Lars Müller

Josef Müller-Brockmann

Ein Pionier der Schweizer Grafik

Ein illustrierter Aufsatz gibt Aufschluss über die Entwicklungsgeschichte der «Schweizer Grafik» der 1930er- bis 1960er-Jahre. Müller-Brockmanns Plakate sind weltberühmt für ihre mit reduzierten Mitteln erzielte visuelle Spannung und Mitteilungskraft. Ihnen sind zeitlose Regeln der visuellen Kommunikation eingeschrieben. Müller-Brockmann ist eine der Leitfiguren der «Schweizer Grafik» der 1950er- und 1960er-Jahre. Er starb 1996 im Alter von 82 Jahren.

This book is also available in English

Edited by Lars Müller

19 x 27 cm, 7 ½ x 10 ¾ in
264 pages, 369 illustrations
paperback

2001, 978-3-907078-59-4, German

Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–1996) was a leading figure in Swiss graphic design. Starting the 1950s, he helped to pioneer the Swiss Style that would shape graphic design worldwide for decades. After an early career doing illustrations, Müller-Brockmann did a radical about-face in 1950, henceforth developing an uncompromisingly rational formal language. His posters are legendary and his magazine “New Graphic Design” (1958–1965) spread the doctrine of sober design based on constructive principles across the continents. Large corporations and public institutions were soon adopting this objective approach as a model for design concepts that still remain valid today. As a teacher in Japan and at the design schools in Zurich and Ulm, as well as a lecturer and consultant, Müller-Brockmann was a distinctive voice in the design world. He was married to the Japanese-Swiss artist Shizuko Yoshikawa.

Lars Müller, born 1955 in Oslo, lives and works in Switzerland since 1963. After his learning years as graphic designer and his studies in the United States and the Netherlands, he founded the Atelier Lars Müller, which focuses on visual communication and design. 1996 he became partner of Integral Concept, an international connection of artists of interdisciplinary competences with offices in Paris, Milano, Zurich, Berlin and Montreal. Since 1983 he works as a book publishers on the topics typography, design, art, photography and architecture. A couple of years later he began teaching at different universities in Switzerland, Europe and in the USA as assistant professor, for example at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Lars Müller

Josef Müller-Brockmann