Jan Tschichold was a prominent German typographer, calligrapher, book designer, and teacher, celebrated as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century design and typography.

Tschichold, born in Leipzig in 1902, gained early practical experience in typography from his father, a signmaker and calligrapher. He later attended the Academy for Graphic Arts in Leipzig. Early in his career, Tschichold was influenced by the Bauhaus movement in Weimar, adopting Modernist design principles, including exclusive use of sans serif typefaces, non-centered typography on posters and book covers, and strict guidelines. His 1928 publication, The New Typography (Die neue Typografie), is one of his most famous and influential works based on these ideas.

After fleeing the Nazi regime in 1933, Tschichold sought refuge in Switzerland, where he gradually began to distance himself from his earlier, rigid design philosophies. He explained this shift as a reaction to what he perceived as parallels between Modernist principles and authoritarian ideologies like National Socialism and fascism.

In the mid-1940s, Tschichold joined Penguin Books in London, where he redesigned the house style, standardizing typefaces and setting positions for titles and authors’ names, separated by a line. His work led to the Penguin Composition Rules and the King Penguin grid standards. After completing his work at Penguin, he returned to Switzerland, where he lived until his death in 1974. (ss)