Swiss Style

SWISS +STYLE I-HAN HUANG

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CONTENTS Introduction

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Origin of Swiss Style

08

Artists of Swiss Style Armin Hofmann Josef M端ller-Brockmann Emil Ruder Max Bill

12 14 16 18 20

3 4

Bibliography Colophon

Swiss Style

The Swiss Style Use of sans serif typography: Helvetica Univers Grid system

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Influence of Swiss Style

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23 24 25

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This book is dedicated to my sister I-Ting Huang and Maurice Chan, whose support has led to the completion.

Introductoin

Introduction Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss

and text were organized by geometrical

Style” are crucial elements in the history

grids. Adopted internationally, the grid and

of modernism. During the 1920s and ’30s,

sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica

skills traditionally associated with Swiss

became the classic emblems of Swiss

industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and

graphic design.

mechanical engineering, were matched

Showcasing design work across a range

by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communica-

of media, including posters, magazines, exhibition displays, and books, this book shows how many of the Swiss designers’ modernist elements remain an indispensable part of today’s graphic language.

tion. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial-looking rather than those designed for books.

This book introduced Swiss designers including Armin Hofmann, Josef MüllerBrockmann, Emil Ruder, and Max Bill. The style of these artists received worldwide admiration for its formal discipline: images

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SWISS STYLE

1

ORIGIN OF SWISS STYLE

The International Typographic Style, or Swiss

style, developed out of the modernist aesthetic of simplified layouts with an emphasis on text, negative space, and objective imagery. Early

influences of the style include Jan Tschichold’s

Die neue Typographie (Fig 1-1), and Herbert Matter’s poster and brochure designs for the Swiss

National Tourist Office (Fig 1-2). Swiss Style also grew from De Stijl, the Bauhaus, and the new

typography of the 1920s and 1930s. Two Swiss designers who studied at the Bauhaus, Théo “I am convinced that in one or two generations architecture

and the world of design … will have been transformed with a

university of style, the style of

logical form and purity of idea.”

— Henry van de Velde, Le Nouveau, 1929

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SWISS STYLE

Ballmer and Max Bill, are principal links between the earlier constructivist graphic design and the new movement formed after World War II.

Origin of Swiss Style

Fig 1-1: Jan Tschichold, original prospectus

Fig 1-2: Herbert Matter, Swiss tourism

for Die neue Typographie, 1928.

poster, 1934.

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SWISS STYLE

Origin of Swiss Style

Ballmer, who studied briefly at the

based on controlled arithmetical

Dessau Bauhaus under Klee, Gro-

construction (Fig 1-4). Constructiv-

pius, and Meyer in the late 1920s,

ist elements of geometric reduction,

made an original application of De

photomontage, and a simplified

Stijl principles to graphic design,

palette contributes to the movement

using an arithmetic grid of hori-

that is aimed to create a unified

zontal and vertical alignments (Fig

international style based on clear

1-3). Max Bill’s work encompassed

visual communication.

painting, architecture, engineering, sculpture, and product and graphic design. In 1931 he embraced the concepts of art concret and began to find his way clearly. Later of the same year, he formulated a Manifesto of Art Concret, calling for a universal art of absolute clarity

“At every moment of the past all variations of the past were ‘new’.

But it was not ‘THE’ new. We should not forget that we stand at the end of a culture, at the end of everything old.”

— Pier Mondrian, Die neue Typographie, 1928

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SWISS STYLE

Origin of Swiss Style

Fig 1-3: Tháşťo Ballmer, poster for an office

Fig 1-4: Max Bill, exhibition poster, 1945.

professions exhibition, 1928.

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SWISS STYLE

2

ARTISTS OF SWISS STYLE

The Swiss Style does not simply

describe a style of graphic design made in Switzerland. It became

famous through the art of very tal-

ented Swiss graphic designers, but

it emerged in Russia, Germany and Netherlands in the 1920’s.

This style in art, architecture and culture became an international

style after 1950’s and it was made

by artists all around the world. This progressive movement in graphic design is not concerned with the

graphic design in Switzerland, but rather with the new style that had been proposed, attacked and de-

fended in the 1920s in Switzerland.

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SWISS STYLE

Artists of Swiss Style

Keen attention to details,

he taught that design should

education and technical train-

began experimenting with grid

precision, craft skills, system of ing, a high standard of printing as well as a clear refined and

inventive lettering and typography laid out a foundation for a new movement that has been

exported worldwide in 1960s to become an international style.

be adapted to the content and

systems. Some of his students became largely influential in

the Swiss Style movement later, including Armin Hofmann, Emil Ruder, Josef Müller-

Brockmann, and Max Bill.

