The Swiss rationalist who turned grids into art
Asymmetry, clear designs, monumental and bold typography—Karl Gerstner's work is pure genius. Rational to the core, he saw graphic design as problem-solving. His obsession: creating a universal system for designing individual solutions.
For him, every design exercise was a search for rationality and systematization. The heart of his design was the grid—a way to achieve balance between necessity and freedom. Gerstner pioneered exploiting the grid to create complex and flexible variations.
He developed a complex grid for Capital magazine that allowed for fast, creative, and consistent designs—like a form of mathematical art. A rigorous recursivity of overlapping squares of different sizes brought the pages to life.
His influence on the present starts with the idea of a flexible grid, pioneering unjustified text and presenting text and typography as one. His systematic, rational approach let him generate a huge quantity of creative solutions based on the emerging model of computer programming.
The problem description is part of the solution. This implies not making any creative decision subjectively, but with criteria dictated by intellect. The more exact and exhaustive these criteria, the more creative the solution. Give it a try for yourself with this Figma file by Ms studio.
"Instead of looking for solutions to problems, let's design programs to solve them"— Karl Gerstner
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