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“Of course design is about problem solving, but I cannot resist adding something personal�
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ON THE GRID
“The grid is like the lines on a football field. You can play a great game in the grid or a lousy game.”
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he Dutch designer, Wim Crouwel created a legacy by using type in an experimental way that designers at the time were not used to. Born in 1928, Crouwel was a designer who worked mainly in the 1960s and was heavily influenced by a strict grid system. Using a grid for design was popularized by Swiss Style design, a style very popular during his time. This system is used to keep things organized and consistent throughout a design. At times Crouwel questioned the grid system and wondered if it was essential and if moving away from it could help his designs push the main idea even further. Despite his questioning of grids, he held onto the system religiously. To overcome the stationary nature of the grid and to encourage motion in a few posters he would tilt the grid and work on an angle. These unique ways of problem solving are an essential part of Crouwel's designs.
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radical type
“I always used one word to
make an image, a kind of image-based typography.�
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he posters he created were almost always type-based. Crouwel didn’t just see type as a way of creating words, but also as a tool to create images and feelings. He saw the opportunity to change type in many different ways. He’d crop, morph, cut, overlap or place type in many different ways to get the feel he was looking for. Crouwels expert way of experimentation with type can be shown in his calendar. He cut off part of the letters to mirror the grid used to separate the days He then flipped certain letters of the month to create a seamless and simple design, making the letters fit perfectly together.
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His unique experimination with type could have been influenced by his past as a painter. For a time after school, Crouwel considered himself an expressionist painter. Expressionism is known for its organic and morphed imagery. Expressionism and Swiss Style design are two seemingly opposing artistic styles. With this past experience he combined his talents of painting and his love of structure to create these unique posters. He was also a functionalist, believing every aspect of a design should be used to push the main idea of the design.
1. keus in Kunstdruk (1960) 2. Agam (1973) 3. Vondelpark Love-In (1969) 4. Beeldje Voor Beeldje (1974) 5. Wim Crouwel Calendar (1964)
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NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW
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NEW a bALPHABET cdefghijk
new alphabet
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is love for both experimination and for organization with grids are shown with the fonts Crouwel created. Like his use of grids for layout of designs, he also used the grid system to create individual letters. These techniques can be shown in his many typefaces. His most infamous and experimental typeface is unarguably New Alphabet. The typeface received much backlash and some even thought it was outrageous. The creation of New alphabet was in response to Crouwel seeing the first digital typesetters. The first digital recreations of typography was so ugly to him that he thought to create a font created specifically for the limitations of digital type at the time. The entire project was for pure experimentation, and in his words, was never really meant to be used. New Alphabet was created with only straight lines and was designed to fit into any grid system perfectly. This daring type design experiment, although not meant for common use brought many great opportunities for him.
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New Alphabet (1967)
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1. Eduardo Chillida (1969) 2. Leger (1957) 13
3. Licht/Kurnst (1971) 4. Gesel Van de Oorlog (1958) 5. Visuele Communicatie (1969) 6. Yaysse (1965) 7. Suze Robertson (1958) 8. Architype Catalogue Typeface (1996) 9. Nieuwe Aanwinsten (1954) 10. Case Crouwel Typeface (2014) 11. Bazaine (1959) 12. Architype Vierkant (1972) 13. Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven (1954)
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rouwel has been working before and after the age of easily accessible computers, which makes experimenting with type so much easier. With this advancement of technology Crouwel believes that there are both advantages and disadvantages. Either way, he has adapted to the changing technology, using his experimental techniques to create unique designs to this day.
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Designed and written by Spencer Hansen Composed in Circe, Bicyclette, and Shima Printed from a Big Gray printer onto Hammermill 60# text Copyright © 2018 Spencer Hanse Portland, Maine Maine College of Art.
Sources “Wim Crouwel | Biography, Designs and Facts.” Famous Graphic Designers. http://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/wim-crouwel. “Wim Crouwel.” Designculture • Wim Crouwel. http://www.designculture.it/interview/wim-crouwel.html. “A Quick Study on Dutch Graphic Designer Wim Crouwel.” One Dog Woof. https://www.1dogwoof.com/quick-study-dutch-graphic-designer-wim-crouwel/.