Edward Gorey

'The Gashlycrumb Tinies' by Edward Gorey is an A to Z book with a dark twist. Each illustration shows the macabre death of a child. It is an unusual format for such a gory subject as A to Z books are usually intended for children to enjoy, not be killed off in. His illustrations are built up using black lines which add to the darkness of the subject matter. The text is a typeface but handwritten, which compliments the illustrations.

Futurist Typography

The Futurists were interested in dynamics, movement and machinery. This shows in the style and way they used typography. The type is not set out in a conventional way but freely positioned, almost creating pictures with words. The use of colour makes the letters stand out. Your eye is naturally drawn to the darker colours first and then you notice the forms of the coloured letters.

Chris Ware

Chris Wares book 'Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth' is like a very fat comic book. Each page is visually stimulating, with many tiny illustrations that are beautifully coloured. As the thread of the story goes along it sometimes goes of on a tangent with little diagrammatic sections, it is incredibly detailed. It is very effective how he draws attention to certain things by drawing them a few times, getting closer each time, ending up with a close, cropped image.

Posy Simmonds

'Mrs Webers Diary' by Posy Simmonds combines handwritten diary pages with comic strips. The diary pages contain brief snippets of Mrs Weber's hectic life. They are full of lists, things to do or pick up, appointments and sums. These are set next to comic strips that tell in more detail the events entered in her diary. I found the diary entries more interesting than the stories,they made it feel more intimate and personal.

El Lissitsky

El Lissitsky's children's book 'Of Two Squares' tells a story about Communism with minimal colour and text. Each simple illustration is contained in a box with the text positioned at the side, some of the words look like they are falling out of the pictures at strange angles. As this is a children's book, I think this inventive approach to the layout of the words would help engage it's young readers. The simple visual elements of geometric shapes and limited colour get the Communist message across to children in the most simplest of ways.

David Carson

David Carsons designs for the 'Ray Gun' magazines experimented with the use of typography. In this article he has repeated and overlapped type to such an extent that the first paragraph is virtually illegable. This suggests that the overall look of the page was maybe more important than the content of the article.