The Swiss Style or Swiss Graphic Design was developed in the 1950s in Switzerland. It remained a major design movement for more than 2 decades, and still influences graphic design today.
Also known as the International style or International Typographic Style, it emerged in Russia, Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s, and was made famous by talented Swiss graphic designers (Smashing Magazine).
The Swiss Style emphasised simplicity, communication and objectivity. Its hallmarks are the mathematical grid, sans serif typefaces arranged in a flush left and ragged right formation (asymmetry), black and white photography, and the elimination of ornament.
The Swiss Style merged elements of The New Typography, Bauhaus and De Stijl. The Swiss Style has its roots in The New Typography, which was developed in the 1920s and 1930s as artists and designers looked to give design a place in the new industrialised era. They discarded symmetry, ornament and drawn illustration for white-space, plain letterforms and photographs. As printing became industrialised a need for plain letterforms for fast efficient printing was necessary. Photography was at the time becoming very popular and more accessible, and designers embraced this.
The Swiss graphic designers were influenced by Jan Tschichold’s 1928 book Die Neue Typographie (The New Typography) which outlined these principles and how typography should be seen as the art of communication. (Hollis, R. p.36) Typography became seen as a primary design element. In his book Tschichold favoured asymmetrical design and he condemned all but sans-serif fonts (called Grotesk in Germany).