The life of Jan Tschichold was full of ups and downs but as a whole impacted the world of design with revolutionary designs. He began school in teaching but after three years realized his ambition of being a typeface designer. He was so influenced by Russian artists and the Bauhaus that he called himself Iwan Tschichold. He was so annoyed with the pre-1925 type that he abandoned the rules. Tchichold began only using san serif type and asymmetrical setting. His new type had no relation to handwriting. His ideas caused a passionate split in the design world. Not long after, the lavish and outdated type as well as centered typesetting gave way to a more modern style.
Tschichold was employed by a number of publishing houses including; Insel, Penguin, Benno Schwabe and others. He taught typography and calligraphy for about eight years in Munich. The rise of the Nazi regime caused problems for Tschichold. After they searched his house, brief imprisonment and he lost his job he fled to Switzerland. Sadly, the progress he made was reversed by the sterile rigidity of the Nazi party.
Throughout his life he published many works that impacted the design community then and are still inspiring today. Some of his works are; "The New Typography" (1928), "Typographic Design" (1935), "Typeface Theory, Practices and Sketches" (1942), "In the Service of the Book" and "Arbitrary Measurement Relations of the Book Page" (1962). His fonts include; Transit (1931), Saskia (1931), Zeus (1931), Sabon (1967). He passed away in 1974 at the age of 72 leaving his mark on our pages.
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