One of the most important figures of the Swiss-style

movement was Ernst Keller (1891–1968). He is, in fact,

often referred to as the “father of Swiss graphic design.” In

1918, he obtained a teaching

position at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts & Crafts) in Zürich, Switzerland. Here,

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SWISS STYLE

Armin Hofmann Armin Hofmann is a Swiss graphic

values and understanding of form

designer. He began teaching graphic

to both teaching and designing.

design at the Schule f端r Gestaltung

As time passed, he evolved a

Basel (Basel School of Design),

design philosophy based on the

after completing his education in

elemental graphic-form language

Z端rich and working as a staff designer for several studios. Together

ing traditional pictorial ideas with

with Emil Ruder, he developed an

a modernist aesthetic. In 1965 he

educational model linked to the

published Graphic Design Manual,

elementary design principles of the

a book that presents his application

Vorkurs established in 1908. This

of elemental design principles to

curriculum was the decisive one

graphic design.

for the 1950s, and was widely used.

Hofmann applied deep aesthetic

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of point, line, and plane, replac-

SWISS STYLE

Armin Hofmann

Fig 2-1: Armin Hofmann, poster for the

Fig 2-2: Armin Hofmann, poster for theDas

Basel theater production of Giselle, 1959.

Holz als Bau Stoff, 1952.

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SWISS STYLE

Josef MüllerBrockmann Josef Müller-Brockmann was a key

Kunstgewerbeschule in Zürich.

figure in the evolution of the Swiss

He later opened his own firm, the

Style. He studied architecture,

Müller-Brockmann & Co. , and

design and history of art. From

was instrumental in propagat-

1951 he produced concert post-

ing the Swiss design aesthetic

ers for the Tonhalle in Zürich. His

beyond Switzerland by founding

Tonhalle concert posters (Fig 2-3)

and co-editing the Neue Grafik

early in his career were strictly

(New Graphic Design) journal,

gridded, limited to the Akzidenz

of which each issue was printed

Grotesk typeface, and succeeded

in German, English, and French.

in visualizing the musical content

Through his designs, writing, and

being advertised in the posters as

teaching, Müller-Brockmann be-

a graphic element.

came the era’s most influential

In 1957, Müller-Brockmann began teaching graphic design at the

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SWISS STYLE

Swiss designer as the national movementhe helped create grew beyond the country’s borders.

Josef Müller-Brockmann

Fig 2-3: Josef Müller-Brockmann,

Zurich Tonhalle concert poster, 1956.

Fig 2-4: Josef Müller-Brockmann, ̋Der

Film ̋ exhibition poster, 1960.

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SWISS STYLE

Emil Ruder Born in Zurich, Ruder began his design education at the early age of fifteen when he took a compositor’s apprenticeship. By his late twenties Ruder began attending the Zürich School of Arts and Crafts where principles of Bauhaus and New Typography were taught, leaving him with an indelible impression. In 1947 he took a position as the typography instructor at Basel School of Design. Ruder, along with Armin Hofmann, formed a program structured on principles of objectivity in design. He broke away from the subjective, styledriven typography of the past and encouraged his students to be

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SWISS STYLE

more concerned with precision, proportions and the role of legibility and communication with type. After more than 20 years of teaching, he compiled his concepts, experiments and philosophies into a book titled, “Typographie.” (Fig 2-5) Ruder was also writer and editor for a popular trade publication of the time called, “Typografische Monatsblätter” that covered topics such as printing techniques, illustration, typefaces and layout, helped to spread the principles of Swiss Style on a global level.

Emil Ruder

Fig 2-5: Emil Ruder, a page from Typographie. The phrase, “nach Mass” translates to, “made to measure”

Fig 2-6: Emil Ruder, Berlin, 1963.

Fig 2-7: Emil Ruder, poster. Die gute Form translates to, “Good Form.”

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SWISS STYLE

Max Bill From 1924 to 1927 Max Bill

In 1936 Bill formulated the

Zurich Kunstgewerbeschule

refinement of the ideas. From

trained as a silversmith at the (school of arts and crafts).

Subsequently he studied at the Dessau Bauhaus. In 1929 Max Bill moved to Zurich, where he

worked as an architect, painter,

graphic artist and later also as a

product designer. Bill’s work was dominated by painting, beginning initially with landscapes

and portraits until taking on his

own independent character, from around 1931 onwards, with the use of consistent geometric— constructive abstraction.

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SWISS STYLE

Principles of Concrete Art, as a 1967 to 1974 he worked as

a professor at the “Staatliche

Hochschule für Bildende Künste” in Hamburg, where he taught

environmental design. Max Bill

is primarily associated with the term “Concrete Art”. Further-

more, his theoretical publica-

tions have turned him into one

of the most fruitful stimulators of Modern Concrete Art in post—

war Europe among the Bauhaus generation of students.

Max Bill

Fig 2-8: Max Bill, Olympische Spiele

Munchen poster, 1972.

Fig 2-9: Max Bill, Negerkunst, Pr채his-

torische Felsbilder Sudafrikas, 1968.

(Negro Art, Prehistoric rock art in South Africa)

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SWISS STYLE

3

THE SWISS STYLE

The visual characteristics of

the Swiss Style are its use of

sans serif typography (primarily

Helvetica and Univers), flush left, ragged right text alignment, and

use of mathematical grids, often

on a tilted axis. This geometrically conceived, and rational outlook was further defined by its use

of photography instead of hand-

drawn illustrations. Swiss neutrality during the war had allowed

these design principles to develop uninterrupted and it became

increasingly adopted in design-

conscious circles internationally in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

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SWISS STYLE

Use of sans-serif typography: Helvetica

Helvetica Helvetica was developed in 1957

by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas foundry in Switzerland. Hass set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with AkzidenzGrotesk in the Swiss market.

