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Wim Crouwel x Jan Van Toorn
Functionalism or engagement?
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Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Wim Crouwel x Jan Van Toorn:
Functionalism or engagement?
HOW THEIR DIFFERENT IDEOLOGICAL APPROACHES
TOWARDS DESIGN BECAME AN IMPORTANT PART
OF GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY
In 1972, Wim Crouwel and Jan van Toorn locked horns in what
became a famous debate about objectivity and subjectivity in design.
It became part of the history of design and it’s still an open field for
discussions about design practice.
Crouwel and Van Toorn produced a series of posters and catalogues for cultural institutions such as Stedelijk Van Abbermuseum.
Crouwel calendars for the printing firm Van de Geer while Van Toorn
produced calendars for the publisher and printer Mart.Spruijt.
Through examining these examples I would like to analyse how they
used graphic design as a tool for the transmission of messages and
society’s assumptions and values while considering the legacy of
their different approaches.
OBJECTIVITY X SUBJECTIVITY
1. Wim Crouwel in his
own words is the second publication in the
Ways of thinking,
www.wayofthinking.nl
6
Wim Crouwel, through the originality of his work, and surrounding
publicity, became one of the most important designers associated
with Modernism; his work was objective, systematic and functional.
Jan van Toorn was another designer who dominated the 1960s and
70s in the Netherlands and had a personal, confrontational and
subjective style.
They used different methods and strategies for communication.
While you have clarity and directness in Crouwel’s work, Van Toorn’s
work is more open to interpretation.
“I for myself cannot stop to believe that graphic design is first of
all a means of making things clear. To me that is its first rule. Creating complexity, curiosity and asking questions are another domain.
In my opinion the most important guide is always the question:
why are we doing what we are doing? It is about our responsibility
towards society.” Wim Crouwel1
7
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
While Crowell sought clarity, why did Van Toorn consider it important to create a complexity of meanings?
Van Toorn was interested in the interaction with the viewers of
his designs. He wanted the viewer to become aware of the mechanics of manipulation. He was deeply engaged in issues of social
consciousness and had a strong socio-political point of view putting
his own feelings into his work. He wanted to challenge the ‘classical’
design and believed he would achieve this through the complexity of
meanings and subjectivity. His work was provocative, often inexplicable and sometimes unfinished.
“The main focus should always be on the receiver, who should be
continuously allowed to be the expert of his own experience, his own
history.” Jan van Toorn2
To understand a more reflexive concept of design the viewer is
required to have more willingness in interpreting these complex
signals. Have the viewers got this sophisticated level of visual understanding? Are we willing to tolerate the occasional ambiguities?
“In my opinion designers are connected to the existing order.
That’s the reality and you have to deal with it. But within that you
can still make a choice about your position in the field, depending
on your background and ideas, and then if you want you can be a
hindrance. And I would like to see many more hindrances.” Jan van
Toorn3
Why did Crouwel think information should be as objective as
possible? How can you allow freedom of interpretation without confusing the reader? Through putting his point of view in his work, was
Van Toorn having a real dialogue with the reader or exercising some
form of manipulation?
Crouwel grew up in the spirit of modernism. He was an example
of objectivity and neutrality and would never try to insert himself
and his point of views into a client’s message. As he said: “In my
days graphic design was in all aspects seen as a cleansing job which
should not tell its own story.”
Crouwel argues: “What we’re talking about here is information
that should be as objective as possible, for the benefit of all people
8
2. Jan Van Toorn:
Critical Practice, Rick
Poynor, 010 Publishers,
Rotterdan 2008
4/5/6/7. Jan Van
Toorn: Critical Practice, Rick Poynor, 010
Publishers, Rotterdan
2008
3. Jan Van Toorn: The
designer unmasked,
by Gerard Forde on Eye
magazine no.2
8. Design beyond
design, Communication Design: a Social
Practice, Jan van Toorn
interested, without any other aim then to inform.” He says about
Van Toorn’s work: “The reader is forced to rescue his own story from
these meaningless and fashionable compilations of images.”4
In their first discussion in public in Amsterdam, at a van Toorn
exhibition in the Museum Fodor, Crouwel said: “to design subjectively, means in its ultimate consequence that you only design that,
which you support totally. That enlarges the chance of only having a
very small work terrain[...] I believe in the maintenance of specialism. Let everyone keep their hands off the specialism of others. You
must not try, as intermediary, to get the message across better than
one who is emitting the message.”5 Curiously the cover of the exhibition catalogue was designed by Wim Crouwel, as he was a regular
designer for the Stedelijk Museum, while the exhibition poster was
by Jan Van Toorn (see image 01).
Van Toorn thought the designer must have a dual role as a
transmitter of information and replied: “his task is on the one hand
conveyance of the content, without interfering in it, on the other
hand, he certainly does have an inescapably private contribution.
