HELMUT SCHMID

HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID

HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID
HELMUT SCHMID

1helmut schmid

EXPERIMENTAL
JETSET

experimental jetset

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET
EXPERIMENTAL JETSET

fonsFONS.
. hickmann
HICKMANN

FONS. HICKMANN

FONS. HICKMANN
FONS. HICKMANN
FONS. HICKMANN
FONS. HICKMANN
FONS. HICKMANN
FONS. HICKMANN

JOSEF MLLER
BROCKMANN

INTRODUCTION
TO BROCKMANN:
His Career as a
Graphic Designer

Mller Brockmann started his career as an apprentice to designer

and advertising consultant Walter Diggelman in Zurich during 1930s.
As soon after that he broke off apprenticeship and studied courses
by Ernst Keller and Alfred Willimann at the Zurich School of Arts
and Crafts. During 1934, he worked as a free-lance designer and
illustrator in Zurich. He continued to work as a designer even after
war and in 1936, he established his own design studio specializing
in graphics, exhibition design and photography. He majorly worked
on exhibition design and illustration also worked as a set designer for
various theatres in Switzerland and abroad. In the beginning of 1950,
Brockmann gradually moved away from illustration and he started
doing more objective form of design. His typographical posters for
the Tonhalle are good example of his directional change. He was
still working for theatre during this time but he left it finally in 1952 to
concentrate on graphic design. His campaign posters for Swiss Automobile Club such as watch that child and also music posters for
Zurich Tonhalle succeed and gained him reputation as a designer. In
1957, he began his teaching career at the Zurich School of Arts and
Crafts. A year later, he founded the magazine New Graphic Design
with other designers Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg and Carlo
Vivarelli. Total of 18 issues were published until 1965. He also went
abroad giving out lectures in different places like Japan and Germany
after leaving School of Arts and Crafts. He is a author of many design
books like The Graphic artist and his Design Problems, A History
of visual communication, A History of Poster, Grid System in
Graphic Design. His demand for neutral, functional and objective
design became part of Swiss Design in the 50s and 60s, where he
was a major influence.

01

BROCKMANN and TYPOGRAPHY

The constructive grid works as an instrument for

ordering typography and pictorial conception

02

BROCKMANN/
TYPOGRAPHY:

03

Structure and Grid

Seried of advertisement for the Akidenz-Grotesk Typeface c. 1996

There is a real strong consistency in all of

Brockmanns work because of his typographical
treatment. He preferred to use certain san-serif
typefaces like Akidenz, Univers or Helvetica. By
repeatedly using them, his work carried more
consistent look which made them look all the same
but also created some sort of style and system that
they are not just read as straight typography.

I have come to value Akzidenz grotesk more

than its successors Helvetica and Univers. It is
more expressive and its formal foundations are
more universal. The end of the e, for instance,
is a diagonal which produces right angles. In
the case of Helvetica and Univers the endings
are straight, producing acute or obtuse angles,
subjective angles.

BROCKMANN and TYPOGRAPHY

05

04

Zrich Tonhalle
msica viva concet
poster 1968

Zrich Tonhalle
msica viva concet
poster 1961

Reinhard-Brown Gallery, New York Exhibition poster 1980

Production Drawing for poster on top left

Production Drawing for poster on top right

Order was always wishful thinking for me. For

60 years I have produced disorder in files, correspondence and books. In my work, however,
I have always aspired to a distinct arrangement
of typographic and pictorial elements, the clear
identification of priorities. The formal organization of
the surface by means of the grid, a knowledge of
the rules that govern legibility ( line length, word and
letter spacing and so on ) and the meaningful use of
color are among the tools a designer must master
in order to complete his or her task in a rational
economic manner

BROCKMANN/ PUBLIC SIGNS

06

BROCKMANN/
PUBLIC SIGNS:

07

Visual Information System

for Public Space

right- SBB Railways Manual,

pages inside.

