This is the Passport of Switzerland designed in 1985 by the Swiss Graphic Designer: Fritz Gottschalk. My first impression of this is that its very bold, with powerful imagery and vivid colours. It seems like a historic piece of design and it is; today it has been issued nearly six million times.
Instantly the Swiss flag stands out on the cover design. This flag was claimed on the 12th of December 1889 as the country’s identity, but the design actually dates back to the 14th century.Originally the cross was a sign of identification in battles so the troops could recognise their fellow allies. The origin of this design is simple; troops would rip up pieces of fabric and have them attached to their combat clothing in form of the cross. This has caused Gottschalk’s design to have a nice sense of heritage attached to it.
The flag is therefor an appropriate choice of imagery as it proudly displays the flag of Switzerland, giving the design a clear identity/origin. This iconic cross appears to be positioned symmetrically on the page, a clear focal point. But in fact it has been positioned off centre as Gottschalk claims he thought it made the design “more visually active,” as well as to leave adequate room for the text.
The text itself has been aligned to the left allowing it to neatly line up to/wrap around the cross and it is a sans serif font that causes it to sharply stand out and be easily read.Content wise the gold gilted lettering notes the passports title in French, German, Italian and English. Passports are travel aids, and one of the main obstacles of travelling -especially abroad- is the language barriers. Gottschalk was smart enough to address this issue.
The colour scheme is limited on the cover as it only uses two colours. The vivd primary colouring (red) makes the cover pop with its powerful fill and with the cross remaining white (reverse), it stays true to the flag. The gold seems to be Gottschalk’s major impact on the design, rather than it just being a take on the flag. This metallic finish to the text shows a luxury to the passport and prosperity of the country.
Other than the text, colour and flag, the design is relatively simple. Yet it still manages to be bold and extremely eye catching.
However, on the inside of this passport there is a stark contrast to this vibrant cover. Topographical drawings of Switzerland spread over the pages in rather dull tones (grey, off navy and a paling black). Additionally crystalline forms have been layered over these, some think as a reference to the ice that once formed Switzerland’s signature mountains. This nice link to the country really keeps the passports origin at heart.
Overall, as interesting as the idea is, my opinion is that the inside is the weakness to the design. The colouring chosen is poor and enough any text that is layered above it must stand out as the key feature but surely the colours could have been nicer. The majority of text is in fact concealed in filled text boxes, that are equally as bland. Red should’ve been included in the design as it would have united the passport with colour. Compared to other passports though this design stands out like a flamingo among pigeons.
Take the British and American passports for example. Both have the same gold gilted text as Gottschalks but with a much more serious and classic serifed typeface. Even the colours are more classic too (burgundy and black) which makes them look boring in comparison.
