Swiss Inspiration

One of the time-tested designs that still provides value and utility is good ol’ Swiss graphic and information design, characterized by a highly refined rational structure with minimal “embellishments” (ie, superfluous ornamentations, gratuitous imagery, etc.) and whatever imagery is there (if any) is supported by a tightly resolved grid system. Spartan. Rational. Utilitarian. Logical. Simple. Clean. But also very useful for something like enterprise app UI’s whereby the structure must be highly organized (since there’s often an overflow of data types crammed into a dense display area) and transparent enough so as to allow the data to be king, taking center-stage.

As part of a client project to leverage Swiss design for data navigation/presentation, I found these sources of Swiss design inspiration:

CMU Swiss Posters (Typography)

Weingart book

Muller-Brockman book

Dieter Rams 10 principles

Swiss Graphic Design book

other swiss graphics/posters (from flickr)

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