Week 4 The International Typographic Style - A History of Graphic ...

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Chapter 18 – The International Typographic Style
SUMMARY
This chapter focuses on the design movement that
emerged in Switzerland and Germany during the 1950s
(which has been called Swiss design and, more appropriately,
the International Typographic Style) and its impact
on postwar American design. The roots of the International
Typographic Style are to a large extent found in the
curriculum advanced at the School of Design in Basel.
The development of the curriculum at Basel has its basis
in fundamental geometric exercises involving the cube
and the line. This foundation, begun in the nineteenth
century independent of De Stijl and the Bauhaus, was
the basis for the 1908 formation of the school’s Vorkurs
(foundation course) and remained relevant to the design
program in the 1950s.
The characteristics of the International Typographic
Style include asymmetrical organization of design elements
on a mathematically constructed grid, objective
photography and copy that present visual and verbal
information in a clear and factual manner, and the use
of sans-serif typography set flush left and ragged right.
More important than visual appearance was the attitude
the pioneers of this movement developed about their
profession. They defined design as an important and
socially useful activity, and the role of the designer as
an objective conduit for spreading information between
components of society. Personal expression and eccentric
solutions were rejected in favor of a more universal
and scientific approach to design problem solving.
Among the pioneers of the International Typographic
Style were Ernst Keller, who believed the solution to a
design problem should emerge from its content; Théo
Ballmer, who applied De Stijl principles to graphic design
by using a grid to construct visual forms, including
letterforms; and Max Bill, who embraced the concepts of
art concret, which called for a universal art of absolute
clarity based on controlled arithmetical construction.
Bill’s work was based on cohesive principles of visual
organization, such as the linear division of space into
harmonious parts; modular grids; arithmetic and geometric
progressions, permutations, and sequences; and
the equalization of contrasting and complementary relationships
into an ordered whole. Max Huber’s tendency
toward complexity offered a counterpoint to Bill’s purist
approach. Huber created complex compositions by overlapping
typography, graphic elements, and images, yet
through balance and alignment and the use of transparent
inks, which allowed the layers to show through, he
maintained order in the midst of complexity.
In 1950, Bill became involved in developing the graphic
design program at the Institute of Design 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 co-founders, played an important
role in establishing the graphic design program,
and Anthony Froshaug set up the typography workshop.
The Ulm Institute of Design included a study of semiotics,
the philosophical theory of signs and symbols. The
three branches of semiotics are semantics, the study
of meaning of signs and symbols; syntactics, the study
of how signs and symbols are connected and ordered
into a structural whole; and pragmatics, the study of the
relationship of signs and symbols to their users.
The work of Anton Stankowski demonstrates how abstract
visual form can be used to communicate complex
information, such as invisible processes and physical
forces. Before attempting a design solution, Stankowski
researched the subject in order to understand the material
to be presented, for only through understanding was
he able to invent forms that became symbols of complex
scientific and engineering concepts.
The International Typographic Style was exemplified
by new sans-serif type families inspired by nineteenthcentury
Akzidenz Grotesk fonts. In 1954, Adrian Frutiger
completed Univers, a cohesive, sans-serif type family
that included twenty-one variations, from light extra-condensed
to expanded extrabold, in a full range of sizes.
Since the characters shared the same baseline, x-height,
and ascender and descender lengths, they could be
used together harmoniously. In the mid-1950s, Edouard
Hoffman and Max Miedinger refined and upgraded
the Akzidenz Grotesk fonts for the HAAS type foundry
in Switzerland, releasing them as Neue Haas Grotesk.
In 1961, when this design was produced in Germany
by D. Stempel AG, the face was named Helvetica, the
traditional Latin name for Switzerland. Meanwhile,
Hermann Zapf, a German typeface designer, evolved the
traditions of calligraphy and Renaissance typography
with Palatino, a roman style with broad serifs, strong

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
serifs, and elegant proportions somewhat reminiscent of
Venetian faces; Melior, a modern style face with vertical
stress and squared forms; and Optima, a thick-and-thin
sans-serif typeface with tapered strokes. Zapf’s two editions
of Manuale Typographicum, consisting of full-page
typographic interpretations of quotes about the art of
typography, were outstanding contributions to the art of
the book.
