Helmut Schmid – Gestaltung ist Haltung / Design Is Attitude

“Helmut Schmid ... his typography has rhythm ... it is created by the eye and resembles a musical score.” Wim Crouwel, Rotterdam
After training as a typesetter, Helmut Schmid (b. 1942 in Ferlach, Austria) studied at the Schule für Gestaltung in Basel. In 1976 he designed the campaign logo for the SPD campaign of Helmut Schmidt. After living in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Stockholm, Montreal, and Vancouver, Schmid settled in Osaka in 1981, where he has since lived and worked as an independent graphic designer. His designs are a unique combination of Japanese tradition and Western modernity. Thus, for example, it is impossible to imagine Japanese product packaging without Schmid’s syllabary, katakana eru.
The present monograph documents and analyzes all of Schmid’s important works from 1961 until today: foundational graphic concepts, lettering, product and packaging identities, and poster and book designs. It draws upon the results of a multi-year research project at the design department of the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf. With this publication, Helmut Schmid’s work is finally presented in a manner befitting its status.