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GDT 101 HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN SWITZERLAND AND THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE 1953-1960

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Modernism in Europe

Modernism in Switzerland exploded in the years following after World War II.

At virtually all Art and Design Schools in Northern Switzerland, students started to reprint a variety of influential modernist works from the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements.

Giselle, Armin Hoffmann, 1959

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Modernism in Europe

While Emil Ruder (Teacher and Graphic Designer) was puzzled that these movements were considered obsolete, Tschichold was now convinced that these movements embodied two misconceptions which had to be remedied in post World War II European Design.

1. Reject Centered (symmetrical) layout

2. Reject the exclusive use of San Serif type, which

he now considered a basic form for small children;

for adults its more difficult to read then, Serif type whose serifs have a function and are not just ornamental.

Emil Ruder, Die Gute Form, 1958

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Emil Ruder (1914 - 1970) together with Armin Hofmann, were the founding fathers of the “Baseler School.”

The Road to Basel was a design and typographical created by students Emil Ruder who fueled the new movement.

In 1942, Ruder was hired by the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule of the Swiss city of Basel to teach typography to typesetters and printer apprentices, and was joined in 1948 by lithographer Armin Hofmann.

The two quickly extend their courses and gained an international reputation, peaking in an advanced class for visual communication in 1968.

Armin Hofmann

The Basel School

Emil Ruder

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Armin Hoffmann, Theater Poster Basel, 1963

The Basel School

Armin Hoffmann, Herman Miller Furniture Collection, 1962

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Emil Ruder's teaching methods and design philosophy extended to Asymmetry as a concept and was important to him, and he saw support for it’s universal validity in Japanese texts on Zen philosophy and the art of drinking tea.

Emil Ruder

Emil Ruder, Color graphics exhibitionEmil Ruder, Design exhibition

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Emil Ruder, “An inventory of Gutenberg Typography”,Arthur Niggli Verlag, Teufen AR, 1967

Emil Ruder, “Letter A”, 1970

Emil Ruder

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Emil Ruder’s book on typography textbook has influenced generations of designers of typographer and graphic designers who have learned their fundamentals.

Ruder, is one of the twentieth-century typographers was a pioneer who abandoned the conventional rules of his discipline and replaced them with new rules that satisfied the requirements of his new typography.

Now in its sixth printing, this book has a hallowed place on the bookshelves of both students and accomplished designers.

Emil Ruder

Emil Ruder's book on Amazon

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Armin Hofmann

Armin Hofmann (born June 29, 1920), is a Swiss graphic designer. He began his career in 1947 as a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts at the age of26.

Hofmann and Emil Ruder banded together as heads of the graphic design department at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) and were instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the “Swiss Style.”

Armin Hofmann, “Stadt Theater Basel” Season Poster, 1961

Armin Hofmann

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His teaching methods were unorthodox and broad based, setting new standards that became widely known in design education institutions throughout the world.

He was also an influential educator. In 1965 he wrote the “Graphic Design Manual”, a popular textbook in the field

Armin Hofmann, Gewerbemuseum Exhibition

Armin Hofmann

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“A primary objective of my work with black-and-white posters is to counteract the trivialization of color as it exists today on billboards and in advertising. Paradoxically, I believe that one is more likely to develop a better perception of color by looking at the subtle harmonies of black-and-white images than by looking at the multi- and over colored illusions color photography often creates. The super-realistic likenesses that appear in television and in advertising fail to create the contrary or counter-images necessary to engage the viewer’s participation. Such literal translations hinder constructive thinking, absorption in the subject matter, and poignancy of recollection; they are ultimately counterproductive, producing no after images that continue to exist in memory.”

Lecture delivered in connection with the inaugural exhibition of the Swiss Institute, featuring posters by Armin Hofmann, New York City, May 8, 1986.

Armin Hofmann, William Tell Outdoor Theater Poster, 1963

Armin Hofmann

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Armin Hofmann has shaped the world of graphic design and graphic design education on an international scale through his teachings, writings, and works. Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, He continued teaching at Basel for 40 years.

In 1973, he founded the internationally known Summer Program in Graphic Design in Brissago, Switzerland.

