Helvetica is not only the preferred typeface of leading professionals, it is also an all-time favourite among the multitude of codes, signals and signs that flavour urban life. This book sings the praises of the honest worker and solo entertainer of typefaces, Helvetica, and of its forgotten creator and all those who have contributed to its unparalleled international march of triumph over the past forty years. Filled with pages of color images of Helvetica in use, from album covers and road signs to advertisements and product packaging, the designs gathered together in honor of Helvetica have been created by superb designers and anonymous amateurs from all over the world. The result is an exciting collection of this icon of modern design.

In The Intimacy of Making Swiss French photographer Helene Binet takes us on a visual journey through a world of stone, walls and gardens that define and celebrate the Korean art of making. In pure and calm photographs we discover traditional Korean architecture through a Western lens. The purity of the motifs sharpens one's eye for the often-overlooked beauty and harmony in our own environment and history, as well as for the care of craft and composition. This book is a reminder against our often fleeting and careless perceptions. In her photographs, which were taken over the course of the last three years, Binet looks at three typologies of traditional architecture in Korea: the Confucian school and sacred place Byeong- san Sewon; garden and tea house Soswaewon; and the Jongmyo Shrine. Her camera combines both the nature and the built structures and reveals the soul of the three sites. The photographic essays are accompanied by two texts: Korean architect, Byoung Soo Cho, offers insight into the cultural and architectural history, while art and design critic and teacher, Eugenie Shinkle, focuses on the "making."

Although Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) was not an active member of the Bauhaus, his name is often mentioned in connection with the art school. Mondrian, cofounder of the De Stijl movement in the Netherlands, called for a strict reduction of visual language to orthogonal composition and primary colors, which met with great approval in Bauhaus circles. His rigorous geometric compositions of verticals and horizontals and strident palette of essential colors were important to numerous Bauhaus masters; Mondrian's influence appeared in Bauhaus architecture, product design, typography, graphic design, painting and beyond. It is therefore not surprising that Mondrian's essays on art theory, most of them written for the De Stijl journal, were translated into German and published as number five in the Bauhausb cher series. New Design starts with a philosophical foray into art, which Mondrian describes as a figurative expression of human existence--an expression which will find its natural conclusion in his own concept of a "New Design." Mondrian then considers the relationship between painting and architecture and dares to take a far-reaching look at the future of Neoplasticism, which he imagines revolutionizing design and architecture around the world. Harry Holtzman's renowned translations of Mondrian's selected essays appear in New Design as a complete compilation for the first time. The publication is true to the content and design of the German first edition of 1925 and includes a brief scholarly commentary.

In the 1890s, Berlin artist, sculptor and teacher Karl Blossfeldt started to photograph plants, seeds and other illustrative material from nature for the purpose of teaching his students about the patterns and designs found in natural forms. His close-ups of the smallest plant parts, magnified up to thirty times their natural size, are startling as the plants appear geometric and sculptural. Published in 1928, his first collection of photographs Urformen der Kunst (later translated into English as Art Forms in Nature) became an international bestseller and remains one of the most significant photo books of the twentieth century. Karl Blossfeldt: Variations is the first book-length monograph to examine the reception of Blossfeldt's work. Drawing on unpublished materials, it analyzes the photographs' replication in teaching mate- rials, pattern books and art books, and also in the pages of the illustrated press. The six chapters of the richly illustrated study trace the paths Blossfeldt's legendary plant motifs described as specimens, illustrations, patterns, analogues, models and abstractions from 1890 to 1945. Thematic excursions into the present, illustrating the rediscovery of Blossfeldt's motifs in design and architecture over the past twenty years, offer a contemporary perspective on the famous German photographer.

