Ever since the 1910s Zurich Kunstgewerbemuseum, or Museum of Arts & Crafts - which was founded in 1875 and is known today as the Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich - has been focussing on producing high-quality posters to promote its exhibitions. The posters serve to project the museum's visual identity into the public space while at the same time documenting the variety of themes presented there. Their high recongition factor is achieved not through rigid corporate designs but by means of graphical quality, versatile design approaches, and meticulous printing. By the 1920s, the pictorial scenes of the early days were already being supplanted by graphic and typographic solutions, following the lead of the Russian Constructivists. Formal and substantive reduction was characteristic of the Swiss Style, which - whether rigorous or more playful - dominated the Swiss cultural poster until the 1960s. From around 1970 designers began to expermient more freely, due in part to the use of computer programs as new design tools. Posters from the late 1980s impressively demonstrate how the legacy of Swiss Style lives on as a fertile resource, continually being reinterpreted in fresh new ways. Innovative approaches by young designers deliver some surprises in the contemporary posters.

Contributions by: Christian Brandle, Kerry Purcell, Corinna Rosner