Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914-1996) was a Swiss graphic design and pioneer of the Swiss Style (also referred to as the International Typographic Style). Müller-Brockmann’s masterful use of grid structures enabled the designer to create timeless compositions from minimal elements, with many of his greatest works constructed entirely of text.
“The formal organisation of the surface by means of the grid, a knowledge of the rules that govern legibility (line length, word and letter spacing and so on) and the meaningful use of colour are among the tools a designer must master in order to complete his or her task in a rational and economic matter.”
“Der Film” Josef Müller-Brockmann (1959)
Müller-Brockmann’s initial sketches for “Der Film” (1959)
I decided to recreate the underlying grid system Müller-Brockmann utilised in his design: “Der Film” (1959). The poster is composed entirely of text with the title, located at the foot of the format, being the focal point of the print. The two words were separated by the designer who then used a photogram process to overlay the text. The two elements are colour blocked in two different neutral tones with the lightest (“film”) to the foreground, ensuring that while coinciding, the words are still legible to the audience. It was really exciting to learn that Müller-Brockmann used this overlapping effect to achieve the effect of a horizontally moving film title – reflecting the posters context. Studying this poster, I gained a greater appreciation of typography as tool which when used imaginatively can arguably achieve a more compelling outcome that a poster full of elements may not.
Below I have included my own experiments with the template used by Müller-Brockmann. I began by copying the grid structure the designer used in his original design onto Figma, however I quickly realised that this style of overlaying would not work using longer text that I would be editing in my own poster. The overlay outcomes were difficult to read and ultimately unsuccessful. However, I decided to experiment with positioning the text on the different grid lines that ran diagonals across the poster and found this created both a dynamic composition and better legibility. I enjoyed working with Müller-Brockmann’s colour pallette from the “Der Film” poster as the neutral tones juxtaposed with the red smaller text and black background was aesthetically refreshing. I also liked my experiments in which the underlying grid is left visible to the audience as I think the white lines provide an interesting ground for the typographic elements; this is something I may consider including in my final outcome as I explore the sense of entrapment and fear of imprisonment associated with asylum seeking.
Wim Crouwel (1928-2019) was a Dutch graphic designer, type designer and typographer who is best known for designing the futuristic typeface: “The New Alphabet” in 1967. Wim Crouwel championed the modernist principle of creating design that valued clarity of communication between the viewer and work; defining good design as “fulfilling its purpose in a straight forward way”. His work includes “Leger” (1957), “Hiroshima” (1957), “Jean Dubuffet Grafiek” (1960) all of which were posters. The three works listed all feature practices that are carried through a great deal of Crouwel’s work including a limited pallette of colours typically utilised to create flat planes of block tones.
(above) “Hiroshima” Wim Crouwel (1957)
The use of blocking colour enables the audience to easily read the text featured on the posters. Sans-serif typefaces are also frequently used, echoing the thought of Swiss Style pioneers like Josef Müller-Brockmann, who would have been a contemporary of Crouwel during the mid-20th century. Typefaces which were stripped of embellishments reduced the amount of “visual traffic” between the audience and the posters message.
Sans-serif typefaces is also shown to be particularly effective in the Crouwel’s design of the poster: “Hiroshima” (1957), created for the promotion of an exhibit displaying drawings relating to the devastating bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Crouwel wished to create a “monolith”-like typeface that reflecting the daunting subject matter of the exhibit. The lettering is tall and narrow, with very fine but uniform kerning which creates great tension between each character. Being a sans-serif typeface, each character is able to be compacted together closely without the distance created by features like tales. The word itself is appears forced into the confines of posters width; contained within the narrow columns of an underlying grid which also organises the smaller text. The ascenders of each letter is likened by Crouwel to “scorched chimneys rising up out of it”, establishing a towering presence over the audience. The bright red background colour contrasts with the weighted black lettering, further emphasising its morbid, foreboding tone and accomplishing Crouwel’s goal of presenting a typeface that is “heavy and threatening”. Crouwel’s use of grid is also very significant, as it allows him to organise the paragraphs of information so that they are placed asymmetrically, creating a balance of the negative space surrounding them.
Below I have included my experiments using a master apprentice approach to reflect Crouwel’s techniques. I used the typeface Aldrich for this experiment as it was the closest sans-serif font to the one used by Crouwel. In order to pack the characters together with only one pixel kerning, I flattened the text on Figma and manually moved each letter as the original font spacing (showing in the first image of my development below) was far wider. I was also able to improve the alignment of the ascenders of characters like t and l in the text using Figma’s shape editing tools, ensuring both were of equal heights. I found using grids really beneficial as it allowed me to consider the visual hierarchy of the several text elements included, creating a much more balanced composition.
