{ "contract": "aesthetary.record/1.0", "record_spec": "1.1.0", "semantics": { "vocabulary": "aesthetary.public-evidence/1.0", "definitions": "vocabulary.json" }, "slug": "swiss-style", "name": "Swiss Style", "identity": { "definition": { "state": "resolved", "text": "Modular grid, flush-left ragged-right, one neutral grotesk, asymmetric balance, no ornament" }, "scope": { "state": "resolved", "text": "Swiss graphic design usually limited to the 1950s and 1960s, practised in Zurich (Müller-Brockmann and the Neue Grafik editors, 1958-65) and Basel (Ruder, Hofmann). The boundaries of 'International Typographic Style' are hard to define; the record should treat the Swiss 1950s-60s school as the subject and the wider term as lineage. Zurich practice is described as the rigorous fraction; Basel practice as flexible, with the grid concealed or not rigidly followed.", "ruling": "D0-1" }, "aliases": [ "International Typographic Style", "International Style", "grid system", "Basel", "Zurich", "Swiss Data" ], "layer_verdict": { "state": "none" } }, "native_medium": { "state": "resolved", "value": [ "print" ], "ruling": null }, "research": { "line": "partly_sourced", "text": "Partly sourced", "sentence": "39 sources attached." }, "areas": [ { "area": "layout", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "core", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Core · Specified" } }, { "area": "typography", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "core", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Core · Specified" } }, { "area": "color", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "core", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Core · Specified" } }, { "area": "imagery", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "supporting", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Supporting · Specified" } }, { "area": "surface", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "unknown", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Specified" } }, { "area": "interface", "state": "resolved", "canon": "not_canonically_specified", "importance": "none", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Not specified by the source" } }, { "area": "motion", "state": "resolved", "canon": "not_canonically_specified", "importance": "none", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Not specified by the source" } }, { "area": "motif", "state": "resolved", "canon": "excluded", "importance": "none", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Ruled out" } }, { "area": "technique", "state": "resolved", "canon": "not_canonically_specified", "importance": "supporting", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Supporting · Not specified by the source" } }, { "area": "form", "state": "resolved", "canon": "not_canonically_specified", "importance": "none", "posture_basis": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Not specified by the source" } }, { "area": "hierarchy", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "unknown", "posture_basis": null, "label": { "text": "Specified" } }, { "area": "density", "state": "resolved", "canon": "specified", "importance": "unknown", "posture_basis": null, "label": { "text": "Specified" } } ], "claims": [ { "id": "typeface-class", "text": "Set type in a neutral grotesque. The constraint is the class, not a particular typeface: Akzidenz-Grotesk, Univers, Folio and Neue Haas Grotesk/Helvetica were all in use.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "6MW5YYXFWYJ9N6NN8SQS0139K3", "3R8W6YP0GEV1AP0RNEZ4XCAZFN", "6BZR71FJJRHDGSM5S95C27MKNH", "19RCMYFWNKC88RZ2D2A7G6X248" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "seen", "text": "Seen in the work" }, "strength": [ { "signal": "necessary", "set_by": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Necessary · our ranking" } } ], "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "few-sizes", "text": "Use very few distinct sizes and very few weights in one composition.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "held:swiss-style:a279429598" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "unverified", "text": "Documented · Source not yet verified" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "flush-left", "text": "Set flush left, ragged right. Justified setting is forbidden.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "observed", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "3R8W6YP0GEV1AP0RNEZ4XCAZFN" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "seen", "text": "Seen in the work" }, "strength": [ { "signal": "necessary", "set_by": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Necessary · our ranking" } } ], "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "hierarchy-device", "text": "Hierarchy comes from systematic placement in the grid. Where size signals importance, it is drawn from a few formats that are whole multiples of the grid field.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "7VTD443ME9Y4B6GC97FSMN5GX9" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "seen", "text": "Seen in the work" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "baseline-rhythm", "text": "Set all text to a shared baseline rhythm derived from the grid module.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "unverified", "text": "Documented · Source not yet verified" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "module-matrix", "text": "Build a module matrix: columns crossed by horizontal flowlines. Every element occupies whole modules.", "role": "rule", "area": "layout", "basis": "observed", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "3R8W6YP0GEV1AP0RNEZ4XCAZFN", "5NH2NHFVSF3NCEEJKYY4W15KWH", "4DZGPQ5JEQDME68JHYKJH61ZXD" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "seen", "text": "Seen in the work" }, "strength": [ { "signal": "necessary", "set_by": "synthesis", "label": { "text": "Necessary · our ranking" } } ], "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "column-count", "text": "Column count in the range 4 to 12 for a screen layout; gutter equal to one module unit.", "role": "rule", "area": "layout", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "colour-roles", "text": "Restrict colour to a small number of flat areas, used functionally and never decoratively.", "role": "rule", "area": "color", "basis": "observed", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "5NH2NHFVSF3NCEEJKYY4W15KWH", "4DZGPQ5JEQDME68JHYKJH61ZXD" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "seen", "text": "Seen in the work" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "zero-radius", "text": "Zero. No rounding on any element.", "role": "rule", "area": "interface", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "held:swiss-style:af9813d8c3" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "no-elevation", "text": "None. No elevation, no depth simulation.", "role": "rule", "area": "interface", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "held:swiss-style:af9813d8c3" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "hairline-rules", "text": "Hairline rules permitted where they separate grid fields; never decorative.", "role": "rule", "area": "layout", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "motion-position", "text": "No canonical position. Any motion is an addition to the language, not an expression of it.", "role": "rule", "area": "motion", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "hue-free", "text": "No particular hue is required. One Müller-Brockmann series alone uses green and blue, red, and magenta and turquoise; choosing the hue is left to the designer.", "role": "rule", "area": "color", "basis": "observed", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "2C9QMTA1D8R5R95FDKBHBY4R4E", "772Z4KW37H6RK6HT1SVM22T9D7", "5NH2NHFVSF3NCEEJKYY4W15KWH", "4DZGPQ5JEQDME68JHYKJH61ZXD", "4S3ASR0X124X677SCCT3NZGBG1", "7ZT6PC5FG2QY463HB8GN991W53" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "seen", "text": "Seen in the work" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "hierarchy-limits", "text": "Do not rank by size alone or by colour alone.