Harmony & Contrast
The heart of Carl Dair ’ s teaching -- the thing that I keep pointing people to , and the most valuable thing I myself learned from his work -- is the subject of “ A Typographic Quest ” No . 5 : “ Typographic Contrast .” In a virtuoso performance , Dair shows exactly how designers use different kinds of visual contrast to make design work and meaning pop out -- clearly and unambiguously , and with flair . To make his point , he compares typography to music .
Graphic form and musical form have a common denominator : rhythm and emphasis , harmony and contrast . “ Harmony and contrast ,” says Dair , “ are fundamental to both , and the discovery of these basic principles and their application to the design of printed matter is the object of this volume of ‘ A Typographic Quest .’”