Wilhelmina Regina / Algemeen Handelsblad Possibly 1938 - 1939

This newspaper, *Wilhelmina Regina / Algemeen Handelsblad*, was printed by the Algemeen Handelsblad on September 4, 1938. You can see the name of the paper running along the top in blocky letters. The type is closely packed, a dense grey mass punctuated by a decorative crest and border. I'm thinking about the designer and typesetter here, and what it must have been like to work in such a regimented way, fitting text and image precisely together, word after word, line after line. The texture of the newsprint itself has a slightly rough, absorbent quality, like blotting paper. The layout is so compressed, and the leading so tight, that it feels almost claustrophobic, like the words are fighting for space on the page. There is a real contrast between the regularity of the typesetting, and the urgent need to communicate and inform. It makes me think of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings, where a simple set of instructions can generate infinite variations and possibilities.