Modernism

International/Swiss Style

We were tasked with researching one area of Modernism. I decided to focus on International Style/Swiss Style.

International Style developed after WWII, originating in Switzerland as Swiss Style (1950s) but soon becoming adopted by many large US corporations as part of their identity. It took its cues from De Stijl, Constructivism, Bauhaus and the New Typography, but without the political influences.

Jan Tschichold, film poster, 1927

Students of the Bauhaus, Max Bill and Theo Ballmer, along with Jan Tschichold (a German refugee) were the founders of the Swiss Style. At first Tschichold dictated that very strict rules should be applied to all typography - flush left, sans serif, etc, which then became popular. However some years later he decided his views were too dictatorial and changed his ideas about what the ideal style was, and later became a serif type designer. Many of his contemporaries felt he had betrayed them.

Akzidenz Grotesk, the typeface on which Helvetica (formerly Neue Haas Grotesk) was based, was the most popular typeface. For many graphic designers, it was the only typeface they ever used. It was revered for its functionalist style, with no political connotations from Constructivism or the Bauhaus. Being politically neutral was key to International Style.

In 1957, Adrian Frutiger designed the type family Univers, which was the first of it's kind to have a numerical reference system defining weights and widths of the typefaces.

Josef Muller-Brockman designed the poster below, which includes key features of Swiss Style - a grid system, curves, and asymmetrical text.

Josef Muller-Brockmann, Beethoven, 1955

Brockmann believed that you should never use more than one typeface, and even then only 2 sizes were allowed, and that text should always be horizontal.

In 1951 HfG (University of Design) was founded by Bill, Aitcher and Scholl who were the first to teach semiotics in relation to graphic design. As a result of this, their graduates found they were in demand. They designed logos for Deutsche Bank, Lufthansa, and the pictogram based designs for the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Jan Tschichold was recruited by Penguin Books in 1947. After rejecting his New Typography dogma, he set some loose design rules in place - Penguin Composition Rules, and established what is now the Penguin style.

Another proponent of International Style was Alan Fletcher, who designed the V&A logo, and co-founded Pentagram.

In the USA, corporations raced to adopt International Style which reflected their aggressive ideals of capitalism. Paul Rand was its most famous designer of corporate identities. His worked includes the IBM logos, and those for UPS and Yale. Paul Rand's website says the following about logo design:

The effectiveness of a good logo depends on:

a. distinctiveness
b. visibility
c. useability
d. memorability
e. universality
f. durability
g. timelessness

It says “We care.”

Paul Rand http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/thoughts_logosflags/#.Vh4XoHg0O9o

Paul Rand, logos for IBM, 1956-1990