Wim Crouwel - Dutch Graphic Designer

Agam, Stedelijk Museum, 1973

Information

Agam, (Yaacov)

Details

Willem Hendrik Crouwel was born in 1928 in Groningen, Netherlands. He studied at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Groningen and took evening classes at the Institute of Arts and Crafts, now the Rietveld Academy. His teacher, Charles Jongejans, was trained by notable Dutch designers Paul Schuitema and Gerard Kiljan. In 1952, Crouwel began his design career at Enderberg, designing exhibitions and trade stands, gaining valuable experience. After leaving Enderberg in 1956, he founded a studio with industrial designer Kho Liang Ie, working on various projects across design disciplines, including graphic and exhibition design. Influenced by mid-century Swiss typography, Crouwel explored letterforms and graphic systems, using fonts like Helvetica and Univers. His early clients included the Van Abbe Museum, where he designed catalogues and posters. In 1963, he co-founded the influential design agency Total Design and also started working for the Stedelijk Museum, collaborating with Edy de Wilde until 1986.

Linked Information

Agam, Stedelijk Museum, 1973. Designed by Wim Crouwel
Agam, Stedelijk Museum, 1973. Designed by Wim Crouwel
Willem Hendrik Crouwel was born in 1928 in Groningen, Netherlands. He studied at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Groningen and took evening classes at the Institute of Arts and Crafts, now the Rietveld Academy. His teacher, Charles Jongejans, was trained by notable Dutch designers Paul Schuitema and Gerard Kiljan. In 1952, Crouwel began his design career at Enderberg, designing exhibitions and trade stands, gaining valuable experience. After leaving Enderberg in 1956, he founded a studio with industrial designer Kho Liang Ie, working on various projects across design disciplines, including graphic and exhibition design. Influenced by mid-century Swiss typography, Crouwel explored letterforms and graphic systems, using fonts like Helvetica and Univers. His early clients included the Van Abbe Museum, where he designed catalogues and posters. In 1963, he co-founded the influential design agency Total Design and also started working for the Stedelijk Museum, collaborating with Edy de Wilde until 1986.
More graphic design artefacts
From the design archive:
From the design archive:
From the design archive:
More graphic design history articles

Members Content

Before ascending to fame within the contemporary art scene, Warhol enjoyed a thriving career as a commercial artist. His illustration work was commissioned by various magazines, including The New Yorker, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar.

Members Content

Victorian Graphic Design left a mark on both British and American design history. In Britain, the ornate embellishments served as a symbol of prosperity and cultural values. Meanwhile, America embraced the combination of various design elements to navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing society driven by industrialisation and consumerism.

Members Content

I first came across Kens work in the Unit Edition’s superb monograph, Structure and Substance, published in 2012. Although I had owned a few of the British industrial design magazines, Design, for a few years before, in which Ken had designed numerous covers for.

Members Content

Kinetic art refers to art the depends on movement for its desired effect and is closely related to op art. Upon scanning a few of the inner inserts from the Kinetics exhibition catalogue from the Hayward Gallery, London, 1970, I came across these five small manifestos on kinetic art.