“Design must move beyond the past, discarding classical arrangements in favour of asymmetrical layouts with intentional use of white space and geometric shapes (especially lines).”

– Jan Tschichold

Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) was a German typographer who was introduced to the Bauhaus school in 1923. The exhibit introduced the designer Modernist design, and he quickly adopting the school’s teachings: rejecting traditional fonts and symmetrical composition and instead embracing sans-serif typefaces, geometric construction, and asymmetrical composition which he writes about in his 1928 book: Asymmetrical Design. He argued that asymmetry was a symbol of future. Work during this period of his career which features asymmetry includes the 1927 film poster: “A Woman Without A Name”. However, when the Nazi’s took control of Germany in 1933, Tschichold was labelled a “cultural Bolshevik” and forced to immigrate to Switzerland and then after several visits, he relocated to England after the war. There he took up designing position at Penguin book publishing in 1947 where his earlier radical design principles can be seen to transition into a much more classical styling. Tschichold overseen the redesign of more than 500 book covers which are all constructed using what is now referred to as Penguin Composition Rules. These rules included the use of the Gill Sans typeface and perfectly symmetrically placement of elements including the Penguin logo and icon. I have included a template I created on Figma to replicate the symmetry and styling of Tschichold’s Penguin books; using the Rule of Three grid.