Description

A facsimile edition of the world-famous design manual for the Swiss Federal Railways' iconic and unique pictogram signage system

In 1980, famed Swiss graphic designer Josef Muller-Brockmann (1914-96) laid the cornerstone for a uniform visual identity for the Swiss Federal Railways with his legendary Visual Information System at Train Stations and Stops. Because of Switzerland's multilingualism, the manual proposed a signage system that largely excluded language. With his functional typography, Muller-Brockmann conceived an intuitively comprehensible signage system for use throughout the country to guide passengers with the help of pictograms. Muller-Brockmann's manual, greatly expanded in 1992, is a prime example of a complex design project that succeeds through extreme rationality and consistency. This complete English translation makes the manual accessible for the first time to a broader public. Andres Janser examines the project in the context of Muller-Brockmann's conceptual work and the systematic international design for which railways everywhere were striving during the period.