SWISS INTERNATIONAL / Overview I / Xliv

GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / SWISS INTERNATIONAL / Overview i / xliv

Swiss International

1 Overview 1

2 Jan Tschichold 11

3 The International Typographic Style 20

4 Swiss Type Design 27

5 High Modernism 30

SECTION DATE Overview

The International Typographic style is characterized by it’s commitment to unadorned typefaces, combination of abstract and photographic imagery, and reliance on rational proportions.

Jan Tschichold

1902–1974 The seeds of the International Typographic Style were planted with the seminal writings of German designer Jan Tschichold in the late 1920’s.

1902–1974 Jan Tschichold • Leipzig, Germany • Design practitioner, writer, and theorirst • Son of a provincial signwriter • Trained in calligraphy • Artisan background and calligraphic skills gave him a distinct advantage

1923–1933 Jan Tschichold • Converts to Modernist design principles after visiting the first Weimar Bauhaus exhibition • He becames a leading advocate of Modernist design (not unlike Bayer and van Doesburg) • Published many pamphlets proclaiming his modernist ideas • Quickly made use of Bauhaus and Constructivist ideals

© Kevin Woodland, 2019 (top) Jan Tschichold, poster for Warsaw Philobiblon, 1924; (bottom) Jan Tschichold, cover for Elementare Typographie, 1925 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / SWISS INTERNATIONAL / Jan Tschichold 14 / 44

© Kevin Woodland, 2019 (left) Jan Tschichold, cinema poster for Die Hose (The Trousers), 1927; (right) Jan Tschichold, exhibition poster for Konstructivism (Constructivism), 1937 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / SWISS INTERNATIONAL / Jan Tschichold 15 / 44

1925 Jan Tschichold • Advocated the use of standardised paper sizes for all printed matter • He shyed away from handmade papers and custom fonts (the preference of mose typographers) • Preferred to use existing fonts • Careful choice from commercial paper stocks • Some of the first clear explanations of information hierarchy via different sizes and weights of type • His ideas had a wide influence among ordinary workers and printers in Germany

1927 Die Neue Typographie • Writes The New Typographie in 1927 • A manifesto of modern design • Codified many existing Modernist design rules and ideas • Condemned all typefaces but sans-serif (called Grotesk in Germany) • Asymettric layout • Flush-left headlines • Uneven line lengths (ragged right) • Asymmetry • Contrasting elements

1927 Die Neue Typographie • Designs were based on an underlying horizontal and vertical structure • Spatial intervals were seen as important design elements • White space was given a new role as a structural component • Rules, bars, and boxes were often used for structure, balance, and emphasis • The precision and objectivity of photography were preferred for illustration • Black-and-white, reduced color palette • Maximum contrast allowed distinct forms, zone, and therefore greater organization • Scale shifts • Stripped of unessential elements • Sans-serif type reduced the alphabet to its basic elementary shapes

© Kevin Woodland, 2019 Jan Tschichold, exhibition poster and catalog for Der Berufsphotograph (The Professional Photographer), 1938 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / SWISS INTERNATIONAL / Jan Tschichold 19 / 44

1932 Jan Tschichold • Slowly abandoned his rigid beliefs from around 1932 onwards • Acceptance of classical Roman typefaces for body-type • Moved back towards Classicism in print design • He later condemned Die neue Typographie as too extreme, on par with Nazi-ism • He also went so far as to condemn Modernist design in general as being authoritarian and inherently fascistic

1947 – 1949 Penguin Years • Lived in England for two years where he oversaw the redesign of 500 paperbacks published by Penguin Books • Established the Penguin Composition Rules • Four-page booklet of typographic rules and standards • Redesigned the penguin logo

The International Typographic Style

1940’S – 1960’S While Tschichold reconsidered his original beliefs, the principles laid out in The New Typography were absorbed by a new generation of Swiss graphic designers.

1928 Theo Ballmer As early as 1928, Ballmer is utilizing grid modules to aide in letterform construction.

Absolute mathematical construction is used, rather than the asymmetrical horizontals and verticals of De Stijl.

– MEGGS

© Kevin Woodland, 2019 Théo Ballmer, (left) poster for a traveling exhibition of industrial standards, 1928; (right) detail of previous image GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / SWISS INTERNATIONAL / The International Typographic Style 23 / 44

1919 Max Huber • Born in Baar, Switzerland • Graduates from Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich

1918–1984 Anthony Froshaug • English typographer • Joined the Ulm faculty as a professor of graphic design from 1957 until 1961 • Set up the typography workshop there • His design of the Ulm journal’s first five issues is paradigmatic of the emerging movement

1940’S Max Bill Bill also made use of the grid in his work, but also brought a strong sense of the fine arts to his layouts.

Mathematical proportion, geometric spatial division, and the use of Akzidenz Grotesk type (particularly the medium weight) are features of his work of this period.

– MEGGS

SECTION DATE Swiss Type Design

In search of neutrality, Swiss designers created a set of legible and versatile sans serifs (based on existing models such as Akzidenz-Grotesk) that have lasted for several generations.

1957 Die Neue Haas Grotesk • Designed by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with input from Edouard Hoffmann • Influenced by 19th century typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk • Favored for its machined neutrality • Hallmark of the International Typographic Style

1950’S – 1960’S High Modernism

During the two decades at the middle of the century, the International Typographic Style reaches its maximum power and full potential.

“If you can design one thing, you can design everything”

– MASSIMO VIGNELLI

1931 – 2014 Massimo Vignelli • Born, Milan, Italy • Moved to NYC in 1966 • Co-founded Vignelli Associates with his wife, Lella

B. 1920 Armin Hoffman • He began his career in 1947 as a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts at the age of twenty-six • Followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the Basel School of Design

1914–1996 Josef Müller-Brockmann • Swiss-born graphic designer, writer, theorist, and teacher • Müller-Brockman emerges as the movement’s preeminent spokes-person, catalizying the style through a number of published writings which still remain relevant today

Josef Müller-Brockmann

• Studied architecture, design and art history at the University and Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich • Opens his Zurich studio specializing in graphic design, exhibition design and photography in 1936

1951

Josef Müller-Brockmann

• Produced concert posters for the Tonhalle in Zurich

1966

Josef Müller-Brockmann

Appointed European design consultant to IBM

The Graphic Artist and A History of Visual History of the Poster Grid Systems in his Design Problems Communication 1971 Graphic Design 1961 1971 1981