Bazaine Issue 2
JULY / AUGUST 2017
l w u e Cro WIM CROUWEL
THE DESIGNER, THE INSPIRATION, THE VISION
about about about
Wim Crouwel is a highly distinctive and inspirational designer who was born in 1928 in the Netherlands. Initially, Crouwel became an Expressionist painter after he left art-school, however he soon realised that his passions were in constructing visual layouts using typography and shapes.
As a designer, Crouwel was especially inspired by Bauhaus and the International Swiss Style. He particularly liked the idea of grid-based designs, as exemplified by the International Typographic Style. This influenced much of Crouwel’s work to be simple yet strategic in design.
Crouwel’s life as a designer took form during the 1950s when he was given the role of constructing posters and catalogues for the Van Abbe Museum. From then on he progressed in his career and established his own design studio named Total Design where he designed for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Additionally, Crouwel was quite a modernist in his design and was particularly drawn to the typeface, Helvetica which often appears in his works. Crouwel really liked using the plain, simple font, Helvetica as it enabled his composition of text to be the main focus in his designs, not the typeface. Amongst most of his works, Crouwel chose to utilise san serif typefaces as it made it easier to pair with other fonts.
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“It was actually quite difficult to avoid Wim Crouwel’s work. In the 1960s the Netherlands was inundated with posters, catalogues, stamps designed by him, even the telephone book.”
- Karel Martens
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During 1957, when Crouwel was designing posters for Fernand Leger he often incorporated his own hand-drawn letters which were designed to replicate Leger’s style. His works for Fernand Leger have since become well recognised in the sphere of design and were significant in catalysing Crouwel’s creation of his own typefaces years later. Crouwel disliked seeing how many typefaces of his time, such as Garamond lost their clarity and form when scaled or magnified. In 1963 when Crouwel established his own studio he began designing his own unique alphabets, the most famous of which being; The New Alphabet. His typeface designs were revolutionary for the period as they were completely unique and exhibited an aesthetic which was very futuristic. Wim Crouwel is a truly inspiring designer in the history of design. His works exhibit his experimental designs that were expressions of his own time and anticipations for the future of design. Crouwel has become a master of design in his display of works which show sophisticated ways of using typefaces and colour in a powerful way.
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