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "intent", "text": "Information can be ordered so that its structure is legible without the designer's personality intervening. The grid is not a convenience for placing things; it is the argument that objective presentation is possible.", "role": "argument", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "6MW5YYXFWYJ9N6NN8SQS0139K3", "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "held:swiss-style:216169bedd", "held:swiss-style:67b957ca80" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "intent-negation", "text": "Refuses decorative illustration, centred composition, and hierarchy signalled by ornament rather than position.", "role": "argument", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "held:swiss-style:69559ea7da", "held:swiss-style:af9813d8c3", "44RYD8YQTXMP5N6ATRWVV7VPA1", "held:swiss-style:5e47523111", "held:swiss-style:67b957ca80" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "intent-cost", "text": "Costs accepted: Expressive range; Warmth; Brand differentiation from other grid-based work", "role": "argument", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "held:swiss-style:55c725b4de", "held:swiss-style:67b957ca80" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "intent-audience", "text": "Audience: A reader who will accept that clarity is a value in itself.", "role": "argument", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "held:swiss-style:a837345be2", "held:swiss-style:67b957ca80" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "gestalt-boundary", "text": "Zurich and Basel are meaningful internal variation within one language, not two languages. Zurich practice adhered to the grid more rigidly; Basel used it more selectively, with high-contrast photography and more freely placed lettering. RECORDED AS AN OBSERVED PATTERN WITH NAMED UNCERTAINTY: the two research packets asserting it appear to trace to the same curatorial study, so the apparent corroboration may be one source wearing two coats. The related claim that Basel favoured Univers and Zurich favoured Helvetica has no specimen-level support and is NOT recorded.", "role": "boundary", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "gestalt-history", "text": "Neue Grafik / New Graphic Design / Graphisme actuel, a trilingual quarterly founded in Zurich on 15 February 1958 by Müller-Brockmann, Lohse, Neuburg and Vivarelli, ran to eighteen issues until 1965 and is the principal vehicle by which the style was exported. Its English title is a plausible origin of the label \"International Typographic Style\", though the causal claim is not directly evidenced and the date at which that term overtook \"New Graphic Design\" in English is an open question.", "role": "history", "area": null, "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "held:swiss-style:309b949e03", "6MW5YYXFWYJ9N6NN8SQS0139K3" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "unverified", "text": "Documented · Source not yet verified" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "v1-distinguishing", "text": "The grid is the organising subject, not just a tool; hierarchy comes from position and weight alone", "role": "diagnostic", "area": null, "basis": "inherited", "support": { "state": "inherited", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "catalogue", "text": "From our catalogue entry" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "v1-era", "text": "Era: modernist", "role": "context", "area": null, "basis": "inherited", "support": { "state": "inherited", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "catalogue", "text": "From our catalogue entry" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "v1-mood", "text": "Mood: serious, sophisticated", "role": "context", "area": null, "basis": "inherited", "support": { "state": "inherited", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "catalogue", "text": "From our catalogue entry" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "v1-cross-library", "text": "Cross-library: Typography: neo-grotesk systems · Layout: modular grid · Data Visualisation: Swiss charting rules", "role": "context", "area": null, "basis": "inherited", "support": { "state": "inherited", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "catalogue", "text": "From our catalogue entry" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "summary", "text": "The postwar Swiss programme for objective typographic communication: a modular grid, one neutral grotesk, and hierarchy carried by position and weight alone.", "role": "definition", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "held:swiss-style:309b949e03", "6MW5YYXFWYJ9N6NN8SQS0139K3" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C1 prose" }, { "id": "entity-provenance", "text": "transmission: \"institutional\"; origin_periods: {\"origin\":{\"start\":1947,\"end\":null,\"precision\":\"circa\"},\"peak\":{\"start\":1950,\"end\":1970,\"precision\":\"decade\"},\"currency\":\"live\"}; origin_places: [\"75WCN483C95KKK4ZDQSWE68XZE\",\"1QPVDDM96NV0T8NC2SY25FNPEF\"]", "role": "history", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": "D0-3 C6 meta" }, { "id": "dimension-ornament_density", "text": "ornament density: typical 0 (range 0–1); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-spatial_density", "text": "spatial density: typical 2 (range 1–4); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-chromatic_energy", "text": "chromatic energy: typical 2 (range 1–5); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-structural_regularity", "text": "structural regularity: typical 6 (range 5–6); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "3R8W6YP0GEV1AP0RNEZ4XCAZFN" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-typographic_dominance", "text": "typographic dominance: typical 6 (range 5–6); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-surface_depth", "text": "surface depth: typical 0 (range 0–0); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-tonal_contrast", "text": "tonal contrast: typical 5 (range 4–6); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "observed_instances", "for": [ "0DQN7TCGFCNGFY0GKW1FAKTA7P", "54X859RNN7DYGWMP50G580MMXD" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-historical_distance", "text": "historical distance: typical 2 (range 1–4); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-tonal_key", "text": "tonal key: typical 2 (range 1–3); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dimension-palette_temperature", "text": "palette temperature: typical 0 (range -1–1); editorial_seed, n = 0", "role": "rule", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "gestalt.hierarchy", "text": "hierarchy carried by position on the grid, weight and interval, and any size change taken from a few grid formats", "role": "diagnostic", "area": "hierarchy", "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "cited_unverified", "for": [ "5NH2NHFVSF3NCEEJKYY4W15KWH", "4DZGPQ5JEQDME68JHYKJH61ZXD", "7VTD443ME9Y4B6GC97FSMN5GX9", "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "6MW5YYXFWYJ9N6NN8SQS0139K3", "2WF3CY59P9KT0GSNX67KX9VNHF" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:imagery-1", "text": "Photography