A graphic design style developed in Switzerland in the 1950s that emphasizes cleanliness, readability and objectivity. Also known as The International Typographic Style.
Associated Artists:
Manifesto:
There wasnt really a refined or defined manifesto but I have included what different artsist believed at that time what the Swiss Style/movement was about.
Early history and political movements
1939 - 1945 World War II. Neutral Switzerland surrounded by fascist troops (Germany, Austria, Italy) or collaborating regimes (Vichy-France). Some trade with Hitler was inevitable for sheer survival (and the survival of more than 150,000 refugees). Other, not inevitable aspects were: (Too) rigid refugee politics (25,000 sent back), uncritical collaboration in case of looted assets and accepting stolen gold.
Since 1945 Prosperity Recent history is characterized by political stability, economic progress, increased social security and a new openness and tolerance.
Founding of the Swiss Style
Based on the design advances of the ‘30s, a new graphic design style emerged in the ‘50s that would have an impact far beyond Switzerland’s borders. Because of its strong reliance on typographic elements, the new style became the predominant graphic design style in the world in the ‘70s, and continues to exert its influence today.
The style was marked by the use of a mathematical grid to provide an overall orderly and unified structure; sans serif typefaces (especially Helvetica, introduced in 1961) in a flush left and ragged right format; and black and white photography in place of drawn illustration. The overall impression was simple and rational, tightly structured and serious, clear and objective, and harmonious.
The style was refined at two design schools in Switzerland, one in Basel led by Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder, and the other in Zurich under the leadership of Joseph Muller-Brockmann. All had studied with Ernst Keller at the Zurich School of Design before WWII, where the principles of the Bauhaus and Jan Tschichold's New Typography were taught.
The new style became widely synonymous with the "look" of many Swiss cultural institutions, which used posters as advertising vehicles. Hofmann's series for the Basel State Theater and Muller-Brockmann's for Zurich's Tonhalle are two of the most famous. Hofmann's accentuation of contrasts between various design elements and Muller-Brockmann's exploration of rhythm and tempo in visual form are high notes in the evolution of the style.
In addition, the new style was perfectly suited to the increasingly global postwar marketplace. Corporations needed international identification and global events such as the Olympics called for universal solutions which the Typographic Style could provide. With such good teachers and proselytizers, the use of the International Typographic Style spread rapidly throughout the world. In the U.S., Hofmann's Basel design school established a link with the Yale School of Design, which became the leading American center for the new style.
Associated Artists:
Max Bill
Armin Hofmann
Richard Paul Lohse
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Emil Ruder
Graphis
Niklaus Troxler
Wolfgang Weingart
Cornel Windlin
Manifesto:
There wasnt really a refined or defined manifesto but I have included what different artsist believed at that time what the Swiss Style/movement was about.
‘…It was the new age manifesto for the design world and it was seminal in its influence on international graphic design after WWII. The publication of the magazine proved an international success making the Swiss Style the International Typographic Style.’
(Taken from the editors of the magazine ‘Neue Grafik" epitomizes Swiss typography of the 1950s.)
Principles:
Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss Style” are crucial elements in the history of modernism. During the 1920s and ’30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communication. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial - looking rather than those designed for books.
Influences or quotes:
"There should be no separation between spontaneous work with an emotional tone and work directed by the intellect. Both are supplementary to each other and must be regarded as intimately connected. Discipline and freedom are thus to be seen as elements of equal weight, each partaking of the other."
(Armin Hofmann)
"In the final analysis, a drawing simply is no longer a drawing, no matter how self-sufficient its execution may be. It is a symbol, and the more profoundly the imaginary lines of projection meet higher dimensions, the better."
(Paul Klee)
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