Articles

A selection of graphic design articles based on the design artefacts in the archive. Articles discussing aspects of design such as logos, advertisements, posters and book covers. Explore historical context and its impact on the field of graphic design.

Members Content

The advertising has a certain contrast of hand-drawn and mechanical. Produced entirely in black, it reminds us that the absence of colour can be highly effective. Hans Michel and Günther Kieser's illustrations bring a sense of both playfulness and a stylistic approach to a corporate client.

Members Content

A fantastic example of Swiss design for brand systems is the brand and advertising by Siegfried Odermatt commissioned by Grammo Studio in Zurich.
A review of the memorial exhibition of Edward McKnight Kauffer at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1955 by F.H.K. Hernion
House style can give identity to the diverse products or activities of a firm. It stimulates loyalty, helps to reduce costs, and has advertising value.
My lectures and workshops also help bridge the gap between academia and industry. Through my lectures and collecting, I strive to promote design as a ever-changing dynamic industry that has the power to shape and improve the world we live in.
Every year the 20 best posters are selected in Germany and once more brought to the attention of the public. We do not publish all the twenty posters today; instead we add some which failed to be distinguished and which nevertheless are distinguished.
A few years ago the publicity department of Siam di Tella found a collaborator who early in his studies of architecture was attracted by the problems of visual art. His name is Guillermo González Ruiz he was born in Chascomus (Province of Buenos Aires) in 1937. Between 1957 and 1960 he received 18 awards in poster competitions, some of which were of particular importance.
The graphic designer had to create a series of ads whose new publicity effects were to confirm or accentuate the already existing • image • of the paper. In this case, the planning was not based on a would-be psychological analysis of the reading public.
The covers of the periodical ALMANAQUE, which was published in Lisbon, are perfect examples of this pleasure in the unusual and the force of with which all sorts of foreign influences are assimilated.
When Fritz Gottschalk and Stuart Ash joined forces in Montreal, it was a partnership ideally suited to the city's hybrid environment. Gottschalk's training in graphic design in Switzerland, Paris and London was rigid, his background European; Ash, Canadian born and educated, was trained in the North American fashion, though he was influenced by his work with European designers
In minor printed matter we constantly meet the new typography, but it is relatively rare to find posters designed on the new lines. And yet poster-designing is a field where new typographical methods might be employed with great effect.
A country is never dead so long as it has an art. Austria is a proof of this maxim. Its liveliness since the war is liveliness which has displayed itself in the arts to a remarkable extent : it deserves the world's admiration and respect.

Interviews


"Talking about myself as a designer is something that requires a powerful dialogue with my life experiences. In a radical way, I apply an exercise in which design forms become projections of life, extensions of meaning that constantly involve senses."
Marin Lorenz has had an amazing career, designing for clients such as ESPN and Nike, teaching at some of Europe's leading design schools and publishing books, such as Flexible Visual Sytems, documenting his research and approach to design practice. 
Mark Bloom has designs for globally recognised brands, produces some of the finest, most accessible modern typefaces and heads up Mash Creative and CoType Foundry. His type foundry has always been a port of call for our studio's brand projects and he continues to develop these, each with a fantastic print specimen. 
Triest Verlag für Architektur, Design und Typografie are a Swiss independent publisher producing specialist design books in the realms of typography, graphic design and architecture. Their books provide valuable insights and the print production is of exceptional quality. I interviewed the founders, to find out more about their books.

Design from the Archive


Designer Profiles


Max Huber worked across advertising, packaging, design and industrial design. He had a distinctive style that skillfully blended bright hues with photomontage.
Karl Oskar Blase was born in 1925 in Cologne, Germany. He was a prolific painter, designer, sculptor and exhibition curator. His work included magazine covers, for publications such as Form and Gebrauchsgraphik, stamp designs for the German Postal Service and film posters for companies such as Atlas Films.
Olle Eksell is well known for his advertising illustration, book jackets and playful packaging design. He first studied engineering and later decided to become a graphic artist. He began his career as a window decorator in 1935, and studied under Hugo Steiner between 1939 and 1941.
Ken was born in 1929, in Southampton and grew up in a small market town in North Devon. He was a principled man, with strong values and views against the hyper-consumerism we live with today. Ken studied at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts in the 1950s and was taught by Herbert Spencer, Anthony Froshaug and Jesse Collins. Whilst at the School he studied alongside designers Ken Briggs, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes.