Reid circumnavigated this process, and instead he cut letters out of newspapers and magazines, collaging them together to be photographed. By doing this he could see what he was creating as he went along—trying out different font styles and sizes and seeing the results instantly. Treating type as if it was a photograph freed him from the restrictions of typesetting within a structured grid. There are parallels to be seen in the typography of the Futurist and Dadaists who used innovative ways to brace letters at angles in letterpress frames.
Although at the time Punk looked like a spontaneous youth movement, it was part of the Postmodernist movement that began as a reaction to the rigid restrictions of Modernism. Elsewhere Postmodernism was taking the form of New Wave Design, which was championed in Switzerland by Wolfgang Weingart and in Holland by Gert Dumbar.
The DIY design ethos gained new impetus with the arrival of the Apple mac in the 1980s. This gave designers direct access to typefaces and, for the first time, they could see what they were creating ‘live’ on screen as they designed it.
Punk is 40 years old this year. The DIY ethos is stronger than ever with the advent of new software and platforms such as Instagram where everybody can share their designs. What do you think the typography of a youth rebellion would look like today?