Graphik magazine
2
Josef
MĂźller-Brockmann Exploring the life and work of a pioneer of Swiss Style and the Grid system
Swiss Style Josef Müller-Brockmann was a hugely influential designer and typographer of the twentieth century. While he was influenced by many different styles in the pursuit for good design, he is best known and widely regarded as the most prominent designer of the 1950’s Swiss movement. Born in Switzerland in 1914, Müller-Brockmann studied architecture, art and design at reputable schools in his early years. After gaining some experience in the industry, he then decided to open his own studio based in Zurich in 1936 that would specialise in photography, graphics, and exhibition design. He had a long and successful career, that spanned over both the Second World War and the Cold War, allowing his powerful designs to stand out in a time that otherwise seemed bleak. Due to this, his designs found themselves having a big influence on European designers, and later even those in North America. Müller-Brockmann had many influences, including Constructivism, De Stijl, Supermatism and the Bauhaus, which can be seen in his work. However, it was his use of those different styles that eventually refined his techniques and allowed him to create dynamic but simple Swiss designs. In 1958 he even co-founded a trilingual Swiss design journal called Neue Grafik (New Graphic Design), proving his passion for the movement. One of his biggest aims as a designer was to communicate through his typographic poster designs, however in the 1950’s there was large English, French, German and Italian speaking populations in Switzerland, making this no easy task. This is one of the aspects that helped shape his work into the clear and simple designs that you see today, as by working to allow these designs to be easily interpreted by the masses, he found a way to communicate despite language barriers.
2 - Graphik Magazine
Due to this his designs have become the true embodiment of ‘less is more’, and display the Swiss Style at its best. While his work looks simple, he was truly the master of planning, and considerable work would go into structuring each design perfectly. His ever present grid system is a perfect example of this, but many of his works also feature the use of the golden mean. These two systems allowed for him to easily prioritize and arrange his typographic and pictorial elements so the best possible hierarchy for his designs could be achieved. Once finalized however, all that would be viewable on a final design were his minimal use of typography, strategic use of colour, and the occasional photograph. He believed that graphic design should be strictly objective, and the personality of the designer should never be seen, as an anonymous author allowed for more effective communication. In this regard, many of his early works were made with linocuts, allowing him to focus on simply presenting the most effective way of communicating a message. Perhaps Müller-Brockmman’s biggest contribution to design today was the development of his grid system, and in 1981 he released a multilingual textbook on the subject called ‘Grid Systems in Graphic Design’. This guide, that is still taught in design schools today, provides an in-depth analysis and outline of his work practices, allowing young designers to continue to implement his work even now. In his later years, Müller-Brockmann fully committed himself to teaching this new generation, and published several other books and was a guest lecturer at many prestigious schools around the world.
+ The Grid “The grid system is
an aid, not a guarantee.
- Josef Müller-Brockmann
Josef Müller-Brockmann - 3
1953
In 1953 Müller-Brockmann created a series of road safety posters. Due to the language barriers of the country, he created dynamic posters using photographs to convey the messages without needing to understand this text. It would be hard to misunderstand the message behind this particular poster.
Schüzt das Kind
1955
Some of his most recognized work was a series of posters he created for the Zurich Town Hall for its theater productions. The posters all make use of his grid systems and are quite mathematical, however harmony was also created to reflect the music. These posters heavily influenced jazz albums in the US.
Strawinsky / Fortner / Berg
1960
His poster Der Film is known as one of his masterpieces and is a perfect example of the harmony he was able to achieve with the grid system and golden mean. It may look simple, but everything works together to create an effective communication and visual harmony.
Der Film
Josef Müller-Brockmann notable works
4 - Graphik Magazine