Semantics

I have always said that there are three aspects in Design that are important to me: Semantic, Syntactic and Pragmatic.

Semantics, for me, is the search of the meaning of whatever we have to design.

That is the essence of syntax: the discipline that controls the proper use of grammar in the construction of phrases and the articulation of a language, Design.

Pragmatics

We do not like limpy design.

We like Design to be intellectually elegant - that means elegance of the mind, not one of manners, elegance that is the opposite of vulgarity.

Discipline

The attention to details requires discipline.

Quality is there or is not there, and if is not there we have lost our time.

Discipline is a set of self imposed rules, parameters within which we operate. It is a bag of tools that allows us to design in a consistent manner from beginning to end. Discipline is also an attitude that provides us with the capacity of controlling our creative work so that it has continuity of intent throughout rather than fragmentation.

Appropriateness

Actually, we can say that appropriateness is the search for the specific of any given problem. To define that prevents us from taking wrong directions, or alternative routes that lead to nowhere or even worse, to wrong solutions.

Appropriateness transcends any issue of style - there are many ways of solving a problem, many ways of doing, but the relevant thing is that, no matter what, the solution must be appropriate. I think that we have to listen to what a thing wants to be, rather than contrive it in to an arbitrary confinement.

Ambiguity

Rather than the negative connotation of ambiguity as a form of vagueness, I have a positive interpretation of ambiguity, intended as a plurality of meanings, or the ability of conferring to an object or a design, the possibility of being read in different ways - each one complementary to the other to enrich the subject and give more depth…

Contradiction can sometimes reinforce ambiguity, but more often it is a sign of discontinuity and lack of control.

Design Is One

They were active in the whole field of Design and Architecture following the Adolph Loos dictum that an Architect should be able to design everything “from the spoon to the city.”

Design discipline is above and beyond any style.

All style requires discipline in order to be expressed.

Very often people think that Design is a particular style. Nothing could be more wrong!

Design is a discipline, a creative process with its own rules, controlling the consistency of its output toward its objective in the most direct and expressive way.

Visual Power

We think good Design is always an expression of creative strength bringing forward clear concepts expressed in beautiful form and color, where every element expresses the content in the most forceful way.

Intellectual Elegance

It is the definitive goal of our minds - the one beyond compromises.

It elevates the most humble artifact to a noble stand.

Intellectual elegance is also our civic consciousness, our social responsibility, our sense of decency, our way of conceiving Design, our moral imperative. Again, it is not a design style, but the deepest meaning and the essence of Design.

Timelessness

We are definitively against any fashion of design and any design fashion. We despise the culture of obsolescence, the culture of waste, the cult of the ephemeral. We detest the demand of temporary solutions, the waste of energies and capital for the sake of novelty.

We are for a Design that lasts, that responds to people’s needs and to people’s wants. We are for a Design that is committed to a society that demands long lasting values. A society that earns the benefit of commodities and deserves respect and integrity.

We like a typography that transcends subjectivity and searches for objective values, a typography that is beyond times - that doesn’t follow trends, that reflects its content in an appropriate manner.

We strive for a Design that is centered on the message rather than visual titillation. We like Design that is clear, simple and enduring. And that is what timelessness means in Design.

Responsibility

As designers, we have three levels of responsibility:

One - to ourselves, the integrity of the project and all its components.

Two - to the Client, to solve the problem in a way that is economically sound and efficient. Three - to the public at large, the consumer, the user of the final design.

Equity

A real Corporate Identity is based on an overall system approach, not just a logo.

A logo gradually becomes part of our collective culture; in its modest way it becomes part of all of us.

When a logo has been in the public domain for more than fifty years it becomes a classic, a landmark, a respectable entity and there is no reason to throw it away and substitute it with a new concoction, regardless of how well it has been designed.

What is new is NOT a graphic form but a way of thinking, a way of showing respect for history in a context that usually has zero understanding for these values.

Paper Sizes

Whenever possible, we like to use both sides of a sheet of paper, even when we do posters, offering the possibility of increasing and pacing the information on a large piece of paper, rather than wasting one side.

Grids, Margins, Columns and Modules

The grid represents the basic structure of our graphic design, it helps to organize the content, it provides consistency, it gives an orderly look and it projects a level of intellectual elegance that we like to express.

There are infinite kinds of grids, but just one - the most appropriate - for any problem.

Once we have structured the page, we will begin to structure the information and place it in the grid in such a way that the clarity of the message will be enhanced by the placement of the text on the grid. There are infinite ways of doing this and that is why the grid is a useful tool, rather than a constricting device.

Grids for Books

To do that a specific leading should be determined for the type area of each module with the illustration modules coinciding.

Depending on the size of the book we like to keep the space between the columns and the modules rather tight - ideally the size of a line of type - which helps to achieve what I said above.

