Futurism was a radical departure from earlier art movements and called for drastic, even frightening measures for the future. The futurists embraced the new machine age, and noise, speed, violence while heartedly. The central figure in Futurism was Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who published the futurist manifesto in Le Figaro (the Parisian newspaper) in 1909.

The movement’s misogynist and fascist leanings and sympathies leave a rather bad after taste (or smell) in what is otherwise a very refreshing and inventive art and design movement. Indeed the futurist typography changed the typographic scene and styles from then onward.

The artists or protagonists of Futurism were often masters of promotion and showmanship. The anarchistic tendency in Futurism works to support this. Towards the end of Futurism this tendency was often turned to commercial ventures (work for clients, rather than art for arts sake).