Issue I
TYPE MA
Issue I TYPE MAG
Born on June 29, 1920 in Winterthur, Switzerland, Armin Hofmann was an integral character in the creation of the International Swiss Style of graphic design. Having studied in Zurich and worked as a trained lithographer in Basel and Bern, Hofmann began teaching at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts in 1947. Hofmann believed posters to be one of the most effective forms of visual communication. His many poster designs, including those for Giselle Basler Freilichtspiele and the Stadttheater Basel, further paved the way for an internationally recognised style of graphic design. “For after all, a poster does more than simply supply information on the goods it ad-
Armin Hofmann
vertises; it also reveals a society’s state of mind.” On the one hand Hofmann reveales the much deeper sense of meaning in his works, and on the other he placed an enormous amount of emphasis on design as a form of communication, meaning that his ultimate goal through his works was to communicate a specific message to an intended audience. For this reason, Hofmann’s work and the work of many of his col-
leagues from the Swiss Style era began to place particular importance of the use of typography and were using it in ways that had never before been seen. Hofmann’s defining features included his use of the grid system,
A POSTER DOES MORE THAN SIMPLY SUPPLY INFORMATION.
1
Issue I TYPE MAG
Armin Hofmann
ANOTHER REASON FOR MY INTEREST IN THE USE OF BLACK AND WHITE IN DESIGN. his asymmetrical layouts that placed importance on legibility and cleanliness, and his preference of photographic images over illustrations and sans-serif typefaces. Hofmann’s work can be seen as having a limited selection of colours and typefaces. This was Hofmann’s intention as he felt
it necessary to combat what he viewed as the “trivialisation of colour” in other works of that era. This not only gave his works a unique and exceptionally clean look, but also made his designs much more economical to print on a mass scale. Hofmann also stated that “another reason for my
interest in the use of black-andwhite in design lies in my intense preoccupation with the forms and analysis of signs and symbols.” Hofmann immortalised his teachings in his book ‘Graphic Design Manual’ which has had a major influence on graphic designers the world over to this very day. 2