replaces drawn illustration and ornament.", "role": "rule", "area": "imagery", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S2", "kcc-swiss-style-S16", "kcc-swiss-style-S9" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:imagery-2", "text": "Photographs are treated as objective records, placed by function.", "role": "rule", "area": "imagery", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S1", "kcc-swiss-style-S2" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:imagery-3", "text": "Pictures are cut to a few sizes that are whole multiples of the grid field, and each picture's size reflects its importance.", "role": "rule", "area": "imagery", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S1" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Müller-Brockmann, Zurich" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:imagery-4", "text": "Non-photographic posters use abstract geometric form instead of illustration.", "role": "rule", "area": "imagery", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S14", "kcc-swiss-style-S6", "kcc-swiss-style-S7" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Müller-Brockmann concert posters" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:imagery-5", "text": "In Basel, black-and-white photography could be pushed toward abstraction rather than kept factual.", "role": "context", "area": "imagery", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S4" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Hofmann, Basel" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:hierarchy-1", "text": "Priority comes from systematic arrangement on the grid.", "role": "rule", "area": "hierarchy", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S1" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:hierarchy-2", "text": "Where size signals importance, it is drawn from a few grid-field formats, and fewer size differences give a quieter page.", "role": "rule", "area": "hierarchy", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S1" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:hierarchy-3", "text": "Using one grid for cover and inside pages can deliberately withhold prominence: 'no first amongst equals'.", "role": "rule", "area": "hierarchy", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S2" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Neue Grafik" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:hierarchy-4", "text": "In Ruder's 1961 TM Univers issue, hierarchy used three sizes of Univers 55.", "role": "context", "area": "hierarchy", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S3" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Ruder, TM Univers issue 1961" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:density-1", "text": "The number of visual elements is reduced, and that reduction is what reads as clarity and order.", "role": "rule", "area": "density", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S1", "kcc-swiss-style-S5" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:density-2", "text": "Unprinted space is treated as active: 'the unprinted gives life to the printed'.", "role": "rule", "area": "density", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S3" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Ruder, Basel" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:density-3", "text": "Text itself can be dense: long columns of text were used to inform rather than illustrate.", "role": "context", "area": "density", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S2" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Neue Grafik" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:surface-1", "text": "Flat printed ink on paper, with the unprinted paper standing as the white of the design.", "role": "rule", "area": "surface", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S4", "kcc-swiss-style-S6" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Hofmann Giselle; V&A records of Müller-Brockmann offset lithographs" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:surface-2", "text": "Basel posters also used linocut, whose slight cutting irregularities show in the print.", "role": "context", "area": "surface", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S4", "kcc-swiss-style-S5" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Hofmann, Basel" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:color-1", "text": "Hofmann employed colour sparingly, and Neue Grafik used strong contrasts of black against pure white.", "role": "context", "area": "color", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S5", "kcc-swiss-style-S2" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Hofmann (Basel); Neue Grafik" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:color-2", "text": "Müller-Brockmann paired simple geometric grids with complementary or contrasting colours, and the hue changed poster to poster.", "role": "context", "area": "color", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S6", "kcc-swiss-style-S7", "kcc-swiss-style-S8" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "scope": { "practice": "Zurich, Musica Viva series" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:scope", "text": "Swiss graphic design usually limited to the 1950s and 1960s, practised in Zurich (Müller-Brockmann and the Neue Grafik editors, 1958-65) and Basel (Ruder, Hofmann). The boundaries of 'International Typographic Style' are hard to define; the record should treat the Swiss 1950s-60s school as the subject and the wider term as lineage. Zurich practice is described as the rigorous fraction; Basel practice as flexible, with the grid concealed or not rigidly followed.", "role": "boundary", "area": null, "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S9", "kcc-swiss-style-S11", "kcc-swiss-style-S4", "kcc-swiss-style-S3", "kcc-swiss-style-S13", "kcc-swiss-style-S2" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "kcc:settles-review-queue-117", "text": "Neue Grafik's cover template used Akzidenz-Grotesk; per one specialist source all text-size typography, cover and inside, was set in Monotype Grotesque 215/216 because Akzidenz was unavailable on Monotype machines. The grotesque-class constraint stands; 'set throughout in Akzidenz' should be withdrawn.", "role": "rule", "area": "typography", "basis": "documentary", "support": { "state": "cited", "for": [ "kcc-swiss-style-S10", "kcc-swiss-style-S2" ], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "documented", "mark": "attached", "text": "Documented · Source attached" }, "derives_from": [], "ruling": null }, { "id": "dcc:gestalt", "text": "A modular grid that orders the whole page, its divisions left visible in Zurich work and often concealed in Basel, set in one neutral grotesk at very few sizes, flush left with a ragged right edge, with hierarchy carried by position on the grid, weight and interval, and any size change taken from a few grid formats. The diagnostic combination is not the grid alone and not the grotesk alone — both are common — but the refusal to add a second signalling device once the grid is in place. When a page has a grid and a sans-serif and also a rule, a tint panel or a centred heading, it is not this.", "role": "diagnostic", "area": null, "basis": "synthesis", "support": { "state": "none", "for": [], "against": [], "contested": false }, "label": { "kind": "reading", "text": "Our reading" }, "derives_from": [ "kcc:scope", "kcc:hierarchy-1", "kcc:hierarchy-2", "kcc:density-1", "kcc:settles-review-queue-117", "flush-left", "few-sizes" ], "ruling": null } ], "web_translations": [ { "id": "transfer-1", "text": "Map the module matrix to CSS Grid