Armin Hoffman Research

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Biography

Armin Hofmann, born June 29, 1920 is a Swiss Graphic Designer. Sadly, he died October 21st, 2001. He first began his career in 1947 at the age of 26, where he was a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts. By the age of 27, he had already completed an apprenticeship in lithography and had begun teaching typography at the Basel School of Design. 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.

He taught 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. Armin Hofmann had particular teaching methods which were broadly based, setting new standards that became known widely accross the design education institutions throughout the world.As an educator, he had independent sights alongside his rich and innovative powers of visual expression created a body of work that was varied enormously, such as books, exhibitions, stage sets, legotypes, symbols, typography, posters, environmental graphics and sign systems. His work is recognised many for its reliance on the fundamental elements of the Graphic form, these being - point, line and shape whilst subtly portraying simplicity, representation, complexity and abstraction.

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 which he is well known for. His posters have been widely exhibited as works of art in major galleries, such as the New York Museum of Modern Art. 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.

FAMOUS WORKS

Armin Hofmann
Giselle, Basler Freilichtspiele, 1959
(Photolithograph)

(International Poster Gallery, 2016)

Armin Hofmann
Plakate aus der Sammlung des Gewerbe museums Basel, 1964

(International Poster Gallery, 2016)

Armin Hofmann
Stadt Theatre Basel, 1960

(International Poster Gallery, 2016)

Armin Hofmann
Baur, 1965

(International Poster Gallery, 2016)

Armin Hofmann
Junge Berliner Kunsthalle Basel, 1966

(International Poster Gallery, 2016)

TEACHING

In 1965, Armin Hofmann distilled the essential principles of his rational approach to his teaching methods of design within his textbook, titled 'Graphic Design Manual.' His designs were didactic demonstrations of the principles that he discussed within his book. During the 1950's and 1960,s, he designed various posters for some cultural clients which hold both typographic and photographic clarity. For instance, his theatrical posters capture the dramatic experience of both watching and listening as it is displayed in the enlarged grainy photos of an ear and eye.

In accordance to (Poulin, 2012), after studying an apprenticeship in lithography at Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich, Armin Hofmann then began his teaching career in 1974 at the age of 26 at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule (AGS), in Basel. Hofmann had previously met Emil Ruder on a train where he heard of this job. He continued to teach there for four decades and in 1968, Hofmann and Ruder both established an advanced class for Graphic Design which brought attention from all over the world. Soon after introducing this class, Armin Hofmann was soon after appointed the Head of Graphic Design within the department.

In accordance to ("Thinking Armin Hofmann. 06 29 2011 | THINKINGFORM", 2016), in relation to the advanced class, Paul Rand explained, "His goals, though pragmatic, are never pecuniary. His influence has been as strong as beyond the classroom as within it. Even those who are his critics are eager about his ideas as those who sit at his feet."

Kenneth Hiebert who was a former student of Armin Hofmann and a founder member of the Philadelphia chapter of AIGA, explained his experience when learning under Hofmann. He said that Hofmann would occasionally bring in a Cassandre or Stoecklin poster and stick it to the wall. When the students cringed at the apparent maltreatment, Hofmann would always say "A good poster can take it." By this, he meant that the posters were not designed to be a museum piece, but intended to exist in the streets subject to the effects of both weather and time. He also said that "the fact that so many of Hofmann's posters served their purposes and still survive today in living spaces evidence their visual versatility in a range of environments."

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Hofmann has frequently been described and labelled one of the most outstanding personalities within Swiss Graphic Design history, by (Heller & Fink, 1999). Alongside the more well known Josef Müller Brockmann, Emil Ruder and Max Bill, Armin Hofmann helped shape modernist inspired Graphic Design beyond recognition. Without 'The International Typographic Style,' otherwise known as the Swiss Style of Design, contemporary Graphic Design would almost be unrecognisable. The cleanliness and readability of the style, as well as its asymmetric layouts, grid use and sans-serif typefaces have helped define how we produce design today.

