Otl Aicher (May 13, 1922 – September 1, 1991), was one of the leading German graphic designers of the 20th century.
In 1953, along with Inge Scholl and Max Bill, he founded the Ulm School of Design which became one of Germany's leading educational centres for design during the 1950s and 1960s.
Aicher is best known for being the lead designer for the 1972 Munich Olympics. He created a new set of pictograms that paved the way for the ubiquitous stick figures currently used in public signs.
As a lover of the 'International Style' I am always on the look out for the modern equivalent, particularly if it hails from Switzerland. Design studio League based in Geneva, have some great contemporary graphic design, some of which (see above) clearly follows a solid grid and where white space is equally considered as part of the design.
Central St Martins design student Jamie Hearn has created a typeface from a coherent set of assembly components and then created a poster that pays homage to Jan Tschichold 'Die Neue Typographie'. Worth checking out his site for another Swiss inspired poster by Josef Müller–Brockmann. Great work.
Just like the great Swiss masters, Berlin based photographer Matthias Heiderich creates beautiful minimalist compositions with simple geometric shapes and colour. I love the way that Matthias has really captured the angles of these modernist buildings and enhanced the amazing industrial architecture. For more of his great work visit his behance site.
Mary Vieira (1927–2001) was a Brazilian sculptor. She was the first Brazilian artist to win the São Paulo Art BiennialShe was born in and brought up in Minas Gerais. Further to her sculptures, she developed a number of projects as urbanist, graphic designer, and teacher. In 1951 she moved to Switzerland where she became influenced by fellow concrete artist Max Bill. In 1957 she created this poster for Brazil airlines which followed simple Concrete principles. The blue represents sky, green the land, the circle a globe and the typography sits on an imaginary square - minimalism at its best.
Despite this looking like a modern piece of contemporary graphic design it was designed in 1957 by Karl Gerstner for Musical Box a music store in Basel. This was the bag to hold the LPs inside and if ever there was an excuse to buy more music then this is it, a beautiful grid design. Gerstner was born in 1930, freelanced for Geigy, 1949-52, re-designed Werk in 1955 and in 1959 opened Gerstner+Kutter ad agency in Basel and published 'Die neue Graphik'. In 1964 he published 'Designing Programmes' a model for design in the early days of the computer era.
Love these minimalist posters in the International style by Uwe Loesch. He was Born in 1943 in Dresden, and has been living in Düsseldorf since 1958, where he studied graphic design at the Peter Behrens Academy from 1964 to 1968. After finishing his studies he worked in his own studio for social and cultural institutions, publishing companies, museums and exhibitions. In 1984 several of his posters became part of the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art New York. Loesch is a member of the AGI Alliance Graphique Internationale, the TDC Type Directors Club New York and the ADC Art Directors Club of Germany.
Paul Nini a Professor of Design at the Ohio University has a real penchant for Modernist Swiss Typography and has created a series of iconic t-shirts featuring designs that emulate the work by the classic 'Swiss' masters. Grab yourself a classic today.
Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy 1940-1970’, 8 October 2010 – 8 January 2011, is now showing at Le Lieux du Design, Paris. The design studio of J. R. Geigy AG was the launching pad for one of the great periods of Swiss graphic design, in the 1950s and 1960s. The open-minded corporate culture of the chemical company in Basel combined product and company advertising in an exemplary way. For a comprehensive presentation of Geigy design, grab yourself the book Corporate Diversity a must have for anyone with an interest in Swiss graphic design.
Back in 2008 NetworkOsaka developed these Swiss inspired posters for a Mexican architectural exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico. Each poster is perfectly crafted abstract forms to convey Mexican architecture. Their website is well worth a visit for more Swiss excellence, including a a limited edition silk screened print raising money for the victims of Haiti.
If you work for architects Selgas Cano then going to work on a Monday morning may not be such a chore. Situated in Madrid and nestled among the trees is this low impact modernist oblong structure made of fibre-glass and transparent acrylic forms. It's very cool and must be a great place for inspiration. Fantastic photography by Iwan Baan.
A fantastic set of posters designed in the International Style for the forthcoming Olympics in London 2012. Sadly Alan Clarke's proposed posters are not part of the official communications programme so the 'Transport for London' designs, shall unfortunately not be appearing in a tube station near you.
For all you lovers of typography and Helvetica, Beverly Hsu has designed these Helvetica cookie cutters. If ever there was an excuse to eat cookies then this is it, grab yourself a set and get baking.
Some great work created for Amnesty International by award winning Irish design team Swollen the minimal use of a bold colour and the solid grid giving great standout.
Love the Ogilvy & Mather limited edition artworks pastiching classic Penguin book covers of the 50s to promote the restaurant First Edition's 15th birthday. First Edition is one of Canary Wharf's last independent restaurant and wine bars. All five editions can be viewed on the Creative Review website.
