Swiss graphic design has long been regarded as one of the country’s leading products. A fresh look at one hundred years of graphic design in Switzerland and by Swiss designers abroad shows both the diversity of current visual communication as well as the fine lines of tradition that run between works of different epochs.
Visitors to Zuerich have the opportunity to visit the exhibition "100 Jahre Schweizer Grafik" ("100Years of Swiss Graphic Design") at the Museum fuer Gestaltung (Museum of Design).
Graphic design is everywhere and Swiss graphic design has long been recognised as pioneering and of a high standard.
During the 1920s and ’30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communication. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial-looking rather than those designed for books. - Richard Hollis (Yale University Press)
The Museum fuer Gestaltung is a museum for industrial design, visual communication and architecture. The main exhibition building is the former Zuercher Hochschule der Kuenste (Zurich University of the Arts).
The four collections include:
- The Poster Collection (Plakatraum),comprising around 330, 000 political, cultural and commercial posters
- The Design Collection including some 10,000 products and 20,000 examples of packaging produced by famous designers, as well as representative examples of anonymous everyday design.
- The Graphics Collection which concentrates on advertising and information graphics, fonts, typography and book design.
- The Applied Art Collection housed in the Museum Bellerive showing  glass, ceramics, textiles and furniture from the 19th and 20th centuries
Museum opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday 10 am–5 pm
Wednesday 10 am–8 pm
