TYPO ISSUE 1
Müller-Brockmann Josef
“ ” I became a graphic designer by accident Joseph Müller-Brockmann
Josef Müller-Brockmann, born in Switzerland in 1914, is one of the most influential graphic designers of the 1950’s and some may say the whole 20th century. He is best known for his prominent additions to the Swiss typographic movement and his development of the grid system that we all know and use today. He started off studying design and architecture at the Zurich School of Arts in Switzerland and his first road toward a professional career was with Walter Diggleman, the designer and advertising consultant, as his apprentice. In 1936 he established his own studio in Zurich specialising in graphics, photography and exhibition design. By the 1950s he was established as the leading man and practitioner of Swiss Style. As with most of the graphic designers that were a large part of the Swiss 1
International Style, Joseph Müller-Brockmann was very much influenced by the ideas and styles of numerous designs and art movements including Bauhaus, Suprematism, De Stijl, and Constructivism. He was then and still is possibly one of the most recognised Swiss designer from his time. From 1958 to 1965, MüllerBrockmann co-edited the trilingual journal Neue Grafik (New Graphic Design) which spread the principles and knowledge of Swiss Design internationally. The late 1950s was considered the time when he began his career as an art instructor. At the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts), Zurich, he was given the roll as a professor of graphic design. During early 1960s, he took the position of guest lecturer at the University of Osaka and Hochschule fur Gestaltung, Ulm, among many other influential
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feet’s of his time. Besides his work teaching and consulting, Müller-Brockmann also authored many books on graphic design. Some of his more recognised works include The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems (1961), History of Visual Communication and the Grid Systems in Graphic Design. In 1971, he collaborated with Shizuko Müller-Yoshikawa in writing History of the Poster. His contribution to numerous symposiums is considered extremely valuable to graphic designing industry. Furthermore, he held numerous of one-man exhibitions globally. Some of the major cities where he exhibited his seminal work include Paris, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Tokyo, Osaka, New York and Chicago. The State of Zurich presented him a gold medal to honor his work and his cultural contribution, in 1987. In an interview, Müller-Brockmann was
asked about his inclination toward systematic order in designing given he advocated objective and radically minimalist geometric design and was the one who invented grid system for graphic design. In response, he explained that finding order in everything is rather a wishful thinking on his part. However, he always aspired to attain a distinct arrangement of typographic and pictorial elements. He claimed that the white reverse sides of his posters were his best work. In his workings he aspired to communicate information about an idea, event or product as vividly as possible. In fact, his work is not intended to make a statement but to invite his audience to form their own opinion.
Automobil - Club der Schweiz
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“ ” “ What do you regard as your best work?
Yvonne Schwemer-Scheddin
The white reverse sides of my posters!
Josef Müller-Brockmann