Essay
How did Armin Hofmann help shape Modernism and the Swiss style
that we know today?
Armin Hofmann played a crucial role to the success of the art and design movement known as the International Typographic styles; it was what helped launch the geometrical forms used in design we see today. Armin Hofman, being described as, ‘One of the most outstanding personalities in design history,’ his work is heavily looked up upon in today’s designers , but why is his work so responsive back then and now?
Hoffman’s style represents that of the ‘Swiss Style’: readability, cleanliness and importantly communication and specially Within Hofmann’s form of Swiss Style, Point, line and plane played a big part within his methods. Along with incorporating gird and San serif designs. Hofmann’s work still communicates now over 40-50 years with, ‘it’s best features still being used and mixed in 21st century design. To analyse how Hofmann shaped design, we need to know what helped shake Hofmann i.e his starting point in his career and influences. At the start and peak of Hofmann’s career of his success we can see why he has such an impact on modern design art as though to us, his work is seen and used by most artists, back then, these designs were new; not heard off.
Beginning of a career
Hofmann was born In 1920 in Switzerland, Winterthur. Hofmann’s Early life was not heavily wrote about as it seems that a lot of sources tend to skip to his start of his career in 1947, However, what we do know is that he studied at the School of arts and crafts in Zurich which clearly shows that he did have a passion for this type of career as he is already beginning the basics to a career that brings him a lot of success. After his school period, he then became a Lithographer which is a method of printing that contains oil and water that is used with a metal surface and pressed smoother material. This job was in places like Basel and Bern.
With a liking to Basel, it was also revealed he opened his own studio, unfortunately This is all that is really known of Hofmann before his recognised career job in 1947. It is in this year that he began to teach at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts.
1947 is a year that is still suffering from loss that was caused in the Second World War, but to Switzerland many didn’t have to face the Nazi occupation however, the threat was always there until the end of the war. With so much chaos within these years, many individuals expressed politics and their views; this was great for many artists as slowly around this period, we started to see a breakdown of all these social norms. These radical ideals were stolen in the past within Europe due to ideology and many countries are feeling these effects to the point that artists left Europe for America. This gives us an understanding of where we are at this time in society when Armin Hofmann’s career really begins.
Though Armin Hofmann would remain at the Basel School of Arts and Craft for over 40 years and take over as head of the school, his publishing work and the creation of the International Typographic style movement is the real career he was known for today.
International Typographic Style
Through his work at the school, it was there that Hofmann was thinking of the new path for graphic designers and developing a style that we know today as ‘Swiss Style’. With this new path and many artists such as Josef Müller- Brockmann, Emil Ruder and Max Bill, all contributing into a new form of graphic design, it was here that the ITS movement was active.
What is the International Typographic Style.
To the responsiveness of the historical events that had just taken place, this was the comeback that revived art within Europe again as its commutative Form of design was what was new in the art society. There are certain basics that come with this style and that was to emphasize Readability, cleanness and objectivity. When creating this style, photography outcome was prefered compared to that of illustration As it gave it that simple but effective way to convey their work to an audience.
When creating this style, Hofmann and along with his fellow designers, Brockmann, Ruder and Bill, both looked into past movements of periods of art for inspiration or Corporation Into this new style. Example would be the use of Akzidenz Grotesk typeface as It was a sans serif typeface that really helped in the process of the Swiss style and would later on help make the creation of Helvetica. This typeface was great when it came to printing commercially and had every element that the Swiss style was looking for.
Another example of influence was definitely the De Stijl Movement from 1917-1931. This was a Dutch movement that expressed a, “ideal of spiritual harmony and Order,” with its abstract painting, use of shapes and primary colours. Armin Hofmann would be influenced by this movement as one of Hofmann methods was his Point, line and plane work, which the De Stijl movement used a lot within their work. They explored the rapport that line can have with colour in art.
With these influences from the past doing a full circle for Hofmann, his teaching styles were known as unusual and unorthodox, however his classes would deem beneficial as his curriculum Is still being taught today but adapted to our time.
Trivialisation of Colour
Hofmann at this time was producing massive collections of work and his design would vary in: books, logo types, typography, posters, Stage sets and environmental graphics. With these massive bodies of work, Hofmann was shaping the modern elements of
Design and a collection of work that helped shape more ideas into the Swiss style scene was his very high profile collection of “Trivialisation of Colour.”
Through these collections, Hofmann helped shape the Modern design path by tackling the usage of colour within design. The title of the collection, “Trivialisation of Colour,” means that colour within these designs are irrelevant and shouldn’t be of any importance; that is the message that Hofmann is trying to say. Using the majority of his posters in black and white is trying to elaborate on the idea that colour can be easily seen better through the use of black and white instead of filled with chaotic and bright colours. This goes back to the simplistic ideas of Hofmann, who thought that these busy elements of colour are not going to grab the attention of consumers, but will seem off-putting. These flashy images and colour in Hofmann’s eyes have no place in an effective advertisement. Hofmann’s goal to have a black and white theme is a lot more Imaginative for the consumer as the simple details within the design, makes consumers left to fill in that missing element.
When looking into the work Hofmann has created it is interesting to see how famous and well known this way of design has evolved as it helped to create a political and Economic voice throughout the decades, this art would later be involved within music albums, posters and movies as well. Within the decades of Armin Hofmann’s most successful work, we see the empowerment movements with Feminism, racial injustice and the protests caused by the Cold War. It is a massive juxtaposition from before, living in a post war society and remaining fearful of a harmful change and expressing their freedom of speech. Through Their art my eyes help reflect that time period to me, that’s why I believe that artists such as Armin Hofmann did shape the modern view in art in such an impactful way that it is still used today.
With all the information I was able to find about Armin Hofmann, it is interesting for me to deep dive into this period of history that I didn’t have much knowledge in before, however I was fully aware of the art style that they created. Doing IXD for my course is so Impactful to see how much of the art that was in the past, became recycled today in design. I’ve always been a fan of past generations of music, movies and fashion but it’s interesting to see the art as well which was heavily influenced within movies and music. The point I am trying to make is that for myself and many others, this art style that came before, with International Typographic Style and modernism, can still be relevant today. Using these older methods lead to a more newer and effective process. Armin Hofmann helped shape modern design due to the fact he is a key reason for a movement that many are influenced by.
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