Mller Brockmann designed a lot of public signs

for places like air port and train station. His
experience in designing for exhibitions is reflected
in these signs, the system of design with straight
typography. Public signs are good representation
of Brockmann and his work in many ways. Its the
simplicity of them, the fact that designing signs
is dealing with pure informative text and symbols.
Like in most Brockmanns work, text is a piece
of information and image works as abstracted
symbol. They also have communication similarity.
Signs communicate directly without any subjective meanings to them like Brockmanns objective
intention for design.

train station/air port/museum entrances

top & bottom-SBB Swiss Railways
informative signs for stations
middle-Swiss National Exhibition, Lausanne Entrance Area, Exhibition hall

BROCKMANN/ PUBLIC SIGNS

text is a piece of information and

image works as abstracted symbol

08

09
right- SBB Railways Manual, cover

right- SBB Railways Manual, pages inside.

top- Signs for Swiss Railways

middle- Zurich Main Station Lettering c. 1959
bottom- Corporate design program for a hotel:
lettering outside the hotel bar

Helmhaus Zurich
Exhibition poster 1953

BROCKMANNS POSTER SERIES

10

BROCKMANNS
POSTER SERIES:

Mller Brockmanns treatment of

the picture plane and its typography
showed an affinity with the artistic
spirit of concrete art
Zurich Tonhalle
Spring Concerts 1953

11

Harmony in Proportion
Rhythm in Abstraction
right, Zurich Tonhalle
Concert Poster 1955,
left, its experimantal photo

Zurich Tonhalle
Musica Viva 1958

Zurich Tonhalle
Beethoven Concert Poster 1955

Mller Brockmann developed an enduring passion

for poster design. The medium seemed ideal for
expressing all the principles of his newly chosen
approach to design. After the radical break in 1951
he produced posters individually and in series for
the Zurich Tonhalle: their geometrical and abstract
elements were arranged in free, non-constructive
two-dimensional compositions. Himself, a lover
and connoisseur of music, justified these designs
by arguing that music, being the most abstract of
the arts, can only be interpreted abstractly within
the two-dimensional form of the poster. In 1951
he attempted subjective graphic interpretation of
individual musical works. This sophistication was
scarcely perceived by the public. It gave way to a
freer interpretation of the music for single concerts
or concert series.

Use of abraction in his music posters seemed to

have more strong impact of the sound. He was successful in applying geometry as one of the methods
to simplify the content but making them look interesting and musical. The way shapes are arranged in his
posters, are very contained and structural but they
carry the idea of music really well because of the
space created by them.
Free-floating, two-dimentional elements were abandoned in favor of a strictly constructive approach
for his 1955 Beethoven Poster. Despite this, the
musicality of the design was retained; the combination of contructed figure and comosers name not
only evokes immediate associations with music in
general but also with Beethoven in particular.

epilogue:
The fundamental understanding of the
ethical and functional parameters of visual
communication is a vital heritage

A lot of designs today seem to be dominated by overflowing of

visual forms that are simply for attraction without meanings.
These kinds of visual forms lose their value really easily because there is simply no structural or conceptual background.
Brockmanns work is good representation of how design can
maintain its value and last long without losing the excitement.
Usually, more successful designs are the ones that are referential, because referring to history or tradition is just as important as keeping up with time. The contemporary designers that
are mentioned in this book are similar to him not because of
their work has typographical similarity or visual similarity. They
are similar because of the structure or system they work with
and their effort of trying to communicate in most efficient way.
Also they reference history. This was what Mller Brockmann
valued the most as a designer and probably the reason why his
work is never boring.

28

TYPOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCE #2

18

Simplicity and Universality of Typography

INFLUENCE #2:
Experimental Jetset

Experimental jetsets work is known to be neutral in style, and

their constant use of universial typeface, Helvetica. The idea
behind it is for them, the way of making the concept as clear
and pure as possible to keep viewer to focus on the design as
whole. Their typographical treatment is comparable to Brockmanns because of how it is treated neutrally and objectively
rather than another added element to the composition. The reuse of the same typeface creates structure to work with without
adding to the meaning, successfully conveying the message.
For Mller Brockmann, it was a way of directly approaching the
audience, type saying what its showing. Where for experimental
jetset, there seems to be another approach, which is using type
as the element to create attention to the whole design. Theyre
influenced by traditional Dutch design rather than comtemporary
which is reflected in their work.

