LA – Research on Late Modernism

Research on the Swiss International Style
After you have done research on the style, give a description of your own. How would you define the style? Do a write-up of about 350 words and discuss the characteristics of the style, the typefaces that were prominent and the philosophy behind it.

Swiss International style, Swiss style, or International typography style. The style emerged as early as 1920 in Russia, The Netherlands and Germany, and was further developed by designers in Switzerland during the 1950s.
The style had a huge impact on graphic design as a part of the modernist movement, and influenced many design related fields such as architecture, art etc. The schools responsible for the early days of the style was the Basel school of design and Kunstgewerbeschule.

I would define the style as form over function. It seems like the most important aspect of the style was to communicate, get ideas across from design. Cleanliness, readability and objectivity.

It was not about the designer or the art. The art was imortant but should not be made for the sake of art, it was supposed to have a meaning and an goal within the design, to communicate something specific.

The style is very characterized by the use of grids, asymmetrical design, flush left and ragged right text and clean sans serif fonts. A few examples of fonts would be Akzidenz-Grotesk it was created 1896 by the Berthold Type Foundry it’s considered one of the most influential typefaces during the period and became one of the most widely known and used typefaces.

Later the typeface Univers was created, more specific it was created in 1954 by Adrian Frutiger, one of the most influential typeface designers of the 20th century. Frutiger created one of the first typefaces creating a font family. This allowed designers an easier way to explore and design with text alone. Knowing the differences within the font family would work good together.

Univers paved the way for Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman who together design the typeface Neue Haas Grotesk, that later turned into Helvetica. The goal with helvetica was to create a pure, clean text that could be used for longer text and be highly readable. Which they certainly succeeded with, it’s been very influential even inspired a film, and still to this day has a 88% fresh rating on rotten tomato.

Influences on Swiss International Style
Do a write-up of about 350 words on what you think the main influences were on the Swiss International Style. In other words, what motivated designers to create and follow this style? It may be useful to study specific designers, such as Josef Müller-Brockmann and Armin Hofmann, pay attention to what they themselves (or other designers amongst their peers) have said about the philosophy of the style.

Ernst Keller also known as “the father of swiss design.” In his teachings he didn’t teach a specific style but rather taught a philosophy of the style that was “the solution to the design problem should emerge from its content.”

Later generations that studied under Keller have been some of the most influential people involved with the International Swiss Style. For example Arminn Hofmann his work was very focused on graphic form while remaining simple and objective and he often used typography and photography over illustrations.

Another student of Keller that had a massive influence and was at the forefront of creating the style was Joseph Müller-Brockmann. His work was heavily based on grid systems and the Akzidenz-Grotesk typeface he also co-created the trilingual magazine/journal called Neue Grafik which help spread the style far beyond the borders of Europe.

What they all had in common was a philosophy to focus on clarity and readability, to make sure the designs had a purpose and that the purpose was for filled in the best and most understandable way. They believed that it was important to disconnect the designer from the work, as Joseph Müller-Brockmann, “sought an absolute and universal form of graphic expression through objective and impersonal presentation, communicating to the audience without the interference of the designer’s subjective feelings or propagandist techniques of persuasion.”

One big reason of the success of this style is also the fact that after the word war II international trade increased, and with a style based on clarity, simplicity, and readability the style found it’s niche in the communicative climate and expanded further beyond Switzerland.

Analysis of the Swiss International Style
Read up on the different schools within the Swiss International Style: The Zurich School of Arts and Krafts and The Basel School of Design and do a write-up of the similarities between them and the differences in their approaches. This write-up should be your own conclusions, based on examples of work and stated facts and should be approximately 350 words long.

The two schools have a lot of similarities both being based in the Swiss International Style, focusing on the message of the design rather than the design it self. Both schools were based on the same principles but did have a little different approach.

The biggest influence on the movement at both schools were tutors that started their own journey studying under Ernst Keller. Josef Müller-Brockmann (The Zurich University of the Arts) and Armin Hofmann (The Basel School of Design).

The Zurich University of the Arts was established in 1878, by now it’s known as The Zurich University of the Arts.
The Basel School of Design was started in 1968 and closed in 1999.
From my research the difference is hard to find, some sites claim one school was more focused on the grids, than the typography. Another site claims the other way around. I believe the difference is very hard to pinpoint since the style taught is the same. The only conclusion I can make is that there was some difference in the way the style was thought and what was the most important aspect to achieve the goal of the design style.

Since both Armin Hofmann and Josef Müller-Brockmann had different approach to their design and they were the tutors and very important figures in the 1950s Swiss International Style. I believe the differences in the schools way was based on how they would design and what they believed was the most important to focus on.

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