Armin Hofmann was a pivotal figure in mid twentieth century graphic design and his work was to exert a significant influence on design internationally. As a designer, teacher and author, Hofmann has devoted his professional life to bringing an original artistic integrity to graphic design.

Armin Hofmann, Awesome Graphic Designer

“As a human being he is simple and unassuming. As a teacher, he has few equals. As a practitioner, he ranks among the best.” Paul Rand, Armin Hofmann – His Work, Quest and Philosophy. 1989, Birkhauser, Verlag, Basel.

Born in 1920, Armin Hofmann was a pivotal figure in mid twentieth century graphic design and his work was to exert a significant influence on design internationally. As a designer, teacher and author, Hofmann has devoted his professional life to bringing an artistic integrity to graphic design.

By the age of 27 Armin Hofmann had already completed an apprenticeship in lithography and had begun teaching typography at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland. His colleagues and students were integral in adding to work and theories that surrounded the Swiss International Style, which stressed a belief in an absolute and universal style of graphic design.

The style of design they created had a goal of communication above all else, practiced new techniques of photo-typesetting, photo-montage and experimental composition and heavily favored sans-serif typography. Hofmann began teaching his typographic principles and he pioneered the school’s contribution to the development of the Swiss international Style. Hofmann’s posters, publications, lettering, symbols, architectural graphics, stage and exhibition design all express his distinctive graphic language and formal purity. Hofmann’s accentuation of contrasts between various design elements formed the basis of this universal language; the use of abstract forms communicate ideas directly to the eye.

He continued to teach for several years at the Basel School of Design and he was not there long before he replaced Emil Ruder as the head of the school. The Swiss International Style, and Hofmann, thought that one of the most efficient forms of communications was the poster and Hofmann spent much of his career designing posters, in particularly for the Basel Stadt Theater. Just as Emil Ruder and Joseph Müller-Brockmann did, Hofmann wrote a book outlining his philosophies and practices. His Graphic Design Manual was, and still is, a reference book for all graphic designers.

In 1981 the Museum of Modern Art, New York staged an exhibition of Hofmann’s street posters. This is a rare opportunity to see this beautiful collection of 23 posters in Australia. To accompany the exhibition a catalogue has been produced by 3 Deep Design.

Swiss design elements have stood the test of time as a dependable approach to design in a way that is functional and appealing. Solid grid-work and sans serif is something that no designer can go wrong with, where Hoffman’s posters here demonstrate how effective simplicity can be.

“He is a rare bird. a daredevil driver, a mountain climber, a teacher par excellence, and a guru. Yet it is difficult, really, to pin him down.” — Paul Rand