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30 Under 30
Ed Benguiat, A Man of Letters A Type House Divided Ernst Keller, The Father Of Swiss Design
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THE FATHER OF SWISS DESIGN Ernst Keller created a modern and unique design that has a distinct look and revolutionized design with type.
Ernst Keller Ernst Keller was born 1891 in Aarau, Switzerland. Keller was first trained as a draughtsman and lithographer in 1906. He worked in Leipzig, Germany until 1914. Keller joined Zurich’s famous Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Art) in 1918 until he retired in 1956. As a teacher he was the most important single influence on the development of the Swiss style while teaching design and typography. Where he then established several training programs in design and typography and was called “the father of Swiss graphics”. The economically drawn images and inventive lettering of his posters designed in the 1920s and 30s made an important contribution to Modernism. Keller created a design system characterized by a rigid grid format, structured layout and unjustified type. The core of these ideas were first presented in the book Grid Systems in Graphic Design by his student Josef Muller-Brockmann. Willy Rotzler writes of him in Graphis 184 in 1976 that “He was instilled with the belief that every piece of graphic design ought, over and above the its immediate purpose, to be an improvement of our visual environment. It the final analysis it was this fundamental ethical principle that lent lasting value to the work of his pupils, making Swiss graphics not merely the name of a style, but a seal of quality.” Keller is famous for his posters for the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zurich, for several charity organizations, for heraldic logos (like the one for the canton of Glarus) and after his retirement for his work as a sculpture. He died 1968 in Zurich/Switzerland.
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Made For the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zurich for a furniture exhibit that took place on the 26th of February in 1928.
Another poster done for the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zuerich in 1934.
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“
...making Swiss graphics not merely the name of a style, but a seal of quality.
“
The Swiss Style The Swiss Style or Swiss Graphic Design was developed in the 1950s in Switzerland. It remained a major design movement for more than 2 decades, and still influences graphic design today. Also known as the International style or International Typographic Style, it emerged in Russia, Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s, and was made famous by talented Swiss graphic designers (Smashing Magazine). The Swiss Style emphasized simplicity, communication and objectivity. Its hallmarks are the mathematical grid, sans serif typefaces arranged in a flush left and ragged right formation (asymmetry), black and white photography, and the elimination of ornament.
This is a “Walter Gropius, Rational Building Construction” poster by Ernst Keller for two exhibitions at the zurich Kunstgewerbemuseum in 1931. In this poster, Ernst Keller, one of the greatest Swiss Poster designers of his time, uses the diagonal to attract the eye and to suggest dynamic activity. This was a common strategy by this time, but Ernst Keller’s poster is entirely original and genius in its control of space, masterly drawing and integrating the text.
The Swiss Style merged elements of The New Typography, Bauhaus and De Stijl. The Swiss Style has its roots in The New Typography, which was developed in the 1920s and 1930s as artists and designers looked to give design a place in the new industrialized era. They
“The printing of the image is by letterpress from linocut blocks overprinted from type in opaque grey.” The fingers gripping the handle of the trowel turn the hand into a fist, a universal symbol in political propaganda to suggest the acclamation and solidarity of a crowd.
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discarded symmetry, ornament and drawn illustration for white-space, plain letter-forms and photographs. As printing became industrialized a need for plain letter-forms for fast efficient printing was necessary. Photography was at the time becoming very popular and more accessible, and designers embraced this. The Swiss graphic designers were influenced by Jan Tschichold’s 1928 book Die Neue Typographie (The New Typography) which outlined these principles and how typography should be seen as the art of communication. (Hollis, R. p.36) Typography became seen as a primary design element. In his book Tschichold favored asymmetrical design and he condemned all but sans-serif fonts (called Grotesk in Germany). The A kzidenz-Grotesk t ypeface became the most frequently used in The New Typography, and almost the norm in later Swiss graphic design. It was liked for its clarity and precision, and the designers mainly used it in its lowercase form.
Spitzen und Leinen- Stickereien aus den Sammlungen der Gewerbemuseen Winterthur und Zuerich 1927
Poster made for the Hotel Baur au Lac in 1932 Article information from: http://lilywtflizzi.blogspot.com/2015/03/ernst-keller-forefather-of-swiss-design.html http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/the-international-typographic-style/805-ernst-keller https://www.pinterest.com/patrykles/ernst-keller/ https://www.pinterest.com/wayneford/designers-ernst-keller/
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Type Tips
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Heros
ED BENGUIAT,
A MAN OF
Letters Ed Benguiat
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Edward Benguiat got acquainted he wasn’t old enough to enter the armed service, so with with design and showcard lettering when he was nine years old. a forged photostat of his birth certificate, he enlisted in His father was display director at Bloomingdale’s and he had the Army. After his stint in the Air Corps he traded his all the drawing tools a little boy could want. Edward would play airplane control stick for drumsticks and continued the with his father’s pens, brushes, and drafting sets, and learned burgeoning percussionist career he had started before the war. about sign painting, showcard and speedball lettering. Ed received the usual education. During World War II, 8 running Slug Vol 1
Ed became established as a talented progressive Jazz musician under the name Eddie Benart, and played with numerous big bands such as Stan Kenton, Claude Thornhill and Woody Herman, but preferred the New York gigs on 52nd Street, particularly at The Three Deuces. “It kept me in town; going on the road with big bands was a drag, and tough.” During that time a Metronome magazine poll picked Ed as the number three sideman/drummer in America. At the School of Visual Arts—where about thirty years ago Silas Rhodes gave him a job—Ed compares graphic design and typography to the rhythm and balance of a musical composition. While playing on 52nd Street, Ed made use of the G.I. Bill and enrolled at the Workshop School of Advertising Art. He wanted to draw nudes like some of the well-known illustrators. His drawing teacher advised him to quit. Benguiat persisted. His first job as an illustrator was as a cleavage retoucher for a movie magazine. “You might think I was adding to the bust. No way! I was taking the cleavage away,” he said, indicating the reaction of the motion picture industry to the crackdown on obscenity in movies. It was obvious that Ed couldn’t draw The Ed Interlock typeface in a poster
American’s most prolific typographer and lettering artist. Benguiat has crafted over 600 typeface designs, here are just a few of his gems...
