Thursday 28 November 2013

International Typographic style and Ernst Keller

International typographic style
The international typographic style started in the 1950s from Switzerland and Germany, the main objective was clarity.  It was a major force for over two decades and still influences work of today. The visual characters of the style include an agreement of design achieved by asymmetrical elements on a mathematically constructed grid; photography and the verbal information in a clear and factual manner.
Initiators of this movement thought that sans-serif typography had expressed the spirit of a more progressive age, and that grids are the most legible and harmonious means to structure information.
The designers of this movement defined their roles not as artists but as an objective to convey and communicate important information.


The basis of typographic style could be found in the curriculum advanced at the School of Design in Basel. The development of this curriculum has fundamental geometric exercises which involves the cube and the line. This begun in the nineteenth century and was influenced by De Stijl and The Bauhaus.  


Ernst Keller
Known as the father of Swiss Graphic design, in 1918 he joined the Zurich Kunstgewerbeschulde and taught advertising layout and in order to create a professional course in design and typography. He taught designs of lettering, trademarks and posters. Ernst did not support a specific style; Keller argued that the solution to a design problem should emerge from its content. He had interest in symbolic imagery, simplified geometric forms, expressive edges, lettering and vibrant contrasting colour.


Reference:
History of Graphic Design, Ernst Keller [Online], Available at: http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/index.php/the-age-of-information/the-international-typographic-style/714-ernst-keller [accessed 28th of November 2013]

Meggs P. B. and Purvis A. W. 1998. 5th Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons , Inc.

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