The International Typographic Style Swiss Style
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Contents
Introduction History Swiss Style Early Founders of the Style Ernst Keller Theo Ballmer Max Bill Max Huber Important Practitioners & Inovations Josef Muller-Brockmann Univers and Helvetica The International Typographic Style in America Rudolph The Harark
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Poster for the Basel Theater. By Armin Hofman. 1959. Courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th edition
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Introduction
The International Typographic Style or Swiss Style, according to Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, was a movement that used a more mathematical and clean approach in design problem solving, using a grid, sans serif type, objective imagery and assembling an asymmetrical construction to develop a more clear visual approach in Graphic Design. This movement emerged in the 1950s from Switzerland and Germany, hence the name Swiss Style, and it revolutionized the ideas of modern graphic design. This style rejected commercialism in a form of propaganda, in which artist created posters filling up the page with information as seen in the previous years, and definitely different than the Victorian Style, taking a more simple but yet still informational approach on design. The visual elements of this style were the use of Sans Serif type, asymmetric layouts, the use of a grid, flush left body text, ragged right text, and the use of objective imagery in the work. 3
istory
History
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Swiss Swiss Style Style
“Six Artists” Poster, 1970. By Jacqueline S. Casey Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
Following the terrible events of World War II, new innovations emerged for graphic design and typography, one such as the International Typographic Style. The 1950s is the period where this style dominated areas of graphic design as mentioned in How Design and it still remains an important influence to this day.
Switzerland as well as Germany was home to many designers of the time that helped develop the International Typographic Style, giving the style the name of Swiss Style. This movement rapidly spread and influenced many other parts of Europe and eventually America, trough international trade and as well as a form of
MIT open house poster, 1974. By Jacqueline S. Casey Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
communication. Swiss Style was very popular because it involved a clear form of communication trough a form of art, in posters, books, advertisement, music records, etc. And it all came from Switzerland. It replaced the early propaganda and commercialism from the previous years. 5
Ernst Keller
Swiss Style can be traced back to designer Ernst Keller in 1918 who taught graphic design and typography at the Kunstgewerberschule School of applied arts in Zurich. Most of his work included greatly crafted posters, with hand drawn images. As a professor he did not encouraged students on a specific style but rather would argue that design should “emerge from its content” as mentioned on Meggs. These were ideas that helped developed the International Typographic Style and overall design. He was often referred to as the “father of design”. Following after him, Switzerland was home to many important designers that helped add more to the development of the style, many whom came straight from the Bauhaus school.
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1955 poster for the Rietberg Museum. By Ernst Keller Image: courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th edition.
Theo Ballmer Theo Ballmer (1902-65), incorporated principles of De Stijl, in which he took a grid system and applied to the graphic design. This system consisted of vertical and horizontal elements. He was a well know designer of the 1920s, who according to Meggs’, studied at the Bauhaus, under Klee, Gropius, and Meyer.
Most of his posters followed the grid system and he also created geometric letterforms that in a sence followed that grid.
Theo Ballmer, 1928 poster for a traveling exhibition of industrial standards. Image Courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition. Theo Ballmer, 1928 poster for an office professions exhibition. Image courtesy of Moma.org
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Max Bill, 1945 Exhibition Poster. Image: Courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
Max Bill
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Max Bill, who also studied at the Bauhaus from 1927 to 1929 as mention in How Design, helped formed the International Typographic Style. He “developed a concept he called art concrete which involved the creation of a universal style based on mathematical principles”. Bill constructed layouts where
geometric elements were precisely organized and spaced in an orderly way. He favored the use of sans-serif typefaces, like Akzidenz Grotesk type, and setting text in a flush-left and ragged-right order.
Max Bill, 1942 Book cover Image: Courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
Max Huber The use of powerful imagery and photomontage was a quality that was often used in the International Typographic Style, and was explored thanks to Max Huber (1919-92). Huber studied at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, where he experimented with photomontage. He created inspiring posters in which he played
with the transparency of inks and layering shapes along with the use of typography, in order to create interesting and elaborated pieces of graphic design work.
Borsalino Poster, 1949 By Max Huber Image Courtesy of Modern Design.org
Borsalino Poster, 1949. By Max Huber. Image Courtesy of Megg’s History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
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Many founders like Ernst Keller, Theo Ballmer, Max Bill and Max Huber that helped start this style, brought a lot new techniques and developed a whole new take on graphic design visually and almost scientifically. But here is a a designer that took all these elements and created some of the most visually beautiful, and well created pieces of art in the graphic design world. Beethoven Poster, 1955. By Josef MĂźllerBrockmann
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Josef Müller-Brockmann Public Awarness Poster, 1960. By Josef MülerBrockmann. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
Swiss Auto Club poster, 1954. By Josef MüllerBrockmann. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
When we talk about the International Typographic Style, one person’s work that is synonymous to the style, was none other than that of Josef Müller-Brockmann (191496). The 1950s was his time of glory, and when talking about that period his name was probably the most recognized. He was influenced by many art movements
such as constructivism, De Stijl, Suprematism and the Bauhaus, and he integrated all his influences in part to the new typographic style. As mentioned in Meggs he expressed his work through “objective and impersonal presentation, communicating to the audience without the interference of…propagandistic techniques of
persuasion”1. His ideas of design and using photographs in a large scale as an objective stand point, where so clever and clear visually to any audience.