As a Graphic Designer, Armin Hofmann produced a variety of works including posters, logos, exhibitions, colour concepts, signage systems and art-in-building projects. The posters that he produced in the 1950's and 1960's for cultural clients, such as the Kunsthalle Basel and the Stadttheater Basel possesses great typographic and photographic purity of form and are timeless and implacable. The abstract forms that are used create curiosity and ambiguity. Whilst his black and white posters are profound. According to ("Thinking Armin Hofmann. 06 29 2011 | THINKINGFORM", 2016), Armin Hofmann himself said, "A primary in black and white posters is to counteract the trivialization of colour as it exists today on billboards and in advertising."

In a theater poster (below), Armin Hofmann interprets the dramatic experience of both watching and listening with mesmerizingly grainy, large photos of an ear and an eye, which amplifies the impact purely by reducing the visual idea to its essential components.

Basel & Theater
(International Poster Gallery, 2016)
(International Poster Gallery, 2016

Armin Hofmann
JA, Vollendung Bürgerspital, Es kann auch Dich Treffen, 1963

(International Poster Gallery, 2016)

Armin Hofmann

René Auberjonois, Ernest Bolens, Kunsthalle Basel, 1961

(Pinterest, 2016)

SWISS DESIGN STYLE

The International Typographic Style, otherwise known as the Swiss Style is a Graphic Design style that emerged in Russia, Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920's and then made famous as it was developed by designers in Switzerland, during the 1950's. The style firstly emerged with the desire to represent information without the influence of any associated meaning, for instance; objective information.

In the year of 1896, the Akzidenz Grotesk Typeface was released by H. Berthold AG type foundry, as an attempt to capture an objective style and from this point, the International Typographic Style developed as a modernist Graphic movement that sought to clearly convey messages in a universally straightforward manner.

The Swiss Style has had a profound influence on Graphic Design as a part of the Modernist movement, which has impacted many design-related fields, including Art and Architecture, according to (Klanten, Bourquin, & Mareis, 2006). Overall, the Swiss Style emphasises cleanliness within design, readability and objectivity. The design style has hallmarked the use of asymmetric layouts, the use of a grid structure and frequent use of sans-serif typefaces. The style is also associated with a preference for photography in place of illustrations or drawings. As well, many of the early International Typographic Style works featured the use of typography as a primary design element, also in addition to its use of text. The influences that this design style had on Graphic Design can still be seen within design strategy and theory today.

INFLUENCED BY

Armin Hofmann was vastly influenced by Swiss Design, as he was of course a Swiss Designer, where his work contained near enough all features and elements of the style, such as shape, line, layout and typography of sans-serif typefaces. Hofmann seemed to also take influence from other Swiss Designers who he worked alongside such as Joseph Müller-Brockmann and Emil Ruder. Throughout his career, after replacing Emil Ruder as head of the school as the Basel School of Art, Hofmann spent much of his time designing posters, just as Joseph Müller-Brockmann and Emil Ruder had done previously within their career.

Together, Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder created a style of design which aspired to communicate above everything else. It demonstrated brand new techniques of photo-montage, photo-typesetting, experimental composition and heavily favoured sans-serif typography. Due to this, it could possibly be said that Armin Hofmann devoted his entire life throughout his career attempting to bring a creative and artistic integrity to the world of Graphic Design, with hope to inspire others around him.

INFLUENCES ON OTHERS

Armin Hofmann today, is recognized for his immersible influences on Graphic Design and Designers as a whole today. However, his first influence was given within the classroom throughout his teaching career where many of his students took influence from his impactful designs. Other designers within the design industry, especially within Swiss Design were aware of the influence that Armin Hofmann had on students within and outside of the classroom. In accordance to (Thinkingformcom, 2016), Paul Rand explained that Hofmann's goals were pragmatic but never pecuniary. His influence had been as strong as beyond the classroom as it was within it, and even people who criticised him were eager about the ideas that he had as a designer, as were those who sat at his feet to learn.

