swissgrid.posterhouse.orgThe Swiss Grid

00 Title 01 Prelude Thesis 02 The Grid System Audrey Bennett Commentary Before the Grid 03 Swiss Style WHAT IS SWISS STYLE? Why Switzerland? TYPOGRAPHY DESIGNERS Ramon Tejada Commentary Posters Exhibited in What if We Altered the Grid? Kelly Walters Commentary Shani Sandy Commentary Acknowledgements ©2024 Poster House posterhouse.org Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility was an exhibition at Poster House in New York City that launched February 26, 2020. Ten days after opening, the museum shut down due to Covid-19. With input from designers and educators, Poster House transitioned the exhibition into a remote learning tool that provides historical and pedagogical context for some of the technical teachings of design. Using the core material from the original exhibition, this site considers how a particular aesthetic—referred to throughout as ”—developed out of post-WWII Switzerland and spread around the world through generations of practitioners, and how the grid was used to create incredible posters for the cultural sector. This microsite interweaves contemporary attitudes towards teaching mid-century Modernism and the desire to both break free of and find new use for grid systems in contemporary design. The Grid System Since its emergence in the 1950s, no other graphic design legacy has had a greater impact than the Swiss grid. Whether adhering to it, playing with it, or decrying it, it is the staple of mid-century Modernism whose influence has never waned. The 1950s was by no means the first time grid structures appeared in design, but it marked the birth of a particular set of rules put in place by its practitioners, and the era remains a cultural touch point across the world. The Swiss grid avoided referencing historic stylistic trends traditionally associated with any single country, thus appearing universal, anonymous, and modern. As such, it spread to all aspects of visual messaging, from book layouts to subway signs, posters to instruction manuals. Additionally, in a fractured postwar era, the trilingual publications produced in Switzerland spread around the world, coming to define Modern design and reinforcing grid-based layouts. Key designers published their own textbooks and took up teaching positions in Europe, the United States, India, Latin America, Japan, and beyond, ensuring that the next generation of graphic designers was familiar with the flexible grid. Multinational corporations also saw grid-based design as an efficient problem-solving device for the new global market, and it was quickly accepted as a neutral,” universally appealing aesthetic that was ideal for conveying information clearly. The posters at the heart of this exhibition show how the grid was adapted with precision and whimsy for many cultural clients, and how it was applied in surprising ways to create balanced and detailed compositions with minimal motifs, many of which remain icons of the era. Audrey Bennett MDes Program Director and Professor, Stamps School of Art & Design Commentary While white Western practitioners are most often credited with the development of the grid structure, Bennett traces its origin to ancient African architecture and repositions African design as the source of this universally appealing aesthetic. Read Bennett’s Full Essay, Follow the Golden Ratio from Africa to the Bauhaus for a Cross-Cultural Aesthetic for Images” Before The Grid Most posters would also have to be redesigned in one or more of the country’s four languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh) to meet governmental rules on advertising—an artistic challenge as many translated words or phrases took up different quantities of space on a page. By the late 1950s, however, this illustrational style had run its course. Idyllic imagery seemed dishonest in the postwar years, and companies within a newly unified Europe sought to access a growing international market as efficiently and cohesively as possible. PKZ , 1924, A. Ernst Kretschmann (1897–1941), Poster House Permanent Collection Primarily a military painter, this is Kretschmann’s only known poster. Founded in 1881, PKZ was Switzerland’s first men’s department store and produced some of the best posters within the country. This design is no exception, combining a touch of Art Deco with classic illustrational techniques. Text was typically expressive and artistically integrated into the compositions. PKZ , 1923, Otto Baumberger (1889–1961), Poster House Permanent Collection Baumberger is one of Switzerland’s most important and prolific graphic designers, creating over 200 posters during his career. This poster is a marvelous example of the Sachplakat (Object Poster) style in which a product is presented in a simple close-up with little additional visual material. The assumption is that the product can sell itself. Baumberger ingeniously uses the tag on the coat to indicate the brand, leaving no need for additional promotional text. Before the development of the grid, Switzerland had already embraced a cohesive aesthetic that set it apart from the rest of Europe. Around 1914, poster sizes within the country were standardized (known as the Weltformat or World Format poster) and rules were introduced establishing where posters could be officially displayed in public. Designers excelled at the classic illustrational poster, promoting tourism through sun-dappled landscapes and products through handsome renderings of goods. Turnfest in Basel , 1912, Eduard Renggli (1863–1921), Poster House Permanent Collection First held in 1832, the Federal Turnfest in Switzerland is the country’s largest sporting event, focusing primarily on gymnastics and other athletic feats. Renggli’s poster shows the wispy, atmospheric treatment of line that dominated Swiss design in the 1910s. Turnfest in Basel , 1912 Eduard Renggli (1863–1921) PKZ , 1923 Otto Baumberger (1889–1961) PKZ , 1924 A. Ernst Kretschmann (1897–1941) Swiss Style What is Swiss Style? Swiss Style is known by many different names, often used interchangeably. Some other terms you may see which refer to the same style are: International Typographic Style Anonymous Style Swiss International Style Why Switzerland? 1939 As a neutral territory, Switzerland was one of the few European countries to emerge relatively unscathed from World War II. Unlike its neighboring countries, its infrastructure had not been destroyed, its citizens had not been witness to mass bloodshed, and its economy had been steadily recovering since the crash in 1929. Foreign artists and innovators saw the country as a haven, taking up teaching positions in Zürich and Basel where their forward-thinking ideas were nurtured. While the rest of the world recovered, Switzerland had the luxury of focusing on cultural growth. 1941 The government and professional organizations started sponsoring design competitions like The Best Swiss Poster, touring the winning designs both at home and abroad. Museums hosted exhibitions about new Swiss design, inviting the artists to lecture and create catalogs and posters for the shows. 1944 Design publications like Graphis (1944) also flourished, introducing Swiss graphics to the world through trilingual volumes in English, German, and French. Most of the winners of these competitions, as well as the people creating the exhibition posters and new publications, were professors at the two biggest design schools in Switzerland—the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule (later the Schule für Gestaltung) in Basel and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zürich—where grid-based design was being developed and taught. These numerous outlets allowed this particularly Swiss style to spread and saturate the international design community with unprecedented speed. 1948 By the late 1940s, homegrown companies around the world with an eye for the increasingly international market wanted recognizable brand identities that set them apart from the competition. This crisp, easy-to-understand...