the story

A New Profession
Leap Into Modernity
Constructive Swiss Graphic Design Takes Roots
Swiss Style – A Swiss Export Hit
Constructive Heritage
the Swiss Design grid
The Swiss Grid
Before The Grid
Swiss Style
What If We Altered The Grid?

BAUHAUS

HOW TO CONVEY COMPLEX MEANING

WITH SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
A Brief History of the Bauhaus
SIX FONTS THAT PROVE
How To Understand
BAUHAUS INSPRIED TYPOGRAPHY
IS ALIVE AND WELL
JOOST, by José Manuel Urós
JULIEN, by Peter Bil’ak
MOHOL TYPE, by Hungarumlaut
LASLO, by Hungarumlaut
NOBEL REVIVAL, by Tobias Frere-Jones
PARETO, by Dinamo
By Barbara Junod

FOREVER
THE STORY
OF A GRAPHIC DESIGN
TRADITION

READ ON TO Conceptual strength, concision and technical precision:

these are the hallmarks of Swiss graphic design and
LEARN ABOUT typography, which enjoy an excellent reputation around
THE ORIGINS OF the world. They are the result of a long tradition of
vocational education and training and professional
SWISS STYLE excellence. Under the ‘Swiss Style’ label, Swiss graphic
– AND WHY IT design gained international recognition in the 1950s and
1960s and became a highly successful export product.
NEVER GOES Read on to learn about the origins of Swiss Style – and
OUT OF STYLE. why it never goes out of style.
A NEW PROFESSION
The profession of graphic designer
did not exist at the turn of the 20th
century. Posters and magazine titles
were generally designed by artists,
for whom such commissioned work
was a way to pay the bills. Specialist
printing shops did the layout for
books, brochures and other printed
materials. The first courses in ‘applied
graphic design’ – including typeface
design – were taught at vocational
arts and crafts schools in Basel and
Zurich from 1915. Graphic design
courses were later taught throughout
Switzerland as part of the dual
vocational education and training
system. There were two types of
graphic design apprenticeships: one
combining classroom learning with
practical workshop activities and
an in-company VET apprenticeship
with supplementary classroom and
workshop activities. Students who
wanted to learn graphic design first
had to take a pre-vocational course,
which existed before the preliminary
course taught at the Bauhaus School
and which still exists in a modern
form today.
LEAP INTO MODERNITY
The Swiss Werkbund
(Schweizerischer Werkbund),
founded in 1913 on the German
model, provided a major impetus
for the development of the Swiss
printing and graphic industry. Its
mission was to improve the technical
and design quality as well as the
marketing of Swiss products. In
the 1920s the Swiss Werkbund
promoted functional industrial
design and, in close association with
the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts,
contributed to the development
of modern graphic design. One of
its co-founders was Ernst Keller,
head of the Zurich graphic design
programme from 1920 to 1956. A
number of Keller’s students would
gain international renown, most
notably the typeface designer Hans
Eduard Meier (who developed the
Syntax typeface), and the graphic
designers Richard Paul Lohse,
Hermann Eidenbenz and Lora Lamm,
who developed unique styles of their
own. The Basel School of Arts and
Crafts (Allgemeine Gewerbeschule
Basel) brought forth an even greater
diversity of design styles.
CONSTRUCTIVE SWISS
GRAPHIC DESIGN TAKES
ROOTS
Illustrative graphic design was
still widely used for advertising
posters for the consumer market,
but constructive graphic design
came to dominate all other media:
publications, word marks, logos,
etc. The constructive Swiss graphic
designers were more skilled at
doing typographic work, layouts
and photomontage than the
illustrators with their pencils and
brushes were. Improvements in
photo print quality also paved the
way. Richard Paul Lohse and the
copywriter Hans Neuburg met the
Bochum-based industrial graphic
artist Anton Stankowski at the Zurich
advertising agency Max Dalang
around 1929, and learned the art of
photomontage from him. Building on
Stankowski’s methods and European
constructivism, by the middle of the
century Lohse, Neuburg and their
Zurich-based colleague Max Bill had
developed an independent, austere
style of graphic design committed to
what they called ‘concrete art’. Max
Bill also created the first true layout
grid system in the late 1930s.
SWISS STYLE – A SWISS
EXPORT HIT
Swiss graphic design and typography
achieved international renown in
the 1950s and 1960s. The two main
centres were Basel and Zurich.
Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder,
two influential teachers at the
Basel School of Design, published
textbooks that were read worldwide.
In Zurich, Lohse, Neuburg, Josef
Müller-Brockmann and Carlo
Vivarelli published their acclaimed
trilingual journal Neue Grafik (New
Graphic Design). The work of these
designers, which came to be known
internationally as the ‘Swiss Style’,
was characterised by a design
language reduced to its essentials,
the use of photography and graphic
symbols, sparing utilisation of colour,
sans serif fonts and asymmetrical
layouts. Whereas the Zurich-based
designers championed the use of
a layout grid and the Helvetica
typeface developed by Max
Miedinger, Basel-based designers
used layout grids more selectively
and favoured Adrian Frutiger’s
Univers typeface. Both typefaces
were launched on the market in
1957 and became export hits. Swiss
Style won international acclaim for
its clarity and apparent ease of use
at a time when companies were
increasingly demanding effective,
functional and precise visual
communication.
CONSTRUCTIVE HERITAGE
Swiss Style is much more than a
style: it is a timeless Swiss classic
based on a rational attitude and a
methodical – even mathematical
– approach. The visual information
system designed by Müller-
Brockmann and Peter Spalinger from
1978 onwards for the Swiss Federal
Railways (SBB) is a good example
of this. Its modular design and clear
appearance make it as effective as
ever. The same can be said of the
SBB logo: the white double-arrow
cross against a red background,
symbolising the Swiss national flag,
has become a distinctive trademark.
Modern graphic design studios like
Experimental Jetset, Norm, Julia
Born and Laurenz Brunner value
the advantages of crystal-clear
Swiss typefaces, which they use to
create their own projects. And not
just graphic design studios: complex
corporate images, information charts
and signage systems draw on this
constructive graphic design heritage.
 The name Bauhaus has a meaning that already makes
clear the scope of the school. It was the school that
revolutionized architecture, home design, and graphic
design.

