Unique creations, popping colours, and clean design are Erich Brechbühl’s characteristics and make each of his poster designs a true piece of art, and – to stress the Swiss cliché – a claim for perfection. In our talk with him, the Swiss designer tells us about his creative process, his extraordinary ideas and analog versus digital poster art.

 

This is an extract of the new 2021 Print Magazine “The Reconnect Issue”, which is available here!

 

You originally wanted to become a film director, and that’s how you came to poster design in a roundabout way. What advantages do you see in the limitations of the poster medium?

What I have always liked about posters is that it is possible to go from design to realization very quickly. I can create a poster today and tomorrow it’s already hanging in the streets. That way you lose the fear of failure. With film it was the other way round: you need a lot of time and money and in the end it is not impossible that the result might be bad.

 

 

What fascinates you in general about the poster medium and what makes good poster design for you? What makes you stop on the street to take a closer look at a poster?

 

The poster medium is unique because it has to work with only one image. Everything that needs to be communicated has to be placed on this one format. Therefore, for me, a well-designed poster is one where everything has its coherent place. When designing, you should think about all the elements right from the start so that in the end a great subject is not destroyed by the typography. But to make me stop in the street it requires something more: the poster should surprise me. This can happen through irritation, of course, but also through pure aesthetics.

 

 

Which media inspires you the most, the moving or the static ones?

If I had to choose, it would clearly be the static ones. Here it takes much more to stand out from the crowd. Movement can very quickly be used as pure effect gimmickry. Of course, there is also the supreme discipline here, when motion can bring the content even more to the point.

 

 

Read the full interview in our print magazine – The Reconnect Issue – to find out more about Erich Brechbühl’s fascinating designs, his career or his sources of inspiration.

Along with other exclusive interviews with legends in the industry like gallerist Johann König, documentary photographer Martha Cooper and artist Felipe Pantone, the fourth Forward Magazine print issue is out now!