Armin Hofmann
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Armin Hofmann (HonRDI) (29 June 1920<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> – 18 December 2020) was a Swiss graphic designer and design educator, considered one of the most influential figures of Swiss design.<ref name="Taschen-2017">Template:Cite book</ref><ref> Vasileva E. (2021) The Swiss Style: It’s Prototypes, Origins and the Regulation Problem // Terra Artis. Arts and Design, 3, 84–101.</ref><ref> Hollis R. Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920—1965. New Haven: Yale University Press: 2001.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Through a regular visiting professorship at Yale University School of Art in 1960–80s, Hofmann introduced the Swiss design style to the United States.<ref name="Taschen-2017" /><ref name="PrintMag-2020" />
Biography
Hofmann began his career in 1947 as a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts at the age of twenty-six.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hofmann followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the Swiss Style. His teaching methods were unorthodox and diverse, and set new educational standards that became widely known in design institutions throughout the world.
In addition to his position at Basel School of Design, Hofmann taught workshops in graphic design at Yale University School of Art<ref name="PrintMag-2020">Template:Cite web</ref> and the Philadelphia Museum School of Art.<ref name="Design Reviewed">Template:Cite web</ref> His notable students include April Greiman, Wolfgang Weingart,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Steff Geissbühler,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Inge Druckrey.
Hofmann retired from teaching in 1986<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and resigned from his position at Yale in 1993.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He died December 18, 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> at the age of 100 in Lucerne, where he lived with his wife Dorothea Hofmann-Schmid.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rip">Urs Tremp: Reduktion war Armin Hofmanns Haltung. In: NZZ am Sonntag, 3. Januar 2021, S. 20 (Epaper; NZZ.ch).</ref>
Influence
Hofmann's independent insights as an educator, combined with his rich and innovative powers of visual expression, created a varied body of work that included books, exhibitions, stage sets, logotypes, symbols, typography, posters, sign systems, and environmental graphics. His work is recognized for its reliance on the fundamental elements of graphic form – point, line, and shape – while subtly conveying simplicity, complexity, representation, and abstraction,<ref name="Hollis2006">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> building on ideas originating in Russia, Germany and The Netherlands in the 1920s, alongside avant-garde art and International Style in architecture.<ref name="Hollis2006" />
Hofmann is well known for his poster designs,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which rejected ornamentation<ref name="Taschen-2017" /> and emphasized economical use of shape, fonts, and colour, in reaction to what Hofmann regarded as the "trivialization of colour."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hofmann's most highly acclaimed posters are for Kunsthalle Basel.<ref name="Taschen-2017" /> His works have been exhibited at major museums, such as the New York Museum of Modern Art.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1965 he wrote the Graphic Design Manual, an influential textbook in the field.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Design Reviewed" />
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