Maureen Ciardiello, Week 8 – Graphic Designer, Otl Aicher

Otl Aicher was a German born graphic designer and typographer.  As a teenager during the Hitler regime, Aicher initially opposed the Nazi’s but eventually was drafted into the army.  He continued his resistance by making several attempts to leave.  Eventually he was successful and deserted the army and went into hiding.  After the war, Aicher went on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.  He co-founded the Ulm School of Design and immersed himself on branding designs for corporations in addition he contributed to rotis font design.  One of Aicher’s famous campaigns was the work he contributed to the 1972 Summer Olympics having designed among other things the signage used during the games represented by stick figures.  Some of his other well know designs are the logo for Lufthansa and signage used in the Athens Airport.

You can see Aicher's use of the Swiss style below, especially in his Lufthansa logo.  I like the use of colors and his fun way of transforming stick figures into action figures for the 1972 Olympics.  Finally, I have a love for duchsands.  His colorful pooch design in the third graphic was based on his own dog, Waldi.