The influence of Swiss Designers including Armin Hofmann was mostly felt within the United States of America. According to (Hollis, 2006), in 1958, Armin Hofmann made an appearance with a touring exhibition where he was familiar with other American Designers after giving a short course in Philadelphia Museum School of Art in 1955 as well as going to Yale within the same year where he there remained a visiting lecturer, until the 1990's. During this time, Hofmann brought the emphasis on 'the service of giving messages.'

In accordance to (Carter, 1989) Jaqueline Casey, a female designer took influence from Armin Hofmann and according to (Eyemagazine.com, 2016), Casey's visual language was strongly and vastly influenced by the Swiss designer Armin Hofmann where she uses his grid layouts and photographic images upon her designs in place of illustrations.

INFLUENCE ON ME

As a whole, Armin Hofmann has had a massive influence on the design world which still shows today. He has also has an influence on myself, and the work that I produce as a designer. However, the majority of my influence comes from the Swiss Design Style, which Hofmann was a massive part of alongside other designers such as Emil Ruder.

After learning about the Swiss Design Style, I tend to produce the majority of my designs with a grid structure, as I feel that it makes the design look a lot more cleaner and tidy. I am also a lot more conscious of the layout of my designs, as I always make sure it is not only appropriate to the topic of work, but also visually effective for myself and the target audience.

I have always liked minimalistic art work or design work and I have always thought it has been effective to the eye, but now I favour producing my own work to a minimalistic theme with simplistic and minimal designs. The majority of the work I produce for my University projects contain this theme, as well as a favour of black and white colours, or a main colour of black.

Before learning firstly about the Swiss Design Style early in my first year of University, I was not as aware of these features as I am now, especially the grid structures and asymmetric layouts. I feel that I use all of the features and aspects of design mentioned above, quite a lot within my work now. I also feel that my work has improved massively since using this kind of style, in terms of visual effectiveness and overall aesthetics.

METHODOLOGY

Research can be referred to as a 'search for knowledge' (Kothari, 2004). There are several ways to collect research, however I have used a qualitative research method throughout this research blog. Qualitative research is a non-statistical method used purposely to collect data through journals and books etc. I have used qualitative research to gain an insight into the life of Armin Hofmann and understand any reasons or purposes behind his life, as well as his motivation towards Graphic Design.

When completing this research blog, various journals, books and articles have been used to gather the information to support my research. Several of these articles use descriptive information about Armin Hofmann, as well as quotes from others such as students and designers. This form of research method made it a lot easier to complete this research blog, purely as the individual I am focusing on is no longer alive, therefore I was unable to directly contact him to receive the required information. Had he been alive, I would have conducted primary research by contacting him via email with questionnaires to receive particular information that could have helped me, instead of relying on secondary sources.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blogspotcouk. (2016). Blogspotcouk. Retrieved 7 November, 2016, from http://stuartjczine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/inspiration-01-hofmann.html

Carter, R. (1989). American typography today (1st ed.). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Eyemagazinecom. (2016). Eyemagazinecom. Retrieved 14 November, 2016, from http://eyemagazine.com/feature/article/woman-at-the-edge-of-technology

Famousgraphicdesignersorg. (2016). Famous Graphic Designers. Retrieved 7 November, 2016, from http://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/armin-hofmann

Heller, S. & Fink, A. (1999). Less is more (1st ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light Books.

Hollis, R. (2006). Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style. (1sr ed.). USA: Yale University Press.

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Klanten, R., Bourquin, N., & Mareis, C. (2006). Altitude (1st ed.). Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag.

Kothari, C. (2004). Methods and Techniques. Research Methodology, 4, 2-6.

Momaorg. (2016). The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 9 November, 2016, from https://www.moma.org/artists/2697?=undefined

Pinterestcom. (2016). Pinterest. Retrieved 7 November, 2016, from https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/9499849187761997/

Poulin, R. (2012). Graphic Design and Architecture, a 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World (1st ed., pp. 178-185). Rockport Publishers.

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