with named areas; let column count step down at breakpoints while keeping module proportion", "target": null, "area": null, "label": { "kind": "translation", "text": "Web translation" }, "derives_from": [ "module-matrix", "column-count" ] } ], "standard_practice": [ { "id": "ground-ink-contrast", "text": "Ground light and near-neutral, ink near-black, text contrast comfortably above the AA minimum of 4.5:1.", "label": { "kind": "not_part", "text": "Not part of the aesthetic" }, "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" }, { "id": "measure", "text": "45 to 75 characters per line.", "label": { "kind": "not_part", "text": "Not part of the aesthetic" }, "ruling": "D0-3 C4 g1rule" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "27D7CC8XB2P23RTWQ7C7MZ989T", "kind": "source", "title": "Josef Müller-Brockmann", "url": "https://www.thegraphicdesignschool.com/design-history/joseph-mueller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "6MW5YYXFWYJ9N6NN8SQS0139K3", "kind": "source", "title": "Neue Grafik / New Graphic Design / Graphisme actuel 1958–1965", "url": "https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/neue-grafiknew-graphic-designgraphisme-actuel-1958-1965", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "3R8W6YP0GEV1AP0RNEZ4XCAZFN", "kind": "work", "title": "Neue Grafik / New Graphic Design / Graphisme actuel", "url": "https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/neue-grafiknew-graphic-designgraphisme-actuel-1958-1965", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "6BZR71FJJRHDGSM5S95C27MKNH", "kind": "source", "title": "Schriftproben und Bestellungen des Schrifttyps \"Akzidenz-Grotesk Eng\"", "url": "https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/EFSHT4ZCT65V75COZPK2HW2AF6GK3JOV", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "19RCMYFWNKC88RZ2D2A7G6X248", "kind": "work", "title": "Schriftproben und Bestellungen des Schrifttyps \"Akzidenz-Grotesk Eng\"", "url": "https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/EFSHT4ZCT65V75COZPK2HW2AF6GK3JOV", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "2WF3CY59P9KT0GSNX67KX9VNHF", "kind": "source", "title": "Helvetica", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "7VTD443ME9Y4B6GC97FSMN5GX9", "kind": "source", "title": "Grid and Design Philosophy: Josef Müller-Brockmann (excerpt of Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Niggli 1981)", "url": "https://www.neugraphic.com/muller-brockmann/muller-brockmann-text2.html", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "5NH2NHFVSF3NCEEJKYY4W15KWH", "kind": "source", "title": "Musica Viva | Müller Brockmann, Josef | V&A Explore The Collections", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110243/musica-viva-poster-josef-muller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "4DZGPQ5JEQDME68JHYKJH61ZXD", "kind": "work", "title": "Musica Viva", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110243/musica-viva-poster-josef-muller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "2C9QMTA1D8R5R95FDKBHBY4R4E", "kind": "source", "title": "Végh-Quartett Musica Viva | V&A Explore The Collections", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110081/vegh-quartett-musica-viva-poster-josef-muller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "772Z4KW37H6RK6HT1SVM22T9D7", "kind": "work", "title": "Végh-Quartett Musica Viva", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110081/vegh-quartett-musica-viva-poster-josef-muller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "4S3ASR0X124X677SCCT3NZGBG1", "kind": "source", "title": "Musica Viva | Müller Brockmann, Josef | V&A Explore The Collections", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1110702/poster-muller-brockmann-josef/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "7ZT6PC5FG2QY463HB8GN991W53", "kind": "work", "title": "Musica Viva", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1110702/poster-muller-brockmann-josef/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "0DQN7TCGFCNGFY0GKW1FAKTA7P", "kind": "source", "title": "Armin Hofmann, Giselle ballet, Basler Freilichtspiele poster", "url": "https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2014.669/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "54X859RNN7DYGWMP50G580MMXD", "kind": "work", "title": "Giselle, Basler Freilichtspiele", "url": "https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2014.669/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "44RYD8YQTXMP5N6ATRWVV7VPA1", "kind": "source", "title": "Armin Hofmann, Giselle, Basler Freilichtspiele, 1959", "url": "https://www.moma.org/collection/works/6775", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "4Z28HB16AC0CS2QE2K3B87D444", "kind": "source", "title": "Michael Lenz, Neue Grafik from Switzerland to the world", "url": "https://www.neugraphic.com/lohse/lohse-text3.html", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:309b949e03", "kind": "source", "title": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Grafik", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Grafik", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:216169bedd", "kind": "source", "title": null, "url": null, "status": "metadata_missing", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:a837345be2", "kind": "source", "title": null, "url": null, "status": "metadata_missing", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:55c725b4de", "kind": "source", "title": null, "url": null, "status": "metadata_missing", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:69559ea7da", "kind": "source", "title": null, "url": null, "status": "metadata_missing", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:af9813d8c3", "kind": "source", "title": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_M%C3%BCller-Brockmann", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_M%C3%BCller-Brockmann", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:5e47523111", "kind": "source", "title": "https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1811_300062659.pdf", "url": "https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1811_300062659.pdf", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:a279429598", "kind": "source", "title": "https://www.neugraphic.com/ruder/ruder-text4.html", "url": "https://www.neugraphic.com/ruder/ruder-text4.html", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "held:swiss-style:67b957ca80", "kind": "source", "title": "Jan Tschichold, Die neue Typographie (1928), cited as the modernist source the Swiss grid theorists built on", "url": null, "status": "metadata_missing", "retrieval": "unknown" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S1", "kind": "source", "title": "Grid and Design Philosophy (excerpt of Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Niggli 1981)", "url": "https://www.neugraphic.com/muller-brockmann/muller-brockmann-text2.html", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S10", "kind": "source", "title": "Neue Grafik", "url": "https://fontsinuse.com/uses/15395/neue-grafik", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S11", "kind": "source", "title": "Neue Grafik / New Graphic Design / Graphisme actuel 1958–1965 (facsimile)", "url": "https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/neue-grafiknew-graphic-designgraphisme-actuel-1958-1965", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S13", "kind": "source", "title": "Helvetica", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S14", "kind": "source", "title": "Josef Müller-Brockmann", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_M%C3%BCller-Brockmann", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S16", "kind": "source", "title": "Neue