Brooke Garner

I researched from the AIGA website under inspiration and Armin Hofmann came up on my page, so I further researched some of his work. The poster above, die gute form, shows strong typographic elements from Swedish designer, Armin Hofmann. This style emerged in the 1950’s and became known as the International Typographic Style. Armin Hofmann is known for challenging students to strip away what they know, or think they know, and start all over again with their typographic studies. The poster was for cultural clients such as Kunsthalle Basel and the Stadtheater Basel.

The sense of structure and space, which makes sense being that, die gute form, means, “good design.”

The type is a san serif, and is in a flush left, ragged right format. However, I find it a little odd that the smaller text toward the bottom left of the poster is flush right, ragged left. The poster still seems balanced, simple and visually pleasing as far as the form it makes and the placement on the page. Our eyes can easily fill in where part of the letterforms have been subtracted, which I think is important when wanting our type design to be legible. I like that the poster includes only black and white. Also, I enjoy the use of negative space that fills the small gaps between letters, which help create a dramatic effect and focus on the type form. I hope to reference Armin Hofmann’s design work and be able to create simple, purposeful expressions of form when dealing with type. I will use this resource to remember the structure of letterforms and to try and keep a balance for my future designs.