Further development in the International Typographic
Style occurred in Basel and Zurich, Switzerland. In Basel,
the new movement was being forged by Emil Ruder and
Armin Hofmann, and in Zurich by Richard P. Lohse, Hans
Neuburg, Carlo L. Vivarelli, and especially Josef Müller-
Brockmann.
In 1947, Emil Ruder joined the faculty of the Allgemeine
Gewerbeschule Basel (Basel School of Design) as the
typography instructor. Ruder taught that legibility and
readability are dominant concerns and that type loses
its purpose if it loses its communicative meaning. He
advocated sensitivity to negative space, systematic
overall design, and the use of a grid to bring all elements
into harmony with each other while allowing for
variety. More than any other designer, Ruder realized the
creative potential of Univers, and he and his students
explored its possibilities through contrast, texture, and
scale. Ruder’s methodology of typographic design and
education was presented in his 1967 book, Typography:
A Manual of Design. In 1947, Hofmann opened a design
studio in collaboration with his wife Dorthea and that
same year began teaching at the Basel School of Design.
Together with Ruder, he developed an educational model
linked to the educational principles of the Vorkurs established
in 1908. Hofmann evolved a design philosophy
based on the elemental graphic-form language of point,
line, and plane, replacing traditional pictorial ideas with
a modernist aesthetic. He sought a dynamic harmony
in which all the parts of a design were unified, and saw
a relationship between contrasting elements, such as
light to dark, curved to straight, form to counterform, as
the means of invigorating visual design, as shown in the
“Giselle” poster (Fig. 18-23). Here the organic, kinetic,
and soft photographic image contrast with the geometric,
static, and hard-edged typographic shapes. Hofmann
applied deep aesthetic values and understanding of form
to his teaching and designing. His 1965 book, Graphic
Design Manual, presents his application of elemental design
principles to graphic design. His work ranged from
designing posters, advertisements, and trademarks, such
as the Swiss National Exhibition and the Stadt Theater
Basel, to environmental graphics, such as for the high
school in Disentis, Switzerland, for which letters and
abstract shapes were incised into molded concrete.
Swiss design began to coalesce into a unified international
movement when the trilingual journal New
Graphic Design began publication in 1959. Under the
direction of its editors, Zurich designers Carlo Vivarelli,
Lohse, Müller-Brockmann, and Neuburg, its format and
typography were a living expression of the order and
refinement achieved by Swiss designers. Asymmetrical
design, white space, and adherence to a four-column
grid characterized the publication.
Müller-Brockmann sought an absolute and universal
form of graphic expression through objective and
impersonal presentation. In his photographic posters,
the image is treated as an objective symbol that gains
impact through scale, such as in the 1954 Swiss “Auto
Club” poster (Fig. 18-32), and camera angle, as seen in
the “weniger Lärm” (“less noise”) poster (Fig. 18-33) of
1960. His typographic posters achieved graphic power
by successfully combining effective communication,
expression of the content, and visual harmony. The
poster for the exhibition entitled “der Film” (“The Film”)
(Fig. 18-33), also from 1960, communicated the concept
of film by overlapping the word Film in front of the word
der, thus creating the typographic equivalent of the
cinematic techniques of overlapping images and dissolving
one image into another. In this same poster he
achieves visual harmony by using the three-to-five ratio
of the golden mean, considered by the ancients Greeks
to be the most beautifully proportioned rectangle. In his
posters for musical events, geometric form became a
metaphor for the rhythm of the music itself.
Also in Zurich, Siegfried Odermatt, and later his partner
Rosmarie Tissi, loosened the boundaries of the International
Typographic Style and introduced elements of
chance and intuitive visual organization into the vocabulary
of graphic design. Odermatt, who was a self-taught
designer, applied the International Typographic Style to
the communications of business and industry. He used
straightforward photography with drama and impact,
and sought originality through the idea, or concept, not
just through visual style. Tissi is known for her playful
approach to graphic design. In 1968, she became an
equal partner with Odermatt in the studio Odermatt &
Tissi.
