The Principles of Swiss Graphic Design

Posted on July 15, 2009July 16, 2009 Posted in Books, Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged graphic design, grid system, International Typographic Style, josef müller-brockmann, minimalism, modernism, Typography14 Comments

Blanka Brockmann

This is awesome. I need to get my hands on it.

Designer Dylan Mulvaney has designed this splendid bilingual, expandable book for Blanka. It honors the man, the legend, Josef Müller-Brockmann as well as conveys the principles of Swiss Graphic Design as exemplified by the leader of the revolutionary Swiss Style. Sounds perfect to me. Too bad I don’t see it anywhere on the Blanka site.

UPDATE
I contacted Blanka and they’ve never heard of Dylan Mulvaney nor are they part of this project. Really weird that this guy would claim such a thing.

Via Swiss Legacy

Anthologie de Musique Suisse Plakat

Posted on June 22, 2009September 10, 2010 Posted in Design, Design Legends, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged design legend, graphic design, grid system, International Typographic Style, josef müller-brockmann, minimalism, modernism, poster, Typography16 Comments

Check out this stunning poster by the legendary Josef Müller-Brockmann. I’ve never seen this poster design before so it’s gotten me really excited! I’ll have to check my Brockmann books to see if it’s in there, but I don’t recall ever seeing it.

The color palette and the use of a few circles to create the shape of a record make this design stunning. But my favorite part of it all is how the typography, even though staggered, still lines up to a sound grid system. Brilliant.

You can grab this poster on eBay for $300. I’m so tempted.

Polygon Typeface

Posted on June 17, 2009June 17, 2009 Posted in Design, Grid Systems, TypographyTagged font, grid system, polygon, posters, print, type, typeface, Typography6 Comments

Washington D.C. based designer Andy Babb has created Polygon, a typeface built on a strict grid of equilateral triangles. Lovely idea and execution. Designing a typeface on a triangle grid does create some interesting forms.

To go along with the typeface, Andy has designed a poster displaying Polygon in use. It’s screen printed with red and silver ink on pink 110lb paper. It’s gorgeous.

ISTD Lecture – Wim Crouwel

Posted on June 3, 2009September 10, 2010 Posted in Design, Design Legends, Events, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged design legend, event, graphic design, lecture, legend, minimalism, modernism, wim crouwel12 Comments

For all you lucky folks in the UK, there’s going to be a lecture tonight with Wim Crouwel. I’d love to go to this. Someone needs to get this guy to NYC! Anyway, here are the details:

The International Society of Typographic Designers is pleased to announce the return or their acclaimed lecture series. The first of which on the 3 June will be Wim Crouwel. The Dutch legend will be introduced by 8vo’s Hamish Muir, who will talk about the studio’s work that was commissioned by Crouwel when he was director of the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen (1989 — 1994).

Crouwel’s lecture, Designer and Client, will take place at the The Royal College of Physicians’ Wolfson Lecture Theatre, 11 St Andrews Place, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4LE (19.00 — 21.30).

Tickets are limited, likely to sell out quickly and are only available in advance from istd.org.uk/wim-crouwel. £16 (£12 for ISTD members, £10 for students)

Attendees will be invited to celebrate the ISTD’s 80th birthday with a complimentary drink in the Dorchester Library after the lecture.
Tickets also include entry to a raffle for the chance to win a very special prize which will be presented by Crouwel himself.

Grid Calculator by Designers Bookshop

Posted on April 26, 2009April 27, 2009 Posted in Grid SystemsTagged application, calculator, Grid Systems5 Comments

As you know, I’m a big grid system user. One of the most time consuming, and sometimes frustrating, aspects of grid systems is calculating and creating them. If you’re new to grids, I suggest you do it all by hand at first to learn the process. But once you get the hang of it, and understand it, an application can speed the process up considerably and save you valuable time.

Over the last few months I’ve been using an app called Grid Calculator, developed by Designers Bookshop, to do all my calculating for me so that I could concentrate on other things. It’s available for both Mac and PC and helps with calculating correct leading, margins, gutters, row space and “f” height for image placement. It also includes a handy conversion tool and document proportions.

It’s currently aimed more towards editorial design, but it could still be used for web design with some minor calculating on the side. Hopefully they expand the next version to include more features for web specific design.

I figured that a lot of you would be interested in this app, so I’ve contacted the company and they’ve agreed to give AisleOne readers a 10% discount. The offer is only valid this week: Monday, April 27th to Friday, May 1st. To get the discount, enter in the following code upon checkout : Baseline.

Enjoy and happy gridding.

1976 Montreal Olympics Logo

Posted on April 21, 2009April 21, 2009 Posted in Design, Grid SystemsTagged branding, graphic design, grid system, identity, logo8 Comments

Over at the blog We Made This, there’s a scan of an article in a 1975 issue of Design Magazine that covers the construction and guidelines for the 1976 Montreal Olympics Logo designed by Georges Huel. It’s interesting to see how the logo was developed over a grid system.

The logo represents a podium, a running track, the letter M and the olympic rings. Simple and brilliant. I personally prefer this mark over the one created by Otl Aicher for the 1972 Olympics.