Siegfried Odermatt (1926-2017)
Siegfried Odermatt was a Swiss designer based in Zurich who was mostly self-taught. His most successful part of his career was running a studio with Rosmarie Tissi since 1968 called Odermatt & Tissi. They are both considered pioneers of graphic design in their own rights.
He got his break into the design world while working as a delivery boy for Graphis Press where he became acquainted with the painter and graphic artist Hans Falk with whom he later collaborated on some freelance work in the mid 40s. He became an independent designer in 1950 before he joined forces with Rosmarie Tissi.
The work done at Odermatt & Tissi fell right into the timeframe of postmodernism—from around 1968 to 1985. Odermatt has won many international distinctions and awards. Notably, the books he designed were among “The Most Beautiful Swiss Books” in 1986, 1987, and 2000. In 1992, he secured the first prize with his poster and visual identity of the “Kieler Woche” 1994.
Odermatt never studied typography so it’s only fitting for him to go off the grid in a lot of his work. He’s experimental with his placement of type and he always seems to find a creative design solution just using type and simple geometric shapes. Post-modernism saw designers move away from the rigid grids of the Swiss International Style and Odermatt did exactly that.