Grafik", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Grafik", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S2", "kind": "source", "title": "Neue Grafik from Switzerland to the world", "url": "https://www.neugraphic.com/lohse/lohse-text3.html", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S3", "kind": "source", "title": "Emil Ruder: Typography from the Inside", "url": "https://www.neugraphic.com/ruder/ruder-text4.html", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S4", "kind": "source", "title": "Armin Hofmann: 1920–2020", "url": "https://posterhouse.org/blog/armin-hofmann-1920-2020/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S5", "kind": "source", "title": "Armin Hofmann posters (exhibition brochure, 10 Sept – 25 Oct 1981)", "url": "https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1811_300062659.pdf", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S6", "kind": "source", "title": "Musica Viva (1959), E.1306-2004", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110243/musica-viva-poster-josef-muller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S7", "kind": "source", "title": "Végh-Quartett Musica Viva (1958)", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110081/vegh-quartett-musica-viva-poster-josef-muller-brockmann/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S8", "kind": "source", "title": "Musica Viva (1972)", "url": "https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1110702/poster-muller-brockmann-josef/", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" }, { "id": "kcc-swiss-style-S9", "kind": "source", "title": "International Typographic Style", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style", "status": "verified", "retrieval": "retrieved" } ], "relations": [ { "slug": "editorial-modernism", "kind": "confused_with", "status": "proposed" }, { "slug": "bauhaus", "kind": "confused_with", "status": "proposed" }, { "slug": "monospace-minimal", "kind": "confused_with", "status": "proposed" }, { "slug": "new-wave-typography", "kind": "confused_with", "status": "proposed" }, { "slug": "modular-grid", "kind": "uses_module", "status": "confirmed" } ], "open": [ { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[architecture_question] \"Data Visualisation: Swiss charting rules\" has no V2.1 ModuleKind to land in. Fold into layout, or accept that the hint is permanently unrepresentable?" }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[architecture_question] The spawned Influence \"International Typographic Style\" has no influences edge to the Swiss Style visual language. The lineage is unqueryable." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[architecture_question] REPRESENTATIONAL FAILURE, with a concrete case. The evidenced Swiss typographic constraint is the neutral GROTESQUE class, spanning 19th-century grotesques (Akzidenz-Grotesk, which Neue Grafik was set in) and neo-grotesques (Univers, Helvetica). TypeClass offers neo_grotesk and grotesk_heavy and nothing for the former, so token_rules.typography.class understates the class. The field was left unchanged rather than asserting a narrower class the evidence contradicts, and the correct formulation lives in the token rule. MINIMUM AMENDMENT, PROPOSED NOT IMPLEMENTED: add \"grotesque\" to TypeClass. B3 (script_system on TypeClass) remains separately deferred." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[architecture_question] ARCHITECTURE DEBT, with a concrete case. All five verified Swiss works are in copyright and are link_only; we hold no licensed asset and will not rehost one. Capture.storage_ref is REQUIRED, so a Capture cannot exist without an asset, and a Region cannot exist without a Capture. The consequence is that NO Swiss claim can be evidenced at crop granularity — the adjudication asks for a type/image junction crop of Giselle and a typography detail of Neue Grafik, and neither can be represented. Evidence attaches at Work granularity instead, which is honest but coarser. NOT PATCHED: making storage_ref optional would weaken the rights model by letting a Capture exist with nothing behind it." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] MoMA returns HTTP 403 to automated retrieval, so object numbers 380.1963 (Giselle) and the 1981 Hofmann exhibition catalogue were NOT opened in this pass. Giselle is nonetheless safe: SFMOMA 2014.669 was retrieved and matches on creator, title, date, medium and dimensions, so the artefact is confirmed even though the MoMA accession is adjudicator-asserted. Confirm by hand before the MoMA number is printed as fact." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] THIRTEEN works remain in the adjudication package's do-not-ingest list, and three further Hofmann works (Jacques Lipchitz 381.1963, Stadttheater Basel 382.1963, Moderne Malerei 386.1963) appear only in the discovery ledger and are not adjudicated. \"Der Film\" is a live conflict: the discovery ledger calls it verified at MoMA 4882, the adjudication package lists it as unverified with a different claimed accession (299.1987). None is ingested. Each needs a catalogue lookup, not more research." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] CROSSWALK RESULT. Three further sources were opened in this pass and NONE corroborates the claim that Neue Grafik was set in Akzidenz-Grotesk: the Lars Müller facsimile page makes no typeface statement, Blaze Type makes no attribution for the journal, and Print Magazine does not address it. The claim still rests on one professional secondary source while carrying the strongest myth-correction on the page. The evidence link is held at confidence medium for this reason." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] LEADS FROM THE AESTHETICS WIKI CROSSWALK. The Blaze Type bibliography names the practitioner manuals directly: Müller-Brockmann \"The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems\" (Niggli, 1961) and \"Grid Systems\" (1981), Hofmann \"Graphic Design Manual\" (1965), Ruder \"Typographie\" (1967), Gerstner & Kutter \"die neue Graphik\" (1959), Hollis \"Swiss Graphic Design\" (2006). RUDER 1967 DIRECTLY ANSWERS the open C3 colour question the adjudication left at INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE, and Müller-Brockmann 1981 is the one book likely to settle whether any column count was ever prescribed (G2). None was consulted; all are print. This is the highest-value research queue the page has." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] CROSSWALK RESULT, weakly against G3. Print Magazine — an independent popular treatment of Swiss Style — does not carry the Zurich/Basel distinction at all, naming Basel only as the location of Hofmann's school. That is not a refutation, but it is one more reason the split should stay an observed pattern with its single-source uncertainty named rather than being promoted." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] The New Wave page cited by the Aesthetics Wiki could not be retrieved: the host TLS certificate has expired. No bypass was attempted and the page was not summarised from memory. If recovered it would be boundary/descendant evidence — New Wave Typography is already a confused_with neighbour of Swiss Style." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[module_debt] The Modular grid module carries properties.columns = 6. The Swiss adjudication rejects any canonical column count (claim G2: no survey supports one). The number is a property of the MODULE rather than a Swiss claim, and modules are out of scope for this pass, but a language whose evidence rejects a canonical count is bound to a module that states one." