Weingart was influenced by constructivism
and particularly the work of Piet Zwart, a dutch typographer who used
type in a freeform way. A connection can be seen between Zwart and Weingart's
use of type as image.
At Basel, "Concept" was never discussed separately
from "Form," since the two were developed simultaneously. Armin
Hofmann considered Weingart outstanding in his abilty to bring the "opposing
forces" of type and image into "the expression of unity."
Weingart's "secret" for typographic innovation and excitement
was, he said, "total flexibility in the arrangement of elements in
a given format." Weingart believed that typography should never be
"dry" or "rigid" but even so should always have an
underlying foundation of structure.
Weingart preferred sans serif type because he felt
that serifs were somehwhat "noisy" and actually detracted visually
from the "typographic idea." He always used Akzidenz Grotesk
because "it's a little bit ugly. It has character and is monumental,
strong, and direct."
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