Crouwel’s fear of subjective interference leads to uniformity, causing
a distinct identity to disappear.”6
Van Toorn produced a calendar for Mart.Spruijt that infuriated
Crouwel so much he went on to produce a replacement calendar
which featured a photograph of Van Toorn and questioned all the
aspects of his design (see image 02 and 03). “I embarked on my
quest for answers because your work is too fascinating to be simply
dismissed,” said Crouwel.7
According to Van Toorn, ‘design is increasingly the result of interactive market forces, the ‘free will’ of the designer has been called
into question too.” Van Toorn was always questioning: “How to work
in a society that is dominated by relations of production and cultural
exchange of a radical capitalist economy.”8
Van Toorn argues that the post-war period put the graphic
designer into a position as mediator between the interests of
international economic and institutional forces, and an audience of
passive consumers.
9
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 01: Fodor nº 8. Catalogue cover
and poster, 1972. Cover: Wim Crouwel.
Poster: Van Toorn
10
11
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
So was Crouwel in total accordance with the apparent apolitical
wishes of his commercial clients or was he just inclined towards
reduction and minimalism?
In the 1960s, Crouwel, as a co-founder of the successful studio
Total Design, worked for many large companies who wanted to create corporate identities. “A corporate identity program should be a
real translation of the image of a subject (a company, an institution
or a group of people) in fact telling, in simple symbols and words,
what the subject is and what the subject does; making people aware
of the subject as it really is! If we examine (with these criteria in
mind) existing corporate identity programs, in most cases we shall
see there is nothing more than a trade mark, a letterhead, some
typography and a colour scheme, these items functioning more or
less as an aesthetical façade.”11
On the other hand Van Toorn found more favour with cultural
sector clients. Despite Van Toorn producing occasional designs for
a wider audience, such as stamps for the Dutch post office, it is
apparent that Van Toorn’s and Crouwel’s different aesthetics leant
their work to different client bases.
CURRENT FASCINATION WITH
WIM CROWELL AND MODERNISM
How do we explain the current fascination with Wim Crouwel’s work
and modernism? What’s behind all this modernist neutrality?
Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey (Design Museum, London)
is one of the biggest graphic design exhibitions seen in the UK. It
shows how Wim Crouwel, through the distinctive use of abstract
typographic forms, experimentation with the grid, and the clear
communication of his work, achieved the ideal of graphic clarity and
neutrality.
Rick Poynor says in his article for Design Observer: “While I admire his work in the context of its time, I don’t subscribe to the cult
of Crouwel that thrives among British designers with neo-modernist
tendencies.”12
He also argues in another article for Creative Review that: ‘the
12
9. Wim Crouwel in his
own words is the second publication in the
Ways of thinking,
www.wayofthinking.nl
10. Modern Method, by Kerry William
Purcell, Eye magazine
nº 79
11. Wim Crouwel in
his own words is the
second publication in
the Ways of thinking,
www.wayofthinking.nl
12. Wim Crouwel: The
Ghost in the Machine,
Blog: Rick Poynor,
Design Observer.
Image 02 (top): 1973/74 Calendar. Publisher: Mart.Spruijt. Design: Jan van Toorn
Image 03 (bottom): 1974 Calendar. Publisher and printer: Erven E. van de Geer. Design: Wim Crouwel.
13
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 04: 1964 Calendar. Publisher: Drukkerij Erven E. van de Geer. Design: Wim Crouwel
14
Image 05: 1973/74 Calendar. Publisher: Mart.Spruijt. Design: Jan van Toorn
15
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
attraction of Crouwel’s work for many today is purely stylistic: “The
designers who applaud him now tend, like Crouwel himself, to put
most emphasis on typography. They like visual rigour, precision, purity of form and dynamically balanced structure. They like systems
and visual programmes that impose order and consistency ... The
history of mid-century European modernism enthrals and inspires
them, but more as an imaginary utopia of style than as an ideal of
how a reformed visual realm based on modernism could embody a
radically new polity.”13
Poynor thinks we shouldn’t ignore the problematic aspects of
Crouwel’s ideal of graphic clarity and neutrality. Crouwel had once
told Poynor: “I was always saying that the designer should not be
too much visible. He should not stand between the receiver and the
sender. But I realised afterwards that I was always there - but never
in my ideas. There is a kind of contradiction.”
WORKING FOR CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
While working for the same cultural institutions Van Toorn and
Crouwel had completely different approaches towards their projects.
