The Agenda of a Medium
“Albert Einstein said of the module: It is a scale of proportions that makes the bad difficult and the good easy.”
All mediums have a bias. They have a way in which they move you through the design process that affects the final output. The design software Figma, created in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, is no exception. Through both guided functionalities and immutable characteristics, Figma sways the designer’s hand to design in accordance with the methodologies laid out by the Swiss Style.
Karl Gerstner, a major influence on the practices and hallmark attributes of the Swiss Style, believed that a systematic approach to design yielded superior design solutions. Gerstner stated that “the creative process is to be reduced to an act of selection. Designing means: to pick out determining elements and combine them” (Armstrong, 55). Gerstner advocates for a methodical and objective approach to design. Another tenet of the Swiss Style is a modular approach to design. Modular design can be defined as the creation of an element, or set of elements, that can be reconstructed and arranged to form a part of a larger design.
Figma, a design software that was created more than half a century later, guides the designer through a similar approach with their design system functionalities. Figma’s design flow urges the user to design starting at a granular level, by creating project-wide type, color, and grid styles. Once these are set across the project, a designer is able to create “components”. These components can range from a navigation bar to various cards or buttons. These capabilities in Figma create a flow of design that is similar to the ethos of the Swiss Style, placing uniformity, modular components, and design systems as the backbone of how a designer moves through a project.
Gerstner also had his own version of components. His approach to design was so objective and mathematical that he adapted a morphological box (a decision-making model for non-quantifiable problems) created by Fritz Zwicky for scientists, into one that could be used for design. Gerstner viewed the act of designing as one of science. The morphological box of the typogram defines the criteria/parameters and the relative components to be used. He explains that in using the morphological box, “The criteria are rough. As the work proceeds, of course, they are to be refined as desired. The components are to be made into parameters and new components are to be specified” (Armstrong, 58). This means that during the design process, the initial criteria can be fluid, and as the designer progresses into the project, components of the design can be turned into variables, and new components can be specified. This mirrors the work-flow in Figma down to the verbiage used within the program. Components are meant to be created at the beginning of the process, but as the design progresses and criteria change, they can be altered through the original, or ‘parent’ component, and every instance of said component will automatically change with it. Components in Figma can also have variations, in which the designer can define a set of variables for a component. This can be helpful in defining hover and active states for a component. Like Gerstner’s morphological box, Figma allows designers to begin with a specific set of criteria to select from when designing but allows room for those criteria to change, effectively streamlining a process that was developed almost 50 years prior.
While Figma’s workflow may urge a designer towards adopting a Swiss Style process, there are also a number of default features that demand them to. The Swiss Style, particularly Gerstner, believed that detailed documentation of final work and the process of making it was important. He believed that documenting the design process and rationale behind it was crucial for achieving clarity and transparency in design. Figma has built-in version history of a project, along with detailed, pixel-perfect annotations to make the hand-off from designer to developer an easier transition. These built-in documentation features are also useful in client-facing presentations of designs, where process and rationale can be readily displayed. Aesthetically, Swiss Style typography has historically been sans-serif, left justified ragged right type, with a restrained use of color. The default setting in Figma is a black sans-serif typeface on a white background, that is left justified ragged right. The Swiss style had an emphasis on mathematical precision, both in the grid systems they used and in typography. Mathematical precision is essentially unavoidable in Figma, where leading, kerning, tracking, and font sizes are calculated down to the pixel and point. These fixed features move the designer towards following core principles of the Swiss Style.
The design programs we use today all have an agenda. They control how we move through the process of design, by suggestion and by default. The Swiss Style’s teachings remain very visible in the majority of mainstream design today. Programs like Figma create a condition where, whether cognizant or not, contemporary designers understand and follow Swiss Style principles.
References
Armstrong, Hellen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Feild. First Edition ed., New York, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
Gerstner, Karl. Designing Programmes. London, Alec Taranti Ltd, 1964
Kulba, Bryan. “Celebrating Karl Gerstner. Swiss designer Karl Gerstner passed… | by Bryan Kulba.” Medium, 3 January 2017, https://medium.com/@bryanarchy/celebrating-karl-gerstner-b0ffbcf65c96. Accessed 10 October 2023.
Source: Typeroom Work by Karl Gerstner
It defines a systematic and dynamic approach to designing. Gerstner states that “Albert Einstein said of the module: ‘It is a scale of proportions that makes the bad difficult and the good easy.’ That is a programmatic statement of what I take to be the aim of ‘Designing Programme’”(Armstrong, 61).
