How to use Swiss Style in your projects
Learning about the Swiss Style and integrating its clearness into your designs.
Overview
- What is the Swiss Style?
- Why is it important
- How to use it in your work
What is the Swiss Style?
Swiss Style, which adhered to the International Style, is a design trend that flourished in the 1950s and 60s. It’s characterised by a minimalist approach, grid-based layouts, and asymmetrical balance that naturally leads the viewer’s eye across the design.
Bold sans-serif typography is one of the most important elements of Swiss Style. It was a revolutionary concept at the time. Helvetica, a classic Swiss typeface (whose name literally means ‘Swiss’), was developed in 1957 and remains a popular choice in design today (e.g., New York subway, Lufthansa logo etc.).
In addition to revolutionary typefaces, Swiss Style is valued for its abstract graphics, the combination of contrasting elements, and its use of photographic images which were the symbol of modernity.
One of the most important types of work for Swiss designers were posters, which a lot of them saw as a valuable instrument for communication with the audience. However, the style itself is used everywhere, from navigation to advertisement, which shows its universal nature.
Why is it important?
The Swiss Style brought a new visual language into design, making design concepts easy to understand for the general public. It replaced the vibrant and luxurious Art Deco after World War II, creating a design approach ready to serve people in everyday life. Switzerland, as a neutral country during the war, cultivated a style detached from historical context, which therefore had the opportunity to stay free from all historical references and to become utilitarian. Drawing inspiration from the Bauhaus and De Stijl schools, and styles like Constructivism, the Swiss Style prioritised clarity and simplicity. The style was also easy to implement into mass production, which was growing throughout the 20th century.
Today, the Swiss Style has a significant influence on digital design. Contemporary designers use adjustable grids, sans-serif fonts, and clear compositions, as Swiss designers started to use long before them.
How to use it in your work
Each Swiss designer brought a unique approach to their work. I’ve gathered some of their techniques, spanning from the designs of the 1930s to the 1960s, to help you infuse a Swiss Style vibe into your own projects. Here are a few key ideas:
1) Ask yourself “What is the bare minimum I need to express myself?” and base your design on that principle.
2) Before creating something, answer the following questions:
- What should we convey?
- What is the easiest way to do it?
- How to make it look beautiful?
3) Keep the design clean. Remove all distracting visual noise. Swiss design is very direct and to the point.
4) Use sans-serif fonts, stripped of all cultural associations. They will help convey the main message to the audience.
5) Stick to a clear color palette and mostly use it to visually highlight something important. By using contrast, you can create a rhythm in the composition and underline the important parts (this by Josef Müller-Brockmann, this by Armin Hofmann).
6) A strict grid is essential; the logic of geometric composition will hold your design together. Leave visual accents so the composition stays clear yet engaging. Josef Müller-Brockmann made prominent work on grids, which is detailed in “Grid Systems in Graphic Design.” (here is a brilliant example of using grids by Muller-Brockmann himself).
7) Show a concept visually. Design can reflect the idea in a sophisticated manner and deliver it with minimalist tools, such as contrast, geometry, and color. Don’t hesitate to use graphic representations, like a camera for a poster about cinema. Don’t be afraid to make it obvious (this work of Walter Dexel and this by Emil Ruder). You can also use text as a visual anchor (Emil Ruder’s work).
8) Photography can serve as accents and focal points in your composition, making your work vibrant and interesting. A good photographic image is very eye-catching; you can also enhance it by combining it with layers. (Armin Hofmann here, this and this works by Thérèse Moll, this by Nelli Rudin).
9) Another popular technique is to make part of the typography larger or smaller than everything else to distinguish it. For example, extract something from the text (a phrase or just capital letters) and use it as a large visual anchor in the composition. (Theo Ballmer’s work)
10) Try to assemble the elements of a composition as if in an architectural blueprint. Fonts can resemble a cascading building, highlighting the most important parts (look at Walter Dexter’s work). Use Constructivist buildings for inspiration and treat fonts as building materials.
11) Use abstract art as inspiration and create compositions based on it. (in this Ernst Keller work you can see how text is integrated into abstract art background. In this Max Bill’s work, a large abstract form serves as the compositional center.
You can use some of these tips separately or combine them. They are not strict rules, but rather observations. Feel free to share your ideas about how to draw inspiration from the Swiss Style in the comments.
Prominent Swiss designers
- Walter Dexel
- Max Bill
- Jan Tschichold
- Theo Ballmer
- Ernst Keller
- Armin Hofmann
- Thérèse Moll
- Josef Müller-Brockmann
- Karl Gerstner
- Richard Paul-Lohse
- Nelly Rudin
- Hans Neuburg
- Siegfried Odermatt
- Rosmarie Tissi
- Wim Crouwel
- Rudolph de Harak
- Gerald Cinamon
Fonts
Literature
- “The New Typography” by Jan Tschichold
- “Typography: My Way to Typography” by Wolfgang Weingart
- “Grid Systems in Graphic Design” by Josef Müller-Brockmann
- “Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice” by Armin Hofmann
- “The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems” by Josef Müller-Brockmann
- “Designing Programmes” by Karl Gerstner
- “Form, Function, Beauty = Gestalt” by Max Bill
Note: I am very grateful for Joshua Namdev Hardisty lectures on youtube and
Flux Academy videos about Swiss Design, which helped me to write this article.
In this article by Junhan Sim, you can find out more examples of using Swiss Style in web design.
