Emil Ruder

Emil Ruder (1914–1970) was a Swiss typographer and graphic designer, who with Armin Hofmann helped to found the Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) and a graphic style known as the Swiss Style.

Ruder was a contributing writer and editor for Typografische Monatsblätter. Ruder published a basic grammar of typography titled Emil Ruder: Typopgraphy. The text was published in German, English and French, by Swiss publisher Arthur Niggli in 1967. The book helped spread and propagate the Swiss Style, and became a basic text for graphic design and typography programs in Europe and North America. In 1962 he helped to found the International Center for the Typographic Arts (ICTA) in New York.

Swiss Style

The Swiss Style was defined by the use of sans-serif typefaces, and employed a page grid for structure, producing symmetrical layouts. Ruder first began teaching in 1942 at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in the Swiss city of Basel. In 1948 Ruder met the artist-printer Armin Hofmann. Ruder and Hoffman began a long period of collaboration. Their teaching achieved an international reputation by the mid-1950s. By the mid-1960s their courses were maintaining lengthy waiting lists.

External links

• Thinkingforaliving.org, A Brief History of Emil Ruder.