SHAPE, LINE AND COLOR
Design and Paper No. 19

Ladislav Sutnar

Ladislav Sutnar: SHAPE, LINE AND COLOR. New York: Marquardt & Company Fine Papers, 1945 [Design and Paper No. 19]. A nearly fine softcover booklet in stapled French folded wrappers printed in three colors: edges lightly tanned. Cover and interior design by Ladislav Sutnar. Rare.

5 x 8 softcover saddle-stitched booklet with uncoated cover, plain vellum endsheets and 24 pages of editorial and design content, all specifically to promote the various lines of Marquandt papers. The design and printing of this issue meet the highest production standards of the day.

In the two issues of Design and Paper produced by Sutnar, his aim was to educate both designers and clients in the effect of typography on the perception of information. Minimum means, maximum effect -- that was Sutnar's Czechoslovak principle. In the U.S. he was the first to use the horizontal area of a spread for organizing information with the idea of dynamic reading and continuous visual flow. He designed the double-page in such a manner that it would be immediately scanned then would quickly provide the details required. Diagrams, widely used even prior to World War II as a means of visualization and rationalization,were effectively used by Sutnar in designing his catalogs. Continuous flow of hierarchically-structured information was effected by the laws of optics and psychology of perception.

Sutnar's information design, based on factual scholarly research,was executed in a creative form. While seemingly simple, Sutnar's information schemes are quite sophisticated,yet at the same time visually attractive and imaginative. They are fascinating because of their brilliant balance between the strict logic of hierarchical structure and playful imagination, the rational and irrational, both science and art. Sweet's catalogues are considered foundling work in the field of information design. -- Iva Janakova (Curator of Exhibitions and Head of the Prints Department at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and editior of "Ladislav Sutnar -- Prague -- New York -- Design in Action.")

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

out of stock