Josef Müller - Brockmann

Josef Müller-Brockmann was born on May 9, 1914 and was a Swiss graphic designer and teacher. He used grids, order and preferred following a more structural approach when it came to designing. He found the grid in everything and found more depth in the grid. The grid to him was not just as an organisational system, it was a lot more.

His designs aligned with maths and he felt that there's a right way of doing this. He works with the grid in his own way and believes that working with the grid is working with a universal truth. The grid in a way is prescriptive – it is telling you what to do.

His thoughts on the grid are clearly shown from his Grid and Design Philosophy written in 1981. The quote 'The use of the grid system implies the will to systematize, to clarify' is going into the benefits of the grid. Its power to order, organise, articulate and to make an idea or statement clear and pure.

Below is an example of one of Josef Müller-Brockmann's designs. Here the use of the grid is distinctly clear, in this instance it has been used to draw out a 3D perspective of a room. Here the use of grid, clearly displays each detail and variety of scale. This example, is a piece of work where the grid is needed to formulate the design to begin with.

Below is another example of Brockmann's design. It's evident that the grid has been used here as each part of the design is balanced. The type has been spaced equally and the amount of space between each of the blocks is equal.