International Style
Josef Muller-Brockmann
Originally converted to the International Style, Josef Muller-Brockmann was stylistically strict to the traditional “rules” of the Swiss style. Throughout his designs he created a reputation that has been known to epitomize the International style. He achieved this through his conscious decisions to imply obvious or abstract grid layouts, and his constant use of the sans serif font, Akzidenz Grotesk. Like many other International designers, Muller-Brockmann tirelessly relied on Akzidenz Grotesk because of its perfect compromise of functionality and simplicity. As a result of most of the International designers abiding to the key elements of the style, Akzidenz Grotesk also gained popularity because of the idea of good design only having one typeface. Muller-Brockmann, sticking to the guidelines of the Swiss style, also became known for his ability to utilize design’s functionality for the viewer.
Using Muller-Brockmann’s 1959 Musica Viva poster as an exemplary example of his work, and an example of the practices of the International style, we see numerous references to the attitudes of the post-war agenda. Muller-Brockmann keeps all of the poster’s text running horizontal, using negative space positively throughout the design, only using different weights of Akzidenz Grotesk to show importance of the copy content, and keeping the text and image from interfering with each other; all International stylistic qualities. In Muller-Brockmann’s poster we also see the influence of De Stijl through the blocks of primary colors, a correlation with the acceptance of modern abstract art, a representation of the resistance to tyranny, and a celebration of individual expression.
Musica Viva Poster, early 1959
Stravinsky, Berg, Fortner Poster, 1955
Olma-Cow Poster, 1959
Paul Rand
Coming out of a Constructivism world, and embarking into post-war attitudes, the International Style evolved due to its success from corporate patronage in the United States. “Corporate identity” in the U.S. during the 1950s was largely created by the International designer Paul Rand. Even though Rand did not firmly restrict his design to the International Style “rules,” he still applied the components of “functionalism,” “addition through subtraction,” and was known for his rhythmic compositions. Rand fully understood that design should translate ideas and concepts in visual terms, and should be carefully developed to ensure that the results are more than simply decorative.
Beyond his acute and experimental interpretation of the International Style, Rand was able to contribute many radical theories about the principles of corporate identity. Along with conceiving the German idea of the “design manual,” Rand explained that the perfect logo is “simple, elegant, economical, flexible, practical, and unforgettable.” The “perfect” logos that Rand created fulfilled their purpose by withstand time, not conforming to fad trends, and stood as the heart of the corporation. Through his incorporation of the International Style’s geometric designs, sans serif lettering, and clarity, Rand became the name and top source of corporate identity in the U.S. Major corporations such as IMB, Westinghouse, Yale University, UPS, and ABC were clients of Rand during his reign of International Style logo creation.
Yale University School of Art Poster, 1982
IBM Swedish packaging Poster, 1980
Penrose Annual cover, 1958
Jan Tschichold
Jan Tschichold’s forced emigration from Germany to Switzerland in 1933 can be seen as a foreshadowing event. Now considered a prophet of the New Typography, Tschichold’s original viewpoints were parallel to those who strictly followed the “rules” of the International Style. After Europe was exonerated from the Nazi rule, Tschichold went against popular notion and claimed that the rigid and absolutist terms of the International Style were formulated to satisfy the Nazis. Tschichold believed and embraced the more rational and logical elements of the International Style that encouraged geometric abstraction, specifically reflecting the neutrality situation Switzerland chose to represent. An example provided by Graphic Design, A New History was Tschichold’s proclamation of his preferred symmetrical, centered layout; this confessed his belief that flush left layouts were not the only possible solution of design. Looking beyond Tschichold’s stylistic conventions, and the love affair with typography he built, his main goal was “clear and well-balanced composition that [was] immediately legible to the viewer.” (Graphic Design, A New History) With this in mind, and the fact that Tschichold was not a participant of the austerity of the International style, he still made a point to agree that designers should never mix typefaces.
Throughout his career, Tschichold had many victorious accomplishments; one being the aesthetic development of paperback books that were published by Penguin during the mid 1900s. Although designing many of the covers himself, Tschichold encourage a general understanding of good design. His goal was not to have numerous constraints regarding the layout or typefaces, but rather to persuade the knowledge of effective visual language, regardless of stylistic details.