As internationalism grew after World War II, the new
graphic design that had developed in Switzerland helped

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
fulfill the needs for communicative clarity. Its fundamental
concepts and methodology spread throughout the
world.
In America, the Swiss movement had a major impact on
postwar design. Among the designers who embraced
the International Typographic Style were Rudolph de
Harak, Jacqueline S. Casey, Ralph Coburn, and Dietmar
Winkler. De Harak began his career in 1946 in Los
Angeles and then moved to New York in 1952, where he
formed his own design studio. Feeling that communicative
clarity and visual order were vital components of
effective graphic design, he adapted attributes of the
International Typographic Style, such as grid structures
and asymmetry. In the early 1960s, he designed a series
of 350 book jackets for McGraw-Hill Publishers, using
a grid and uniform typographic system. This series
influenced the nature of book jacket design in the United
States. The International Typographic Style evolved in the
work of Casey, the director of the Design Services Office
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which
offered professional assistance on design publications
and publicity materials to members of the university
community. MIT was committed to the grid and sans-serif
typography. Casey and her staff, Coburn and Winkler,
were innovative in the use of designed letterforms, and
manipulated words as vehicles to express content.
During the mid-1960s, the International Typographic
Style and corporate design were linked. (This will be
discussed in Chapter 20.)
KEY TERMS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE; THE FIRST PAGE NUMBER OF THEIR APPEARANCE IS LISTED)
International Typographic Style, page 372, a design movement that emerged from Switzerland and Germany and has
also been called Swiss design. The visual characteristics of this style include a unity of design achieved by 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 propaganda and
commercial advertising; and the use of sans-serif typography set in a flush-left and ragged-right margin configuration.
Art concret, page 373, a manifesto formulated by Max Bill calling for a universal art of absolute clarity based on controlled
arithmetical construction. Paintings in this style were constructed entirely from pure, mathematically exact visual
elements—planes and colors. Because these elements have no external meanings, the results are purely abstract.
Semiotics, page 374, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols.
Semantics, page 374, a branch of semiotics that focuses on the study of the meaning of signs and symbols.
Syntactics, page 374, a branch of semiotics that focuses on the study of how signs and symbols are connected and
ordered into a structural whole.
Pragmatics, page 374, a branch of semiotics that focuses on the study of the relation of signs and symbols to their users.
Tectonic element, page 376, an underlying element relating to architecture found in Anton Stankowski’s design program
for the city of Berlin.
Univers typeface, page 376, a visually programmed family of twenty-one sans-serif fonts designed by Adrian Frutiger in
1954. The palette of typographic variations—limited to regular, italic, and bold in traditional typography—was expanded
sevenfold. Numbers replaced conventional nomenclature. Because all twenty-one fonts have the same x-height and
ascender and descender lengths, they form a uniform whole that can be used together with complete harmony (Figs.
18-14 and 18-15).
Helvetica typeface, page 377, this new sans serif, with an even larger x-height than that of Univers, 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 (Fig. 18-16).
Manuale Typographicum, page 378, These two volumes, published in 1954 and 1968 by Herman Zapf, are outstand-

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
ing contributions to the art of the book. Encompassing eighteen languages and more than a hundred typefaces, they
consist of quotations about the art of typography, with a full-page typographic interpretation for each quotation (Figs.
18-18 and 18-19).
Golden mean, page 383, a three-to-five ratio considered the most beautifully proportioned rectangle by the ancient
Greeks.
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, The quality and discipline found in the Swiss design movement can be traced to this
designer more than to any other individual. Rather than espousing a specific style, Keller believed the solution to the
design problem should emerge from its content. Fittingly, his work encompassed diverse solutions. His poster for the
Rietburg Museum demonstrates his interest in symbolic imagery, simplified geometric forms, expressive edges and
lettering, and vibrant contrasting color (Fig. 18-1).
