Chapter 18 – The International Typographic Style
Introduction, 372
Pioneers of the movement, 372
Functional graphics for science, 375
New Swiss sans-serif typefaces, 377
A master of classical typography, 377
Design in Basel and Zurich, 379
The International Typographic Style in America, 384
Key Terms (in order of appearance; the first page number of their appearance
is listed)
International Typographic Style, page 372
Art concret, page 373
Semiotics, page 374
Semantics, page 374
Syntactics, page 374
Pragmatics, page 374
Tectonic element, page 376
Univers, page 376, (Figs. 18-14 and 18-15)
Helvetica, page 377, (Fig. 18-16)
Manuale Typographicum, page 378, (Figs. 18-18 and 18-19)
Golden mean, page 383
Key People and Their Major Contributions (in order of appearance; the first page number of their appearance is listed)
Ernst Keller (1891–1968), page 372, (Fig. 18-1)
Théo Ballmer (1902–1965), page 373, (Figs. 18-2 and 18-3)
Max Bill (1908–1994), page 373, (Figs. 18-4and 18-5)
Otl Aicher (1922–1991), page 374, (see Figs. 20-35 and 20-36)
Anthony Froshaug (1918–1984), page 374, (Fig. 18-6)
Max Huber (1919–1992), page 375, (Figs. 18-7through 18-9)
Anton Stankowski (1906–1998), page 375, (Figs. 18-10 through 18-13)
Adrian Frutiger (b. 1928), page 376, (Figs. 18-14 and 18-15)
Edouard Hoffman (d. 1980) and Max Miedinger (1910–1980), page 377, (Fig. 18-16)
Hermann Zapf (b. 1918), page 377, (Figs. 18-17 through 18-19)
Emil Ruder (1914–1970), page 379, (Figs. 18-20 and 18-21)
Armin Hofmann (b. 1920), page 379, (Figs. 18-22 through 18-26)
Karl Gerstner (b. 1930), page 379
Carlo L. Vivarelli (1919–1986), page 381, (Fig. 18-28)
Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–1996), page 381, (Figs. 18-31 through 18-35)
Siegfried Odermatt (b. 1926), page 383, (Figs. 18-38 through 18-40)
Rosmarie Tissi, (b. 1937), page 384, (Figs. 18-41 and 18-42)
Rudolph de Harak (b. 1924), page 384, (Figs. 18-45through 18-46)
Jacqueline S. Casey (1927–1991), page 387, (Figs. 18-47, 18-48, 18-50, and 18-51)
Ralph Coburn (b. 1923), page 387, (Fig. 18-49)
Dietmar Winkler (b. 1938), page 387, (Fig. 18-52)
Arnold Saks (b. 1931), page 387, (Fig. 18-53)
Chapter 18 – Study Questions
Multiple Choice
- During the 1950s, a design movement emerged in Switzerland and Germany that has been called Swiss design or, more appropriately, the ______. The visual characteristics of this design movement include visual unity of design achieved through the asymmetrical organization of the design elements on a mathematically constructed grid; objective photography and copy that present visual and verbal information in a clear and factual manner, free from the exaggerated claims of much propaganda and commercial advertising; and sans-serif typography set flush left, ragged right. The initiators of this movement believed sans-serif typography expressed the spirit of a progressive age and that mathematical grids were the most legible and harmonious means for structuring information. This design movement won converts throughout the world and remained a major force for over two decades, and its influence continues.
A.Dada
B.Memphis
C.International Typographic Style
D.new wave
- The emerging Swiss design gained its alphabetical expression in several sans-serif type families designed in the 1950s. The geometric sans-serif styles, mathematically constructed with drafting instruments during the 1920s and 1930s, were rejected in favor of new designs inspired by nineteenth-century Akzidenz Grotesk fonts. One of the new typefaces designed during this period was ______, which was created as a palette of twenty-one visually related fonts. All twenty-one have the same x-height and baseline, and all ascenders and descenders are the same length. Numbers replaced conventional nomenclature.
