EMIL RUDER

of orderThe typography

1914-1970

• Swisstypographer,borninZurich

• Hewasprofessorinbaselschoolofdesign

• HefoundedtheinternationalcenterforthetypographicartsinNewYorkin1962

• AuthorofbookseingestaltunEinGestaltungslehrbuchAManualofDesign-UnManueldeCreation(Teufen:Niggli,1967),andTypographie.

writerandeditoroftypografischeMonatsblatter(typographicmonthly)

Typography has one plain duty before it and that isto convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty.A printed workwhich cannot be read becomes a product without a purpose

-Emil Ruder

EMIL RUDER SWISS STYLE

•strict grids

•no decorative elements

•photographs preffered over illustrations

CHARACTERISTICS

FORM AND FUNCTION

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

MINIMALISM

Typographer must be ableto take the impersonalview; wilful individuality and emotion have littleplace in his work.

-Emil Ruder

The material contains usefulness,the immaterial imparts essence.

-Lao Tse

SPACE AND COUNTER SPACE

A good designer must refrain from mixing writing and printing. the spontaneity of handwriting can only be distantly approached and never attained by printing.

WRITING AND PRINTING

The many active contacts between people fromevery country today leaves no scope for typefaceswith a pronounced national character.

-Emil Ruder

Teaism

Bauhaus

INFLUENCES

EXAMPLES

PRODUCTS

HELVETICA

VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Work by Emil Ruder

Someone Who Worked With him

Armin Hofmann (HonRDI) is a Swiss graphic designer. Hofmann followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic de-sign department at the Basel School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung Basel) and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the Swiss Style. He is well known for his posters, which emphasised economical use of colour and fonts, in reaction to what Hofmann regard-ed as the “trivialization of colour.” His posters have been widely exhibited as works of art in major galleries, such as the New York Museum of Modern Art.

CONCLUSIONS

Before doing this research,I never reallly thought about the inerac-tion of type and cuture,society,philosophy etc.Knowing the story behind how typefaces have evolved i think will make me more sen-sitive and aware of thier characteristics and hence i will be able to use them effectively.I feelornamentation distracts from the message and their is beauty in simplicity.It was really interesting howoriental philosophers have influencedtheappreciationofcounterspaceamongdesigners.Negativespace is as important as the positive space.Using non or-namental typefaces also makes one much more sensitive about composition which is what a typographers job really is.

- Siddharth

After doing research on Emil ruder and overall typography, I realized typography is really vast subject and there are many things related to is such as philosophy, culture etc.There are many typographer and all of them have differ-ent point of view. But I liked the way Emil ruder is perceiv-ing typography. Partly I agree with his point that typographer should work with other font and create composition than creating it. Also his principle related to negative and positive spaces is quite interesting. I learnt many things about typography from this assignment. And it’s really important how and where you use which font. In future I’ll be very careful while using fonts.

-Mitwa

Before this typography couse I didnt know there was anything like ty-pography. I wasn’t aware that fonts had families and that they had so much history, serif and sans serif, roman gothic. I have learnt what makes a font legible, that is needs to be balanced, the positive and negative space within a letter in a font is as important as the posive and negative space outside a letter. I didn’t think of using font alone to design something. I have learnt that using a simple legible font makes you pay more attention to the composition. However, I do not believe that one font should be used for everything because font does contribule to the composition, it does evoke an emotion and it can enhance your design. I have learnt that every font has its place. That Microsoft Word is not a good font editing tool. From Emil Ruder I have learntthatfirstthefuntionshouldbegivenimportanceandonlythenthe form.

- Jonathan

Thank You