International Typographic Style
Swiss Design Movement
The Swiss Design movement, otherwise know as the International Typographic Style, was first seen throughout the early 1900’s in countries like Germany, Russia and The Netherlands but was later developed by Swiss designers in the 1950’s where I gained the name Swiss Design as a modern design movement. The movement shared some of the same ideas and philosophies to previous design movements like the Bauhaus design movement, De Stijl movement and was a part of the Modernist design movement which was at it’s peak just a couple decades before during the Second World War.[1] Some of the key designers from the Swiss Design movement and the International Typographic Style included designers like Emil Ruder, Josef Muller Brockmann and Armin Hoffmann in addition to many others who followed the same ideas and principles in design.
The International Typographic Style was primarily known for its use of sans-serif typefaces such as Akzidenz Grotesk and Neue Hass Grotesk which we now know as Helvetica, their dedicated use to exclusively using sans-serif and grotesque typefaces as the primary element of design is what gave it the name International Typographic Style. The movement also focused on a variety of other principles and placed an emphasis of readability in design as they thought it to be a form of communication which was a similar outlook to that over the Bauhaus movement in the 1920’s and 1930’s, they also emphasised cleanliness and objectivity in their designs.
In addition to the exclusive use of sans-serif typography the Swiss Design movement was also recognised by its use of systematic gird layouts and compositions, asymmetrical layouts and its flush left typography which enhanced the idea of legibility and communication in design as many western civilisations read from left to right which allowed for better communication through design. Similar to that of the Modernist movement, the Swiss Design movement also opted to use new emerging technologies like photography and photomontage throughout their work as opposed to using illustrations and drawings that were commonly used in previous design movements like the arts and crafts movements during the 19th century.[2]
The movement was a collection of ideas from previous design movements like the Bauhaus, De Stijl, Constructivist and Modernist movements that were seen throughout the 19th century and the early 20th century and the Swiss Design movement shared many of the same idioms and philosophies to these movements, this allowed the movement to become crucial to design history and the development of design throughout the 20th century as they were designing with communication in mind and designing to the modern world which is something that is still considered in modern design today. The clarity and simplicity in typography is a good example of how this is used today as we create a visual hierarchy in typographical elements especially in web and app development and advertising.
Helvetica
Originally known as Neue Hass Grotesk, the Helvetica was created in 1957 by typographic designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann who aimed to create a typeface that matched with the resurgence of interest in grotesque sans-serif typefaces throughout the 1950’s, they aimed to create a neutral typeface which placed an emphasis on clarity which was a principle that the International Typographic Style was heavily focused on. Although the typeface was created in 1957 it was quickly licensed by Linotype in 1960 and renamed to Helvetica, which is what we now know the typeface to be today. The word Helvetica derives from the Latin word ‘Helvetia’ which means Swiss, this had great relevance to the typeface as it focused on many of the same ideas and principles to that of the Swiss Design movement throughout the 1950’s.[3]
The typeface was extremely legible due to having a larger x-height, low stroke contrast and its tight letter spacing which is what the International Typographic Style placed a focus on as they aimed to use design and typography as a form of communication. This allowed the typeface to become a huge part of the Swiss Design movement and was often used exclusively by designers from the Swiss Design movement like Josef Muller Brockmann for example. Helvetica is possibly one of the most renowned typefaces in history and is still used in modern design today in brand identity, advertising and visual design. The typeface was initially influenced by the previous Grotesk sans-serif typeface Akzidenz Grotesk which was widely used throughout previous design movements, the typeface was that influential that it had a feature film production made about it in 2007.[4]
Dutch Design Movement
The Netherlands were renowned for their role in graphic design and visual arts in the late 1900’s, the Dutch Design movement refers to a style of design that is commonly seen in work from Dutch designers. The movement places a heavy focus on graphic design and visual arts but is also known for its influence on other forms of design like product design and even fashion design when the design style started to gain recognition in the 1980’2.[5] The Dutch Design movement was heavily influenced by the International Typographic Style in the mid 1900’s and shared some of the main ideas and philosophies from the movement especially revolving around typography. Dutch designer like Wim Crouwel and Dutch design company Studio Dumbar were famously known for their use of typography and believed in the same ideas and principles to that of the Bauhaus and Swiss Design movement. Wim Crouwel believed that typography should have clarity which relates to similar ideas from previous design movements, most notably the Bauhaus movement where Laszlo Moholy-Nagy believed typography to be a tool for communication. Wim Crouwel believed in solving problems through detailed research and analysis which has a huge relationship to user experience design today where we conduct user research to help us create a more positive and effective user experience for digital products. Crouwel is also famously known for his creation of the typeface New Alphabet which was a typeface based around a structured grid system in addition to having his work featured in multiple museum and art galleries around the world.
I haven included some of the work Wim Crouwel and Studio Dumbar have worked on over the years to illustrate their design styles and how they utilised typography as a tool for communicating.
References & Sources
- Wikipedia. 2021. International Typographic Style – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style.
- Dominic Flask. 2021. Swiss Design : Design Is History. Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/home/swiss/.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Helvetica – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica.
- Newly Swissed Online Magazine. 2021. Why Helvetica is the world’s most popular font face. Available at: https://www.newlyswissed.com/helvetica-worlds-most-popular-font/.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Dutch Design – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Design.