They made this clear at the debate in November 1972 where they
discussed their opposing views on design. “The best thing we gained
is that nobody believes in neutrality any more. But that’s not what
the discussion was about.” Jan Van Toorn14
Crouwel had a long client relationship with the Van Abbemuseum
in Eindhoven and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, working
with the museum director Edy de Wilde for three decades. Although
Crouwel argued for a rationalised approach to the packaging of culture, using a standard grid for all posters and catalogues regardless
of the subject, according to De Wilde, the pragmatic and emotional
concerns were of equal importance for Crouwel in his work. He
created a free approach in typography; the use of punctuation marks
and capitals were no longer an obligation. Language inspired his
typography sometimes turning it into a visual poetry. His output of
posters and catalogues set a new standard for museum print that
influenced the communications style of many museums all over the
16
15. Jan Van Toorn:
Critical Practice, Rick
Poynor, 010 Publishers,
Rotterdan 2008
13. CR Blog, The
Cult of Crowell, Rick
Poynor
14. Jan Van Toorn: The
designer unmasked,
by Gerard Forde on Eye
magazine no.2
16. Jan Van Toorn: The
designer unmasked,
by Gerard Forde on Eye
magazine no.2
17. Wim Crouwel in
his own words is the
second publication in
the Ways of thinking,
www.wayofthinking.nl
world (see image 10,12,14 and 16).
Van Toorn also developed a series of work for the Stedelijk Van
Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and his first work came in a series of
posters and catalogues for exhibitions organised by Jean Leering.
He deliberately didn’t follow the museum’s house style and used
a very informal approach: cheap papers, typewritten or handrendered texts. It couldn’t be more different from the patterns at the
Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (see image 07 and 09).
Van Toorn wanted to stimulate consciousness, breaking the neutrality of his modernist predecessors such as Max Bill, Otto Treumann and Josef Müller-Brockmann, who he viewed as naive. He
saw uniformity as a way to condition expectations and he believed
it was better to use visual unorthodoxy to inform and communicate.
He wanted public opinion and participation.
“The museum should relate to the public as a partner in a dialogue, not as a teacher” Jan Van Toorn.15
Van Toorn keeps challenging the network of interpretation: “I’m
trying to find a solution, trying to find the means to say things in a
different way.”16
Crouwel, thinking the world wasn’t really like that, found solutions to design problems by adopting a creative and varied approach
to the graphic space. He believes design has changed: ”Tomorrows
design must be different from that of today, in order to survive. As
a consequence there is a greater need for ideas than for formal
visions and structure. It seems there is no need for old rules and
principles.”17
Both Crouwel and Van Torn have had steady careers and enjoy
international reputations. They have a great historical significance,
and standing in counterpoint to one another helps us to visualise the
landscape of graphic design. Studying their work is to study design’s
past and it’s the best way to understand how and where design is
now; we relive an important time in the history of design, while
realising the influence this work still asserts over current design
practice.
17
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 06: Catalogues, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Corneille, 1966; Peter Struycken, 1966; Atelier 4,
1966. Design: Wim Crouwel
18
Image 07: 1972, Van Abbermuseum, Franz Erhard Walter. Catalogue in stapled cloth bag, inside cover and
spread. Design: Jan van Toorn
19
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 08: Catalogues, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. André Volten, 1966 (with Ben Boss); Grafiek Uit
Praag, 1966 (with Ben Boss); Vijft jaar zitten, 1966. Design: Wim Crouwel
20
Image 09: 1969, Van Abbermuseum, Manzoni. Catalogue made of cloth, inside cover and spreads. Design:
Jan van Toorn
21
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 10: 1960 Poster, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum; Jean Dubuffet. Design: Wim Crouwel
22
Image 11: 1973, Poster, Van Abbermuseum. Design: Jan van Toorn
23
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 12: 1968 Poster, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum; Vormgevers. Design: Wim Crouwel
24
Image 13: 1970, Poster, Van Abbermuseum. Design: Jan van Toorn
25
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 14: 1957 Poster, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum; Hiroshima. Design: Wim Crouwel
26
Image 15: 1972, Poster, Van Abbermuseum, Franz Erhard Walter. Design: Jan van Toorn
27
Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Image 16: 1957 Poster, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum; Fernand Leger. Design: Wim Crouwel
28
Image 17: 1971, Poster, Van Abbermuseum, Experiment in Grafiek. Design: Jan van Toorn
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Unit 1.2 | Design discourse
Bibliography
The Crystal Goblet, Beatrice Warde 1932.
The Rules of Typography according to
Crackpots Experts, Jeffery Keedy, 1993
Rick Poynor, No more rules, Graphic
Design and Postmodernism, 2003, Laurence King Publishing
Jan van Toorn, Design’s delight, 2006,
010 publishers
Jan Van Toorn: Critical Practice, Rick
Poynor, 010 Publishers, Rotterdan 2008
Jan Van Toorn: The designer unmasked,
by Gerard Forde on Eye magazine no.2
Design beyond design, Communication
Design: a Social Practice, Jan van Toorn
Wim Crouwel in his own words, Ways of
thinking, www.wayofthinking.nl
Modern Method, by Kerry William Purcell, Eye magazine nº 79
Wim Crouwel: The Ghost in the Machine,
Blog: Rick Poynor, Design Observer.
Wim Crouwel: A graphic odyssey, Catalogue exhibition, 2011
CR Blog, The Cult of Crowell, Rick
Poynor
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