How did futurists turn text into image, and the printed page into a field for experimentation? The lecture will explore the path of avant-garde typography from handwritten 'self-writing' to strict constructivist compositions and show how size, rhythm, and letter shapes changed the perception of words and influenced the design of printed media. Avant-gardists of the early 20th century treated the printed page as a space for artistic experimentation. For them, the word ceased to be merely a carrier of meaning: it could be stretched, broken, juxtaposed with an image, made to sound through size, rhythm, and placement of letters. The lecture will discuss how these explorations changed the understanding of typography and prepared the transition to new principles of graphic design. Particular attention will be paid to the experiments of Russian futurists, whom Velimir Khlebnikov called "Budetlyans." Their authorial publications combined handwritten text and imagery, striving to convey not only the meaning of the word but also its timbre, texture, and internal rhythm. The next step is associated with the constructivists. They transferred many of the futurists' findings to the realm of mass printing, making composition more rational and functional. Differences in size, letter shapes, and their placement became a means of emphasis, and the page itself began to resemble a unique musical score.