Jan Tschichold wrote them in 1947 as an internal memo. They are still the clearest short document on setting text ever written.
03 / Discover — Typeface12 SEPTEMBER 2026
The Penguin composition rules
Four pages of typographic law that shaped a century of paperbacks.
—Continue exploring
- TypefaceGill Sans and the British railwayA humanist sans built on Roman inscription proportions became the voice of an entire country's infrastructure.
- TypefaceHelvetica was nearly called Neue Haas GroteskIt kept its Swiss workshop name for two years before a marketing department intervened.
- MovementSwiss punk: the Basel counter-reactionWhat happened when students in the home of the grid decided to break it.