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I: Visual and Editorial Format of Arts et Métiers Graphiques III: AMG Staff, Contributors, and Audience |
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II: AMG Typography and Design The
typographic layout of Arts et Métiers Graphiques can be considered as
the most pervasive theme of the magazine. Like perpetual advertising,
each issue was almost entirely hand-set with Deberny et Peignot
typefaces that changed with the trends of the time. In 1927, AMG was
first set in "Naudin," a traditional serif typeface with long ascenders
from the Deberny and Peignot catalogue. As the content became more
progressive, sans serifs gradually appeared, especially "Europe," which
was Bauer's "Futura" with a Deberny et Peignot name. Also, when
Cassandre's "Bifur" was introduced in 1928, it became an instant
signature display typeface for advertisements and articles that needed
an ultra-modernistic look. In accordance with the 1937 Exposition,
which deemed "Peignot" as the official typeface of the event, AMG 59 was
set entirely in the same uncial-inspired face (figs. 61-64).
Just
as the typeface choices were novel, so too were the text layouts that
employed those faces. The layouts, again showcases of what was
possible with Deberny et Peignot type, commonly mimicked the
individual article themes with inventive typesetting in illustrative
shapes or patterns. Aligned with the foundry's mission to sell type,
the creative design of AMG needed to be at the vanguard in order to
serve Peignot's ambition of creating a magazine that aspired to be the
reference in the graphic arts. Evidence of this is shown in the fact that the
magazine's colophon was placed at the front of the issue for all to
see, instead as an afterthought squeezed into fine print at the end (figs.
65-67).
Along
with elegant typesetting and design, the magazine frequently published
articles that discussed type from different perspectives. Type
history, type designers, type classification, and type design
aesthetics were subjects all broached in Arts et Métiers
Graphiques. Startling too is the forethought of Charles Peignot as he published several articles on the copyright protection of typefacesa topic
that has become equally poignant at present with the digital
production and easy-replication of typefaces (figs. 68-73).
Figures
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