Gérard Miedinger (1912–1995) was a Swiss graphic designer, poster artist and exhibition designer who worked independently in Zurich from 1938 and founded the Atelier Miedinger studio in 1945. He created logotypes, posters, packaging, corporate identities and exhibitions for industry and government, and was a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) from 1970. [1] [2]
Design and History
Miedinger trained as a graphic designer at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich from 1928 to 1932, completing the specialist graphic class under Ernst Keller in 1934. He then spent time in Paris at the Académie Ranson before working at Orell Füssli and a Zurich advertising agency. He became self-employed in 1938 and founded the Atelier Miedinger in Zurich in 1945, where he collaborated with younger graphic artists including Ruedi Külling and Peter Vetter. [3] [2]
His design output included Erscheinungsbilder (corporate identities), Signete (signets or marks), packaging and exhibition designs. [3] Among his documented identity work is the Credit Suisse poster “Your Bank, Known All Over The World” from 1978, held in the AGI archive. [4] He also designed the window displays for the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today Credit Suisse) on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse for more than 40 years, beginning in 1950, based on a variable three-dimensional concept. [3]
Miedinger was also responsible for the lettering on the Bally building at Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, designed by architects Häfeli Moser Steiger. The five spheres that served as lettering carriers still decorate the building, though the lettering itself was removed in 2013 when the tenant changed. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
Miedinger’s poster for the “Plakat” series, exhibited at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zurich in 1953, featured a strictly geometric “K” with flat planes of color. The series gave each artist freedom to choose their own style, and Miedinger’s contribution is now part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. [5] [2]
His graphic design, particularly his posters, marks him as an unorthodox and confident designer who was a trailblazer of modern Swiss graphic design but never restricted himself to a particular style, also mastering the illustrative approach. [3] [2]
Typography and Design
Miedinger’s AGI profile lists typography among his disciplines, and his documented work includes logotypes and lettering. [4] The Bally building lettering he designed was a notable example of his architectural typography, though no detailed description of its letterforms is documented in the available sources. [3]
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