A personal favorite.
A couple of examples of great visual communication using photography in Swiss design by Joseph Müller-Brockmann.
Swiss designer, Joseph Müller-Brockmann uses scale of imagery to influence a sense of power and dynamism in the graphic message.
The first design poster ’weniger lärm’ (1955) translates as ‘stop noise pollution’. The weniger lärm poster holds an emotive and sensual impression on the viewer.
The use of black and white photography creates attention to the negative-white space in the background of the image. This attention to composition is powerful because of the dark clothing worn by the woman.
San-serif typography presented in red creates an immediate direction of composition to the image, which is greatly complimented by the cropped photograph.
The use of red text may associate the message with danger, but rather importance and priority in this graphic activist message.
The second advertisement ‘Protegez I’enfant!’ (1953) Translates as ‘mind that child’.
Again, Brockmann uses scale to resemble objects in power. Similar to the first poster, the photograph printed in black and white and the use of colour directs the composition across the graphic.
The horizontal yellow colour band creates a direct leading line between both of the two graphic components. The use of typography is again san-serif like most Swiss typography, but the type size is much smaller than the previous poster.
The text may be only that size, because the poster has great visual communication with the viewer, and text may not be as necessary to make the type more focal. The graphic components are efficient in delivering the intended message, perhaps a reason for why Swiss design has continued to inspire designers today.
Mike Joyce – contemporary Swiss Punk designer