The New Typography vs Swiss
ニュー・タイポグラフィ / スイス・スタイル
The New Typography comes from Experimental Typography and Swiss from Functionalism. 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
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Turned printed matter into rational information structure through asymmetry, sans-serifs, photography and functional hierarchy.
Swiss
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Puts order front and center and makes the information itself the protagonist.
| The New Typography | Swiss | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1920s–1930s | 1950s– |
| Family | Experimental Typography | Functionalism |
| Kind | Layout | Style |
| Cues | Asymmetry / Sans-serif type / Photography / Functional white space | Strict grid / Sans-serif type / Asymmetry / Objective photography |
| Best used for | Rebuilding letterheads and forms so they read in order without ornament · Fixing the hierarchy of headline, text and picture in a single decision | Making complex information fast to read · Giving an organization rationality and transparency |
| Type | One sans in two weights, with hierarchy carried by size alone | Neutral sans-serif; be bold with size contrast |
| Composition | Drop centering, set a left axis, divide areas with rules and space | 12-column grid, left-aligned, asymmetric |
| Material | Black and red, halftone photography, plain rules, no ornament | White space and objective photographs; almost no ornament |
| Caution | When 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. | Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale. |