The Agenda of a Medium
“Albert Einstein said of the module: It is a scale of proportions that makes the bad difficult and the good easy.”
All mediums have a bias. They have a way in which they move you through the design process that affects the final output. The design software Figma, created in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, is no exception. Through both guided functionalities and immutable characteristics, Figma sways the designer’s hand to design in accordance with the methodologies laid out by the Swiss Style.
Karl Gerstner, a major influence on the practices and hallmark attributes of the Swiss Style, believed that a systematic approach to design yielded superior design solutions. Gerstner stated that “the creative process is to be reduced to an act of selection. Designing means: to pick out determining elements and combine them” (Armstrong, 55). Gerstner advocates for a methodical and objective approach to design. Another tenet of the Swiss Style is a modular approach to design. Modular design can be defined as the creation of an element, or set of elements, that can be reconstructed and arranged to form a part of a larger design.
Figma, a design software that was created more than half a century later, guides the designer through a similar approach with their design system functionalities. Figma’s design flow urges the user to design starting at a granular level, by creating project-wide type, color, and grid styles. Once these are set across the project, a designer is able to create “components”. These components can range from a navigation bar to various cards or buttons. These capabilities in Figma create a flow of design that is similar to the ethos of the Swiss Style, placing uniformity, modular components, and design systems as the backbone of how a designer moves through a project.
Gerstner also had his own version of components. His approach to design was so objective and mathematical that he adapted a morphological box (a decision-making model for non-quantifiable problems) created by Fritz Zwicky for scientists, into one that could be used for design. Gerstner viewed the act of designing as one of science. The morphological box of the typogram defines the criteria/parameters and the relative components to be used. He explains that in using the morphological box, “The criteria are rough. As the work proceeds, of course, they are to be refined as desired. The components are to be made into parameters and new components are to be specified” (Armstrong, 58). This means that during the design process, the initial criteria can be fluid, and as the designer progresses into the project, components of the design can be turned into variables, and new components can be specified. This mirrors the work-flow in Figma down to the verbiage used within the program. Components are meant to be created at the beginning of the process, but as the design progresses and criteria change, they can be altered through the original, or ‘parent’ component, and every instance of said component will automatically change with it. Components in Figma can also have variations, in which the designer can define a set of variables for a component. This can be helpful in defining hover and active states for a component. Like Gerstner’s morphological box, Figma allows designers to begin with a specific set of criteria to select from when designing but allows room for those criteria to change, effectively streamlining a process that was developed almost 50 years prior.
While Figma’s workflow may urge a designer towards adopting a Swiss Style process, there are also a number of default features that demand them to. The Swiss Style, particularly Gerstner, believed that detailed documentation of final work and the process of making it was important. He believed that documenting the design process and rationale behind it was crucial for achieving clarity and transparency in design. Figma has built-in version history of a project, along with detailed, pixel-perfect annotations to make the hand-off from designer to developer an easier transition. These built-in documentation features are also useful in client-facing presentations of designs, where process and rationale can be readily displayed. Aesthetically, Swiss Style typography has historically been sans-serif, left justified ragged right type, with a restrained use of color. The default setting in Figma is a black sans-serif typeface on a white background, that is left justified ragged right. The Swiss style had an emphasis on mathematical precision, both in the grid systems they used and in typography. Mathematical precision is essentially unavoidable in Figma, where leading, kerning, tracking, and font sizes are calculated down to the pixel and point. These fixed features move the designer towards following core principles of the Swiss Style.
The design programs we use today all have an agenda. They control how we move through the process of design, by suggestion and by default. The Swiss Style’s teachings remain very visible in the majority of mainstream design today. Programs like Figma create a condition where, whether cognizant or not, contemporary designers understand and follow Swiss Style principles.
References
Armstrong, Hellen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Feild. First Edition ed., New York, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
Gerstner, Karl. Designing Programmes. London, Alec Taranti Ltd, 1964
Kulba, Bryan. “Celebrating Karl Gerstner. Swiss designer Karl Gerstner passed… | by Bryan Kulba.” Medium, 3 January 2017, https://medium.com/@bryanarchy/celebrating-karl-gerstner-b0ffbcf65c96. Accessed 10 October 2023.
Source: Typeroom Work by Karl Gerstner
It defines a systematic and dynamic approach to designing. Gerstner states that “Albert Einstein said of the module: ‘It is a scale of proportions that makes the bad difficult and the good easy.’ That is a programmatic statement of what I take to be the aim of ‘Designing Programme’”(Armstrong, 61).
