Josef Muller-Brockmann

by Purcell, Kerry William

• ISBN13: 9780714843490
• ISBN10: 0714843490
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-01
• Publisher: Phaidon Press

Summary

The Most Comprehensive Monograph on thePioneering Swiss Graphic Designer Ever Published"A visual poet, a resourceful designer, and a pioneer in education--acrossall forms his creations spoke with the same unified harmony of line, color,and image.He taught discipline, clarity, honesty, and integrity throughexample.In a profession critically short on such values, his life andwork continue to personify the ideal of a committed, humane, andconscientious designer."Kerry William Purcell, authorJosef M+-+ller-Brockmann (1914-96) was one of the most important andprolific voices of graphic design who created many of twentieth century'smost significant and memorable posters.He was a leading practitioner andtheorist of the Swiss Style, which emphasized cleanliness, readability, andobjectivity.Beginning with the opening of his own studio in Zurich in1936 and working until his death in 1996, the mark he left behind isimmeasurable.JOSEF M+oeLLER-BROCKMANN by Kerry William Purcell, is the most comprehensivemonograph on the graphic designer ever published--including over fourhundred images culled from the designer's personal archive.Presenting theentire range of M+-+ller-Brockmann's career, ranging from his most famousworks to never before seen projects, this volume is essential for designstudents, professional designers, or anyone interested in the history ofgraphic design.M+-+ller-Brockmann's work ranged from social/civic projects such as postersfor the Swiss Automobile Club and Z+-+rich Police to commercial projects forIBM (for whom he was the design advisor in western Europe), Rosenthal, andHermes Typewriters.He was also an influential mentor to contemporarydesigners, writing a number of books on graphic design and its history. His contributions to magazines such as "New Graphic Design," his designphilosophies, and his ability to create design systems secure his status asa key figure in spreading the Swiss design ethic internationally.M+-+ller-Brockmann began his career as an illustrator, where his keenawareness for the quality of forms first emerged.He is perhaps best-knownas graphic design's foremost proponent of grid systems to assist infunctional and objective design.The grid system allowed him to organizehis subject matter to create the most effective design.Even his designsthat appear free of structure were rigidly organized by M+-+ller-Brockmannbeneath the surface.M+-+ller-Brockmann was also an accomplishedphotographer, often integrating experimental photography, photomontages,and light paintings into his design work.The grid system, industrialtypefaces, and the use of photographic images rather than illustrationswere M+-+ller-Brockmann's trademark and, ultimately, the classic emblems ofSwiss graphic design.This new book offers readers the ability to approach M+-+ller-Brockmann'swork from several points of view, resulting in an extension of hisinfluence on graphic design beyond his familiar poster work.Illustratedby images of the final designs, sketches, and production drawings from hisarchive--and with long captions explaining in detail the design structureand the client's instructions--this extraordinary monograph tracesM+-+ller-Brockmann's life from his childhood through early training, rarelyseen designs for the theater, famous posters for the Zurich art scene,corporate design work for clients, and, finally his efforts to educateyoung designers.

Author Biography

Kerry William Purcell is a writer, lecturer, and design historian. His work has appeared in such magazines as Baseline and Eye. His previous books for Phaidon include Alexey Brodovitch (2002) and Weegee (2004).

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 7
Seriously playful : the art of discovery	p. 11
Playfully serious : search for an identity	p. 47
Universal style : discovering the essence	p. 79
New graphic design : spreading the word	p. 129
Education : the objective lesson	p. 205
Corporate identity : the image defined	p. 231
Postscript	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.