The History of the Swiss Design Style
In this blog:
The foundations of Swiss Design permeate almost every aspect of contemporary design, from art to architecture. Even if you haven’t heard of it by name, you’ve likely seen it in action. In New York City, just glance around the subway: Helvetica type and grid-based signage are direct descendants of this iconic style.
Swiss Design (also known as International Typographic Style) is often one of the first movements early designers encounter in school. It shaped modern graphic design in the 20th century and introduced foundational principles around clarity, order, and legibility. These classic, versatile characteristics are part of what make the Swiss Style so enduring.
“Simplicity, clarity, timelessness — those are things we’ll always come back to and draw inspiration from,” John Kim, Big Human’s Director of Design said. But he also emphasized that it’s just one (of many) design styles that we reference when working with clients.
We touched on Swiss Design in our Guide to Graphic Design Styles, but it deserves a deeper look. Below, we explore the origins of the Swiss Style, its key design principles, and how it continues to shape modern design.
What is Swiss Design?
The Swiss Design Style, or International Typographic Style, is a minimalist design approach that emphasizes simplicity, objectivity, and readability. Designs are typically arranged asymmetrically within a grid to present content in a structured, deliberate way. The style leverages white space, geometric forms, and documentary-style photography to reinforce visual clarity.
The “typographic” descriptor reflects the Swiss Design’s focus on left-aligned sans-serif typefaces that were paired with minimal but bold color palettes. Typography plays a central role in Swiss Design — not just in letterform choice, but in how text is arranged to convey clarity and intent. This functional approach is what helped the style transcend language and medium (more on that below).
While we’re fans of the Swiss Style at Big Human, we aren’t rigid in our practice. Instead, we build on its foundations. When we create digital products, we’re always thinking about the user: what they need, what they want to accomplish, and how we can make that easier for them. Swiss Design’s clarity and control give us a strong starting point for designing human-centered experiences that feel intuitive, purposeful, and accessible.
The Origins of Swiss Design
Swiss Style emerged in 1950s Switzerland, but its origins can be traced back to early 20th-century modernist art movements: Bauhaus in Germany, Constructivism in Russia, and De Stijl in the Netherlands. These movements rejected the ornate aesthetics of the eras that preceded them (Art Nouveau and Art Deco), championing simplicity over excess. Swiss Design later picked up that torch and refined it.
The style was developed at two major Swiss art schools: Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Basel, led by Armin Hofmann, who emphasized elemental shapes and visual contrast, and Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich, where Josef Müller-Brockmann taught.
Both Hofmann and Müller-Brockmann were students of Ernst Keller, often considered the Father of Swiss Style, in Zurich before World War II. As one of the first people to use the grid system Swiss Style is now known for, Keller believed content should inform design, advocating for practicality and rational composition.
This philosophy followed the Bauhaus motto of “form follows function.” International Typographic Style pioneers saw design as a vehicle for communication, not personal expression. They preferred to convey information in an approachable way, allowing content to speak for itself. Their poster and public signage work helped Swiss Design’s popularity soar after World War II. As international trade increased, the style’s legibility and usefulness helped ease communication between countries.
“But just like any movement, what followed was all about breaking it,” Kim explained. Our designers are influenced by some of Swiss Design’s timeless elements, but it’s not necessarily a central focus of our style. Instead, we matchmake design systems to our clients’ needs.
Swiss Design Principles
Those timeless principles –– like clean grid systems and minimal color palettes — still shape how we build digital products today. The Swiss Design ethos isn’t just stylistic flourishes; they’re functional tools that help us create work that’s clear and user-first.
Grid Systems
Mathematically calculated, grid systems are fundamental to the Swiss Style’s utilitarian approach. These systems act as invisible frameworks that ensure consistency in layouts, setting a visual hierarchy that helps structure text, images, and other design elements.
At Big Human, we bring this design logic to our apps and websites, allowing us to create experiences that are intuitive and easy to navigate. For Fusion Worldwide, we established a grid early in the process to guide the site’s design and keep content organized across dozens of pages.
