(swiss design)

OBJECTIVE CLARITY + socially useful & important

not personal

elements asymmetric

organized with underlying mathematical grid

> aided legibility + type hiearchy

objective photography and copy

straightforward and factual content

san serif typography > akzidenz grotesk & helvetica

flush left, rag right copy blocks

B&W, 2D surface, primarliy 2-colors

Poster for an Exhibit on American Architecture 

MAX BILL

1945, Switzerland

underlying grid:

"to contain and harmonized disparate elements into a cohesive whole"

art conKrote 

dynamic/energetic

Schematic diagram of the 21 fonts that comprise

the Univers typeface family

ADRIAN FRUTIGER

1954, Paris

3 years developing Univers

altered "optically" programmed

system maintained uniformity in tone even in:

different weights, widths or upper/lower-case

combination in same composition

font: one variation of typeface

italic, oblique

Poster for the production of Giselle

ARMIN HOFFMAN

1959, Switzerland

simple, direct relationship between contrasting elements

hard/soft, black/white, static/dynamic, high contrast

rule of thirds

BASEL institute

Poster for production of the story of William Tell

ARMIN HOFFMAN

1963, Switzerland

high contrasts:

hard/soft, b/w, static/dynamic

photo adds depth

perspective > foreshadowing

communicators NOT designers

Poster for Basel, and the Future of its City Streets Exhibit

ARMIN HOFFMAN

1961, Switzerland

no photographic material

does image mean anything?

what are the contrasts here?

Poster for Musica Viva Concert

JOSEF MULLER-BROCKMAN

1959, Switzerland

"structure of music"

theorist + designer

photographic images + typographic elements

pre-determined grids

"complete" spatial harmony in his compositions:

mathematical principles to guide

size, placement, structure of negative space

use of title/type hiearchy & paragraph spacing

tilted

Public Awareness Poster "Less Noise"

JOSEF MULLER-BROCKMANN

1960, Switzerland

great impact due to scale and placement between the typography

red type emphasis of noise pollution

"type as noise" influence from futurists

type + image

Poster for der Film Exhibition

JOSEF MULLER-BROCKMANN

1960, Switzerland

3:5 ratio derived from the golden meaning

"most beautifully proportional rectangle by greeks"

15 rectangular modules, 3x5

overlapping simulates transition between rolls of film

US National Park publication system

MASSIMO VIGNELLI

1977, USA

helvetica and new times roman > 10 title formats

Poster for Automobile Races

MAX HUBER

1948, Italy

photomontage

transparent inks, z-axis, speed, mobility

what is swiss about this composition?

sense of balance + order "admidst the chaos"

*compare to pneumatik by LASZLO MAHOLY-NAGY

Lotteria di Monza Poster

MAX HUBER

1957, Italy

photomontage

transparent inks, asymmetrical balance & illusion of dimensional space

*compare to LAZSLO MAHOLY-NAGY

semiotics

[three kinds]

means to understand how people are informed

basis of meaning

cultural-social-religious-religious-psychological

belief systems: origin signs & symbols

 semantics > meaning of signs & symbols

syntactics > relationship or rules of combination order of icons

pragmatics > psychology of interaction with viewer