Armin Hofmann (
HonRDI) (29 June 1920 – 18 December 2020) was a Swiss graphic designer and design educator, considered one of the most influential figures of
Swiss design.
Biography
Hofmann began his career in 1947 as a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts at the age of twenty-six. Hofmann followed
Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the
Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the
Swiss Style. His teaching methods were unorthodox and diverse, and set new educational standards that became widely known in design institutions throughout the world. In addition to his position at Basel School of Design, he taught workshops in graphic design at
Yale University School of Art. His notable students include
April Greiman,
Wolfgang Weingart,
Steff Geissbühler, and
Inge Druckrey.
Hofmann retired from teaching in 1986. He died in December 2020 at the age of 100 in
Lucerne
Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...
, where he lived with his wife
Dorothea Hofmann-Schmid.
[Urs Tremp: ''Reduktion war Armin Hofmanns Haltung.'' In: '' NZZ am Sonntag'', 3. Januar 2021, S. 20]
EpaperNZZ.ch
.
Influence
Hofmann's independent insights as an educator, combined with his rich and innovative powers of visual expression, created a varied body of work that included books, exhibitions, stage sets, logotypes, symbols, typography, posters, sign systems, and environmental graphics. His work is recognized for its reliance on the fundamental elements of graphic form – point, line, and shape – while subtly conveying simplicity, complexity, representation, and abstraction,
building on ideas originating in Russia, Germany and The Netherlands in the 1920s, alongside avant-garde art and
International Style
The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
in architecture.
He is well known for his
poster
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
s, which emphasized economical use of colour and fonts, in reaction to what Hofmann regarded as the "trivialization of colour." His posters have been exhibited at major museums, such as the New York
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
.
In 1965 he wrote the ''Graphic Design Manual'', a popular textbook in the field.
See also
*
Swiss Style (design)
*
International Typographic Style
The International Typographic Style is a systemic approach to graphic design that emerged during the 1930s–1950s but continued to develop internationally. It is considered the basis of the Swiss style. It expanded on and formalized the modern ...
References
1920 births
2020 deaths
Logo designers
Swiss men centenarians
Swiss graphic designers
Swiss typographers and type designers
AIGA medalists
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