Jonas Berthod

Jonas Berthod

Jonas Berthod graduated in Graphic Design from ECAL/University of art and design Lausanne, and in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art, London.

He currently lives and works between London and Switzerland as a graphic designer. He is a lecturer at ECAL, where he teaches Critical History of Graphic Design and Design/Research, and works as an assistant researcher on the ‘Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited’ project.

Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann, Universität Bern, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Abteilung für Kunstgeschichte der Moderne und Gegenwart
Prof. Dr. Arne Scheuermann, Hochschule der Künste Bern HKB, Forschungsschwerpunkt Kommunikationsdesign

Doctoral project

The Prize of Success: The Swiss Design Awards 2002 and the Networks of Promotion

The hypothesis for this research project is that there has been an organic shift in Swiss graphic design in the 90s/2000s. Moving away from the Modernist ideal of a universal (thus impersonal) design, and building on the Post-modernist interest in the personal voice, some of the most interesting designers of the period worked with a strong authorial position, not only giving form to content but also having a clear influence on the material that they designed.

In other cases, they went further, creating a framework for self-initiated activities to take place: either acting as their own clients or setting up side businesses such as type foundries, the designers took on varied postures which differed from that of the ‘middle man’ traditionally associated with designers.

Research priorities

Design history, graphic design history, visual communication, design practice