wiedler.ch

book (design) story #620

josef müller-brockmann:
swiss graphic designers

cincinnati arts center, cincinnati, 1957
size: 28 x 21 cm
designer: armin hofmann (cover), noel martin (inside pages)

in 1957 an exhibition of "swiss graphic designers" toured the usa. on display were recent works by alfred flückiger, karl gerstner, armin hofmann, gottfried honegger, richard paul lohse, josef müller-brockmann, hans neuburg, siegfried odermatt, emil ruder, nelly rudin, max schmid and carlo vivarelli. this exhibition certainly help to make the "swiss style" better known in the usa; note that more than half of these designers were working for geigy as employees or freelancers.

the catalogue cover design by armin hofmann is based on the ititials of the designers' names: m, h, v, l, n, r, s, f and finally a symbol for both g and o. interestingly when lohse, müller-brockmann, neuburg and vivarelli launched their periodical "neue grafik" (see story 260), they published their jointly written articles under the signature "lmnv"; i wonder if that were inspired by this catalogue cover.

the inner pages were designed by noel martin (1922-2009), the innovative cinncinnati-based graphic designer who organised the exhibition. above his introductory text and a design example by nelly rudin.

josef müller brockmann (1914-1996) contributed the main text.

there are short bios of all the featured designers, ...

... and reproductions of works by hofmann and müller-brockmann (above), ...

... gerstner (above), ruder and lohse (below), ...

... vivarell and neuburg (below), ...

... again lohse (for wohnbedarf) and geigy packaging designed by schmid.

below a booklet cover by flückiger for f. gygi + co, bern (see story 485).