# Emigre & Early Digital Type

> Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko's magazine and type foundry, launched in 1984 alongside the first Macintosh, turned the computer's low-resolution constraints into a new typographic idiom. Licko's bitmap and modular faces, VanderLans's shifting, layered layouts and the magazine's showcase of Cranbrook and CalArts work made Emigre the laboratory and mouthpiece of digital postmodern typography.

- Period: 1984–1998
- Where: North America
- Origin: Berkeley and Sacramento, California
- Branch: Postmodern
- Also known as: Emigre magazine, Early Macintosh typography, Bitmap type
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/emigre/

## How it works

- Design typefaces for the technology at hand, building letters from the pixel grid of screen and printer.
- Treat each issue or spread as a new layout experiment rather than a fixed template.
- Mix many new digital faces at different sizes on one page.
- Layer, overlap and run text at varied widths to make long-form writing visually expressive.
- Work in black and white or one spot colour and let typography carry the expression.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Broken grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/broken-grid/) (characteristic)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (characteristic)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Bitmap & pixel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/bitmap-and-pixel/) (defining)
- [Experimental & distorted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/) (defining)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (defining)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (occasional)
- [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Halftone & Ben-Day dots](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/halftone-and-ben-day-dots/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (characteristic)
- [Treated photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/treated-photography/) (occasional)
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Desktop publishing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/desktop-publishing/) (defining)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (characteristic)
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Central symmetry, Floral & vegetal, Skeuomorphic material, Gloss & highlights, Painterly illustration, Luxurious & glamorous

Palette: #f4f2ec, #111111, #8c8c8c, #e03c31, #2b59c3

Typefaces: Oakland (Zuzana Licko, 1985), Emperor (Zuzana Licko, 1985), Matrix (Zuzana Licko, 1986), Lunatix (Zuzana Licko, 1988), Template Gothic (Barry Deck, 1990)

Known for: Rudy VanderLans (Emigre magazine, 1984–2005); Zuzana Licko (Oakland, Emperor, Matrix, Lunatix); Emigre Fonts (foundry, from 1985); Barry Deck (Template Gothic, 1990); Jeffery Keedy (Keedy Sans)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Swiss Punk / New Wave Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-wave-typography.md) (1968–1990)
- Influenced by: [Bitmap & Pixel Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bitmap-pixel.md) (1977–1995)
- Influenced by: [Cranbrook & Deconstructivist Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/deconstructivist-typography.md) (1980–1998)
- Alike in its design choices: [Out-of-Square Hangul Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/out-of-square-hangul.md) (1985–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Fluxus Graphics (Maciunas)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/fluxus.md) (1962–1978), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Brutalist Web Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/web-brutalism.md) (2014–present), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Czech Poetist Book Design (Devětsil)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/czech-poetism.md) (1922–1938), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Blue Note Jazz Sleeve Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/blue-note-sleeve.md) (1956–1967), 57% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mavo](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mavo.md) (1923–1925), 54% alike

## Real works

- [Emigre no. 10 (Cranbrook issue), cover](https://archive.org/details/LFAEmigre0010): Glenn A. Suokko and Emigre Graphics (Rudy VanderLans, publisher), 1988, Letterform Archive, digitised on the Internet Archive (LFAEmigre0010)
- [Emigre no. 5, cover](https://archive.org/details/LFAEmigre0005): Rudy VanderLans (publisher and art director) and Zuzana Licko (digital type); cover photograph by Mark Farbin, 1986, Letterform Archive, digitised on the Internet Archive (LFAEmigre0005)
- [Bitmap Fonts, Pictograms, PostScript Fonts (Zuzana Licko Design font catalogue and order sheet)](https://archive.org/details/lfaemigre0096/page/n7/mode/1up): Zuzana Licko (Zuzana Licko Design), c. 1986 (fonts copyrighted 1986), Letterform Archive, 'Lo-Res Process Work' folder, digitised on the Internet Archive (lfaemigre0096)
- [Emigre no. 14 ('Heritage'), cover](https://archive.org/details/LFAEmigre0014): Rudy VanderLans (design and production); Zuzana Licko (typeface designs), 1990, Letterform Archive, digitised on the Internet Archive (LFAEmigre0014)

## Sources

- Rudy VanderLans & Zuzana Licko, Emigre: Graphic Design into the Digital Realm (1993)
- https://www.emigre.com
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Emigre & Early Digital Type”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/emigre/