Typefaces The Basic Ones

This enabled anyone who could type the freedom of using any available typeface and do any kind of distortion. It was a disaster of mega proportions.

In order to draw attention to that issue I made an exhibition showing work that we had done over many years by using only four typefaces: Garamond, Bodoni, Century Expanded, and Helvetica.

In other words, is not the type but what you do with it that counts. The accent was on structure rather than type.

I still believe that most typefaces are designed for commercial reasons, just to make money or for identity purposes. In reality the number of good typefaces is rather limited and most of the new ones are elaborations on pre-existing faces.

Besides those already mentioned, I can add Optima, Futura, Univers (the most advanced design of the century since it comes in 59 variations of the same face), Caslon, Baskerville, and a few other modern cuts.

One of the most important elements in typography is scale and size relationship.

I am not interested in describing all the different possibilities as much I am in expressing my point of view and my approach.

These are not our typical areas of involvement but whenever a brilliant solution is found I appreciate both the intent and the results.

I strongly believe that design should never be boring, but I don’t think it should be a form of entertainment.

Flush Left, Centered, Justified

Most of the time we use flush left.

We use centered for lapidary text, invitations, or any rhetorical composition where it may be more appropriate, or for the address at the bottom of a letterhead, and for business cards.

Justified is used more for text books, but it is not one of our favorites because it is fundamentally contrived.

Type Size Relationship

Choose the proper size of type in relation to the width of the column:

8 on 9, 9 on 10, 10 on 11 pt for columns up to 70 mm.

12 on 13, 14 on 16 for columns up to 140 mm.

16 on 18, 18 on 20, for larger columns.

Basically we stick to no more then two type sizes on a printed page, but there are exceptions.

We try to achieve a typographic composition that expresses intellectual elegance as opposed to blatant vulgarity by using typographic devices: a proper amount of leading for the context, a proper use of roman or italic type, a regular spacing, a tight kerning, using rulers when appropriate (to separate different parts of the message), and a logical use of bold, regular and light type weights. We do not like the use of type as a decorative element, and we are horrified by any type deformation.

Rulers

Type should always hang from the ruler, regardless of the size. This is another little but important detail of my Canon.

Contrasting Type Sizes

I love the play between a very large type size for headlines versus a much smaller type size for the body text, with proper white space in between.

In a world where everybody screams, silence is noticeable. White space provides the silence. That is the essence of our typography.

Scale

Scale is the most appropriate size of an object in its natural context.

Texture

Light is the master of form and texture.

Texture has an infinite range of tactile or visual experiences and it is essential for designers to sharpen their perception in order to articulate and master the media.

Color

Most of the time we use color as a Signifier, or as an Identifier. Generally speaking we do not use color in a pictorial manner.

Color is a very important element in the formulation of our projects, but, as we do with typefaces, we have limited and articulated our palette to express the message in the clearest and most understandable way.

Appropriateness is one of the rules we use in choosing colors knowing how effective it can be to use the right color at the right time.

Layouts

Most publications are composed of text, images and captions and the task of the designer is to sift through the images to select those which best portray the essence of the content and possess the quality of becoming an icon.

Once again, in designing any kind of publication the most helpful device is the grid.

The purpose of the grid is to provide consistency to the layouts, but not necessarily excitement - which will be provided by the sum of all the elements in the design.

It is the white space that makes the layout sing.

Sequence

A publication is simultaneously the static experience of a spread and the cinematic experience of a sequence of pages.

We tend to like a form of layout that almost disappears to the eyes of the reader.

We would say that if you see the layout, it is probably a bad layout!

Binding

Too much identity generates perceptive redundancy and lack of retention.

White Space

I often say that in typography the white space is more important than the black of the type.

Naturally, the organization of information needs a structure to hold together, but one should not underestimate the importance of white space to better define the hierarchy of every component. White space, non only separates the different parts of the message but helps to position the message in the context of the page.

For many artists white space is the essential element of the composition. It is the fundamental qualifier and protagonist of the image.

Odd sizes imply more labor costs and waste of materials.

It is imperative that a designer becomes familiar with all these aspects of design and the realization process. It is part of our ethics as well as our design vocabulary. Costly solutions can never be a product of good design because economy is at the essence of the design expression.

A collection of experiences

Every sense of our body gets involved but it must be processed, analyzed, evaluated, and finally filed in our memory according to our personal canon, not in an arbitrary way.

Freedom of choice can only happen with knowledge and that is an ongoing process that requires structure and determination, not happenstance.

Conclusion

We sifted through colors, textures, typefaces, images, and gradually we built a vocabulary of materials and experiences that enable us to express our solutions to given problems - our interpretations of reality.

I love systems and despise happenstance.

I love ambiguity because, for me, ambiguity means plurality of meanings.

I love contradiction because it keeps things moving, preventing them from assuming a frozen meaning, or becoming a monument to immobility.

As much as I love things in flux, I love them within a frame of reference…