Swiss Style or International Typographic was a graphic style developed in Switzerland in the 1950s. An extension of Bauhaus and Modernism, Swiss Style emphasized legibility and objectivity. It consisted of three key features: a mathematical grid, sans serif typefaces (like Helvetica introduced in 1961,) an asymmetrical flush left and ragged right format and black and white photography. This orderly, unified structure helped to convey visual and verbal information in the most objective and harmonious manner.
One of the high notes of Swiss Style was the work of Josef Müller-Brockmann, whose concert posters for Zurich's Tonhalle Orchester masterfully conveyed musical structure and rhythm in its arrangement of color, geometrical forms, and type. Swiss Style's clarity and universality was perfectly suited to the increasingly global postwar marketplace and by the 1970s it had become the standard.