Introduction
This study discusses the “transparency” of messages—the effort to make communication as comprehensible as possible. It certainly raises more questions than it is able to answer satisfactorily. Its ambition is not to come up with universal solutions; it expresses a dissatisfaction with the current state of graphic design and tries to point out particular problems. Original design solutions have become very rare—the form of communication does not reflect the content. People are satisfied with the current situation and consider it the best possible. Yet, because of the immense speed of technological changes, the rules of graphic design need to be redefined.

I am not the first one to deal with communication in graphic design. In the last few years, I have noticed several interesting studies on graphic design and typography.* Why is it that after a period of doldrums in this area, the market is flooded with monographs of typographers, visual communication magazines and thousands of fonts for sale? The answer must be that people are beginning to realize the significance of this fully commercial art. Unlike “high art,” the work of a graphic designer is very widely publicized. We encounter it daily, whether we are aware of it or not.

In the 20th century, the once clearly set boundaries of artistic disciplines have been blurred. Graphic design is no exception. It has become an interdisciplinary art. Knowledge of composition, typography and the theory of colors is no longer sufficient. The graphic designer has to combine other disciplines: psychology, linguistics, art history, general communication, digital technology. The abstract definition of multimedia—a combination of media in a multidisciplinary world—has become reality in graphic design.

Transparency is one of the oldest and most complex problems of communication. People have always been looking for understanding and a universal communication solution. If we want to communicate correctly and precisely, the more transparent means of communication we use, the better. Once we add personal interpretations, communication becomes less transparent.
The transcription of the spoken word has caused difficulties since writing was first used. Today’s alphabet is a bad imitation of spoken language. Writing, linguists tell us, is a mechanical substitute for language as we speak it.** But even language itself is not transparent enough. As we transmit ideas, verbalize thoughts, materialize words, much of the information gets lost.
We may be tricked into thinking that visual communication—as opposed to verbal communication—is fully transparent. But communication is always coded. We perceive visual communication as transparent because we know (at least passively) the necessary code. People from different cultures interpret identical images differently. The color yellow may symbolize warmth and bloom in Europe, but in Asia it is the color of sadness.
Typography is a relatively new form of expression. With computers, amateurs have access to design tools that used to belong solely to teams of professionals. They are using these tools more than ever to create their own visual values. We are seeing a transition from the verbal age to the visual age.

The frustration of designers looking for the ideal form of communication has resulted in, among other things, the creation of illegible fonts. But illegibility is just a pseudo-solution, a comfortable compromise in the quest for a universal language. It is a side product of the process. I am not saying that graphic design has no place at all for illegibility. Although a majority of these experiments cannot be used in real situations, they bring us a bit closer to the ideal form of communication. But they are not that ideal form themselves.

This study is not to romanticize graphic design; it is about provoking independent thinking. The subjectivity of today’s type design is unlimited and leaves enough space for more than one interpretation. We must respect the reader’s right to interpret the message. Graphic designers should be the most sensitive readers, offering their work to other readers who reconstruct the meaning individually. Designers have the opportunity to ask questions, to discover textual complexities and introduce readers to new feelings.

* I would like to mention some of the most interesting projects of the last years: Design, Writing, Research by Ellen Lupton and Abbot Miller; Modern Typography and Fellow Readers, typography studies by Robin Kinross; monographs by David Carson and Neville Brody; and many graphic design collections.

** Ferdinand de Saussure was the first one to reject writing as an inadequate copy of language because of its arbitrary nature. See Part II.