Thinking Wolfgang Weingart. 02 06 1941

Thinking Graphic Designer, Thinking Typographer

Post by aswin sadha on 06 February 2014

typography, design, graphic design, international typography, Basel school

TM SGM RSI 1& 12 1972 / Size: 230 mm x 320 mm

TM SGM RSI 5 & 6,7 1973 / Size: 230 mm x 320 mm

TM SGM RSI 1 &12 1974 / Size: 230 mm x 320 mm

TM SGM RSI 1 & 2, 1974 / Size: 230 mm x 320 mm

Handset Composition, 1971

Round compositions

Film techniques, layering as acollage

Kunst kredit, 1978 | the 20th Century Poster, 1984 / Size 890 mm x 1270 mm

Kunst Kredit,1977 | Schreibkunst, 1981 / Size 890 mm x 1270 mm

Kunst kredit, 1980/1981 | Kunst kredit, 1981/82 / Size 890 mm x 1270 mm

Kunst Kredit, 1978 | Das Schweizer Plakat / Size 890 mm x 1270 mm

Tags:Alliance Graphique Internationale, basel school, book, book design, graphic design, grid, international typography, moderism, swiss design, Typographische Monatsblatter, typography, Wolfgang Weingart

"The synthesis of my work was actually the story of my life in retrospect."

Wolfgang Weingart was born on February 6, 1941 in the Salem Valley, Germany. In April 1958, he studied at the Merz Academy in Stuttgart in the field of applied art and design. He learned a fundamental understanding of reproduction as well in Merz Academy that later became helpful at his typography course at the Basel School of Design. From 1960 to 1963, he began a typesetting apprenticeship where he was encouraged to study in Switzerland with his mentor, Karl-August Hanke.

In 1963, Weingart presented his work to Emil Ruder and Armin Hoffman. In April 1964, Weingart started attending Basel School of Design where he was assigned the first very abstract assignment by Hoffman. Shortly Weingart was offered to teach typography by Hofmann. In 1968, he unexpectedly became the instructor of the Weiterbildungsklasse fur Graphic, the International Advance Program for Graphic Design due to Ruder sickness. From 1974 to 1996, he was invited by Hofmann to teach Yale Summer Program in Graphic design.

For the last 40 years Weingart has lectured and taught extensively in Europe and America, Asia Australia and New Zealand. He was the editorial of Typographische Monatsblätter from 1970 to 1988 which he contributed to numerous project for the publication.His posters designs have been awarded by Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs in Bern. He also earned AIGA medal in 2013. One of the great works is his notably book entitled My Way of Typography published in 2000.

Weingart ways of typography are based on the design principles with a lot of exploration for new discoveries. His designs expression show by experimenting with letter press printing, typography, paper, ink, woodcuts and film. Weingart typography will be shown in Museum für Gestaltung Zürich from 07.05.2014 -to 28.09.2014.