Originally called Neue Hass Grotesk, it was created based on Schelter-Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, had no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of

Fig 3-1: Edouard Hoffman and Max Miedinger, Helvetica typeface, 1961.

signage. In 1960, the typeface’s name was changed by Haas’s German parent company Stempel to Helvetica in order to make it more marketable internationally.

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SWISS STYLE

Use of sans serif typography: Univers

Univers In 1954 the French type foundry Deberny & Peignot wanted to

add a linear sans-serif type in several weights to the range

of the Lumitype fonts. Adrian

Frutiger, the foundry’s art director, suggested refraining from

adapting an existing alphabet.

He wanted to instead make a

new font that would, above all, suitable for the typesetting of

longer texts. Starting with his old sketches from his student days at the School for the Applied

Arts in Zurich, he created the

Univers type family. In 1957, the

family was release by Deberny & Peignot, and afterwards, it was produced by Linotype.

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SWISS STYLE

Fig 3-2: Bruno Pláź‚ffli of Atelier Frutiger, composition with the letter u,c using Univers typeface, 1960.

Grid System

Grid

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SWISS STYLE

Grid System

Grid System Grid system is made popular by the Swiss Style movement and pioneered by legends like Josef Müller-Brockmann and Wim Crouwel, the grid is the foundation of any solid design.

“ The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style.

But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice. ”

— Josef Müller-Brockmann

Fig 3-3: Josef Müller-Brockmann, poster for State Theater of Switzerland in Zurich, 1959

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SWISS STYLE

Grid System

Fig 3-4: Josef Müller-Brockmann, Knoll

Fig 3-5: A page of Neue Grafik Magazine,

poster, undated.

published from 1958–1965

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SWISS STYLE

4

INFLUENCE OF SWISS STYLE

The Swiss Style had a significant impact on postwar American d e sign. A ripple of impact in the 1950s turned into a tidal wave

during the 1960s and 1970s; it was

rapidly embraced in both corporate and institutional graphics during

the 1960s and remained a promi-

nent aspect of American design for over two decades. A noteworthy

example was found in the graphic-

design office at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT), where a sustained level of quality and imagination was achieved.

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SWISS STYLE

Influence of Swiss Style

Fig 4-1: Jacququeline S. Casey, announcemennt for the MIT Ocean Engineering program, 1967.

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SWISS STYLE

Influence of Swiss Style

In the early 1950s MIT established a

solutions were typographic, created on a

graphic-design program enabling all

drafting table for economical line repro-

members of the university community

duction. In a sense, letterforms become

to benefit from free, professional design

illustrations, for the design and arrange-

assistance on their publications and pub-

ment of the letters in key words frequently

licity material. This was a very recognition

become the dominant image. The rapid

of the cultural and communicative value

spread of the Swiss Style resulted from

of design by an American university. MIT

the harmony and order of its methodol-

based its graphic-design program on a

ogy. The design movement outgrew

commitment to the grid and sans-serif

its native boundaries to become truly

typography. The staff was innovative

international. It is particularly useful when

in the use of designed letterforms and

a diverse body of informational materials

manipulated words as vehicles to express

ranging from signage to publicity needs to

content. This approach evolved in the

be unified into a coherent body. A growing

work of Jacqueline S. Casey, director of

awareness of design as a logical tool for

the Design Services Office Ralph Coburn;

large organizations after World War II

and Dietmar Winkler, a German-trained

caused a growth in corporate design and

designer who worked with Casey and

visual-identification systems. During the

Coburn from 1966 until 1971.

middle 1960s the development of corpo-

The Design Services Office is responsible

rate design in the Swiss Style were linked

for producing publications and posters for events of the university. Many of their

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SWISS STYLE

into one movement.

Influence of Swiss Style

Fig 4-2: Ralph Coburn, poster for the MIT jazz band, 1972.

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SWISS STYLE

Bibliography

Bibliography Heller, Steven, and Seymour Chwast. Graphic Style: from Victorian to Post-modern. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988. Print.

Hollis, Richard. Graphic Design: a Concise History. London [etc.: Thames and Hudson, 2000. Print.

Hollis, Richard. Swiss Graphic Design: the Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920-1965. New Haven: Yale UP, 2006.

Print.

Meggs, Philip B., Alston W. Purvis, and Philip B. Meggs. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2006.

Print.

“MoMA | Exhibitions & The Collection.” MoMA | The Museum of Modern Art. Web. Apr. 2011. <http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/>.

Thomson, Ellen Mazur. The Origins of Graphic Design in America, 1870-1920. Yale University Press, 1997.

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Colophon

Colophon Designer: I-Han Huang Fonts used: Helvetica, Univers 55 Roman, and Din Type size: 8.5 pt / 9 pt Type of paper: Premium matte Print method: Inkjet printing Printer: Blurb Binder: Blurb Class: History of Graphic Design, 2011 Spring Instructor: Michael Kilgore

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