Swiss in America: a sixties revolution that transformed American graphic design

In the late 60s another revolution happened in addition to the ‘flower power’ counterculture – Swiss graphic design arrived in the U.S. to help define and grow the emerging American profession of graphic design. Swiss design methods and visual forms, typified by Helvetica and the grid, gave designers important tools that further differentiated American graphic design from advertising, art direction, and commercial art. This presentation traces the arrival of pivotal Swiss and Swiss-school designers who influenced a small group of American designers and design educators between 1965 and 1975. During these years, the movement swiftly evolved from a radically different design to the proper corporate style, soon followed by post-modernist Swiss rebellions and the more recent Swiss revivals and nostalgia.

The presentation introduces the first Swiss émigrés, their vigorous early work, and stories of the first Americans that they influenced. Visuals show the groundbreaking Swiss graphic forms, typography and methods in their early contexts – beyond Helvetica! From this, younger designers may learn about and recognize the threads of Swiss design in today’s graphic design.

About Kathy McCoy

Katherine McCoy co-chaired Cranbrook Academy of Art's Design Department for 24 years, and was a Senior Lecturer at Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute of Design and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art. Katherine is a Medallist of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, an elected member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from Kansas City Art Institute. She is a Fellow and past president of the Industrial Designers Society of America, past president of the American Center for Design, and served as an AIGA national vice president.

Jointly with Michael McCoy, she received the Industrial Designers Society of America Education Award and the Society of Typographic Arts Educator Award. They were jointly awarded a Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, and in 2005 the first Design Minds Award by the Smithsonian Museum's National Design Awards. Her communications design practice focuses on cultural, educational and environmental clients. She writes frequently on design criticism and history, co-produced a television documentary on Japanese design, and chaired the first ACD Living Surfaces Conference. She currently collaborates with her husband Michael on High Ground professional education studio conferences, workshops and the annual High Ground Design Conversation.