Societe Typographique de France poster, 1960
Die Neue Typographie (The New Typography) poster, 1928
Plakate der Avantgarde (Poster of the Avant-Garde), 1930
Art Deco
Joseph Binder
Evolving from its original introduction, the Art Deco style was able to hit the public with a second wave of popularity. This updated version of Art Deco left behind a focus on the fine arts, and moved onto the development of graphic design and typography. Celebrating commercialism, Art Deco was able to modernize the once traditional commercial message into a glamorous interaction of communication with the viewer. The prominent sleek and smooth designs of Art Deco were expressed through the basic elements of simplicity, symmetry, and geometry.
Enticed with this new style of the 1930s, the pubic supported the integration of Art Deco through commercial works in American and Europe. Joseph Binder, an artist who embraced the Art Deco style, was credited with conceiving one of the most famous Art Deco designs of all time, his December 1937 Fourtune cover. Similar to Binder’s Ocean Ship Liner Fortune cover from July 1937, both illustrations exemplify reductive and abstract geometry, sleek lines, smooth surfaces, and the known stylized grace and elegance associated with Art Deco. Comparing the Ocean Ship Liner cover to Cassandre’s earlier 1935 Normandie poster, one can see the continuation, and addition to the growth of Art Deco. While Binder’s cover has more decoration, and uses a more stylized typography, he does apply the same execution of streamlining as Cassandre used on the Normandie. In addition to the created sense of movement, Binder reflects Cassandre’s color scheme, the input of nature, and the reductive geometry of the ocean and ship’s detail.
The Most Important Wheels in America Poster, 1952
Air Corps U.S. Army Poster, 1941
Ocean Ship Liner July Cover of Fortune, 1937
Mehemed Agha
Originally from Germany, art director Mehemed Agha transformed American graphic design into a modern art style through the ideals of Art Deco. Agha’s popularity explosion during the 1930s was so influential that he was celebrated through innovative recognitions by numerous organizations. In 1931 Conde Nast include Agha’s “name on the masthead of the contents page of Vanity Fair.” (Graphic Design, A New History) In their 1939 issue, PM Magazine declared the 1930s to be “Agha’s American Decade.” Time was also early to recognized “Agha’s significance to American magazine design” by claiming that Agha was a “pioneer in the use of typography and photography.” (Graphic Design, A New History) Beyond his early glorification, Agha was praised by influencing and grooming many young American graphic designers that later became known for their individual contribution of graphics.
It was through Agha’s original involvement of magazine layouts, cover designs, and devotion to Art Deco that gained him his fame. In addition to being “the first art director to use the double-paged photo spread and color cover photography,” Agha “became the first designer to make use of the ‘full bleed’.” (Graphic Design, A New History) While Agha did not formulate a set of “rules” that himself, or his supporters had to strictly abide to, he understood that having the grace of Art Deco, and the clarity Constructivism created a visually pleasing combination.
Vogue Magazine Cover, 1932
Vanity Fair Magazine Cover, July 1933
Vanity Fair double-page spread,1936
Alexey Brodovitch
Also a European immigrant, Alexey Brodovitch’s work was seen as parallel to the modern design and influence that Agha was having during the 1930s. Both art directors allowed their designs to form from intense photography; photography being “the basis for the overall design of the spread.” (Graphic Design, A New History) In addition to the image’s importance, Brodovitch considered the typography and complete page design a cohesive element that had to be innovative, original, and reflective of modern functionalism. Credited with overseeing the designs “of some of the most compelling double-page spreads of photography and text ever seen,” Brodovitch shared Agha’s similar non-rigid, non-constrictive idea of design. Brodovitch allowed his creations to overlap, repeat, and bleed to the edge of the pages.
Comparable to the example in our textbook is Brodovitch’s double-page spread in the March 1936 issue of the fashion magazine, Harper’s Bazaar. While the dramatic image on the left engulfs the entire page, the text on the right page echoes the form created by the model in the photograph. The contour of both pages is reflective to one another; presenting a visual comprehension when the double-page spread is completely open to the viewer. Brodovitch’s layout in this situation also provides a focus point, again making the design more pleasing when seen as a whole.
Finally, I wanted to call attention to Brodovitch’s double-page spread in the August 1958 issue in Harper’s Bazaar. Like Cassandre’s use of repetitive images in his Dubo Dubon Dubonnet advertisement in 1932, Brodovitch also uses a repeating image. This stylistic decision is “suggestive of the modern world of standardized mass production.” (Graphic Design, A New History)
Harper’s Bazaar double-page spread, March 1936
Harper’s Bazaar double-page spread, August 1958
Athelia Catalogue cover, 1929
