Typobiography traces sixty years of Jost Hochuli's practice as a book designer and typographer, structured around the central conviction that design is not decoration but a determinant of how text is read and knowledge transmitted.
About This Book
Few figures in European book design have held as consistent a vision as Jost Hochuli. This visual monograph organises his six-decade body of work into thematic sections, each addressing the relationship between typography, legibility, and the physical form of the book. The layout itself was designed by Hochuli, making the volume a demonstration of its own argument. Bringing together the designer's own texts, a preface by John Morgan, and an interview with Robin Kinross, alongside a corpus of previously unpublished archival images, Typobiography functions simultaneously as a career retrospective and a sustained meditation on what book design can and should do.
Key Features
- 200 pages of thematically structured content, with works digitised specifically for this publication and displayed in a layout designed by Hochuli himself
- Preface by John Morgan; interview with Robin Kinross; texts by Jost Hochuli
- Published by Editions B42, ISBN 9782494983052
What You'll Discover
- Hochuli's core thesis: that typographic design is an essential, functional factor in legibility rather than an aesthetic overlay
- The inspirations and personalities that shaped his career, explored through archival images published here for the first time
- How a designer's layout choices can themselves embody the principles being discussed — the book's own structure is evidence of its argument
- Critical perspectives on Hochuli's work through the contributions of John Morgan and Robin Kinross, two of the most respected voices in contemporary typography
About the Author
Jost Hochuli is a Swiss graphic designer and typographer whose career spans more than six decades, with book design and typography at its centre. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost practitioners and theorists of book typography in the European tradition.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 200
- Dimensions: 25 x 18 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9782494983052
- Publisher: Editions B42
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Graphic designers, typographers, book designers, and design historians with a serious interest in the theory and practice of typography and the printed book.