The Agenda of a Medium
“Albert Einstein said of the module: It is a scale of proportions that makes the bad difficult and the good easy.”
All mediums have a bias. They have a way in which they move you through the design process that affects the final output. The design software Figma, created in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, is no exception. Through both guided functionalities and immutable characteristics, Figma sways the designer’s hand to design in accordance with the methodologies laid out by the Swiss Style.
Karl Gerstner, a major influence on the practices and hallmark attributes of the Swiss Style, believed that a systematic approach to design yielded superior design solutions. Gerstner stated that “the creative process is to be reduced to an act of selection. Designing means: to pick out determining elements and combine them” (Armstrong, 55). Gerstner advocates for a methodical and objective approach to design. Another tenet of the Swiss Style is a modular approach to design. Modular design can be defined as the creation of an element, or set of elements, that can be reconstructed and arranged to form a part of a larger design.
Figma, a design software that was created more than half a century later, guides the designer through a similar approach with their design system functionalities. Figma’s design flow urges the user to design starting at a granular level, by creating project-wide type, color, and grid styles. Once these are set across the project, a designer is able to create “components”. These components can range from a navigation bar to various cards or buttons. These capabilities in Figma create a flow of design that is similar to the ethos of the Swiss Style, placing uniformity, modular components, and design systems as the backbone of how a designer moves through a project.
Gerstner also had his own version of components. His approach to design was so objective and mathematical that he adapted a morphological box (a decision-making model for non-quantifiable problems) created by Fritz Zwicky for scientists, into one that could be used for design. Gerstner viewed the act of designing as one of science. The morphological box of the typogram defines the criteria/parameters and the relative components to be used. He explains that in using the morphological box, “The criteria are rough. As the work proceeds, of course, they are to be refined as desired. The components are to be made into parameters and new components are to be specified” (Armstrong, 58). This means that during the design process, the initial criteria can be fluid, and as the designer progresses into the project, components of the design can be turned into variables, and new components can be specified. This mirrors the work-flow in Figma down to the verbiage used within the program. Components are meant to be created at the beginning of the process, but as the design progresses and criteria change, they can be altered through the original, or ‘parent’ component, and every instance of said component will automatically change with it. Components in Figma can also have variations, in which the designer can define a set of variables for a component. This can be helpful in defining hover and active states for a component. Like Gerstner’s morphological box, Figma allows designers to begin with a specific set of criteria to select from when designing but allows room for those criteria to change, effectively streamlining a process that was developed almost 50 years prior.
While Figma’s workflow may urge a designer towards adopting a Swiss Style process, there are also a number of default features that demand them to. The Swiss Style, particularly Gerstner, believed that detailed documentation of final work and the process of making it was important. He believed that documenting the design process and rationale behind it was crucial for achieving clarity and transparency in design. Figma has built-in version history of a project, along with detailed, pixel-perfect annotations to make the hand-off from designer to developer an easier transition. These built-in documentation features are also useful in client-facing presentations of designs, where process and rationale can be readily displayed. Aesthetically, Swiss Style typography has historically been sans-serif, left justified ragged right type, with a restrained use of color. The default setting in Figma is a black sans-serif typeface on a white background, that is left justified ragged right. The Swiss style had an emphasis on mathematical precision, both in the grid systems they used and in typography. Mathematical precision is essentially unavoidable in Figma, where leading, kerning, tracking, and font sizes are calculated down to the pixel and point. These fixed features move the designer towards following core principles of the Swiss Style.
The design programs we use today all have an agenda. They control how we move through the process of design, by suggestion and by default. The Swiss Style’s teachings remain very visible in the majority of mainstream design today. Programs like Figma create a condition where, whether cognizant or not, contemporary designers understand and follow Swiss Style principles.
References
Armstrong, Hellen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Feild. First Edition ed., New York, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.
Gerstner, Karl. Designing Programmes. London, Alec Taranti Ltd, 1964
Kulba, Bryan. “Celebrating Karl Gerstner. Swiss designer Karl Gerstner passed… | by Bryan Kulba.” Medium, 3 January 2017, https://medium.com/@bryanarchy/celebrating-karl-gerstner-b0ffbcf65c96. Accessed 10 October 2023.
Source: Typeroom Work by Karl Gerstner
It defines a systematic and dynamic approach to designing. Gerstner states that “Albert Einstein said of the module: ‘It is a scale of proportions that makes the bad difficult and the good easy.’ That is a programmatic statement of what I take to be the aim of ‘Designing Programme’”(Armstrong, 61).