Typography: A Manual of Design

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Together with Armin Hofmann, he established the design style known as Swiss Design, which favored asymmetrical compositions and the use of negative space in compositions. Ruder was one of the main contributors and developers of Swiss Design. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque or realist design, one influenced by the famous 19th century typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk and other German and Swiss designs. Its use became a hallmark of the International Typographic Stylethat emerged from the work of Swiss designers in the 1950s and 60s, becoming one of the most popular typefaces of the 20th century. Over the years, a wide range of variants have been released in different weights, widths and sizes, as well as matching designs for a range of non-Latin alphabets. Notable features of Helvetica as originally designed include a high x-height, the termination of strokes on horizontal or vertical lines and an unusually tight spacing between letters, which combine to give it a dense, compact appearance. Ruder excelled as a typographer, developing a holistic approach to design and teaching that consisted of philosophy, theory, and a systematic methodology. Ruder attached great importance to sans-serif or no-end typefaces.

Yvonne Schwemer-Scheddin: Retrospectives like your recent exhibition in Darmstadt always have something of a narcissistic element to them. In this article, we'll take a look at how the Swiss Style graphic design developed. What inspired the pioneers to create such methods to design clean posters? How and why did the International Typographic Style decide to put legibility and clarity at the forefront? Additionally, we'll provide some top-notch examples of Swiss Style graphic design templates from Envato Elements, so you can use them in your next project. Before the Swiss Style Design Swiss Design rejected all of the above by embracing modernity, highlighting clarity, and making the designer an anonymous vessel for communication. The event that jump-started the International Typographic Style history was the creation of Akzidenz Grotesk by Berthold Type Foundry in 1896, with the aim of creating an objective design style. The book has changed my views about typography in various ways and i totally agree with the author's statements like "Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty.".During the same period, he was at the peak of Gestalt psychology, a current of psychology that studies perceptual phenomena and the relationship of man with the environment. Gestalt raises an ideology of vision as an autonomous and rational faculty. Gestalt was an element studied at the Bauhaus and it became the heart of design theory after World War II. YSS: Often the time you spend in school has a decisive influence on your later life. Was this the case for you? Helvetica is, by all accounts, a typographic celebrity. But how did it get there…and why didn’t Univers get the spotlight instead?

a b c Bzdok, Shane (28 January 2010). "A Brief History of Emil Ruder". Thinking for a Living. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013 . Retrieved 6 November 2013. Armin Hofmann (born 29 June 1920)is a Swiss graphic designer. Hoffman followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the Basel School of Art and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the International Typographic Style. He was a contributing writer and editor for Typografische Monatsblätter (Typographic Monthly), which was a popular trade publication of the time. [11] In 1946, his design was unsuccessful in the competition for the cover design of Typographische Monatsblätter. [5] :139 Staatliches Bauhaus commonly known as Bauhaus was a school in Germany which operated from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was known for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. It had a intense influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography.

Designers

a b c d e f g h i j k Hollis, Richard (2006). Swiss Graphic Design. London: Laurence King Publishing. ISBN 0300106769. The school existed in three German cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin from 1932 to 1933, under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930 and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933. When the school was closed by its own leadership under pressure from the Nazi regime, having been painted as a centre of communist intellectualism. Although the school was closed, the staff continued to spread its idealistic precepts as they left Germany and emigrated all over the world. He brought the mathematical principles of the Concrete art movement into all his design work which is especially evident in his use of flexible grids. Because he saw grid systems as an extension of Concrete geometry, he denied claims that he invented the design grid.

But contrary to the implications of the eponymous 2007 movie by Gary Hustwit, this success was neither immediate nor pre-ordained. There were a handful of moments in Helvetica’s history that have proved to be crucial. Swiss Beginnings The arrangement between Haas and Stempel had other consequences besides the adaptation of Neue Haas Grotesk for composing machines. It also led to the fateful—and ultimately brilliant—decision to jettison the dull “Neue Haas Grotesk” name in favor of one with more international appeal. To capitalize on the popularity of “Swiss Design,” Stempel’s manager Heinz Eul suggested “Helvetia,” the Latin name for Switzerland. Hoffmann nixed it and countered with “Helvetica.”

Speculative historical thinking, or counterfactual history, whether by historians or novelists, tries to imagine what might have happened if the outcome of a key moment in the past had been different. It has usually been applied to momentous events such as the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the American Civil War, the two World Wars or the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But suppose we apply such thinking to something more mundane: the popularity of a typeface. Like Helvetica and Univers…for example. One of Hofmann’s most iconic designs, this poster promotes an outdoor performance of the ballet Giselle. YSS: For me the most surprising works at your recent exhibition were the sketchy, conceptual notes, not just because they encapsulate a spontaneous, artistic sensibility, but because they seem to give an insight into your inner world.