New Wave

In design, New Wave refers to an approach to typography that actively defies strict grid-based arrangement conventions. Characteristics include inconsistent letterspacing, varying typeweights within single words and type set at unusual angles. Credit for the introduction of New Wave design is given to Wolfgang Weingart. April Greiman is credited for popularizing it in the United States.

Wolfgang Weingart (born 1941 in the Salem Valley in southern Germany) is an internationally known graphic designer and typographer. His work is categorized as Swiss typography and he is credited as "the father" of New Wave or Swiss Punk typography. According to Weingart, "I took 'Swiss Typography' as my starting point, but then I blew it apart, never forcing any style upon my students. I never intended to create a "style." It just happened that the students picked up—and misinterpreted—a so called 'Weingart style' and spread it around."

April Greiman (born in 1948) is a designer. "Recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool, Greiman is also credited, along with early collaborator Jayme Odgers, with establishing the ‘New Wave’ design style in the US during the late 70s and early 80s.As a student of Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart, she was influenced by the International Style and by Weingart's introduction to the style later known as New Wave, an aesthetic less reliant on Modernist heritage.

Dan Friedman (1945–1995) was an American educator, graphic and furniture designer. He as a major contributor to the post-modern and new wave typography movements. He was also tought by Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart.