Josef Müller-Brockmann. 09 05 1914
Josef Müller-Brockmann was born on 9th May, 1914 in Rapperswil, Switzerland. He studied architecture, literature, anatomy, psychology and history of art at Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule and Zurich University. In 1936, he established his own studio and specialized in exhibition design, commercial art and photography. From 1951, he produced concert posters for the Tonhalle in Zurich and at that year, he also designed stage sets in Zurich, Munich and Copenhagen where he made the puppets as well for Hin und zuruckshow. His first one man exhibition was held in the Congress House in Zurich in 1957. He along side with Richard Paul Lohse, Carlo Vivarelli and Hans Neuburg became a founder of New Graphic design. In 1959, He became president of the Verband Schweizericher Grafiker. He taught graphic design at the School of Arts and Craft, Zurich from 1957 to 1960.
Graphic designer by accident
"I became a graphic designer by accident," Brockmann says. "At school, I didn't like writing much so I started drawing. My teacher was impressed, so I realized I had talent. He suggested that I should pursue an artistic career. So I became an apprentice retoucher in a printing house. It only lasted one day because it wasn't artistic enough. After that, I was apprenticed to two old architects. With them, it lasted four weeks. Then I went to all the graphic designers I found in the phone book to find out what they had studied. So I enrolled at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts."
The father of Swiss graphic design
Müller-Brockmann is probably one of the most influential graphic designers in the history of our profession. His work is always taught, studied and published. It is certainly the figurehead of Swiss graphic design (which also takes the name of international style). His work is influenced by Bauhaus and constructivism. Typography and geometry are predominant. His compositions are based on very "rigid" grids which will be his trademark. An economical and rational style!
Not much is known about Müller-Brockmann. The publisher Lars Müller published the only complete monograph shortly before his death. This book is introduced by Paul Rand "himself" (the class!). Lars Müller tries to explain what caused the sudden change in Brockmann's career, when he moved from illustration to "constructivist" graphics.
At the time, Brockmann was influenced by the work of Hungarian photographer Moholy-Nagy and Jan Tschichold's manifesto Die neue Typographie. This modernist manifesto proclaims the supremacy of bar typefaces (called grotesk in German). Brockmann was strongly influenced by these rules which he observed throughout his career.
These rules can be summarized by the use of very strict composition grids, objective photographs to avoid emotions, the importance of rhythm, harmony, mathematical and geometric compositions. For example, at that time Brockmann saw music as an abstract art, so he considered his concert posters in an abstract way. The publisher Lars Müller described Beethoven's poster (1955) as the ultimate example of "musicality in design".
Brockmann explains his style very effectively: "In my poster, advertising, brochure and exhibition creations, subjectivity is removed in favour of a geometric grid that determines the arrangement of words and images. The grid is an organizational system that makes the message easier to read, this allows you to get an effective result at a minimum cost. With an arbitrary organization, the problem is solved more easily, faster and better. It also allows uniformity that goes beyond national borders (hence the international style!), a boon for advertising that IBM, for example, has benefited from. Information presented as objectively as possible is communicated without superlatives, without emotional subjectivity."
The design must be legible.
Müller-Brockmann hated Neville Brody's work. He said: "Some have set themselves the task of making typography unreadable, of making a puzzle out of it. Illegibility seems to become an artistic project. I don't want to read things like that. The same rational criterion applies to wobbly shapes and fuzzy contours: Can I read these messages faster? No! No! Fonts designed for Neville Brody are not suitable for advertisements and posters. They are exceptions and individual cases should not be the basis for teaching graphics. These alphabets are confused, unattractive and simply bad."
As with most graphic designers that can be classified as part of the Swiss International Style, Joseph Müller-Brockmann was influenced by the ideas of several different design and art movements including Constructivism, De Stijl, Suprematism and the Bauhaus. He is perhaps the most well-known Swiss designer and his name is probably the most easily recognized when talking about the period. He was born and raised in Switzerland and by the age of 43 he became a teacher at the Zurich school of arts and crafts.
Perhaps his most decisive work was done for the Zurich Town Hall as poster advertisements for its theater productions. He published several books, including The Graphic Artist and His Problems and Grid Systems in Graphic Design. These books provide an in-depth analysis of his work practices and philosophies, and provide an excellent foundation for young graphic designers wishing to learn more about the profession. He spent most of his life working and teaching, even into the early 1990s when he toured the US and Canada speaking about his work.
“The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.”
After 1945, Müller-Brockmann concentrated his work on illustration and exhibition design. In 1950, he designed his first poster for the Tonhalle in Zurich. It was at this time that he developed his constructivist approach to graphic design. Little by little, graphic design occupies all its time. His poster "protect the child" for the Swiss Automobile Club and his numerous posters for the Tonhalle in Zurich bring him great fame.
In 1957, he replaced Ernst Keller as professor of graphic design at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. In 1958, he created the trilingual magazine Neue Grafik / New Graphic Design / Graphisme actuel with designers Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg and Carlo Vivarelli.
In 1961, his first book, The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems and one of my favorite books Grid systems in Graphic Design published. Grid System was the first expensive graphic design book that I purchased. It becomes my grid bible. Truly a must buy for any graphic designer. in the 1971, History of the Poster and A History of Visual Communication published.
From 1967, he was a consultant for IBM and founded the communication agency Muller-Brockmann & Co. Throughout his career, his work was rewarded with numerous prizes. He died on 30 August 1996 in Zurich.