Introduction: New Perspectives

on Swiss Graphic Design

Davide Fornari, Robert Lzicar,
Sarah Owens, Michael Renner,
Arne Scheuermann, Peter J. Schneemann

Why Swiss Graphic Design Again, Now?

In reviewing the two publications—“Josef Müller-Brockmann”

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by Kerry William Purcell and “Swiss Graphic Design: The Ori-
gins and Growth of an International Style, 1920–1965” by Richard
Hollis—Michael J. Golec noted that “when it comes to the graphic
design of Josef Müller-Brockmann, we had to contend with what
John Walker has referred to as ‘typological’ approaches-or studies
and categorizations of designed objects according to type.” This
approach applies not only to the work of Müller-Brockmann but
also to the entire previous investigation of graphic design from
source: https://doi.org/10.24451/arbor.14574 | downloaded: 19.1.2023

Switzerland. Or, to put it more sharply, the construct of Swiss

graphic design represents an outdated historiography based on a
“sorting out of objects according to ‘authorship, chronology,
national and individual styles, and authenticity’” more than any
other label in design history.1 Golec goes on to ask the question,
“what then constitutes an informed history of the graphic design of
Müller-Brockman?” This special edition is an attempt to answer
this question when related to Swiss graphic design.
In graphic design history, the terms “Swiss graphic design,”
“Swiss typography,” or “Swiss style” regularly denote an inter-
national style that can be applied to a variety of media, such as
posters, books, corporate identities, and signage systems. This
style emerged in Switzerland during the 1950s, was used by
graphic designers in Switzerland and many other Western coun-
tries, and gained an excellent reputation worldwide. However, the
term was used not only to define a certain, specific style, but also
in many variations to describe graphic design from Switzerland in
general, or design produced by Swiss graphic designers. This
definitional blurring has in fact contributed to the success of
the term. The nomination of “Swiss graphic design” as one of
1 Michael J. Golec, “A Review Essay,”
Design Issues 24, no. 2 (Spring 2008): 85.
eight Swiss Candidatures proposed to UNESCO as an Intangible
2 See “Graphic design and typography,” in Cultural Heritage in 2014 confirms the relevance of “traditional
Die lebendigen Traditionen der Schweiz craftsmanship.”2 From this perspective, it becomes clear that
[Living Traditions in Switzerland], “Swiss graphic design and typography” has not yet come to an
http://www.lebendigetraditionen.ch/
traditionen/00247/index.html?lang=en
(accessed April 10, 2020).
© 2021 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4 DesignIssues: Volume 37, Number 1 Winter 2021 https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_e_00620
 end: “It is still negotiated in classrooms, studios, exhibition spaces,
and publications.”3 Furthermore, it is still in production and has
been claimed as “one of the country’s leading products.”4 The label,
“Swiss graphic design and typography,” thus oscillates between
a closed mythology and a history still-in-the-making. However,
what is missing is, on the one hand, an analysis of the discourses
that have produced the labels of “Swiss graphic design” and
“Swiss typography” and, on the other, an effort to look beyond the
boundaries of these concepts so that stories can be told about them
that are different from those that have long been accepted. This
special issue intends to re-examine the existing networks, prac-
tices, and media that determine this discourse and to identify ones
that might have been hitherto overlooked. As a result, we propose
new approaches to graphic design history that go far beyond previ-

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ous studies of the discipline.

