Metropolis - May 2011

EXHIBITION
Wim Crouwel:
A Graphic Odyssey
Through July 3
Design Museum
designmuseum.org

London

“Sometimes I think I want to stop designing— but I never can.”

Total Designer
On the occasion of a new retrospective of his work, the
legendary Wim Crouwel reflects on his six-decade career.

Wim Crouwel is one of those hardy souls seemingly immune to self-doubt. That’s easy enough now, with Crouwel’s place as one of graphic design’s most influential practitioners secure. But his groundbreaking work has not always been universally admired, and in the 1970s it elicited strong criticism for being “too modern.” Instead of faltering, however, Crouwel’s belief in his ideas and aesthetics only grew stronger. His highly structured approach to design and typography captured the essence of the emerging computer age, bringing a new modernity to catalogs, posters, stamps, and even the phone book. This spring, the grid-loving Dutch legend is being celebrated with a major retrospective at the Design Museum, in London. The show highlights such career milestones as his work for the multidisciplinary studio Total Design (where he was a founding partner), his instantly recognizable visual communications for Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, his type-driven prints and posters, and his lesser-known three-dimensional exhibition designs. Shortly before the retrospective opened, the writer and book designer Stephanie Orma spoke to Crouwel about his influences, his thoughts on typography in the digital age, and his advice for the next generation of graphic designers.

Crouwel’s 1967 New Alphabet typeface used only vertical and horizontal lines.

Congratulations on your retrospective. Now that you have this opportunity to look back over your career, is there particular work you’re most proud of? I must honestly say, I’m most proud of my work for the Stedelijk Museum, in Amsterdam. They were a great client and allowed me all the freedom to take chances. In that body of work, one can see my development most clearly. In the 1950s, I struggled to find my own way. But in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, I really found and developed my design voice. I became clear on what typography and typefaces I should use, whether I should work within a grid or without, et cetera. I never repeated the work of the artists in the show or the direction of the exhibition. Rather, I always tried to express the ideas through my type and poster designs. I’m very proud of that selection of work, which consists mainly of the posters and catalogs I created for the museum up until 1985.

I understand you’re still practicing as a designer.
What are you working on these days?

I’m now 82 and still practicing, although not as much as I used to. I’m currently working on an installation design for the Amsterdam Historical Museum. They’re doing a new gallery installation on 17th-century paintings, so I’m doing the interior design for the show. And I’ll be doing three or four more gallery designs for them soon. I also just finished designing a book for Phaidon on Gerrit Rietveld, one of the most famous architects in Holland from the Style [De Stijl] movement.

Sometimes I think I want to stop designing— but I never can. I discovered the computer late in my life, and it’s a wonder machine, so I can do my work much quicker now.