19
Zurich Chamber Choir
small poster 1968 by Brockmann

Emire #57
Winter 2000,USA
by Experimental Jetset

June Festival Stadttheater Zurich

Program Poster 1962 by Brockmann

TYPOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCE #2

We believe in the abstraction

of functionality and functionality
of abtraction
Top/Middle Spreads
from Lost Formats
Preservation Society by
Experimental Jetset

21

20

Stadttheater Zurich Yearbook

1960/61 by Brockmann

Bottpm Two, We Are the World Champaign

Poster series, Experimental Jetset 2003

Experimental Jetset was co-founded in Amsterdam

in 1997 by Erwin Brinkers, Marieke Stolk and Danny
van dungen. They believe that there should be an
inner logic to graphic design, Experimental Jetset
develops a coherent system for each project and
then imbuses it with an idiosyncratic combination of
references to modernist design, typified by the use
of the well-known typeface Helvetica.

Opernhaus Zurich, Small Poster

1964 by Brockmann

Zurich Tonhalle June Festival

Concert Poster, 1971 by Brockmann

INFLUENCE #3 FONS HICKMANN

22

to keep the neutrality on design and

to transfer message more directly

INFLUENCE #3:

23

Fons M. Hickmann

Liebesdinge ( Laboratories for Social and

Esthetic Development Poster by Hickmann

Zurich Tinhalle June Festival

Program Poster 1966 by Brockmann

Fons. Hickmann Design studio in berlin founded

by Fons Hickmann, professor for graphic design
and new media at the university of applied art in
Vienna. Also with Bestine Grotrian-Steinweg and
Simon Gallus. They emphasize on creation and
design of complex communication systems. They
specializes in Corporate Design development,
book- and poster-design, magazine design and
digital media.

Zurich Tinhalle June Festival

Program Poster 1964 by Brockmann

INFLUENCE #3: Fons Hickmann

24

25
Surich Tonhalle musica viva
Concert Poster, 1960
by Brockmann
Poster for LastLegkuchen
by Hickmann

Poster for Kieler Woche

by Hickmann, 2002
magazine cover for Der
Architekt by Hickmann

Fons. Hickmann design group is in a lot of ways resemble Brockmanns work. Their typography treatment, use of direction and color and also use of
strong intense imagery. (also refer to pages 26-27)
Their use of straight typography and also san-serif
type is also similar to both Experimental Jetset and
Brockmann, which is to keep the neutrality on the
whole design and also to transfer message more
directly. All three designers use space in interesting
way like use of the corner on a page( either top
or bottom). Both of these contemporary design
groups also represent the design world now, in a
way this use of straight typography has become
like a redundant style also, very universial.

Max Weishaupt GmbH

Oil and gas buners 1963
by Brockmann

Zurich Museum of Arts and

Crafts Exhibition Poster,1960
by Brockmann

INFLUENCE #3: Fons Hickmann

Series of Posters
when eyes still could speak- series of 4 posters, festival of silent film
by Fons. Hickmann Design Studio (refer to pages 24-27)

Experimental photographs for program below

Zurich Tonhalle Program for the 1955/56
season by Brockmann

27

26

Brockmann saw photography as a direct way of

representing reality because photographs have no subjective meanings added to them. He used photographs
for a lot of his work sometimes manipulating them in a
way to create abstraction. With different photographs,
he would overlap them together on top of each other
to create a whole new different form which was what
he did with programs for concerts and festivals in late
1950s. This technique helped him to move away from
geometrical abstracted forms he did earlier and made
his work look really different from everything else he
had produced. However, his use of this unique method
also slightly altered his intention at the same time in
terms of communicating message. These images still
had subjectivity to them because of their photographic
quality creating depth and mood.

Brockmann is well known for his use of intense imagery

which was one of his methods of communication. These
intense images acted as visual parts of the concept, they
directly meant what the text said. It was quite successful
for a lot of campaign posters. The posters he did for
Swiss Committee prove that his message was clear, image showed irritation of noise and text saying stop noise.
The photographs he used for these posters created seriousness of the situation and text verbally calling for help.
The poster series for silent film by Fons. Hickmann
are similar to Brockmanns campaign posters because of
the clear message that they create. Even though these
posters have opposite idea of showing silence instead
of noise, the method they used is same. (Using one
main powerful image and type conveying the message.)
Here, images of a female face fade with text to represent
silence. These posters reflect Brockmanns technique of
manipulating photographs that created mood and sound
and here, the image of silence film posters creates intensity of situation representing absence of sound.