That is, the first thing he asked of this particular object was not “How should it look?” but “What must it do?” and to that extent all good typography is modernist.

because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing that it was meant to contain.

that the most important thing about printing is that it conveys thought, ideas, images, from one mind to other minds.

Digital technology puts creation, production, and distribution into the hands of the designer, enabling such bold assertions of artistic presence. These acts of graphic authorship fit within a broader evolving model of collective author-ship that is fundamentally changing the producer-consumer relationship.

Today some graphic designers continue to champion ideals of neutrality and objectivity that were essential to the early formation of their field. Such designers see the client’s message as the central component of their work. They strive to communicate this message clearly, although now their post-postmodern eyes are open to the impossibility of neutrality and objectivity.

Looking back across the history of design through the minds of these influential designers, one can identify pervasive themes like those discussed in this introduction. Issues like authorship, universality, and social responsi-bility, so key to avant-garde ideology, remain crucial to contemporary critical and theoretical discussions of the field.