Historiographical Challenges
The continuing and broad public interest in Swiss graphic design
3 Robert Lzicar and Davide Fornari, was reflected in the approximately 30,000 visitors to the exhibition,
“Writing Graphic Design History in 100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design, at the Museum für Gestaltung
Switzerland,” in Mapping Graphic Design Zürich in 2012.5 One daily newspaper reported on the exhibition as
History in Switzerland, eds. Robert
“a search for and discovery of a unique Swiss design identity,” and
Lzicar and Davide Fornari (Zürich: Triest
Verlag, 2016), 8. it proved to be an event of national and international relevance.6
4 Karin Gimmi, “Introduction,” in 100 Years Part of this exhibition was a “continuous frieze of posters docu-
of Swiss Graphic Design, ed. Museum menting the 100-year period of the show (which goes along with)
für Gestaltung Zürich: et al. (Zürich: Lars the thirteen crucial moments of Swiss graphic design.”7 Yet, unlike
Müller Publishers, 2014), 9.
these moments derived from traditional graphic design historiog-
5 The exhibition, 100 Jahre Schweizer
Grafik, took place at the Museum für raphy, the frieze “does not select posters because of their aesthetic
Gestaltung Zürich from February 10, quality or the ideological similarities between them, but instead
2012, to June 3, 2012 and was curated applies criteria such as politics, zeitgeist, gender, geography, nos-
by Barbara Junod and Karin Gimmi. talgia, and national identity to [their] selection and sequence.”
6 Katrin Schregenberger, “Die Schweizer
This curatorial move was “buil[t] on the existing canon of Swiss
Grafik von Weltformat,” in Schaffhauser
Nachrichten, February 8, 2012: 29. In the graphic design” but also “open[ed] up the discussion to historical
original German, “Die Ausstellung 100 issues beyond graphic design.”8 That this curatorial approach was
Jahre Schweizer Grafik fühlt sich an wie considered innovative is not surprising. After all, the conventional
eine Identitätssuche und -findung einer historiography of Swiss graphic design had been on a different
ureigenen Schweizer Gestaltungsweise.”
course, entailing 50 years of objectification, personification, and
7 Davide Fornari, “Triennale Design
Museum 5. Grafica Italiana vs 100 Years
glorification. Revising this outdated perspective was important in
of Swiss Graphic Design” [Triennale itself and also seemed necessary for another reason:
Design Museum 5. Italian Graphic Design If design historians are to present themselves as valuable
vs 100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design], contributors to such collective historical research, they
Progetto Grafico [Graphic Design], 21
have to make a persuasive case for the relevance of their
(Summer 2012): 63.
8 Robert Lzicar and Amanda Unger,
knowledge to fora outside of their field. This is the
“Designed Histories: Visual Historiogra- challenge I put to the design history community. …
phy and Canonization in Swiss Graphic Design historians have to broaden the understanding
Design History,” in Mapping Graphic of design they communicate to their students, and they
Design History in Switzerland, eds.
Robert Lzicar and Davide Fornari (Zürich:
Triest Verlag, 2016), 267.

DesignIssues: Volume 37, Number 1 Winter 2021 5

 also need to pay closer attention to the ways that design
researchers other than historians are thinking about the
subject. Is the design history community up to the task?
I hope so.9

Swiss Graphic Design as a Glocal Issue

Summarizing the literature on graphic design and typography in
Switzerland, one can say that it was initially dominated by a group
of male designers who wrote about selected objects in professional
journals published by professional associations, such as the Typo-
grafische Monatsblätter [Swiss Typographic Magazine] of the Sch-
weizerischer Typographenbund [Swiss Association of Typographers],
and for non-institutional networks like Neue Grafik [New Graphic
Design], which was run by a Zurich-based editorial collective that

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also shared professional values. These publications formed the
foundation of “konstruktive Gebrauchsgrafik” [constructive
applied graphics] and, in retrospect, of the historical construction
of the Swiss Style.
This thematic focus was followed by publications focusing
on the key actors of the era—the life and work of individual
designers, companies, or specific media, and their designs or sub-
jects, such as posters, books, or typefaces.10 This genealogy of pub-
lications has continued into our own time. Because their authors
operated mostly in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, his-
toriography has tended to overlook the Swiss periphery, such as
the French- and Italian-speaking regions, as well as the fact that
professional graphic design at that time was an interregional and
9 Victor Margolin, “Design in History,” international practice.
Design Issues 25, no. 2 (Spring 2009): Many of these texts were authored by experts or journalists,
104–5. and often also by graphic designers themselves who were targeting
10 For a comprehensive repertoire of Swiss a large audience of other professionals or design enthusiasts. The
graphic design, see Mapping Graphic
important role of practitioners in the historiography of graphic
Design History in Switzerland, eds.
Robert Lzicar and Davide Fornari (Zürich: design and the problems resulting from this disciplinary perspec-
Triest Verlag, 2017), 283–312. tive are well known.11 Designed by and for graphic designers, their
11 Teal Triggs, “Graphic Design History: publications “seem to ‘design’ the past, primarily by creating
Past, Present, and Future,” Design Issues visual relationships,” which “contributed to both the strong iden-
27, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 4.
tity of the label Swiss graphic design and its degree of recognition
12 Robert Lzicar and Amanda Unger,
“Designed Histories: Visual Historiogra- in Switzerland and abroad.”12 However, this visual historiography
phy and Canonization in Swiss Graphic has resulted in a strong canon and a “neat history” that reduces a
Design History,” in Mapping Graphic rich past with a vast number of different designers and approaches
Design History in Switzerland, eds. down “to a certain period and certain actors within that period.”13
Robert Lzicar and Davide Fornari (Zürich:
More recent narratives have been devoted to aesthetics,
Triest Verlag, 2016), 267–68.
13 Sarah Owens, “‘The Whole Picture:
styles, and eras or, less frequently, to selected places. Contempo-
Locating Women in Swiss Graphic rary practices and attitudes are described by referencing historical
Design History’ or Rather: ‘The Graphic topics. However, many of these histories lack a research question
Design Canon: When History Gets Too and thus rarely enter into the academic discourse, representing in-
Neat’,” conference presentation, AGI
stead an outdated approach to graphic design history that neither
Open Conference, Biel/Bienne,
September 22, 2015.

