The technology of in-house publishing is radically shifting the responsibility
for document design from the graphic specialist to the individual writer. To
apply the new technology, professional communicators need to understand the
principles underpinning typographical design and their origin in the
functionalist aesthetics of modernism, particularly as articulated by the
Bauhaus. While some of the key concepts of modernism—strict economy, uni
versal objectivity, intuitive perception, and the unity ofform and purpose—are
well-suited to business and technical documents, these concepts are bound to
an historical and intellectual milieu. By understanding the influence ofmod
ernism on typographical design, professional communicators equipped with
the new technology can adapt design principles to the rhetorical context ofspe
cific documents.
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