Design VS Typography

We've all heard "the first rule of typography is legibility", but is it really that important when designing? I guess it really depends on what you're designing for. You can't exactly design a billboard thats gonna be diplayed off the highway, and decide you want to be creative with typography. But, besides that, I think as designers, we should be free to explore and use typography as a design tool and not just for informational purposes.


David Carson is known for his use of type as design. The reason this works is because although the type may not be easily legible, the way its being executed is intriguing and makes you want to be able to read it. So wouldn't that be a successful design? The type is serving two purposes, you are getting the information you were intended to recieve, and its being used as a design.