This direction has promoted the idea of ​​simple and

effective solutions to the world. The workers of the school
searched for and found the opportunity to simplify the
complex, refuse over-decoration, and at the same time
create masterpieces.
Today, Bauhaus graphic design is relevant because the
user has to concentrate on the meaning and function of
the design and at the same time, use interesting solutions:
asymmetry, bright colors, strict figures, etc. This design is
not boring and, I can only assume, it will be relevant for
the next few years.

Graphic Design:
How to Convey Complex Meaning with Simple Solutions
By Valeriia Vodiashyna
A Brief History of the Bauhaus: hinted that it was time to show the
What, Where, When, Who and Bauhaus representatives the work
and its results. There was no other
How? choice. The assumption is that
many of the works were made right
Let’s imagine Germany after World
before the exhibition. Maybe, but the
War I. Ruin. Economic fall. Lack
exhibition amazed everyone with a
of resources. At the same time,
new style of work and rethinking of
there is an urgent need to restore
ordinary things.
the life of the inhabitants. Such
conditions make this a task with
1925. Creation of the well-known
an asterisk, do you agree? In such
Bauhaus identity : Due to political
difficult conditions, the Bauhaus
oppression, the school moved to
school of construction and artistic
Dessau in 1925. It is this building that
design was opened in Weimar. For
collects all the ideas of the direction.
14 years (1919-1934), her followers
At the same time, Herbert Bayer
made a breakthrough in architecture
created the famous font, which was
and graphic design. Thanks to the
used in the school logo. The font
Bauhaus, a revolution took place in
discards large letters to simplify
which everything unimportant in the
writing, consists of simple geometric
subject was mercilessly cut off.
shapes, and is easy to read. It was the
basis for other typefaces in Bauhaus
Meaning, simplicity, and
graphic design.
efficiency of design prevailed
over embellishments. Let’s look at
1933. Closing of the school:
the most important points in the
Unfortunately, the free and
development of the school and what
progressive ideas of the school
happened to them.
strained the German government.
Followers began to be considered
1919. Opening of a school in Weimar:
propagandists of communism, and
The first director was Walter
the school was deprived of state
Gropius. He believed that every
school status. In 1933, the third
artist should know the craft. That is
director, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,
why the training program consisted
decided to dissolve the school. This
of practice in workshops – in metal
was the end for the Bauhaus school,
processing, sculpture, wood, glass,
but not for the style. The students
advertising, textiles, etc. In addition,
went around the world and began
the students were engaged in
to promote the famous Bauhaus
dancing, stage performances, and led
graphic design in different cities.
an active social life within the school.
Thanks to love and faith in the
In the classroom, students created
Bauhaus principles, today we are
real objects and looked for new
adapting this style for our design.
solutions in which better quality is
I have prepared for you style
created with fewer resources.
characteristics and Bauhaus graphic
Curators were assigned for each
design examples.
direction. You can find the most
recognizable and famous people in
the infographics below.

1923. An exhibition that showed the

power of the Bauhaus: Interestingly,
the school existed on taxpayer
money and was free for students.
Therefore, the German government