There's a new book out on Wim Crouwel's work. It has a blue cover (of course), and lots of images of many many of his types, as used in posters from the '50s on.
Very impressive.

That's true. I bought this book some time ago. His grid work is very impressive. There is another book that i can recommend: http://www.redstonepress.co.uk/tmwebservices/newsite/abz/

But the books that i am looking for, are going more in the direction of the wim crouwel book.

nick, what's the blue book called?

I don't recall. Something like "Wim Crouwel's Type Designs"?

It's called "Alphabets". And it's great.

I suppose there aren't more Books about modular typefaces. Pity.

Tiffany, on your first question, Crouwel's book doesn't have a bibliography but in the notes to the illustrations and the long interview by Kees Broos, he mentions a few references. Mostly periodicals, though.

The book Martin is looking for would be heavy on categorization, eg "How many Modules?" and "Shape of Module" and "Is there a grid?" and "Are the modules discrete?"

Pixel fonts have one module.
Faces like Relay, LCD and Klaxon have more.
Test Pilot Collective has many interesting designs with strong modularity.
And then there's the classic, mysterious Fregio Mecano (22 units).
Don't forget Clotilde Olyffe.

This is a Frutiger�s modular grid typeface excercise:



Found in "Signos, S�mbolos, Marcas, Se�ales" (Ed. Gustavo Gili)

I have also been looking into modular typefaces, and I've seen a few references to what Nick called the "mysterious Fregio Mecano." Mysterious, indeed... Does anyone know where I might find a visual reference to see what this face looks like or how it works?

I came across it in "130 Alphabets & other signs" by Julian Rothenstein and Mel Gooding, Thames & Hudson, 1993. The same authors repeat the specimen in "ABZ, more alphabets and other signs", Redstone Press, 2003.

There is a font, CG Section, that is an instance of the Fregio Mecano system.

> Pixel fonts have one module.

Unless they use gray. :-)

Hector, I'd never seen that in color! Nice.

hhp

Hey Tiffany and everybody else, thanks for replying. :-)

>Does Wim Crouwel's book have a bibliography?
No, he doesn't. He mentioned though some names that i will look after. But there are not many that are so consequent like Wim Crouwel.

> What other typefaces do you consider modular?
LIke H�ctor Mu�oz Huerta and Nick Shinn indicated, there are many different grids for modular typefaces, technical or graphical. If you have a look at Albrecht Dürer's "Konstruktion der gotischen Minuskel", you will see that he used grid and modulars to explain or reconstruct a written typeface.
Frank Blokland explained in his classes for calligraphy the construction of the "humanistische Kursive" and the "karolingische Minuskel" and if you want to see it this way, the single stroke of a pen can be seen as a modul.
What i am trying to say is, that only the grids changed over the years, but the idea of modular typefaces exists for a long time.

>Do the designer's of these typefaces have books which they have written?
Is there a source in the net that can be used for this kind of research? Google drives me crazy with all the informations that i did not ask for.

>Have you looked through magazine indexes?
Just through the one of Eye, but the search function did not found anything about this theme.

>Does modularity in typeface design belong strictly to modernism? Or does it flow into post-modernism as well?
I think modularity and grids are inspired or based on technical inventions. The grids of our time are based on horizontal and vertical measurements, but the grid of the "karolingische minuskel" was based on handwriting, means the biological conditions of our hands and on the possibilities of a ink pen.

So, i am looking for modular typefaces of all times and their backgrounds. I am also very interested on the further use of this typefaces. Were they used aswell for ornaments or illustrations?

I just know one person that did this. Juan Trochut Blanchard, a catalan typographer.

Your definition is too broad.
The conditions for a modular typeface should be:
1) the modules are separate
2) there is a limited number of modules

In particular, there should be no joining strokes of irregular length between modules.

You are right, the definition is very broad. But i am in the beginning of my research and do not want to decide in this state what is and what isn't a modular typeface.
After your definition overlapping modules cannot produce a modular typeface, which would exclude very interesting typefaces based on modules.
I agree though to make a difference in between constructed and modular typefaces.

I think the broader you look the better you can analyse something interesting (as opposed to merely useful) out of Modularity. Like you, I don't think it's a good idea to have a very strict formal-structural benchmark. Maybe you should look at a module as any formal shape (out of a fixed set) that can however be applied in different ways, although only through predefined formal rules.

hhp