Graphic Centre is a Swiss printing brand whose symbol was designed in 1968 by Robert Geisser, a Swiss graphic artist and illustrator based in St. Gallen.[1] Geisser (1920–1995) trained at the Gewerbeschule St. Gallen and opened his own studio in St. Gallen in 1957.[2] He created posters, signets and illustrations for newspapers, publishers and books, and was known for translating ideas into expressive, mostly purely linear symbols.[3]
Design and History
The Graphic Centre mark is a circle-based symbol with a cut shape, a design approach consistent with Geisser’s practice of developing concise, line-based signs.[1] The logo dates to 1968, a period when Geisser was already well established as a designer of institutional and commercial signets.[1]
Geisser’s other well-known marks include the OLMA logo, which has remained unchanged for over fifty years, and a peacock signet for a St. Gallen textile firm that also never required revision.[3] His signet for the Michel stamp catalogues is no longer used, a change attributed not to the quality of the design but to the shifting connotations of the German Michel figure it depicted.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
Geisser described his special field as “advertising for an idea,” primarily for institutions whose tasks and goals were of an ideal nature.[3] He developed expressive, mostly purely linear symbols that condensed a whole body of thought, a message or commercially effective concepts into a few striking strokes.[3] The Graphic Centre mark, with its simple circular cut form, fits this approach of distilling an idea into a minimal, memorable sign.[1]
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