Active at the Bauhaus between 1920 and 1931, teaching in the bookbinding, stained glass and mural-painting workshops, Paul Klee (1879-1940) brought his expressive blend of color and line to the school--and, with the second volume in the Bauhausb cher series, beyond its walls. In his legendary Pedagogical Sketchbook, Klee presents his theoretical approach to drawing using geometric shapes and lines. Evincing a desire to reunite artistic design and craft, and written in a tone that oscillates between the seeming objectivity of the diagram, the rhetoric of science and mathematics, and an abstract, quasi-mystical intuition, Klee's text expresses key aspects of the Bauhaus' pedagogy and guiding philosophies. And while Klee's method is deeply personal, in the context of the fundamentally multivocal Bauhaus, his individual approach to abstract form is typical in its idiosyncrasy. In the Pedagogical Sketchbook, Klee presents his own theories about the relationships between line, form, surface, color, space and time in art in the context of the Bauhaus. The book testifies to Klee's intensive theoretical explorations of art and exemplifies how the Bauhaus masters interconnected the various realms of art and design. In the present volume, the 1953 English translation of Pedagogical Sketchbook by Sibyl Moholy-Nagy is combined with the design and physical qualities of the original German edition from 1925.

In 1919, the state art school in Weimar was reopened under the direction of Walter Gropius, with a radical teaching approach and under the new name Bauhaus. Four years passed before the first exhibition took place, which conveyed a new approach to art to the enthusiastic public and carried the school's ideas all over the world. The catalogue Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar 1919-1923 was published in 1923 to accompany this first public appearance. In this interdisciplinary oeuvre catalogue, the idea and potential of the Bauhaus found their way onto paper for the first time. In addition to numerous project presentations, the theoretical approaches of Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Gertrud Grunow convey the teaching methods of the various workshops. Gropius' preface traces the structure of the State Bauhaus and presents the unique reformation approach that demands and teaches the unity of technology and art. The illustrations from the various workshops also show projects by students whose connection to the Bauhaus is less known. With the original layout by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and the cover designed by Herbert Bayer, the book is an important testimony to that legendary avant-garde movement. This facsimile is supplemented by a commentary that places this publication, rare and long out of print, in a historical context and documents the Bauhaus from its idea to its establishment as a renowned art and design school. The German facsimile is accompanied by the first full English translation of the catalogue, making it accessible to an international audience.

In the context of the World Economic Forum (WEF), an absurd practice has emerged in Davos over the last few years: for the short time of the event, the main street is almost entirely rebuilt. Thus, a pop-up industry has grown up that generates an enormous short-term demand for reusable spaces, blank walls and empty rooms. The street scene of the alpine city is altered in favor of the self-representation of companies, corporations and organizations. The existing infrastructure is transformed, at horrendous prices, into a space of communication for the respective agenda. In his most recent series Davos Is a Verb, the Swiss photo artist Jules Spinatsch focuses on something that is typical of events around the world: the temporary appropriation of local spaces and infrastructures by major international corporations. In view of the debates over the WEF's future, this photobook gains its relevance and presents itself as a contemporary witness of the WEF in Davos. By using photo-essayistic, conceptual and investigative artistic strategies, Spinatsch documents the aesthetics and actions of the financial, technological and new media industries as well as the various political agents. The British ecological economist Tim Jackson, known for his critical attitude towards growth, comments on the hegemonic practices in Davos and the world in an extensive essay.

Shizuko Yoshikawa (born 1934 in Japan, based in Switzerland) was one of the first and few Japanese students at the Ulm Hochschule fur Gestaltung, known as the postwar "Bauhaus." She later married the renowned designer Josef Muller-Brockmann (1914-1996), a pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design, and moved to Switzerland, where she became an artist and a member of the second generation of concrete art. Amongst the very few women belonging to this art movement, she takes a special position due to her Japanese origins and education. Her work combines the rational concepts of European modern art with the poetry and ease of the intuitional Japanese Zen tradition.

This monograph on the work of Austrian architect Carl Pruscha (born 1936) is divided into the three geographical areas into which his life and legacy falls: the United States, Kathmandu and Vienna. Following his study of architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Pruscha spent the early 1960s at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, constantly in search of inspiration and visions. An invitation by the UN to go to Nepal in 1964 enabled him to establish himself there as a practicing architect, embarking on various construction projects and the Kathmandu Valley Development and Preservation Project. After returning to Vienna in 1978, he became the head of the Academy of Fine Arts. The three sections in this book are accompanied by photographic portfolios by Iwan Baan and Hertha Hurnaus, numerous project documentations and a detailed timeline.

