A1 / AisleOne — An inspirational resource focused on graphic design, typography, grid systems, minimalism and modernism.

10 Comments

1. Jesse Kidwell

   July 11, 2008 at 1:43 am

   Thanks for the scans Antonio. Helmut Schmid is a really interesting designer, most notably with these magazine covers. I’m trying to get my hands on a copy of ‘Design is Attitude’, and have so far only been lucky enough to read ‘Typography Today’ (with contributions by Crouwel, Weingart and Grignani) a beautiful book, but not necessarily a showcase of Schmid.

2. Bobbygrotesk

   July 11, 2008 at 3:51 am

   Helmut’s finest work.

   Beautiful.

   Nice post Antonio.

3. André Friedrichs

   July 15, 2008 at 3:44 pm

   hi guys,

   first of all: helmut schmidt wasn’t a designer! he is our — germany’s — former chancellor. see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Schmidt

   second: yes, the design is very clean and functional. okay, that’s cool, but that very, very typical for printings in that time in germany — heavily affected by “die neue typographie” by jan tschichold, bauhaus and later by “Ulm Design School”. so, it’s not very outstanding…

   cheers,
   andre

4. Antonio

   July 15, 2008 at 3:53 pm

   It’s a different Helmut Schmidt obviously.

   As for the design, it’s all subjective and yes I’m aware of the origins of the style, but to me this work is absolutely brilliant. It’s simple, clean and beautiful.

   If you don’t dig it then that’s cool, but to say that it’s not outstanding because you don’t appreciate it is a bit overboard.

5. André Friedrichs

   July 15, 2008 at 4:33 pm

   no, it isn’t. helmut schmidt was co-editor of this “magazine”, that’s true, but he wasn’t the designer. by the way: it was a political publication; published by “friedrich ebert stiftung”

   and: it’s not outstanding cause is not outstanding. simple like that. there had been lots of publications like this one througout the sixties and early seventies — over here germany — with that kind of design. so, it is not very outstanding in the sense of: it’s not very rare… they all refer to tschichold, bauhaus & ulm

   andré

6. André Friedrichs

   July 15, 2008 at 5:14 pm

   if you really looking for more of this “rare” stuff — just visit “die neue gesellschaft” here:

   http://www.frankfurter-hefte.de/Aktuelle-Ausgabe/

   maybe they have old copies…
   (but don’t tell them about helmut schmidt, the “designer”… )

   andre

7. Antonio

   July 15, 2008 at 6:27 pm

   First off the person I’m referring to is called Helmut SCHMID, not SCHMIDT. Helmut Schmid is in fact a desiger and he did design this cover. There is a site about him here that celebrates his work, which includes this cover. There is also a book about him and I even exchanged email with the people who curate his work and they confirmed that Schmid designed this cover.

   I think you are very confused.

8. André Friedrichs

   July 15, 2008 at 7:06 pm

   hm, you are right.. my fault — but schmid and schmidt… it’s late over here…

   studied under Emil Ruder… but: he is not that famous in germany. and the design isn’t that outstanding… is so typical for that period in german design… but maybe an exhibition in a design school in düsseldorf — the city where i live — chanced that…

   but, at the end: your point.

   you site looks great — btw…

9. Antonio

   July 15, 2008 at 8:05 pm

   Andre, thanks.