On the Language of Composition

"On the Language of Composition" is a collection of essays by the renowned graphic artist, typographer, and painter Yuri Gordon. Decades of design practice have led him to the thought that almost all areas of human activity are subject to the same compositional laws. Within this theory, such unusual terms are possible, as the interface of the Sistine Chapel, the power points of movie posters, and the depth of font development. However, the author is not writing a textbook and thus doesn't care much about the strictness of definitions. In his own words, he "operates through descriptions and metaphors". His focus includes the head of Nefertiti, a painting by Velázquez, the golden ratio, typographic detail, and figures on posters. Through numerous examples, he shows how composition "works". The conclusions will surely seem subjective and many may be unexpected or controversial. Indeed, there were debates around them when the book existed as a series of articles on the author's blog. The collection inherited the most important comments from the first readers of the blog.