Théo Ballmer (1902–65), page 373, studied briefly at the Dessau Bauhaus under Paul Klee, Walter Gropius, and Hannes
Meyer in the late 1920s, and applied de Stijl principles to graphic design in an original way, using an arithmetic grid of
horizontal and vertical alignments. In 1928 his poster designs achieved a high degree of formal harmony, as he used
an ordered grid to construct visual forms. In his “Büro” poster, both the black word and its red reflection are carefully
developed on the underlying grid (Figs. 18-2 and 18-3).
Max Bill (1908–1994), page 373, His work encompassed painting, architecture, engineering, sculpture, and product and
graphic design. After studying at the Bauhaus with Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers,
and Wassily Kandinsky from 1927 until 1929, he embraced the concepts of art concret, a universal art of absolute clarity
based on controlled arithmetical construction. During the 1930s, he constructed layouts of geometric elements organized
with absolute order. Mathematical proportion, geometric spatial division, and the use of Akzidenz Grotesk type
(particularly the medium weight) are features of his work of this period (Figs. 18-4 and 18-5 ).
Otl Aicher (1922–1991), page 374, played a major role in developing the graphic design program for the Hochschule für
Gestaltung (Institute of Design) in Ulm, Germany (see Figs. 20-35 and 20-36).
Anthony Froshaug (1918–1984), page 374, English typographer who joined the Ulm faculty as a professor of graphic
design from 1957 until 1961 and set up the typography workshop there. His design of the Ulm journal’s first five issues
is paradigmatic of the emerging movement (Fig. 18-6).
Max Huber (1919–1992), page 375, In his designs, bright, pure hues are combined with photographs in intense, complex
visual organizations. He took advantage of the transparency of printing inks by layering shapes, typography, and images
to create a complex web of graphic information. Sometimes his designs seem pushed to the edge of chaos, but
through balance and alignment he maintained order in the midst of complexity (Figs. 18-7 through 18-9).
Anton Stankowski (1906–1998), page 375, Particularly innovative in photography, photomontage, and darkroom manipulation
of images, he explored visual pattern and form in his close-up photographs of common objects, whose texture
and detail were transformed into abstract images. Ideas about color and form from his paintings often find 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. He developed a tectonic element for consistent use on all material of the design program for the city of
Berlin (Figs. 18-10 through 18-13).
Adrian Frutiger (b. 1928), page 376, a Swiss type designer who completed the sans-serif typeface Univers in 1954 while
working in Paris. Univers is a comprehensive type family containing twenty-one variations in weight and width all hav-

A HISTORY OF
GRAPHIC DESIGN
ing the same x-height and ascender and descender lengths (Figs. 18-14 and 18-15).
Edouard Hoffman and Max Miedinger (1910–1980), page 377, collaborated on a new sans serif with an even larger x-
height than that of Univers, which was released as Neue Haas Grotesk. When this design was produced in Germany by
the now defunct D. Stempel AG in 1961, the face was named Helvetica, the traditional Latin name of Switzerland. (Fig.
18-16).
Hermann Zapf (b. 1918), page 377, a major German typeface designer who evolved from the traditions of calligraphy
and Renaissance typography. A native of Nuremberg, Germany, he started his study of calligraphy after acquiring a
copy of Rudolf Koch’s Das Schreiben als Kunstfertigkeit (Writing as Art). He developed an extraordinary sensitivity to
letterforms in his activities as a calligrapher, typeface designer, typographer, and graphic designer; all of these activities
contributed to his view of typeface design as “one of the most visible visual expressions of an age.” The typefaces he designed
during the late 1940s and the 1950s are widely regarded as major type designs. These include Palatino (released
in 1950), Melior (1952), and Optima (1958). His two editions of Manuale Typographicum, published in 1954 and 1968, are
outstanding contributions to the art of the book (Figs. 18-17 through 18-19).
Emil Ruder (1914–1970), page 379, In 1947, he joined the faculty of the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel (Basel School
of Design) as the typography instructor and called upon his students to strike the correct balance between form and
function. He taught that type loses its purpose when it loses its communicative meaning; therefore, legibility and readability
are dominant concerns. His classroom projects developed sensitivity to negative or unprinted spaces, and he
advocated systematic overall design and the use of a grid structure to bring all elements—typography, photography,
illustration, diagrams, and charts—into harmony with each other while allowing for design variety. Problems of unifying
type and image were addressed. His methodology of typographic design and education was presented in his 1967
book, Typography: A Manual of Design, which had a worldwide influence (Figs. 18-20 and 18-21).
