Online Archive - Hans Hillmann

Rediscover Hans Hillmann digitally

A new online archive makes the complete works of the famous graphic designer accessible

Share:

A new online archive makes the complete works of the famous graphic designer accessible

Hans Hillmann (1925-2014) was one of the most important German graphic designers of the postwar period. The high quality and novelty of his work made him famous beyond the borders of Germany. In 1954 Hans Hillmann began working with Walter Kirchner, a film enthusiast from Göttingen, who brought masterpieces of international film history and young art house cinema to Germany with his company “Neue Filmkunst”. By the mid-1970s more than 150 film posters for films by Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luis Buñuel or Ingmar Bergman had been designed. Art director Willy Fleckhaus commissioned Hillmann as illustrator for iconic twen magazine and, from 1980, for the magazine of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. For many years Hillmann drew the covers of the German editions of the books by John Updike, but also covers for Ernest Hemingway or Jack London. In the mid-1970s, Hillmann’s idea of realizing a complete film in paper form became tangible. In a work lasting several years, he transferred the plot of a Dashiell Hammett thriller into hyper-realistic watercolor drawings. The book Flypaper was published in 1982 and set new standards in the field of graphic novels. As a teacher at the Kassel design school, he also influenced countless students for nearly three decades. 

A few weeks ago Hillmann would have celebrated his 95th birthday. On this occasion, the idea of a digital archive was born, which makes all of his works accessible–from early drawings from his studies to his last works. Together with Marlies Rosa-Hillmann, the designer’s widow, new scans of objects from the estate were made. 

hha03
Online Archive – Hans Hillmann

The website www.hanshillmann.de makes some 800 film posters, book covers and magazine illustrations from seven decades of graphic work accessible. Unpublished sketches and drafts are included as well as realized works. Graphic designers and researchers can use the new website to explore Hans Hillmann’s extensive oeuvre both intuitively and in a very targeted manner.

This project is the first to make the entire life’s work of an important graphic designer digitally accessible in such a comprehensive form. Düsseldorf-based design studio vista is responsible for the online database, which conceived and implemented the database solution under the direction of Katharina Sussek and Jens Müller. vista is an award-winning studio for communication design working in the field of corporate identity, editorial design and digital solutions for clients from Germany and abroad. Jens Müller is the author of bestselling design books such as Logo Modernism, Lufthansa+Graphic Design and The History of Graphic Design.

Alongside the online archive, the book Moving Pictures, published by OPTIK BOOKS, shows for the first time all of Hans Hillmann’s film posters in a large-format illustrated book. The bilingual book documents the process of finding ideas and the different design approaches in illustration, photography and typography, using the posters as examples.

—————

More graphic design articles

Members Content

Tadashi Ohashi was at the forefront of Japan's postwar design movement, with his illustrations widely celebrated. In 1952, he became the chief designer for Meiji Seika Confectionery, producing some of his most renowned work.

Members Content

Max Huber was born in 1919 in Switzerland. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Zurich where he excelled in graphic design and photography.  Huber worked across advertising, packaging, design and industrial design. He had a distinctive style that skillfully blended bright hues with photomontage.

Members Content

Ryuichi Yamashiro (山城隆)  was a Japanese graphic designer and artist, born in Osaka in 1920. He belonged to the same generation of pioneering Japanese designers as Kohei Sugiura, Kiyoshi Awazu, Yoshio Hayakawa, Yūsaku Kamekura, Kazumasa Nagai, and Ikko Tanaka.  

Members Content

Kiyoshi Awazu (粟津) was a renowned Japanese graphic designer, known for his contributions across various creative fields including poster design, architecture, set design, filmmaking, and illustration. His unique style was commissioned by theatre groups, design and architecture magazines and various organisations for the covers of book covers and posters.

Members Content

Kohei Sugiura’s work spans an impressive range of mediums, including record jackets, publication covers, posters, exhibition catalogues, and stamps. He perfectly merged functionality and data visualisation with aesthetics. Drawing on his background in architecture, Sugiura applied a systematic, programmatic methodology to graphic design, similar to the approach of Swiss designer Karl Gerstner. 
A short free-to-access feature on Swiss Design. The movement was influenced by Bauhaus and De Stijl, sought clarity and visual unity, making it a powerful force in global graphic design that remains influential today.

Members Content

In December 1924, the Netherlands introduced children's stamps (Kinderzegels). Over the years, these stamps have featured designs by some of the most prominent Dutch designers, including Gerard Kiljan, P. Koch, Gerrit Noordzij, Otto Treuman, Robert Deodaat Emile ‘Ootje’ Oxenaar, Dick Bruna, Jan van Toorn, and Karel Martens.

Members Content

Takenobu Igarashi was born in 1944 in Tokyo and is best known for his typographic work as both a sculptor and designer. His work in over 30 permanent museum collections and continues to inspire designers today.