GRAPHIC DESIGN MANUAL: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
Armin Hofmann, George Nelson [Foreword]
Armin Hofmann, George Nelson [Foreword]: GRAPHIC DESIGN MANUAL: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1965. Later printing. Square quarto. Thick printed wrappers. 172 pp. 301 black and white illustrations. Light wear overall. A very good copy.
8.5 x 10 softcover book with 172 pages and 301 b/w examples of cutting-edge graphic design, circa 1965. This book is a fundamentally new attempt to provide a methodical approach to problems of graphic design. It is a course of instruction which takes the reader step by step from the first rudiments to more elaborate and complicated processes. All the illustrations contained in this book are reproductions of studies executed in the Graphic Course (Fachklasse) of the AGS, Basle.
- Preface: George Nelson
- Introduction: Armin Hofmann
- The dot (text)
- The dot (illustrations)
- The line (text)
- The line (illustrations)
- Confrontation (text)
- Confrontation (illustrations)
- Letters and signs (text)
- Letters and signs (illustrations)
Hofmann secured his place in Graphic Design history by being the primary propagator of the Swiss International Style (the Basel variant). The Basel school's methodology derived from the idea that "abstract structure is the vehicle for communication," according to alumnus Kenneth Hiebert. "It relies on an analysis that rigorously questions and accounts for all parts of a message. The act of searching for an appropriate structure forces the designer to make the most basic inquiry about a message, to isolate its primary essence from considerations of surface style."
Hiebert wrote "The Swiss school is concerned that design be more than a frivolous cluttering of the environment. " Sounds good to me!