Rolf Harder

Rolf Harder

Sometimes I wonder why certain designers are lost to history. Maybe they didn’t hang out with the right people, who knows. Good thing we have sites like the MoMA Collection. If not, we’d probably never get see the great work done by Canadian designer Rolf Harder. He was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1929 and studied at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts. In 1959 he moved to Montreal and opened his own firm, Rolf Harder Design. You can read his full bio here.

His work is masterful. A prime example of the International Typographic Style. Harder’s work also highlights his superb understanding of color. I’m a big fan, especially of this piece he did in 1968.

IBM Smarter Planet Posters

Ibm smarter planet posters

Here’s a great series of poster for the IBM Smarter Planet campaign, created by Ogilvy Paris. The posters make use of the excellent Lubalin Graph typeface by Herb Lubalin, and simple illustrations to form a stunning visual.

Read more on Fonts In Use about how the typeface is used in the campaign.

Marius Roosendaal

Marius roosendaal

Fantastic work by Netherlands by designer Marius Roosendaal. I really love the worn look given to each piece. He also uses a lot of design queues frequently found in pieces from the modernism movement. Makes them feel like they were designed in the 50s and 60s. Love it.

Via Wanken

Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Identity

hort-bauhaus-dessau-identity

Beautiful identity system by Hort for the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. I love the use of Courier and how stripped down the overall look is. Feels very technical. Hort intentionally avoided the visual elements that we think of when we hear Bauhaus. Hort explains:

…we decided to search for a solution that would relate more to the original ideas of Germany’s most influential Modernist school instead of relying on the visual clichés connected to Bauhaus – it seems almost impossible to use circle, square and triangle nowadays without it coming across as ironic or historicist.

Limited Edition Posters Inspired by Wim Crouwel

experimental-jetset-wim-crouwel-poster

It’s seems like it’s Wim Crouwel month, and deservedly so.

Unit Editions and the Design Museum have asked a group of highly regarded graphic designers to design a poster for the “Wim Crouwel, A Graphic Odyssey” exhibit at the Design Museum. The designers were to create a design based on the dimensions and grid of the Stedelijk Museum posters created by Crouwel. My personal favorite is the one designed Experimental Jetset that is pictured here.

The designers:

Michael C Place/Build
Experimental Jetset
MuirMcNeil
Philippe Apeloig
David Pidgeon
Cartlidge Levene
Tony Brook/Spin

Each poster is 635 x 950mm and screen-printed on Pristine white Colorplan. You can grab a copy at the Design Museum and Unit Editions.