In the literature, the history of Swiss graphic design is regularly told as a linear development from illustrative tendencies to Modernist abstraction. Recent research has shown that these narratives were constructed and disseminated by a group of Modernist graphic designers through journals and their own publications. By the mid-1950s, the Modernists themselves began dividing designers of the time into two camps: the individual or illustrative versus the abstract or Modern. This dichotomy, which established itself quickly, continues to shape the narrative of Swiss graphic design to this day. However, this article argues that the reality of graphic design practice in Switzerland in the 1950s was more diverse than previously assumed. Outside an exclusive circle of practitioners, illustration and abstraction were understood more as design methods than as attitudes. Taking this as its starting point, this article looks beyond this dichotomy by drawing on unpublished sources of the time and, thereby, challenges the traditional understanding of Swiss graphic design.

中文翻译：

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以周边为中心：通过区域特征重新评估瑞士平面设计

在文献中，瑞士平面设计的历史经常被描述为从说明性趋势到现代主义抽象的线性发展。最近的研究表明，这些叙述是由一群现代主义平面设计师通过期刊和他们自己的出版物构建和传播的。到 1950 年代中期，现代主义者自己开始将当时的设计师分为两个阵营：个人或说明性与抽象或现代。这种迅速确立的二分法至今仍在塑造瑞士平面设计的叙事。然而，本文认为 1950 年代瑞士平面设计实践的现实比以前假设的更加多样化。在一个专属的修炼者圈子之外，插图和抽象更多地被理解为设计方法而不是态度。以此为出发点，本文通过借鉴未发表的时间来源超越了这种二分法，从而挑战了对瑞士平面设计的传统理解。