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Megg’s History of Graphic Desing
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Der Film poster, 1960. By Josef Müller-Brockmann. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
He was commissioned to design several concert posters, theatrical production posters and even for a Swiss Automobile Club. His posters that where commissioned by Town Hall in 1952 not only spoke clear of the musical meaning, but also represented “the music using mathematically harmonious compositions” as cited in How Design.
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One example of his work was that of “DerFilm” poster, which the way he perfectly scaled and proportioned his design, shows how well he understood the “mathematical spatial division” and the use of the grid.
Akari poster, 1975. By Josef Müller-Brockmann. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 5th Edition.
His 1980 exhibition poster is another one that you can noticeably see his use of the grid and the way he underlined it and the rhythm he depicts with the way he placed the words.
His work was often described as metaphorical, and the use of large scale imagery was used in such a symbolic, but yet objective way. One can’t not be intrigued and mesmerized by his talented work, it would truly speak to you. As said on Meggs “Müller-Brockmann became the era’s most influential Swiss designer as the national movement he helped create grew beyond the country’s borders”1.
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Megg’s History of Graphic Design
Poster for the Automobil Club, by Josef MüllerBrockmann 1953 Image courtesy of invaluable.com
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In the 1950s new sans-serif type families were design as part of the International Typographic Style. Serif type during this time was widely rejected for Swiss designers in this movement, and once the creation of Akzidenz Grotesk any other sans-serif type was replaced. The use of sans-serif type achieved the purpose of a
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more “mathematically constructed� design and clean look to type in unification to the content of a designer’s work. It played well harmoniously with any poster, paper, book, or any form of communication advertisement design. After the popular use of Akzidenz Grotesk, two type families emerged that revolutionized
typography and design of typefaces, Univers and Helvetica.
1954 Schematic diagram of the Univers fonts. By Adrian Frutiger. Courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design vol.5
This is a sample picture of the Univers typeface. Composition with the letter u by Bruno Plaffli, 1954. Image courtesy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design vol. 5
Univers In 1954 Adrian Frutiger, a Swiss designer based in Paris, completed an extended family of twenty-one sans-serif fonts with individual weights, named Univers. This attractively and well-constructed typeface, included a variation of fonts that comprised of regular, italic and bold, but which it expanded even more so. It took
Frutiger three years to design this typeface before he could release it, because it included expanded and condensed weights too, as described in Meggs. The family “ranges from Univers 39 (light/ extra condense) to Univers 83 (expanded/extrabold),”1 which the interesting thing was that the x-height remained the same in all 1 Megg’s History of Graphic Desing.
fonts. After its release in Paris, it became immensely popular with Swiss typographers and in the International Typographic Style.
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Helvetica
Helvetica
Helvetica
Helvetica 16
Helvetica In the mid-1950s, Edward Hoffman, who was part of the HAAS type foundry in Switzerland, decided that Akzidenz Grotesk needed an upgrade. With the help of typeface design, Max Miedinger , Hoffman created a new typeface called Neue Has Grotesk, which had an even larger x-height than that of Univers as stated on Meggs. This typeface later came to be called Helvetica in 1961, by German defunct D. Stempel AG, who renamed it taking the Latin name that stands for Switzerland.
Helvetica during the time it was created it did not had the variety of Univers, but later it did become the most popular sans-serif in the World. During the 1960s and 1970s was when it became the most popular, and was used all around the graphic design world. Famous Graphic Designer Massimo Vignelli (1931-2014), swore only by it, as well as other recognized designers. Helvetica’s “welldefined forms and excellent rhythm of positive and negative shapes�, made Helvetica internationally popular and overly used.
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The International Typographic Style After World War II international trade increased and more relations between countries became more evident. With it Typography and Design in a sense played a big part in creating a stronger communication among countries. This was helpful thanks to Switzerland’s International Typographic Style, due to the clarity, objectivity, and used of symbols and imagery in the style. Thanks to that the style really expanded to other countries and evidentually came to America.
Cover for the album Sounds of the Alps, 1961. By Rudolf de Harak. Meggs’ History of GraphicDesign 5th Edition.
Rudolf de Harak
Techniques of Leadership book cover, 1964. By Rudolf de Harak. Courtesy of Pinterest.
One of the first American designers to Integrate “The Swiss Style” to his own was Rudolph de Harak (19242002). He was a “self-taught graphic designer who embraced European modernism”1, and began his career in 1946. The influence of the International Typographic Style, is reflected on his series of over 350 book jackets for McGraw-Hill Publishers. Each jacket he included the title and author in a flush left
ragged right, using the grid system for alignment, and incorporates everything in an asymmetrical balance. He then adorns the book jackets, using one large image or abstract symbol in a metaphorical way, which visually captivates the audience. De Harak’s “evolution [was a] continuing quest for communicative clarity and visual order, which are the qualities he deems vital to effective graphic desing.”2
1 Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.
2 Megg’s History of Graphic Design.
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Sources Hollis, Richard. About Graphic Design. London, October, 2012 Meggs, Philip B. and Purvis, Alston W. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design Fifth Edition. Wiley,2011. Remington, Roger R. American Modernism: Graphic Design, 1920 to1960. New Haven, CT, 2003. Seddon, T. (2015, May 7). The International Typographic Style: A Brief History. How Design. Retrieved November 2015, from http://www. howdesign.com/featured/international-typographicstyle-brief-history/ Wikipedia. International Typographic Style. Last modified on October 22, 2015. https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style
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Colophon Designed and Written by Victor Axel Salmon. Printed on Epson Paper in Helvetica and Helvetica Neue typeset. Catalog Design Graphic Design 4, Typography Fall, 2015 November 19, 2015
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