Clean, Consistent Spacing
Clean lines and consistent spacing are byproducts of the grid systems, tying in the uniformity the style is known for. Whitespace is also a deliberate choice in Swiss Design. It eliminates visual noise and draws viewers' eyes to the most important elements.
Sans-Serif Typefaces
Swiss Design is also called International Typographic Style because it places typography front and center. In the spirit of eliminating unnecessary fluff, the typefaces that emerged during the Swiss Style era removed all serif appliques. Their clean lines and consistent forms made them ideal for clear communication. (Helvetica, the Latin word for Swiss, is one of the most versatile, recognizable, and influential sans-serif typefaces to this day.)
Big Human designers use sans-serif typefaces strategically, leveraging them in places where clarity really matters. When we updated Rockefeller Center's ticketing flow, we chose a simple sans-serif font to make the process feel more straightforward and user-friendly.
Asymmetrical Layouts
Because Swiss typography is flush-left with ragged-right edges, designs are rarely set in the center. Asymmetry then became a defining trait, creating rhythm and movement within the design. It also accounts for the direction most languages read and process information: left-to-right.
Minimal Color Palettes
Swiss Design color palettes are limited but carefully chosen, which maintains simplicity and allows the content to shine. It was common for early Swiss designs to use only two to three colors.
In UX design, color does more than just reflect the brand. It helps guide the eye, create hierarchy, and signal what to do next. For a highly interactive app like Chelsea Piers Fitness, we used an understated color palette to highlight key actions and prompt straightforward interactions.
Geometric Shapes
Simple geometric shapes add visual interest to Swiss designs. They’re abstract motifs that put the focus on the content rather than clouding it with ornate designs.
Objective Photography
Photography in Swiss Design is more functional than aesthetic. Documentary-style photos add context to the copy, taking a neutral perspective to bring the focus back on the subject.
At Big Human, we turn to objective photography when designing digital experiences that need to scale across platforms without losing clarity or impact. To give visitors a real sense of Domino Park, we designed the site to lead with photography that brings the copy to life.
In the end, Swiss Design isn’t a must-have for every design project, but its classic elements stand the test of time and still influence how we design for clients today.
Examples of Swiss Design
Here are a few notable examples of Swiss Design.
Josef Müller-Brockmann Posters
As one of Swiss Design’s early pioneers, Müller-Brockmann used the style throughout his entire career. His posters from the 1950s–1970s remain iconic and continue to inspire modern designers.
Hofmann, like Müller-Brockmann, used the grid as both a visual and conceptual framework in his poster work, making Armin Hofmann’s approach a foundational reference in design education worldwide.
Volkswagen
In the 1960s, Volkswagen released a series of ads in newspapers and magazines. Famous for their generous use of whitespace, the black-and-white campaigns were a stark contrast to the more illustrative, colorful designs of the time.
Tom Ford by Tom Ford and Bridget Foley
Fashion designer Tom Ford’s visual diary is a popular coffee table book and statement piece. The book’s massive size is balanced by its minimalist cover: a white sans-serif typeface on a black background.
Apple
From its digital products to its marketing materials, Apple’s design foundation is deeply rooted in Swiss Style. To help designers create digital experiences for its platforms, the tech giant provides public access to its Human Interface Guidelines and International Style copywriting standards.
Like Apple, Big Human champions design systems that are both intuitive and impactful.
The Swiss Style in Modern Design
The Swiss Style is often treated like a design blueprint, especially in academic settings. But for working designers in the 21st century, it’s just one tool in the kit.
“If you’re a designer, of course you’re using things like grid systems and consistent spacing,” John said. “Those aren’t trends, they’re fundamentals.”
At Big Human, we don’t design from templates. We design from intent, and then adapt. Sometimes, Swiss Design is a starting point for inspiration, but what matters most is that the design feels purposeful, intuitive, and specific to the brand and the people it serves.
Interested in applying timeless design principles to your product or brand? Get in touch with us. We’d love to help you bring clarity, utility, and beauty to your next digital experience.
FAQs
What defines Swiss Design?
Why is Swiss Design so popular?
What other companies use Swiss Design?
What is another name for the Swiss Style?
