FUSE 1-20: From Invention to Antimatter—Twenty Years of FUSE

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Neville Brody

Jon Wozencroft

Introduction by Adrian Shaughnessy

TASCHEN, Cologne, Germany, 2012, English, French, and German

Nonfiction, Graphic Design

6.7 x 8.6 inches, flexicover, 416 pages, color illustrations

ISBN: 9783836525015

Suggested Retail Price: $59.99

From the Publisher. Launched by Neville Brody and Jon Wozencroft in 1991, FUSE was the ground-breaking publication that took design and typography into radically new and unforeseen spaces. The major influence of its revolutionary and experimental approach to typographic language reverberates still, and today—twenty years after its launch—the explorations carried out by some of the most famous and influential names in the industry stand out as futuristic and ahead of their time.

Taking the alphabet as its base, and enabled by the advent of digital design, FUSE became a laboratory for new ideas and risks, as well as a hothouse of new thinking. Published over 20 editions, each issue was themed and included both fonts and posters by specially-commissioned collaborators, all of which are on show here.

To commemorate the release of issue 20, TASCHEN brings you a 416-page compendium of all the issues. Exclusive to this publication are FUSE 19 and FUSE 20, two newly-commissioned and never-before published issues, along with 10 A2 posters and 24 downloadable fonts, making this boxed edition a collector's item. This is the legacy created by the best contemporary thinkers on typeface design: the list of contributors to FUSE reads like a who’s who of typographic design, from Erik Spiekermann to Stefan Sagmeister, Peter Saville, Jonathan Barnbrook and Tobias Frere-Jones, plus many more. Editorial contributors include Adrian Shaughnessy and Jon Wozencroft.

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Rick Poynor

On Rick Poynor’s Notable Books of 2012 list

FUSE, instigated by Neville Brody and Jon Wozencroft, was one of the most inventive and challenging typography projects of the 1990s, though curiously sidelined in its day and not much remembered since. There was a clear need for a book to collect the quarterly publication’s work and reassess its contribution, and the entire project is here, dressed up in a brown box like the original floppy disk and poster sets. New FUSE fonts, such as Jonathan Barnbook’s mysterious Rattera pictograms, can be accessed by password on the TASCHEN website. In this chunky, detailed retrospective, FUSE is presented very much from its founders’ point of view. The one thing missing is a critical and historical overview to cement the venture authoritatively within the lineage of the “applied avant-garde.”

Adrian Shaughnessy

On list of Books by Adrian Shaughnessy

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