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "[research_question] Every verified Swiss work is in copyright: Müller-Brockmann died 1996, Hofmann 2020 (confirm), so nothing in the canonical corpus is public domain and none will be for decades. Display is link_only throughout. Licensing the three V&A posters for side-by-side display would be the single highest-value acquisition for this page. Budget and counsel decision, not a research one." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "Module gap: A typography module for the neo-grotesk class (Helvetica/Univers lineage) used as a whole-page system at restricted sizes and weights." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "Module gap: A layout module for the modular grid: fixed columns and rows forming fields, with content aligned to field boundaries." }, { "kind": "open_question", "question": "Module gap: Charting conventions derived from the same programme. NOTE: \"Data Visualisation\" is not a V2.1 ModuleKind at all — this hint has no slot to land in." }, { "kind": "missing_research", "question": "Is the grid meant to be visible in the finished page?" }, { "kind": "missing_research", "question": "MoMA accessions for Giselle and the three further Hofmann works." }, { "kind": "missing_research", "question": "hierarchy-limits ('do not rank by size alone or colour alone')." } ], "aesthetary_build": { "note": "Values Aesthetary built with. Not claims about the Aesthetic.", "measured": { "note": "Read from the page's own stylesheet at build time. Values Aesthetary built with, not claims about the Aesthetic.", "slug": "swiss-style", "stylesheet": null, "bytes": 0, "colours": [], "radii": [], "fontSizes": [], "faces": [], "tokens": [], "animates": false, "absent": [] }, "design_grammar": { "note": "Aesthetary's translation of this record into web primitives. Every value carries a basis: \"record\" is a rule the record holds (cites names it), \"translation\" is our choice derived from the cited rules (because says how), \"not_recorded\" means the record is silent (guidance says what to do). A \"record\" value restates a claim the record holds; its standing is that claim's own kind in the record (a requirement, period practice, modern practice, or our interpretation), which the cited rule states. \"record\" does not by itself make a value a property of the language.", "slug": "swiss-style", "version": "2026-09-26", "summary": "A starting grammar for a website in Swiss Style: what the record's rules become as web primitives. Rules on the record are cited; everything else is our translation and names the rule it comes from.", "color": { "roles": [ { "role": "background", "value": "#F2F2EF", "use": "The page ground. Light and near-neutral.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ] }, { "role": "surface", "value": "#FFFFFF", "use": "A field that needs to separate from the ground, such as an input.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ] }, { "role": "text", "value": "#0E0F10", "contrast": "17.1:1", "use": "All reading text and headings.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ] }, { "role": "text-secondary", "value": "#43464A", "contrast": "8.5:1", "use": "Secondary text; input borders.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ] }, { "role": "text-muted", "value": "#66696C", "contrast": "4.9:1", "use": "Captions, labels and metadata.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ] }, { "role": "rule", "value": "#CFCFC9", "use": "Hairlines between grid fields. Never for a control's boundary.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hairline-rules" ] }, { "role": "accent", "value": "#B02A10", "contrast": "5.9:1", "use": "One flat colour doing one job: the primary action, the current item, an error.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:colour-roles", "token_rule:hue-free" ] } ], "alternates": [ { "label": "Green and blue", "recorded": "green + blue, 1958", "value": "#1B6B3A #1F4FB0", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hue-free" ] }, { "label": "Red", "recorded": "red, 1959", "value": "#B02A10", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hue-free" ] }, { "label": "Magenta and turquoise", "recorded": "magenta + turquoise, 1972", "value": "#A0126E #0B6F6A", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hue-free" ] } ], "rules": [ { "rule": "Give the accent one job at a time (the primary action, the current item, an error) as a flat fill or rule.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:colour-roles" ] }, { "rule": "Treat the accent value as replaceable: any hue that meets the contrast requirement works.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:hue-free" ] }, { "rule": "Text on the background measures 17.1:1; secondary text 8.5:1.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ] }, { "rule": "Red, black and white is one choice, not the palette. The record's palettes are words; the values offered for them are ours, darkened until white text passes 4.5:1 on them.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hue-free", "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast" ], "because": "The record fixes no hue and contrast is a requirement, so each recorded hue is kept and its value chosen for legibility." }, { "rule": "Fill areas with flat colour and leave the ground open: no gradients, tints or texture.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "slot_posture:surface" ], "because": "The surface is flat printed ink on paper, with the unprinted paper standing as the white of the design; flat fills on an open ground are that surface on screen." } ] }, "typography": { "family": { "stack": "\"Helvetica Neue\", Helvetica, Arial, \"Liberation Sans\", \"Nimbus Sans\", system-ui, sans-serif", "class": "neutral grotesque (Akzidenz-Grotesk, Univers, Folio and Neue Haas Grotesk/Helvetica were all in use)" }, "roles": [ { "role": "headline", "size": "1.625rem", "weight": 700, "lineHeight": "2.25rem", "case": null, "tracking": null, "measure": null, "use": "Headings. Ranked by weight and position, which is why it is not much bigger than body." }, { "role": "body", "size": "1.0625rem", "weight": 400, "lineHeight": "1.5rem", "case": null, "tracking": null, "measure": "45–75 characters", "use": "Reading text and controls." }, { "role": "label", "size": "0.75rem", "weight": 700, "lineHeight": "1.125rem", "case": null, "tracking": null, "measure": null, "use": "Captions, folios, form labels." } ], "tokens": { "measure": "66ch" }, "rules": [ { "rule": "font-family: the grotesque stack above. Any face in the class satisfies it.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:typeface-class" ] }, { "rule": "text-align: left everywhere; never justify.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:flush-left" ] }, { "rule": "Rank headings by position and space above, taking any size change from the few type sizes.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:hierarchy-device" ] }, { "rule": "Never rank by size alone or colour alone.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:hierarchy-limits" ] }, { "rule": "Use only the three roles in the table across the whole site.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:few-sizes" ] }, { "rule": "Every line-height and vertical margin is a multiple of 0.75rem, half the module.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:baseline-rhythm" ] }, { "rule": "max-width: 66ch on running text.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:measure" ] }, { "rule": "Three sizes and two weights: 1.625, 1.0625 and 0.75rem; 400 and 700.