A.Neuland
B.Futura
C.Helvetica
D.Univers
- ______was the designer of the typeface mentioned in the preceding question, which was created as a palette of twenty-one visually-related fonts that all have the same x-height and baseline and whose ascenders and descenders are the same length.
A.Adrian Frutiger
B.Emil Ruder
C.Karl Gerstner
D.Otl Aicher
- Another new sans-serif was released as Neue Haas Grotesk by Edouard Hoffman and Max Miedinger. When this design was produced in Germany by the now-defunct D. Stempel AG in 1961, the face was renamed with the traditional Latin name for Switzerland. ______
A.Neuland
B.Futura
C.Helvetica
D.Univers
- More important than the visual appearance of Swiss design is the attitude developed by early pioneers about their profession. Which of the following statements does NOT belong? ______
A.Design is a socially useful and important activity.
B.Personal expression and eccentric solutions were rejected, while a more universal and scientific approach to design problem solving was embraced.
C.The designer is not an artist but an objective conduit for spreading important information among various components of society.
D.Ornamentation was prized for its decorative quality.
E.Achieving clarity and order is the ideal.
- A native of Nuremberg, Germany, ______apprenticed as a photo retoucher and studied calligraphy after he acquired a copy of Rudolph Koch’s book Das Schreiben als Kunstfertigkeit (Writing as an Art Form). He became a freelance book designer and typographic designer, and at age twenty-two the first of his more than fifty typefaces was designed and cut for Stempel foundry. He developed an extraordinary sensitivity to letterforms in his activities as a calligrapher, typeface designer, typographer, and graphic designer. He viewed typeface design as “one of the most visible visual expressions of an age.” He designed Palatino in 1950, Melior in 1952, and Optima in 1958.
A.Adrian Frutiger
B.Max Miedinger
C.Edouard Hoffman
D.Hermann Zapf
- ______was a leading design theorist and practitioner in Zurich, Switzerland. He sought absolute and universal graphic expression through an objective and impersonal presentation, communicating to the audience without the interference of the designer’s subjective feelings or propagandistic techniques of persuasion, as in his 1960 public awareness poster “Weniger Lärm” (“Less Noise”). In his celebrated concert posters, like the “Musica Viva” concert poster of 1972, the language of constructivism created a visual equivalent to the structural harmony of the music to be performed. He worked extensively with mathematical grid structures. His 1960 exhibition poster “der Film” demonstrates the universal design harmony achieved by mathematical spatial division.
A.Josef Müller-Brockman
B.Armin Hofmann
C.Siegfried Odermatt
D.Rudolph de Harak
- The ______has a three-to-five ratio. A rectangle with this ratio was considered by the ancient Greeksto be the most beautifully proportioned rectangle.
A.tectonic element
B.art concret
C.golden mean
D.manuale typographicum
- In 1950, Max Bill became involved in developing the graphic design program at the Institute of Design Institute in Ulm, Germany, which attempted to establish a center for research and training to address the design problems of the era. Otl Aicher, one of the Ulm cofounders, played an important role in establishing the graphic design program, and Anthony Froshaug set up the typography workshop. The curriculum included a study of ______: the general philosophical theory of signs and symbols.
A.semantics
B.pragmatics
C.semiotics
D.syntactics
- Particularly innovative in photography, photomontage, and darkroom manipulation of images, visual pattern and form were explored in ______’s close-up photographs of common objects, whose texture and detail were transformed into abstract images. Ideas about color and form from his paintings often found their way into his graphic designs; conversely, wide-ranging form experimentation in search of design solutions seems to have provided shapes and compositional ideas for his fine art. After the war, his work started to crystallize into what was to become his major contribution to graphic design: the creation of visual forms to communicate invisible processes and physical forces.