• ITC Barcelona. • Barcelona Gothic • Benguiat Bold • Century Handtooled • Ed Interlock
• Ed Script
• ITC Avant Guard • Ed Brush • Korinna Bold
too well, so he went in the direction of layout, design, typography, and calligraphy. He became Paul Standard’s prodigy. Once out of school, Ed established an impressive career as a designer and art director at a number of large and small publishing houses, studios, and ad agencies. Opening his own firm did not take too long. Enter Photo-Lettering Inc. and Ed Ronthaler. Benguiat’s impact on the type community involves more than just design. He played a critical role in establishing The International Typeface Corporation, the first independent licensing company for type designers. Ed and ITC jump-started the type industry in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Founded in
ITC Benguiat typeface poster
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Heros
Lubalin Graph poster
ITC Benguiat poster
1971 by designers Herb Lubalin, Aaron Burns, and Ed Ronthaler,
than 400 faces he’d already created for Photo-Lettering. With
ITC was formed to market type to the industry. Lubalin and
Herb Lubalin Ed eventually became vice president of ITC until
Burns contacted Benguiat, whose first ITC project was working
its sale to Esselte Ltd. Ed continues to design faces for lTC,
on Souvenir. Originally a singleweight face designed by Morris
including, most recently, Edwardian Script. He is also known
Fuller Benton in the 1920s, Benguiat redrew it with additional
for his designs or redesigns of the logotypes for Esquire, The
weights and italics. Now, Souvenir is the face everybody loves
New York Times, McCall’s, Reader’s Digest, Photography, Look,
to hate. It was lTC’s best seller, and Ed did a beautiful job. It’s
Sports Illustrated, The Star Ledger, The San Diego Tribune,
not his fault it’s become a cliché.
Garamond AT&T, A&E, Estée Lauder, U&lc…the list goes on
Ed became a partner with Lubalin in the development of U&lc,
and on. You name it, he’s done it.
lTC’s award-winning magazine, and the creation of new typefaces such as Tiffany, Benguiat, Benguiat Gothic, Korinna, Panache, Modern No. 216, Bookman, Caslon No. 225, Barcelona, Avant Garde Condensed, and many more. This added to the more
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Sources: http://adcglobal.org/hall-of-fame/edward-benguiat/ http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/ national-visions-within-a-global-dialogue/945-ed-benguiat https://alchetron.com/Ed-Benguiat-169948-W https://www.pinterest.com/retrodemon263/typography/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/470696598524784342/
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30 Under 30
Top young graphic designers to watch for.
Lena Demasi Lena Demasi is a young designer from Levittown NY who first descovered her passion of design through art. When Lena was just a little girl, she would go to the library and take out books to teach herself how to draw. Later on in life Lena started to get into illistration and traditional art but wanted to try something a little different. By the time she went off to college, Lena heard about graphic design and she wanted to try it out. Now Lena is in Farmingdale State College creating some pretty neat stuff and is enjoying her time learning and hoping to better herself each design at a time.
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30 Under 30
Vintage Type Design by Lena with the lyrics to “That Moon Song” by Gregory Alan Isakov
She P u l l s
on this
t r H eaulls
on the
like she
P
Sea
IB LE SS THE RAINS
DOWN IN
AFRICA
Swiss Design poster by Lena with the lyrics of “Africa” by Toto
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new type
Typefaces or
fonts?
Some new designs with an old twist UNICASE FONT A unicase font is one that has no case, the glyps from upper and lower case are combined to form one alphabet. It is believed that all alphabets were once unicase. Bradbury Thompson’s plan for simplifying and improving our alphabet was, “Alphabet 26”, his project to combine upper and lowercase letters into one consistent set of letters, eradicated most of the lowercases, except for a, e, m and n.
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Typeface by Lena Demasi. Inspired by her D&D campaign where she plays as a badass witch.
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new type
MONOSPACED FONT A monospaced font, also called a fxed-pitch width or non-proportional font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space. This contrasts to variable-width fonts, where the letters differ in size to one another. The frst monospaced typefaces were designed for typewriters, which could only move the same distance forward with each letter typed.
chook oTF my monospaced unicase typeface and font
abcdefghijklmno pqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!#$%,".;:'
The love of comic sans took over Alex Frendo. He decided to make a new comic sans...but without sans.
Sauce...bold A b c defgh i j klmnop qrst uvw xyz 01234 56789. ! ? MY MONOSPACE UNICASE TYPEFACE Designed by Derek Gerhard
“Its Sauce� - Derek Gerhard
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