Project

Discipline

graphic design; typography; Switzerland; historiography; design education; design practice; design dissemination; Swiss Style; International Style; national identity

Lead
«Schweizer Grafikdesign und Typografie» ist lebendige Tradition, international anerkannter Repräsentant Schweizer Kultur und wichtiger Bestandteil des Schweizerischen Selbstverständnisses.
Lay summary
Inhalt und Ziel des Forschungsprojekts Bisherige Definitionen von «Schweizer Grafikdesign und Typografie» resultieren aus einer Vielzahl von Erzählungen über ihre Beschaffenheit und Geschichte, die sich vor allem auf einzelne Gestalter und ihre Arbeiten stützen. Das Sinergia-Projekt geht dem Status und Erfolg von «Schweizer Grafikdesign und Typografie» in drei Teilprojekten nach. Dabei untersucht wird der Einfluss von pädagogischen Grundsätzen, die an Schweizer Ausbildungsstätten entwickelt und angewandt wurden und werden (A: «Principles of Education»), von Netzwerken professioneller Gestalter/innen im In- und Ausland (B: «Networks of Practice»), sowie von Publikationen und Ausstellungen, die dazu beitragen, Produkte und Methoden des Schweizer Grafikdesigns national und international zu verbreiten (C: «Strategies of Dissemination»). Jedes dieser Teilprojekte beinhaltet drei Fallstudien, die von Forschern/innen und Doktoranden/innen der sieben teilnehmenden Schweizer Hochschulen in gemischten Teams bearbeitet werden. Die Resultate werden in einer umfassenden Publikation, Artikeln in internationalen Fachzeitschriften und auf der Projektwebsite, sowie im Rahmen einer internationalen Konferenz und einer gemeinsamen Ringvorlesung veröffentlicht. Wissenschaftlicher und gesellschaftlicher Kontext Das Projekt unterstützt die Entwicklung von Grafikdesigngeschichte als Forschungsfeld in der Schweiz und macht diesen Diskurs für Forscher/innen und Grafikdesigner/innen im In- und Ausland zugänglich. In einem weiteren gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhang trägt dieses Projekt zu einem besseren Verständnis von Grafikdesign als sozialer und kultureller Praxis bei und erforscht seine Wirkung auf die Konstruktion nationaler Identitäten. Zusätzliche Relevanz erhalten die erwarteten Resultate im Hinblick auf die Kandidatur von «Schweizer Grafikdesign und Typografie» für die Repräsentative Liste des immateriellen Kulturerbes der Menschheit der UNESCO in den kommenden Jahren.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 02.05.2016

Active participation

Self-organised

Active participation

Self-organised

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

In graphic design history, the terms “Swiss graphic design”, “Swiss typography” or “Swiss style” regularly denote an international style that can be applied to a variety of media such as posters, books, corporate identities or signage systems. This style emerged in Switzerland during the 1950s, was used by graphic designers in Switzerland and many other Western countries, and gained an excellent reputation worldwide. Its appointment as one of eight Swiss Candidatures proposed to the UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014 confirms this. Yet “Swiss graphic design and typography” has not yet come to an end, as it is still discussed in classrooms, studios, exhibition spaces and publications. Even more, it is still being made and has recently been claimed to be “one of the country’s leading products” (Gimmi 2014, 9). The label “Swiss graphic design and typography” thus oscillates between a closed mythology and a history still in the making. As the term originated in Switzerland as well as abroad, it is the result of a broad body of works, of multiple stories and explanations about its nature and history, as of today’s graphic design practice. But how did “Swiss graphic design and typography” achieve its on-going legitimacy, reputation and status? Is the attribution of a national label to various design approaches obscured from the vantage point of the present? What might be a contemporary definition of “Swiss graphic design and typography”? This analysis of the label as well as of objects and actors of “Swiss graphic design and typography” aims for the first time to identify formative networks, practices and media that determine this discourse.As graphic design in Switzerland lacks an academic institutionalised practice, its histories have traditionally been written by graphic designers and thus most contributions do not originate in scholarly discussion. By contrast, design history in other countries has established itself as a fully-fledged academic discipline over the last few years. The aim of this study is to contribute to this international scholarly discourse on graphic design historiography. It involves six PhD projects (three of them supervised at the Graduate School of the Arts of the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of Bern and of the Bern University of the Arts) and thereby lays a foundation to establish graphic design history as a professional, academic field in Switzerland.This three-year research project examines the development of “Swiss graphic design and typography” during the 20th century. It does so in three sub-projects. A: Principles of Education, B: Networks of Practice and C: Strategies of Dissemination. In order to use effectively the different areas of expertise of those involved, the three sub-projects (with three case studies each) will be led by mixed groups of experts from all seven participating universities. The first sub-project A: Principles of Education, focuses on the education of graphic designers in Switzerland by analysing curricula, teaching materials and results, literature by and on teachers and teaching methods as well as interviews. Instead of singling out individual designers, the second sub-project B: Networks of Practice analyses graphic design as a social practice produced by networks of people, institutions, associations, objects and ideas, with a focus on their migration beyond national and linguistic boundaries. Finally, the third sub-project C: Strategies of Dissemination deals with the textual content of professional journals, history books and exhibitions, as well as with their structural and visual design as instruments of historiography and, at the same time, as predominant forms for the production and dissemination of “Swiss graphic design and typography” itself. This study will culminate in a comprehensive publication with contributions from all three sub-projects, a travelling exhibition and six PhD theses that will be published independently after the completion of the project.