Mae Luiza is a borough at the edge of the city of Natal in the northeast of Brazil with approximately 15,000 inhabitants - a favela with all the typical grievances. In the 1980s Padre Sabino Gentili came to Natal from Italy, and settled in Mae Luiza. He built the fi rst Catholic church in the poor community and in 1984 founded the Centro Socio with German, Swiss and Brazilian support. In a participatory process in which the community was able to voice its needs and priorities, the Centro initiated communal social infrastructure for education and medical care, and later for sports, culture and community life. After Padre Sabino's death in 2006 the Ameropa Foundation strengthened its commitment with further investments in the infrastructure, expanding social and educative services and community-building measures. The efforts culminated in the construction of an arena for sporting and communal activities and also a music school, two outstanding buildings and focal points in the neighborhood, designed by Swiss architects: facilities usually absent in the Brazilian peripheries. This richly illustrated volume documents the transformation of Mae Luiza as an example of how to build community, create citizenship and identity, and promote initiative and participation with timely and punctual investments. Alongside a novel written by the esteemed Brazilian author Paulo Lins, short articles and essays trace the history of Mae Luiza from the point of view of local activists as well as invited authors from various fi elds.

Laboratories are both monasteries and space stations, redolent of the great ideas of genera- tions past and of technologies to propel the future. Yet standard lab design has changed only little over recent years. Here Mark Fishman describes how to build labs as homes for scientists, to accommodate not just their fancy tools, but also their personalities. This richly illustrated book explores the roles of labs through history, from the alchemists of the Middle Ages to the chemists of the 19th and 20th centuries, and to the geneticists and structural biologists of today, and then turns to the special features of the laboratories Fishman helped to design in Cambridge, Shanghai, and Basel. Anyone who works in, or plans to build a lab, will enjoy this book, which will encourage them to think about how this special environment drives or impedes their important work.

A new edition showing the work of one of the most famous Swiss designers: a comprehensive overview of his oeuvre. This illustrated essay traces the history of one of the leading exponents of "Swiss Graphic Design" in the 1950s and 1960s. Josef Mu ller- Brockmann's posters have become world famous for their ability to convey information with great visual tension, a sense of drama, and an extreme economy of means. He created a body of work in which timeless principles of visual communication are inscribed. In addition to the posters, the image part presents examples of logotypes, appearances, and exhibitions as well as numerous lesser-known works in chronological order.

Neue Grafik, the "International Review of graphic design and related subjects," was initiated by designer Josef Muller-Brockmann and published in eighteen issues between 1958 and 1965 by an editorial collective consisting of him, Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg und Carlo Vivarelli ( LMNV ). The complete volumes are now available in an excellent facsimile reprint from Lars Muller Publishers. From a historical point of view, Neue Grafik can be seen as a programmatic platform and effective publishing organ of Swiss graphic design, an international authority in its field at the time. Protagonists of the Swiss school and its rigorous Zurich faction lead an essential discourse on the foundations of current communication and constructive design. The influence of this movement cannot be over-stated. The Swiss school, also called "Inter-national Style," became exemplary for the conceptual approach to corporate design of increasingly globally operating corporations and an influential precursor in the design of individual projects, such as posters, exhibitions, and publications. Neue Grafik is an important point of reference in the recent history of graphic design. After the heights of the digital revolution now follows a renewed concern for matter-of-fact concepts and clear form languages. This explains the interest in the almost fundamentalist stance of the four Zurich-based designers, who were responsible for the content of the magazine.

Theo van Doesburg was a jack of all trades: painter, writer, architect, typographer, and art theorist. In this volume of the Bauhausbucher, he attempts to make elementary concepts in the visual arts generally comprehensible. He was addressing the "modern artist" of his day, who had to deal with both shifting social paradigms and a changing understanding of art and art theory. Van Doesburg describes theory as a necessary consequence of creative practice. Artists, he says, "do not write about art but from within art."

The fourth volume presents the main characteristics of the Bauhaus concept of the stage. It was essentially shaped by Oskar Schlemmer, who had taken over the stage department in 1923. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy took an interest in abstract kinetic and luminary phenomena which he examines in his essay "Theatre, Circus, Variete." Farkas Molnar focused for his part on stage architecture, which he discusses in detail in this volume.