6 DesignIssues: Volume 37, Number 1 Winter 2021

 broaches the problem of the category “Swiss” for a contemporary
discussion of graphic design, nor deals with the complex under-
lying structures of graphic design practices, discourses, network-
ing actions, and curricula.14
14 For one exception, see Tan Wälchli, “The
Afterlife of Swiss Style: An Experiment in In This Special Issue
Political Economy,” in The Most Beautiful
This special issue builds on the results of the research project,
Swiss Books: The present issue, ed.
Bundesamt für Kultur et al., (Bern: “Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited.” The project
Bundesamt für Kultur, 2008), 72–83. In involved 12 researchers from 7 Swiss universities and 13 associate
this essay, Wälchli critically questions researchers over 4 years. Thus, it was the largest academic research
the attribution of Swiss national clichés project in the field of design ever funded by the Swiss National
to graphic design and relates it to Swiss
Science Foundation—the science research support organization
“spiritual national defence” during the
Second World War. mandated by the Swiss Federal Government.15 This research project
15 This project was supported within the focused on Swiss graphic design and typography and its ongoing

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framework of the Swiss National Science legitimacy, reputation, and status in three sub-projects: “Principles
Foundation SNSF Sinergia scheme, which of Education,” “Networks of Practice,” and “Strategies of Dissemi-
promotes collaboration between research
nation.” It considered “Swiss graphic design and typography” not
groups “that propose breakthrough
research.” See http://www.snf.ch/en/ as a monolithic label or style, but as a multi-faceted construction
funding/programmes/sinergia/Pages/ within an international discourse. This perspective was taken into
default.aspx (accessed April 10, 2020). account by the collaboration of the team’s Swiss and foreign
The research team included: Prof. researchers, who worked in mixed research groups. They pro-
Dr. Arne Scheuermann (main applicant),
duced various small-scale narratives that together offered a more
Prof. Michael Renner, Prof. Dr. Sarah
Owens, Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann complete and flexible interpretation of “Swiss graphic design and
(co-applicants), Prof. Dr. Davide Fornari, typography” than extant literature has constructed, and these nar-
Prof. Robert Lzicar (co-coordinators ratives questioned the existing canon of Swiss graphic design in a
and researchers), Tina Braun (assistant variety of ways. By focusing on historiographical and methodolog-
coordinator), Dr. Chiara Barbieri, Prof.
ical challenges, the articles selected for the present special issue
Rudolf Barmettler, Roland Früh, Jonas
Niedermann, Prof. François Rappo
highlight these new perspectives.16
(researchers), and Jonas Berthod, Sandra Several design schools have retrospectively attained a myth-
Bischler, Constance Delamadeleine, Ueli ical status. This rise in status has often occurred hand in hand with
Kaufmann, Sarah Klein, and Sara Zeller the rise in fame of their faculty because of their inclusion in the
(doctoral students). This research project
graphic design discourse through articles on teaching principles in
was supervised by a panel of experts
including Prof. Dr. Jeremy Aynsley
trade magazines, internationally disseminated educational books,
(University of Brighton), Prof. Dr. Barbara and celebratory yearbooks. In such a hagiographic context, one of
Bader (Akademie der Bildenden Künste the most important voices is absent. Sandra Bischler’s essay, “K
Stuttgart), Prof. Dr. Claude Hauser and output—Two Student Publications in Light of Mid-Twentieth
(Université de Fribourg), †Prof. Em.
Century Graphic Design Education,” focuses on K, a magazine
Dr. Victor Margolin (University of Illinois
at Chicago), Prof. Dr. Catherine de Smet
edited and published by a group of students at the Allgemeine
(Université Paris-VIII), and Prof. Dr. Teal Gewerbeschule Basel (Vocational Trade School, later the Basel
Triggs (Royal College of Art, London). For School of Design) in the early 1960s, which has been completely
further information, see www.sgdtr.ch neglected in the historiography on Swiss graphic design to date. By
(accessed April 10, 2020).
analyzing K’s contents and editorial design in comparison with
16 A four-volume publication with contribu-
tions from all three sub-projects and nine
other schools of the same period—primarily the Ulm School of
case studies will be published in March Design and its students’ publication output—Bischler reveals close
2021, see Swiss Graphic Design Histo- connections with certain educational philosophies and also uncov-
ries, eds. Davide Fornari, Robert Lzicar, ers previously overlooked debates on graphic design education.
Sarah Owens, Michael Renner, Arne
Scheuermann and Peter J. Schneemann,
(Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2021).

