Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Ja! Nein! Yes! No!
Swiss Posters for Democracy

Poster Collection 33

The Swiss population is called upon to participate actively in political decision-making processes through regular campaigns. These campaigns are often concerned with issues that stir up heated emotions and lead to ideological battles. Campaign posters, which have influenced opinion-making since the beginning of the 20th century, bear testimony to direct democracy. This special form of political propaganda – prominently associated with Switzerland – is a sensitive indicator of socio-political moods and reflects both national mentalities and global tendencies.

Ja! Nein! Yes! No! Swiss Posters for Democracy reveals the visual argumentation strategies and rhetorical approaches that have shaped the Swiss campaign poster from 1918 to the present. Clichéd exaggerations, undifferentiated simplifications, a repertoire of drastic motifs and abridged slogans correspond to the laws of the medium, which is oriented towards a manipulative appeal to the masses. Appeals to a sense of unity focus primarily on emotionalization rather than rational enlightenment. Subtly condensed messages or graphically innovative language are hardly to be found in campaign posters. And yet many renowned designers created works that have inscribed themselves in the collective visual memory of the Swiss population and have become icons of Swiss poster design.

The Swiss population is called upon to participate actively in political decision-making processes through regular campaigns. These campaigns are often concerned with issues that stir up heated emotions and lead to ideological battles. Campaign posters, which have influenced opinion-making since the beginning of the 20th century, bear testimony to direct democracy. This special form of political propaganda – prominently associated with Switzerland – is a sensitive indicator of socio-political moods and reflects both national mentalities and global tendencies.

Ja! Nein! Yes! No! Swiss Posters for Democracy reveals the visual argumentation strategies and rhetorical approaches that have shaped the Swiss campaign poster from 1918 to the present. Clichéd exaggerations, undifferentiated simplifications, a repertoire of drastic motifs and abridged slogans correspond to the laws of the medium, which is oriented towards a manipulative appeal to the masses. Appeals to a sense of unity focus primarily on emotionalization rather than rational enlightenment. Subtly condensed messages or graphically innovative language are hardly to be found in campaign posters. And yet many renowned designers created works that have inscribed themselves in the collective visual memory of the Swiss population and have become icons of Swiss poster design.

This book is part of the Poster Collection series. Get the complete series here

Edited by Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter

With an essay by Jakob Tanner

Design: Integral Lars Müller

16,5 × 24 cm, 6 ½ × 9 ½ in

96 pages, 150 illustrations

paperback

2021, 978-3-03778-661-1, German
English
CHF 25.00

Bettina Richter

Bettina Richter studied art history in Heidelberg, Paris and Zurich and obtained her doctorate in 1996 with a thesis on the antiwar graphics of Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen. From 1997 to 2006, she served as a research associate at the Poster Collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, and in 2006 became its curator. Bettina Richter lectures at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and works as a freelance writer. She is the editor of the publication series "Poster Collection" and has published articles and essays on art history, literature, and the subject of posters.

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Contemporary Iran

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Poster Collection, vol. 35

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Niklaus Troxler

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Poster Collection, vol. 34

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

En Vogue

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Poster Collection, vol. 32

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Stop Motion

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Poster Collection, vol. 31

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Self-Promotion

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Poster Collection, vol. 30

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Herbert Leupin

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Poster Collection, vol. 28

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

The Hand / Die Hand

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Poster Collection, vol. 27

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Japan – Nippon

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Out of print
Poster Collection, vol. 26

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

In Series / In Serie

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Poster Collection, vol. 23

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Help!

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Poster Collection, vol. 20

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Christian Brändle (eds.)

Head to Head

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Poster Collection, vol. 19

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Otto Baumberger

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Poster Collection, vol. 18

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Bettina Richter (eds.)

Photo Graphics

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Poster Collection, vol. 17

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Comix!

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Poster Collection, vol. 16

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Zürich–Milano

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Poster Collection, vol. 14

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Typo China

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Poster Collection, vol. 13

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Catherine Zask

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Poster Collection, vol. 12

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Handmade

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Poster Collection, vol. 11

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Armin Hofmann

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Poster Collection, vol. 7

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.)

Donald Brun

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Poster Collection, vol. 2

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Felix Studinka (eds.)

Revue 1926

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Out of print
Poster Collection, vol. 1