Swiss Design
Without Swiss Style of design, contemporary graphic design would be almost unrecognisable. The readability and cleanliness of the style as well as its asymmetric layouts, use of a grids and sans-serif typefaces have helped define how we design today. Designers today are still taking the best elements from this era of design to create a whole new contemporary, visual aesthetic.
Some of the major components of Swiss design include:
- Sans serif typography (primarily Akzidenz Grotesk, Helvetica, and Univers)
- Asymmetrical compositions
- Flush left, ragged right text alignment
- Mathematical grids, often on a tilted axis
- Objective, black and white photography
- Extreme geometric reduction of illustrated images
- Bright, flat areas of colour
- Universal symbols
Josef Muller-Brockmann
Josef Muller-Brockmann was 'established as the leading practitioner and theorist of the Swiss Style, which sought a universal graphic expression through a grid-based design purged of extraneous illustration and subjective feeling'. Born 1914 in Rapperswill, he studied architecture,design and history of art at both the University and Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. He was a pioneer in Swiss design, writing what most say is the definitive book on grid systems; 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design', being the co creator and editor of Neue Grafik. He produced many iconic pieces of design that to this day don't look dated and still set a benchmark for many of todays designers.
'Order was always wishful thinking for me. For 60 years I have produced disorder in files, correspondence and books. In my work, however, I have always aspired to a distinct arrangement of typographic and pictorial elements, the clear identification of priorities. The formal organisation of the surface by means of the grid, a knowledge of the rules that govern legibility (line length, word and letter spacing and so on) and the meaningful use of colour are among the tools a designer must master in order to complete his or her task in a rational and economic manner'
'The belief that graphic design if it was to inform and enlighten without being manipulative had to be based on objective criteria'
The solution was achieved through the use of symbolic language. The handling of the elements involved: type, shape, spatial relations, rhythmic proportions, and color functioned through a systematic employment of the grid
Armin Hofmann
Along with the more well known Muller-Brockmann, Bill and Ruder. Armin helped shape modernist graphic design beyond recognition. Hofmann was born 1920 in Winterthur, he studied at the School of arts and crafts in Zurich, upon graduation he worked as a lithographer. He went on to open in own studio in Basel later becoming a teacher at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts in 1947.
He felt that one of the best and most efficient ways of communication was the poster and spent the majority of his career designing posters as well as writing a book outlining his practices and philosophies ; 'Graphic Design Manual'
Found in Hofmanns posters were new thechniques of photo-montage, phototypesetting, experimental composition and sans serif typography.
Quotes-
'I believe that one is more likely to develop a better perception of color by looking at the subtle harmonies of black-and-white images than by looking at the multi-and-overcolored illusions color photography often creates'
'Through the removal of colour, objects become neutralised and as interchangeable as letters of the alphabet. Above all, I am interested in the way an object changes in meaning when its context changes'
Emil Ruder
Born in Zurich, 1914. In his late twenties Ruder began attending the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts where the principles of Bauhaus and Tschichold’s 'New Typography' were taught, leaving an indelible impression on Ruder.
Ruder was heavily influenced by Bauhaus graphic design, as he was a pupil of Johannes Itten while studying in Zürich, and believed typography should be functional.
Academia played a major role in Ruder’s life, though it would naturally evolve into the form of teacher rather than student. In 1947 he took a position as the typography instructor at the Basel School of Design
He broke away from the subjective, style-driven typography of the past and encouraged his students to be more concerned with precision, proportions and above all, the role of legibility and communication with type.
His work is peaceful, simple, fresh and highly imaginative. Stressing on legibility and reproducibility makes texts more readable and understandable.
After more than 20 years of teaching, he compiled his concepts, experiments and philosophies into a book titled, 'Typographie' Originally published in 1967, this masterpiece is considered by many to be the quintessential textbook on typography.
Quotes
'Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty. A printed work which cannot be read becomes a product without purpose'
