Karl Gerstner, 2025

Karl Gerstner (1930–2017) is considered one of Switzerland's most outstanding graphic designers. His agency quickly became Switzerland's largest advertising agency with an international reputation. After retiring from operational work, Gerstner continued to take on prominent commissions, but concentrated primarily on his own artistic work.

Gerstner's work is characterised by his attempt to reduce the design process to objective and rational methodological approaches and to develop design solutions that are characterised by simplicity and clarity.

With his book, Jonas Deuter presents the first comprehensive academic study of Karl Gerstner's graphic and artistic legacy. He situates the work in its contemporary historical context and analyses Gerstner's design methods along the lines of the terms ‘structure’ and “programme” coined by him. In doing so, he highlights the extent to which the ‘programmes’ developed actually lead to the intended graphic and artistic solutions and where they reach their limits. The analysis reveals breaks and contradictions between Gerstner's work and his autobiographical account, thus opening up a new, critically differentiated view of Karl Gerstner's remarkable graphic and artistic oeuvre.

2025
Publisher: Kettler
Editor: Jonas Deuter
Language: German
21 x 28 cm, paperback
ISBN 978-3-98741-178-6