DesignIssues: Volume 37, Number 1 Winter 2021 7

 Designers themselves have overexploited their mono-
graphs to enhance their reputations through the years. These
monographs include self-referenced books, in which designers
themselves showcase the best of their production in chronological
order or within taxonomies, and in retrospective, post-mortem
catalogs of works with an approach typical for art history. The
essay in this issue by Chiara Barbieri and Davide Fornari, “Speak-
ing Italian with a Swiss-German Accent: Walter Ballmer and Swiss
Graphic Design in Milan,” asks critical questions about the oft-
repeated rhetoric that hailed graphic design in Milan as a mixture
of Swiss precision and Italian poeticism. It takes Walter Ballmer as
a case study to revisit the monographic format: a Swiss graphic
designer trained in Basel who spent most of his life working in
Milan. Largely based on unpublished archival material from the

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Ballmer Archive and on oral history through interviews with col-
leagues and clients, this article shows how designers have shaped
their biographies by excluding critical aspects from their self-
representation. Here, networks of people (designers, assistants,
clients) are investigated outside the heroic approach that is other-
wise typical of the celebrity-centered narrative.
Although Paris and Milan were long-favored destinations
for designers trained in Switzerland, the former remains an under-
explored scene in its exploitation of a “Swiss Style,” connected to
stereotypes such as precision and quality. The essay by Constance
Delamadeleine, “Promoting Swiss Graphic Design and Typogra-
phy Abroad: The Case of Paris in the 1960s,” explores the network
of different actors involved in the formation and dissemination of
“Swiss graphic design and typography” in France, and it sheds
light on the different agendas and strategies linked to this process.
Delamadeleine here reveals how, during a period when Europe
was being newly constructed as a political community and before a
backdrop of the liberalization of world trade, both state actors and
non-state actors aimed to strengthen Switzerland’s international
position by reinforcing abroad the value and significance of its cul-
tural and economic presence. The “Swiss living abroad” became
important in furthering this national objective. In Paris, a network
of Swiss citizens was established in the 1960s comprising different
stakeholders, including the graphic designers and typographers
who contributed to disseminating and promoting Swiss graphic
design and typography on the French stage and beyond.
Swiss graphic designers working outside Switzerland were
not alone in contributing to the dissemination of Swiss graphic
design. The non-Swiss who reflected on graphic design practice in
Switzerland from a foreigner’s perspective were just as important.
Robert Lzicar’s essay, “Swiss Graphic Design: A British Invention?,”
explores the role of British graphic designers in transforming

8 DesignIssues: Volume 37, Number 1 Winter 2021

 “konstruktive Gebrauchsgrafik” into both the “Swiss Style” and a
general approach to design problems—a transformation that was
promoted beyond Swiss national borders. Interviews with graphic
designers and other experts reveal a complex process of co-defini-
tion at both local and international levels. Lzicar’s essay calls into
question the concept of Swiss graphic design as a monolithic label.
In the literature, the history of Swiss graphic design regu-
larly is told as a linear development from illustrative tendencies to
Modernist abstraction. As shown in recent research, these narra-
tives were largely constructed and disseminated by a group of
Modernist graphic designers through journals and their own pub-
lications. The Modernists themselves usually segregate designers
of that time into two camps—namely, the individual or illustrative
versus the abstract or Modern. This dichotomy became established

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early on and continues to shape the narrative of Swiss graphic
design to this day. However, the essay by Sara Zeller, “Centering
the Periphery: Reassessing Swiss Graphic Design Through the
Prism of Regional Characteristics,” argues that design practice in
Switzerland in the 1950s was more diverse than hitherto assumed.
Outside an exclusive circle of practitioners, illustration and ab-
straction were understood more as design methods than as atti-
tudes. Taking this observation as her starting point, Zeller looks
beyond this dichotomy and draws on hitherto unpublished sources
of the time to challenge the traditional understanding of Swiss
graphic design.
To conclude, we would like to refer to the question of
the state of design history as asked by Teal Triggs in 2011. At the
end of her article, “Graphic Design History: Past, Present, and
Future,” she calls for “more trained design historians to provide
a context to the understanding of graphic objects, movements,
and people;” she also desires that they “celebrate the practitioner-
historians who also have the capacity to locate, explain, and con-
tribute to the development of graphic design practice.”17 We have
sought to apply this dual approach in the present special issue. If
we look at the background of our authors, then “either/or” distinc-
tions and polarities develop into “both/and” realities, to “yes and
yes.” Most of these authors have completed a practical training in
graphic design, have gained professional experience, and have only
decided subsequently to engage with the history of their practice.
The project, “Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited,”
created structures for them to develop their academic skills and to
deal in a scholarly manner with historiography in graphic design.
17 Triggs, “Graphic Design History: Past, The concept of the practitioner-historian must therefore be rede-
Present, and Future,” 6. fined for the future.

DesignIssues: Volume 37, Number 1 Winter 2021 9