Armin Hofmann (b. 1920), page 379, In 1947, he began teaching graphic design at the Basel School of Design and together
with Emil Ruder, he developed an educational model linked to the elementary design principles of the Vorkurs
(foundation course) established in 1908. That 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 (Figs. 18-22 through 18-26).
Karl Gerstner (b. 1930), page 379, the founder of the GGK agency who was inspired by Armin Hofmann’s curriculum.
Carlo L. Vivarelli (1919–1986), page 381, His “For the Elderly” poster, conceived to spread awareness of the elderly and
their problems, used the angle of illumination on the face for dramatic impact. Swiss design began to coalesce into a
unified international movement when the journal New Graphic Design began publication in 1959, with him as an editor
(Fig. 18-28).
Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–1996), page 381, Emerging as a leading theorist and practitioner of the movement, he
sought an absolute and universal form of graphic expression through objective and impersonal presentation, communicating
to the audience without the interference of the designer’s subjective feelings or propagandistic techniques of
persuasion. His photographic posters treat the image as an objective symbol, with neutral photographs gaining impact
through scale and camera angle (Figs. 18-32 and 18-33). In his celebrated concert posters, the language of constructivism
creates a visual counterpart to the structural harmony of the music to be performed (Fig. 18-34). His exhibition
poster “der Film” demonstrates the universal design harmony achieved by mathematical spatial division. The proportions
are close to the three-to-five ratio of the golden mean (Fig. 18-35).
Siegfried Odermatt (b. 1926), page 383, played an important role in applying the International Typographic Style to the
communications of business and industry. He combined 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 (Figs. 18-38 through 18-40).
Rosmarie Tissi, (b. 1937), page 384, joined Siegfried Odermatt’s studio in the early 1960s and is known for her playful

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work. This studio 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 (Figs. 18-41 and 18-42).
Rudolph de Harak (b. 1924), page 384, His evolution has been a continuing quest for communicative clarity and visual
order, which are the qualities he deems vital to effective graphic design. He recognized these qualities in Swiss design
during the late 1950s and adapted attributes of the movement, such as grid structures and asymmetrical balance.
During the early 1960s, he initiated a series of over 350 book jackets for McGraw-Hill Publishers, using a uniform typographic
system and grid. Each book’s subject was implied and articulated through visual configurations ranging from
elemental pictographs to abstract geometric structures (Figs. 18-45 and 18-46).
Jacqueline S. Casey (1927–1991), page 387, the director of the Design Services Office at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), she worked with Ralph Coburn and Dietmar Winkler to produce publications and posters announcing
concerts, speakers, seminars, exhibitions, and courses on the university campus. Many of their solutions are purely
typographic, originally created on a drafting table for economical line reproduction. In a sense, letterforms are used as
illustrations, for the design and arrangement of the letters in key words frequently become the dominant image (Figs.
18-47, 18-48, 18-50, and 18-51).
Ralph Coburn (b. 1923), page 387, worked with Jacqueline S. Casey and Dietmar Winkler in the Design Services Office
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to produce publications and posters announcing concerts, speakers,
seminars, exhibitions, and courses on the university campus. His poster for the MIT jazz band used a repetition of the
letterforms of the word jazz to establish music sequences and animate the space (Fig. 18-49).
Dietmar Winkler (b. 1938), page 387, worked with Jacqueline S. Casey and Ralph Coburn in the Design Services Office
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to produce publications and posters announcing concerts, speakers,
seminars, exhibitions, and courses on the university campus. His poster for a computer programming course used the
term COBOL , COBOLemerging from a kinetic construction of modular letters (Fig. 18-52).
Arnold Saks (b. 1931), page 387, The ability of elemental forms to express complex ideas with clarity and directness is
seen in his “Inflatable Sculpture” exhibition poster. (Fig. 18-53).