Typography as an Intermedial Crossover Space

A Problematization Based on “Los maestros tipógrafos”, by Mario Ortiz, and The New Typography, by Jan Tschichold

Abstract

The question on the role of typography in our writing practices requires the consideration of a remarkable set of outskirts of the text. It is in principle a form, but its function is not limited to enabling the transfer of meaning by means of marks on a material surface. Mario Ortiz's “Los maestros tipógrafos” and Jan Tschichold's The New Typography take a multiple approach: historical, aesthetic, mythical... Their journey allows us to rethink the ways in which the design of typefaces participate in the meanings that constitute each era. They invite us to reflect on a problem that crosses media and is at the basis of our cultures.