Adolf Meyer was Walter Gropius's right-hand man, his planner and close confidant. As early as 1910, they jointly created the Fagus Factory, one of the most important modernist buildings. The experimental single-family home "Haus am Horn" was built for the first Bauhaus exhibition, in the summer of 1923 in Weimar. The house was planned by Georg Muche (design) and the architectural department at the Bauhaus. Adolf Meyer and Walter March were responsible for construction management. The book about the project was compiled in the summer of 1924 and became the third volume of the Bauhausbucher. Following an essay by Walter Gropius that supplies information on the "Housing Industry," Georg Muche presents the design of the model building. Adolf Meyer then describes its technical execution, giving details on the companies involved.

The Bauhaus Journal, now published in this gorgeous facsimile, is the ultimate testimony to the school's diversity and impact One hundred years after the founding of the Bauhaus, it's time to revisit Bauhaus, the school's journal, as a crucial testimony of this iconic moment in the history of modern art. This gorgeously produced, slipcased, 14-volume publication features facsimiles of individual issues of the journal, as well as a commentary booklet including an overview of the content, English translations of all texts and a scholarly essay that places the journal in its historical context. Even during its existence, the influence of the Bauhaus school extended well beyond the borders of Europe, and its practitioners played a formative role in all areas of art, design and architecture. The school's international reach and impact is particularly evident in its journal. Bauhaus Journal was published periodically under the direction of Walter Gropius and L szl Moholy-Nagy, among others, from 1926 to 1931. In its pages, the most important voices of the movement were heard: Bauhaus masters and artists associated with the school such as Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Gerrit Rietveld and many more. The centenary of the Bauhaus provides an ideal opportunity to reassess this history, to consider the ideals of the school and its protagonists through this graphically innovative publication.

The Bauhaus sought to unite life, craftsmanship, and art under one roof. In this volume, Walter Gropius provides a comprehensive overview of the Bauhaus workshops. He explains the basic principles guiding the teaching, describes contemporary developments in architecture, and illuminates the Bauhaus point of view on household utensils, which was geared toward finding the most suitable form for the respective object. Here, Gropius presents the Bauhaus workshops in Weimar devoted to furniture, metals, textiles, and ceramics, among other subjects.

Advertising creates dream worlds, yet always simultaneously bears witness to its era. Both these tendencies are exemplified in fashion posters. Moving beyond the latest modish trends and beauty ideals, fashion posters reflect moral codes and social conditions. In particular, they pander to the longing to escape routine everyday life, for these posters suggest that it is possible to attain a completely new identity simply by opting for a different garment or style. Androgynous models and less normative images of men and women in the advertising industry mark the dawn of a new era that entails constantly balancing aspirations to individuality against a sense of collective belonging. Fashion posters from past and present are lifestyle propositions; they tell stories, seduce and shock. Playing with convention and provocation, bodies are sometimes lavishly veiled and disguised, sometimes sensually staged. At times consumers are only indirectly encouraged to shop. A button or a coat collar as a pars pro toto illustrate product quality in historical posters. A new, somewhat controversial approach to fashion advertising emerges in Benetton campaigns from the early 1990s. Overtly erotic ostentation contrasts with poetic allusions that are for example the hallmark of highly aesthetic Japanese fashion posters. En Vogue brings together fashion advertising spanning roughly a hundred years and deploying myriad different PR strategies, in each case reflecting the cultures and periods in which it was created.

Neben der Preispolitik geh rt die Sortimentspolitik heutzutage zu den dominierenden Instrumenten des Handelsmarketings. Der Einfluss der Sortimentspolitik auf den Unternehmenserfolg liegt darin begr ndet, dass das Sortiment einerseits ma geblich das akquisitorische Potenzial des Handelsbetriebs bestimmt. Andererseits verursacht es aber auch nicht unerhebliche Kosten. Lars M ller zeigt in einer kritischen Analyse die Chancen und Risiken, die f r Unternehmungen im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel mit einer gro en Sortimentsbreite bestehen, auf und diskutiert diese.