JOSEF MULLERBROCK MANN
THE GOD OF THE GRID
ISSUE 10 June 2017
Josef MullerBrockmann’s influential presence as one of the founding father’s of the Swiss Style in the 1950’s.
Below: ‘Aus der Sammlung’ Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1953). Exhibition Poster ‘The Film’ (Muller-Brockmann, 1959). ‘Less Noise’ Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1960).
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The grid allows endless individual variations… Its applications are as varied as the designers themselves. - Josef Muller-Brockmann
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- Josef Muller-Brockmann
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JOSEF MULLERBROCKMANN he 1950’s will forever be seen as a pivotal point in graphic design. Left behind in the wake of the tumultuous second world war was a need to rebuild. This sense of idealism was felt by designers across Europe, Josef Muller-Brockmann among them. The cultural change invoked one of the most transformative eras in design and saw the emergence of the Swiss Typographic Style. Brockmann, along with fellow designers Armin Hofmann and Max Huber, pioneered the beginnings of the Swiss Style, a movement which took hold of the 50’s, revolutionising many of the influential design concepts that have been carried into the present day. Josef Muller-Brockmann was a central figure that shaped Swiss Style as it rapidly spread across the globe. His career began in 1936 after studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Zurich.
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e later opened a Zurich based studio specialising in graphic design, exhibition design and photography. By the 1950’s Brockmann was a well-established designer, teaching at the Zurich School of Arts and Krafts, and it was during this time that the designers work began to evolve as he cultivated a desire to produce works that acknowledged functional communication. As expressed by Brockmann, ‘After four worthless years of war I wanted to have a positive, constructive role in society. I couldn’t improve textual-pictorial communication through my artistic work but I could do so through rational-objective typography and functional, unmanipulative photography’. Subsequently, after developing the early foundations of the Swiss Style in his own work and through that of his students, Brockmann founded the Neue Grafic (New Graphic Design) journal. The publication was a magazine that was co-edited together with Hans Neuberg, Richard Paul Lohse and Franco Vivarelli. Left from top: ‘Musica Viva’ Exhibition Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1953). ‘Anthologie de Musique’ Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1957). ‘Protect the Child’ Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1953).
Graphik Magazine | June 2017
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Above: Swiss Automobile Club Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1953). Exhibition Poster (Muller-Brockmann, 1957).
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n many ways, it was Brockmann’s contribution to society, a way of giving back as it circulated beyond Swiss boarders and spread the movement to other corners of the globe. For many, Brockmann’s work is the embodiment of form and function. The designer’s work is easily recognised for the use of lowercase, sans serif typography, clean linear forms and clever hierarchy to promote maximum
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Graphik Magazine | June 2017
legibility. His works feature contrasting colours and shapes to aid in communicating the message. Discussing his approach, Brockmann says, ‘objective-rational design means legible design, objective information that is communicated without superlatives or emotional subjectivity’. Perhaps one of the most distinctive characteristics of his work is the application of a mathematical grid. This grid is used as a tool to aid in the logical arrangement of information on a page.
As Brockmann explains, ‘subjectivity is suppressed in favour of a geometric grid that determines the arrangement of the type and images. The grid is an organisational system that makes it easier to read the message.… [it] enables you to achieve an orderly result at a minimum cost. The task is solved more easily, faster and better’. The innovation of the grid system propelled design to new heights, both upon conception in the 1950’s, and in contemporary graphic design today.