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:few-sizes" ], "because": "Very few sizes and weights; the exact values are ours." }, { "rule": "Line heights are multiples of half a module (0.75rem): 2.25, 1.5 and 1.125rem.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:baseline-rhythm", "token_rule:module-matrix" ], "because": "Every line then lands on the grid's baseline rhythm." }, { "rule": "The sources do not specify letter case or tracking.", "basis": "not_recorded", "cites": [], "guidance": "Set text as written and leave tracking at the face's default. Do not add all-caps or wide tracking and call it Swiss.", "silence": "source" } ] }, "gridLayout": { "columns": [ { "width": "≥ 64rem", "columns": 12 }, { "width": "40–64rem", "columns": 6 }, { "width": "< 40rem", "columns": 4 } ], "module": "1.5rem", "gutter": "1.5rem (one module)", "margin": "One module below 40rem, two above", "rules": [ { "rule": "CSS Grid with 1.5rem row modules; every block spans whole columns and whole rows.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix" ] }, { "rule": "grid-template-columns: repeat(12, 1fr); gap: 1.5rem.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:column-count" ] }, { "rule": "At breakpoints change only the column count; the module stays 1.5rem.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "transfer_note:print->screen_web" ], "because": "The record's note on moving Swiss to screen steps the column count down while keeping module proportion; 1.5rem is this grammar's module." }, { "rule": "Place blocks asymmetrically; no centred page layouts or centred headings.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "intent" ], "because": "Our reading of the argument the record makes, applied to a web page; the record argues it, it does not state it as a rule." }, { "rule": "Step 12 → 6 → 4 columns at 64rem and 40rem.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:column-count", "transfer_note:print->screen_web" ], "because": "The column count steps down while the module stays 1.5rem." }, { "rule": "Leave fields empty rather than filling them: white space is unoccupied modules.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix" ], "because": "Elements occupy whole modules, so emptiness is also measured in modules." } ] }, "shapeGeometry": { "tokens": { "radius": "0", "shadow": "none", "rule": "1px solid #CFCFC9", "ruleEmphasis": "3px solid accent" }, "rules": [ { "rule": "border-radius: 0 on every element.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:zero-radius" ] }, { "rule": "box-shadow: none; no depth effects.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:no-elevation" ] }, { "rule": "1px rules only where they divide grid fields.", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:hairline-rules" ] }, { "rule": "No decorative icons, flourishes, dividers or background patterns.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "slot_posture:motif" ], "because": "Our reading of the record's position on ornament, applied to a web page; the position is not itself a rule." }, { "rule": "The rectangle is the module: fields, images and controls are rectangles of whole modules.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix" ], "because": "Every element occupies whole modules of a rectangular matrix." }, { "rule": "The sources do not specify circles, diagonals or other shapes.", "basis": "not_recorded", "cites": [], "guidance": "Use them only where the content itself calls for them, never as a Swiss signature.", "silence": "source" } ] }, "imagery": { "rules": [ { "rule": "Use photographs shot frontally and left untreated; no illustration.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "slot_posture:imagery" ], "because": "Our reading of the record's position on imagery, applied to a web page; the position is not itself a rule." }, { "rule": "A page without images is complete.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "slot_posture:imagery" ], "because": "Our reading of the record's position on imagery, applied to a web page; the position is not itself a rule." }, { "rule": "Image boxes span whole columns and rows; the photograph fills its box (object-fit: cover).", "basis": "record", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix" ] }, { "rule": "Hang the caption under the image, flush left on the image's own column line, in the label size.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:flush-left", "token_rule:module-matrix" ], "because": "Flush-left setting and module alignment applied to the image's text." }, { "rule": "No filters, overlays, duotones or tilted frames.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "slot_posture:imagery" ], "because": "Unmanipulated means the photograph is not treated for mood." } ] }, "components": { "button": { "name": "Button", "becomes": "A flat rectangle on the grid, its label flush left and ranked by weight, with colour kept for the one action that matters.", "anatomy": [ "label (body size, bold)", "optional arrow after the label, same size and weight", "no icon container, no pill" ], "tokens": { "height": "3rem (two modules)", "paddingInline": "1.5rem (one module)", "radius": "0", "border": "1px solid (secondary only)", "fontSize": "1.0625rem", "fontWeight": "700" }, "states": { "default": "Primary: accent field, white label. Secondary: paper field, 1px ink border, ink label.", "hover": "Primary: the field turns ink. Secondary: the field turns ink, the label turns paper. A change of field, never a glow, lift or scale.", "focus": "2px ink outline, offset 2px, outside the rectangle. Always visible on keyboard focus.", "active": "The field inverts again for the press. No movement.", "disabled": "Rule-coloured border, muted label, no field. Not conveyed by colour alone: the cursor and the disabled attribute carry it too." }, "accessibility": [ "At least 44 × 44px: two modules high clears it.", "Label text 6.6:1 on the accent, 19:1 on ink.", "Focus ring never removed." ], "values": [ { "rule": "border-radius: 0.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:zero-radius" ], "because": "The zero-radius rule, applied to a screen button. Swiss print specified no buttons." }, { "rule": "box-shadow: none, in every state; nothing lifts on hover.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:no-elevation" ], "because": "The no-elevation rule, applied to a button and its states. Swiss print had no hover." }, { "rule": "Rank the primary action by field and weight, not by a bigger size.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hierarchy-device", "token_rule:hierarchy-limits", "token_rule:colour-roles", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Rank comes from placement and field; avoiding size-alone ranking is our rule, not a documented Swiss one. A filled field is colour used for a job." }, { "rule": "Set the label flush left inside the rectangle.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:flush-left", "intent", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Flush left governs all setting; centring is what the language refuses." }, { "rule": "Height and padding are whole modules.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Every element occupies whole modules." } ] }, "card": { "name": "Card", "becomes": "Not a floating box: a field of whole modules, opened by a hairline, its content flush left in three sizes at most.", "anatomy": [ "hairline rule across the top of the field", "label (small size)", "title (heading size, bold)", "body (body size)", "optional photograph occupying the field's full column span" ], "tokens": { "rule": "1px solid rule colour; 3px accent when current or hovered", "radius": "0", "shadow": "none", "background": "none (the page ground)", "padding": "1.5rem top, 0 sides: the grid gives the margin" }, "states": { "default": "Hairline across the top, content flush left.", "hover": "The top rule thickens to 3px and takes the accent. Nothing moves.", "focus": "The whole card link takes the 2px ink outline." }, "accessibility": [ "The whole card is one link, so the target is large.", "The title is a real heading in the document outline." ], "values": [ { "rule": "One 1px rule across the top of the card; no other border.