The Impact of Josef Muller Brockmann Grid System on Swiss Style Posters

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Master of Visual Communication, Faculty of Art, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran. Corresponding Author.

2 Associate Professor of Visual Communication Department, Faculty of Art, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The Swiss international style is one of the most important styles in the development of graphic designs. Its formation dates back to the early Twentieth century. The style expanded its design principles with Switzerland’s international name and placed it on the agenda of designers worldwide especially in Europe and the United States. The Swiss international style was created while the belief in the principle of reason and logic was growing, So this style is very committed to following its rational principles and rules as its design infrastructure. The designer of this style in many of their works used harmonious geometric relationship and square grids white equal houses. The grid is the easiest way to achieve the right combination in design and grid is in fact a systematic set of division and rules that help the designer in selecting and positioning visual elements and understanding more of the visual space. The visual features of this style include: asymmetric combinations, realistic photography design of letters sans serif and grid.
 one of the influential artists in the Swiss international style is Jusef Muller Brockmann who is a leading theorist and professor of the movement and has worked hard to consolidate the swiss style. He is also called the father of the Swiss international style. Brockmann used the grid in his posters. The Swiss modern graphic design is due to her efforts. In all his designs he has used a wide range of network systems which is an important principle in the Swiss international style.
The main question of this study is this: what impact did Jusef Muller Brockmann have on the Swiss international style? And what is the most important feature of the Swiss style?
The purpose of this research is to recognize the Swiss style and to study the effects of Jusef Muller Brockmann on this school.
The research method is descriptive-analytical and data collection is done in a documentary manner and recorded visual information is observed.
In this study the posters of Josef Muller Brockmann and the posters of 15 Swiss international style artists have been studied. The purpose of this case study is to obtain statistics in addition to examining the characteristics of the Swiss international style, such as the use of realistic photography, sans serif, asymmetrical composition and grid, to examine the impact of Swiss posters on Josef Muller Brockmann’s posters.
   The research method is descriptive-analytical and data collection is done by library method and using documentary and the recorded visual information is observed. Based on this, we have recorded the visual information and features of the posters of the Swiss style of international affairs and posters of Jusef Muller Brockmann. The final chart showed that: 73% of the Swiss style posters have been using the grid. As such 36% of them are of Modular grid, in 27% of them the structure of the Manuscript, in18%  of them the structure of the Column grid and  in 18%  of them the structure of Hierarchical grid is used. According to the Swiss international style: 13% of high impact and 60% had moderate influence from Josef Muller Brockmann, and in other words 73% of the Swiss International style artists were almost influenced by Josef Moller Brockmann, therefore the most important feature of the Swiss international style in the grid. Grid in the Swiss international style has been seriously and systematically In defined and used in accordance whit specific standards and frameworks. All form of grid has been used in all the posters of Jusef Muller Brockmann. So grid can be recognized as the most important feature of the Swiss style which was established by Muller Brockmann. Most of these artists influenced by Josef muller brockman used sans serif letters (93%), asymmetrical composition (80%) and realistic photography (33%) in their posters. It should be noted that the first three artists studied had designed their posters prior Josef Muller Brockmann professional career in 1930.
 

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