top of page
De moderne mensch_19
De moderne mensch_20
De moderne mensch_21
De moderne mensch_22
De moderne mensch_23
De moderne mensch_24
De moderne mensch_25
De moderne mensch_26
De moderne mensch_27
De moderne mensch_28
De moderne mensch_29
De moderne mensch_30
De moderne mensch_31
De moderne mensch_32
De moderne mensch_33
De moderne mensch_34
De moderne mensch_35
De moderne mensch_36
De moderne mensch_37
De moderne mensch_39
De moderne mensch_38
De moderne mensch_40
De moderne mensch_41
De moderne mensch_43
De moderne mensch_42
De moderne mensch_44
De moderne mensch_47
De moderne mensch_45
De moderne mensch_48
De moderne mensch_46

Otto Neurath. De moderne mensch ontstaat. Amsterdam : N.V. Noord-Hollandsche, 1940 (Modern man in the making. New York : A.A. Knopf, 1939)

​

“Modern man in the making (1939) is the high point of the Isotype team's core concern with social statistics. It resulted from a generous commission by the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, which gave Otto Neurath great freedom as author of the book. His principal collaborator (and later wife) Marie Reidemeister persuaded him to try something new: a book in what she called 'picture-text' style. A chart inserted into the text constituted a 'paragraph' that had to be 'read' in order to follow the argument. Reidemeister assumed the role of 'transformer', a name coined for the interpreter of statistical data into simplified graphic form - a role that anticipated the modern information designer. She worked closely with Neurath and Gerd Arntz to produce the tight unity of the book. Seven colours in total were used for printing the graphics.

​

Published on the eve of the Second World War, Modern man in the making addresses many issues still of great relevance today - globalization, war and economy, emigration. Neurath deliberately avoided words that he deemed almost undefinable and therefore unhelpful (progress, justice, normal), a circumspection that gives a timeless quality to his text. Similarly, Isotype is partly characterized by an awareness of which details to leave out in order to communicate information memorably. Of the pictograms used in the system Neurath stated: 'The symbol may not denote more than is necessary to the statement of facts for which it is chosen. This reflects primarily a philosophical and linguistic position, and only secondarily the graphic minimalism of inter-war modernism.”

 

Christopher Burke. "Talking pictures (Isotype)." Eye vol. 17, nº 68, 2008 (p. 24-25)

bottom of page