands / Rigorous composition rules / The Marber grid / Consistency as a series
Best used forRebuilding letterheads and forms so they read in order without ornament · Fixing the hierarchy of headline, text and picture in a single decisionLaunching a book series that will hold together as the volume count grows · Sorting subjects or levels by color so a shelf reads at a glance
TypeOne sans in two weights, with hierarchy carried by size aloneOne serif face fixed, size and leading unchanged across every volume
CompositionDrop centering, set a left axis, divide areas with rules and spaceConstant bands top and bottom with a fixed central field, only words changing
MaterialBlack and red, halftone photography, plain rules, no ornamentGround colors limited to the categories, one paper stock throughout
CautionWhen asymmetry becomes the aim in itself the reading order is never settled, and the page ends up harder to read than the ornamented one it replaced.Making an exception for each title breaks the premise that the system is the product and the shelf stops reading.

Put these two together

Experimental Typography ／ Publishing and Editing

IndexStyle