About This Book
In 1980 the Swiss Federal Railways commissioned Josef Müller-Brockmann to bring order to the signage of its stations and stops. What he delivered was not a set of signs but a system—a wayfinding language built almost entirely from pictograms, because a country with four national languages cannot lean on words. Greatly expanded in 1992 under the title Passenger Information System, the manual is one of the most complete demonstrations of rationalist graphic design ever committed to print: grids, typography, colour, arrow logic and mounting heights, each specified with a consistency that still governs the look of Swiss railways. This reprint carries the complete English translation alongside the German original.
Key Features
- Complete English translation of the 1992 manual, presented alongside the German original
- 324 illustrations reproducing the original specification drawings, grids and pictogram sheets
- Essay by Andres Janser situating the system within the international railway design of the period
- Contribution by contemporary Swiss graphic designer Peter Spalinger
- Edited by the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich and the Shizuko Yoshikawa und Josef Müller-Brockmann Stiftung
What You'll Discover
- How a signage system carries meaning across four national languages by relying on pictograms rather than text
- The specification logic behind the SBB system—grid construction, typographic hierarchy, colour coding, arrow conventions and mounting standards
- Why Müller-Brockmann's rationalism proved durable enough to outlast decades of change in rolling stock, stations and branding
- How a design manual operates as an instrument of institutional governance, not merely documentation
About the Author
Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–1996) was a central figure in Swiss graphic design and one of the architects of the Swiss Style that shaped the discipline internationally from the 1950s. After an early career in illustration he turned decisively in 1950 towards an uncompromisingly rational formal language, expressed in his posters and in New Graphic Design, the magazine he founded and ran from 1958 to 1965. He taught in Japan and at the design schools in Zurich and Ulm.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Dimensions: 21 × 29.7 cm
- Pages: 220
- Language: German and English
- ISBN: 9783037787847
- Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Perfect For
Graphic designers and design students working with systems and wayfinding, historians of the Swiss Style, and anyone interested in how a large public institution is given visual order.