Armin Hofmann, “Giselle” Poster, 1959

Armin Hofmann

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Armin Hofmann, Ohr & Auge (Eye and Ear), 1955

Armin Hofmann, Graphic Design Manual, Cover, 1965

Armin Hofmann

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When examining the body of work by Odermatt & Tissi its hard to ignore the impact these two designers have had on the international design scene.

Siegfried Odermatt originally wanted to be a photographer and worked at a few photographic studios and advertising agencies before becoming inspired by graphic designers such as Max Huber. Rosemarie Tissi & Siegfried Odermatt

Odermatt & Tissi Design Consultancy

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Self-taught, Odermatt opened his design studio in 1950, at the age of 24. Without the formal training from the Swiss design schools, Odermatt soon made his name with breaking the traditional rules, using color, dramatic cropping of photographs, and the division of space on a page. He continued alone until the arrival of Rosemarie Tissi in the early 1960s, who was made a partner in 1968.

Odermatt & Tissi Design Consultancy

Trade mark for Teamtex, designed by Odermatt and Tissi, 1976

Gemeinde Geroldswil, Odermatt &Tissi

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Tissi was trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zürich, and soon joined a design consultancy in Winterthur - where she was expected to do little more than answer the telephone.

This frustrated the young designer, who soon met with Odermatt and became his apprentice.

Siegfried Odermatt, Serenaden 88, 1988

Odermatt & Tissi Design Consultancy

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However, the two think on the same plane, as one usually likes the work off the other, and the work has a common style that rises above usual graphic design.

They also have another factor in common: Both judge their work not by the standards of the industry, but by their own. They are sensitive to commercial factors, of course, but like artists they have their own stylistic ideals. The work must express who they are as well as the aims of the client. Each project must appear new, but the jobs also have, Tissi claims, the soul of the designer within them.

Siegfried Odermatt, Design Niederlanden”, 1982

Odermatt & Tissi Design Consultancy

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Odermatt & Tissi, Dance Co. Merce Cunningham, 1991

Odermatt & Tissi, Poster advertising the Type Directors Club exhibition for the German Poster Museum in Essen, 1985.

Odermatt & Tissi Design Consultancy

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Rosmarie Tissi

Odermatt & Tissi Design Consultancy

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The highly modern, reductive style associated with the Swiss design aesthetic owes its existence in large part to Josef Muller-Brockmann, founder of the tri-lingual journal, “New Graphic Design.”

Strongly influenced by Constructivism, Muller-Brockmann is best known for his work with posters and signage.

Josef Muller-Brockmann

Beethoven Concert Poster, Josef Muller Brockmann

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His 1951 series of concert posters were a definitive statement of his style. Geometric, strongly unemotional, and committed to total abstraction, these influential posters create a mathematical harmony that reflects the harmony of music. There is an utopian undercurrent to Constructivist art that rejects the past and looks forward to a world of understanding, unity, and peace.

In Muller-Brockmann, this undercurrent manifests itself in his advocacy of socially responsible design and in his public health and safety posters.

Josef Muller-Brockmann

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Muller-Brockmann studied architecture, design, and art history in Zurich. He opened his own studio and, more than 30 years later, founded “New Graphic Design,” which was responsible for spreading the Swiss design ethic internationally. He also authored the books “History of Visual Communications” and “History of the Poster.”

Josef Muller-Brockmann

Josef Müller-Brockmann, A History of Visual Communication

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Josef Muller-Brockann, Swiss Automobile Club Watch that Child! Campaign poster,1953

Josef Muller-Brockann, Less Noise! Campaign poster,1953

Josef Muller-Brockmann

24Josef Muller-Brockann, Zurich Tonhalle Spring Concerts,1953

Josef Muller-Brockann, Zurich Museum of Arts and Crafts Exhibition Poster, 1953

Josef Muller-Brockmann

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Josef Muller-Brockmann

Josef Muller-Brockann, Zurich TonhalleConcert Poster, 1954

A slideshow about Josef Muller-Brockmann

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Read Chapter 15 Italy & the Milanese Style

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