A.Otl Aicher
B.Anthony Froshaug
C.Richard Lohse
D.Anton Stankowski
- In his work and in his teaching, ______sought a dynamic harmony through which all the parts of a design were unified. He saw the relationship of contrasting elements as the means of breathing life into a visual design. These contrasts included light to dark, curved lines to straight lines, form to counterform, and dynamic to static. He began teaching at the Basel School of Design in 1947, after completing his education in Zurich, Switzerland, and working as a staff designer for several studios. At the same time he opened a design studio in collaboration with his wife. He applied a deep sense of aesthetic values and understanding of form to both teaching and designing. He evolved a design philosophy based on the elemental graphic-form language of point, line, and plane. His work includes the logotype for the Stadt Theater Basel (Basel Civic Theater), 1954; the poster for the Basel Theater’s production of Giselle, 1959; and the trademark for the Swiss National Exhibition, Expo 1964.
A.Emil Ruder
B.Max Huber
C.Armin Hofmann
D.Josef Müller-Brockman
- In 1947, Armin Hofmann began teaching graphic design at the ______, and together with Emil Ruder, he developed an educational model linked to the elementary design principles of the Vorkurs (Preliminary Course) established in 1908. The same year, he opened a design studio in collaboration with his wife, Dorothea, where he applied deep aesthetic values and understanding of form to both teaching and designing. As time passed, he evolved a design philosophy based on the elemental graphic-form language of point, line, and plane, replacing traditional pictorial ideas with a modernist aesthetic. In 1965, he published Graphic Design Manual, a book that presents his application of elemental design principles to graphic design.
A.School of Applied Art in Zurich, Switzerland
B.Institute of Design in Ulm, Germany
C.Basel School of Design in Basel, Switzerland
- Siegfried Odermatt played an important role in applying the International Typographic Style to the communications of business and industry. He combined a succinct, efficient presentation of information with a dynamic visual quality, using straightforward photography with drama and impact. Ordinary images were turned into convincing and engaging photographs through the careful use of cropping, scale, and lighting, with attention to shape and texture as qualities that cause an image to emerge from the page. In the early 1960s, ______joined Odermatt. They loosened the boundaries of the International Typographic Style and introduced elements of chance, the development of surprising and inventive forms, and intuitive visual organization into the vocabulary of graphic design. This phase of the studio’s development marked the beginning of a break with the traditions of Swiss design.
A.Emil Ruder
B.Karl Gerstner
C.Dietmar Winkler
D.Rosmarie Tissi
- The Swiss style was embraced in American corporate and institutional graphics during the 1960s and remained a prominent aspect of American design for over two decades. A notable example was found in the graphic design office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the early 1950s, MIT established a graphic design program enabling all members of the university community to benefit from free, professional design assistance on their publications and publicity materials. This was an early recognition of the cultural and communicative value of design by an American university. MIT based its graphic design program on a commitment to the grid and sans-serif typography. The staff was innovative in the use of designed letterforms, and manipulated words as vehicles to express content. This approach evolved in the work of ______, the director of the Design Services Office. Letterforms became illustrations, for the design and arrangement of the letters in key words frequently became the dominant image, as in the 1974 poster for an MIT open house in which stencil letterforms announce the open house, and the open O does double duty as a concrete symbol of the opening of the campus to visitors.
A.Jacqueline Casey
B.Ralph Coburn
C.Dietmar Winkler
D.Rosmarie Tissi
Image Identification
I. Match the figure with the name of its designer.
1.Fig. 18-1 ______
A.Max Bill
B.Théo Ballmer
C.Ernst Keller
2.Fig. 18-5 ______
A.Max Bill
B.Théo Ballmer
C.Ernst Keller
3.Fig. 18-27 ______
A.Max Bill
B.Théo Ballmer
C.Ernst Keller
D.Carlo Vivarelli
4.Fig. 18-28 ______
A.Josef Müller-Brockmann
B.Carlo Vivarelli
5.Fig. 18-33 ______
A.Josef Müller-Brockmann
B.Carlo Vivarelli
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