Photo-Offset and
Post Modernism

Despite this competition posters continued to thrive as a vital way of communicating messages to the masses.    The use of photography in posters became common-place.

Switzerland, for long a prominent player in the development of poster art and printing, was now to play a major role in the next stage of the poster evolution.

Although a relatively small country Switzerland nevertheless spoke and wrote 3 different languages which created many problems when designing posters, and a way had to be found to overcome these language difficulties and make posters more easily understood by everyone.     With the advent of World War II Switzerland's problems became a Universal problem, but it was the Swiss who provided the solution.

With typical Swiss sense of "precision" they developed an art style which came to be known as the "International Typographic Style".   Based on a mathematical grid, strict graphic rules and using black and white  photography the style created clarity and introduced the now, common-place, form of Company and Event Identification by logos and icons.

Simultaneously a different, more relaxed, approach to poster art was being adopted in other countries.    This approach was referred to as "Conceptual Image"