R.I.P. Armin Hofmann
At the end of 2020, after one century of life, died Armin Hofmann, one of the sponsors of the famous Swiss Style created by Design School of Basel, where he started to teach with 27 years. His typographic principles, that revolutionized the graphic arts and elevated the country reputation to international standards, are main references for professionals and taught in school until today.
Printed poster for Moore/Schemmer exhibition. Armin Hofmann, 1955.
“Is only in drawing, which occupy a disadvantaged position in curriculum, that thinking, inventing, representing, transposing and abstracting can be correlated.”
In the scenario of industrial development after the Second World War, brands started to invest in communication. It was in this context that Hofmann posters began to stand out with a minimalistic and objective concept, marked by contrast, simplicity and the use of elementary and abstract forms.
For Hofmann, the quality of a work was a result of the harmony between creativity, experimentalism, in-deep research and mathematical study. A vision that he synthesized and immortalized in his masterpiece Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice, that became an essential book in every designer shelf. As a pedagogue, he was a defender of the professional practice in the educational work and in adapting teaching to new times.
Main research source: A hundred years of invention and mathematics in Armin Hofmann, 2020.
Gabriela Mariano is a DJ, designer and contributor of Storiologia.