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hairline-rules" ], "because": "The hairline-rules rule, applied to a card edge. Swiss print specified no cards." }, { "rule": "box-shadow: none.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:no-elevation" ], "because": "The no-elevation rule, applied to a card. Swiss print specified no cards." }, { "rule": "Draw no box: a card is a grid field opened by a rule, not a bordered, shadowed container.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hairline-rules", "token_rule:no-elevation", "slot_posture:motif", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Rules separate fields; a four-sided frame and a shadow are ornament and elevation." }, { "rule": "At most three text sizes inside a card: label, title, body.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:few-sizes" ], "because": "The few-sizes rule, applied inside a card. Swiss print specified no cards." }, { "rule": "Signal hover by the rule, in the accent.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:colour-roles", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Colour used functionally: it marks the field you are about to open." } ] }, "input": { "name": "Input", "becomes": "A plain rectangle two modules high with its label above, flush left; errors named in words, marked in the accent.", "anatomy": [ "label above the field (small size, bold)", "field: 1px ink-2 border, no radius", "help or error line below, small size" ], "tokens": { "height": "3rem", "border": "1px solid #43464A", "radius": "0", "fontSize": "1.0625rem", "labelSize": "0.75rem", "labelWeight": "700" }, "states": { "default": "1px ink-2 border on the field colour.", "hover": "Border darkens to ink.", "focus": "Border becomes 2px ink and the 2px outline appears.", "error": "Border and message take the accent; the message begins \"Error:\" so colour is never the only signal.", "disabled": "Rule-coloured border on the paper ground." }, "accessibility": [ "Field border 8.5:1 against the ground: well above the 3:1 non-text minimum.", "Every field has a visible label; placeholder text is never the label.", "Errors are text, linked with aria-describedby." ], "values": [ { "rule": "border-radius: 0 on the field.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:zero-radius" ], "because": "The zero-radius rule, applied to a form field. Swiss print specified no inputs." }, { "rule": "Put the label above the field, flush left, never inside it.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:flush-left", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Flush-left setting, and a label that stays visible." }, { "rule": "Give the field a full 1px border, not a single underline.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:ground-ink-contrast", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Hairlines alone are too faint to mark a control; the border is a modern accessibility requirement, not a Swiss one." }, { "rule": "Mark an error in the accent and in words.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:colour-roles", "token_rule:hierarchy-device", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Colour is used for a job, never alone." } ] }, "navigation": { "name": "Navigation", "becomes": "A row of words on the column lines. The current page is marked by weight and a short rule, not by a pill or a bigger size.", "anatomy": [ "links set in body size, regular", "each link starts on a column line", "current item: bold, with a 3px accent rule under it" ], "tokens": { "fontSize": "1.0625rem", "gap": "column lines, not a fixed gap", "current": "700 weight + 3px accent rule", "height": "3rem" }, "states": { "default": "Regular weight, ink.", "hover": "Underline in the accent.", "focus": "2px ink outline.", "current": "Bold, with the accent rule under it; aria-current=\"page\"." }, "accessibility": [ "aria-current marks the current page for screen readers.", "Below 40rem the row becomes a stacked list on the same left edge, not a hidden icon menu." ], "values": [ { "rule": "The current item differs by weight and position, never by size.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hierarchy-device" ], "because": "The hierarchy-device rule, applied to navigation. Swiss print specified no navigation." }, { "rule": "Start each item on a column line.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Every element occupies whole modules." }, { "rule": "Mark the current page by weight plus a short accent rule.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:hierarchy-device", "token_rule:colour-roles", "slot_posture:ui_treatment" ], "because": "Weight is a lawful hierarchy device; the rule is colour used for a job." } ] } }, "motion": { "spec": { "durations": { "state": "100ms", "move": "200ms" }, "easing": { "state": "linear", "move": "cubic-bezier(0.25, 0, 0, 1)" }, "transforms": "translate only, along the grid axes, by whole modules. No scale, rotate, skew, blur or bounce.", "entrance": "None by default. Where content must enter, it moves one module along the reading direction and settles on the grid.", "hover": "A change of field or weight within 100ms. Nothing lifts, grows or glows.", "reducedMotion": "Every move becomes an instant change of position." }, "rules": [ { "rule": "Motion is optional: every page must work completely without it.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:motion-position" ], "because": "The record's position on motion, applied to the screen. The record establishes no motion conventions." }, { "rule": "If something moves, it moves by whole modules and stops on the grid.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "token_rule:module-matrix", "token_rule:motion-position" ], "because": "The matrix is the one structure the language has; motion that ignores it adds a second." }, { "rule": "No easing flourish: a plain ease-out with no overshoot.", "basis": "translation", "cites": [ "slot_posture:motif", "token_rule:motion-position" ], "because": "No ornament: overshoot and bounce are decoration in time." } ] }, "notRecorded": [ { "category": "typography", "what": "Letter case and tracking", "why": "The record holds no rule for either. We set text as written and add no tracking." }, { "category": "shapeGeometry", "what": "Circles and diagonals as a Swiss signature", "why": "They appear in period posters but the record holds no rule for them. This page's own red disc is art direction, not guidance." }, { "category": "components", "what": "Any Swiss position on interface", "why": "The research record does not establish canonical interface conventions for Swiss Style. All four components are contemporary translations of its documented visual rules." }, { "category": "motion", "what": "Any Swiss position on motion", "why": "The research record does not establish canonical motion conventions. The motion values are a contemporary translation of its documented visual rules." } ], "silence": { "color": "source", "typography": "source", "gridLayout": "source", "shapeGeometry": "source", "imagery": "source", "components": "source", "motion": "source" }, "uiNote": "The sources do not specify interface conventions for Swiss Style. These four are contemporary translations of its visual rules." } } }